[cma-l] Community Radio Toolkit Needs You!

Thu Sep 18 13:22:40 BST 2014

We're looking forward to being able to share our experiences - and gain from those of others - on a wider scale than we already do with our own website.Ours is already very successfully co-ordinated with popular social media by effective links achieved by our own in-house consultants.

From: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 13:09:09 +0100
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] the Community Radio Toolkit Needs You!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Canalside's The Thread" <office at thethread.org.uk>

Dear All

All this liaison seems to have
worked      unless of course I am missing a trick
somewhere. Loads of e-mails, lots of conversation and observations, so I don’t
know why we need twitter / facebook / message boards or whatever else. I’ll
run with the majority though, that’s fine, but I think the success
depends on whichever is the least time consuming, especially for those in the
Community Radio sector who are running around like headless chickens for 16
hours a day – every day, which from my research, tends to be most of
us   LOL

Nick

From:
cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Paul Golder

Sent: 18 September 2014 12:06

To: cma-l

Subject: Re: [cma-l] the Community
Radio Toolkit Needs You!

I originally said that phpBB had had its day - I don't use them any
more, and I closed my own boards because everyone went to social media.

That's why I suggested Facebook and was a bit surprised about the
negative reaction from people who are involved in community media - you might
not like it, but millions of other people do.  (Personally I find it a
major distraction but also a great way to reach people with information/stories
about what we're doing).

Having said that I think phpBB could actually work for what's being
discussed.  It would useful to have a forum used as a reference library
(toolkit) / discussion board / information archive - reference information and
discussion all on one page.  It's likely to be busier if new post links
are also posted on Facebook and Twitter, which will help bring us back there.
 RSS/IFTTT is a great way of making this happen (Ian, these are not
buzzwords, it's actually a great timesaver, look it up mate!)

I don't like the email list much - it's moderated which I think takes
away the immediacy of the discussion, it's hard to follow sometimes and half
the content of the posts are links to social media, guidelines, removal
instructions etc!  It's also often full of information which has little
relevance to me (eg community TV) and a properly-structured phpBB forum could
sort this out.

All that remains now is to end the conversation and do something about
it!  (And yes I'm offering if anyone needs any help).

Paul

Phoenix
FM

www.phoenixfm.com

On 18 September 2014 11:29, Cormac Lawler <cormac at radioregen.org>
wrote:

Hi all,

This has been a really useful discussion. The criticisms of the
existing Community Radio Toolkit website are absolutely valid - it's poorly
structured/signposted and includes several out-of-date features. Hence the
redesign: the new site will be much clearer, more practical, and easier to
search and browse related content. There will also be new content - e.g. on training.
There aren't plans to include a forum (or whatever) in the relaunched site -
though, as this discussion shows, there is probably a need to have some space
(somewhere) that works alongside the knowledge base of the Toolkit and this
mailing list. (For what it's worth, I've done plenty of work in the past with
wikis, which have sometimes been used as a 'bridge' between a discussion space
and a knowledge base - is that of interest/use?)

For now, though, can I reiterate Phil's original request for more photos
for the new website? It would be great to illustrate the site with the,
frankly, astounding work that everyone on this list does. As a suggestion for
themes, I'd pick out the following (though please engage your own creativity):

 Working with volunteers /  the role of
     volunteers in the station
 Community engagement / outreach / impact
 Training
 Technical equipment / station setup
 Funding / revenue (might be hard to picture!)

I'm sure you'll think of others - but any photos would be warmly
received. Please send to Phil: phil at radioregen.org

Thanks very much,

Cormac

Cormac Lawler

Project coordinator

0161 234 2799

Radio Regen

46 Oldham Street, Green Fish Resource Centre, Manchester, M4 1LE

www.radioregen.org

Company Ltd by
Guarantee Registered in England
and Wales
No 3753832. 

Registered Charity No
1077763

On 18 Sep 2014, at 10:20, Richard Berry wrote:

One short suggestion. Behind many email lists lies an archive that
stores every posting. Email is handy for the here and now, but sites like the
toolkit seem more like a knowledge base. In this regard it is different from
this list 

Richard 

Quickly sent from a mobile. Hope I've not been auto-corrected.

-------- Original message --------

From: Associated Broadcast Consultants <info at a-bc.co.uk> 

Date:18/09/2014 09:48 (GMT+00:00) 

To: tlr at gairloch.co.uk 

Cc: cma-l at commedia.org.uk

Subject: Re: [cma-l] the Community Radio Toolkit Needs You! 

I agree - for example for a while the old community radio toolkit forum
(the one before the one that's there now) was available as an
archive.   There was (is) a wealth of information available there -
and much of the information is the type that does not rapidly go out of
date.  Lots of advice from people with hands-on experience, lots of ideas,
suggestions etc.   

A bulletin board/forum with good search options seems a great way to
file this kind of information.  The difficulty is, how to build an active
forum up from the current, rather stale situation?   I think
Community Radio Toolkit website is the right direction, but perhaps with
better execution and more promotion.   It does not have to cost money
- there are lots of people - Like Alex and me, who give information and advice
for free!

This email forum is fine for some tasks, but to me I feel
"blind" if I wanted to reference something I recall seeing 6 months
or a year ago for example.

-- 

Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant 

Associated Broadcast
Consultants

On 17 September 2014 21:47, tlr at gairloch.co.uk <tlr at gairloch.co.uk> wrote:

I wouldn't advocate the use of  the mailing list - bulletin boards
work far better for mutual help/advice etc, and are much easier to find
relevant past discussions and review them - email is just not suited. Nor in my
opinion is Facebook - it has no decent user control of archiving, public
searching etc, recategorizing of posts etc. 

I have come across numerous BBs that have proved of enduring value when
searching for answers to a specific problem in various fields. Facebook posts
would not appear in such searches, and the 'conversation' can be very
fragmented, with parts of it only available to its participants or followers of
wherever it was posted. It needs quite an advanced mental model of Facebook to
be able to track third party postings and threads. 

And of course, Facebook does not automatically alert
followers/friends/members to all posts on a particular page or topic or from a
particular person, even a 'friend' -  a lot of people think that it does,
but it is selective through highly opaque algorithms that change form time to
time. Fine for a social network, but not for a professional or long-term
support forum. 

But no reason not to use FB as one of several ways to bring it to
people's attention. 

Alex 

On 17 September 2014 at
00:33 Alan Coote <alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk>
wrote: 

I
absolutely agree an email list such as this works and it saves logging into yet
another forum, many of which have suffered over the years from lack of use; Media
UK for example used to be the place to go for us radio nuts! 

However, I wonder how many new subscribers there are to
an email list like this as it’s difficult to find?  Would it be
useful for the strategic use of landing pages and Facebook etc to be used for
attracting new subscribers.

Kind Regards

Alan

Hear Alan Every
Week on Let’s Talk Business The UK’s Premier Radio Programme For
Current and Future Entrepreneurs - Now Broadcast To 4.3 Million People  

Email - alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk

Phone - 0800 949 6655

Mobile - 07801 518858

Twitter - @TheAlanCoote

Web - http://www.5digital.co.uk

<image001.gif>

The Media Production, Broadcasting and Training Company

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk]
On Behalf Of Bill
Best

Sent:
16 September 2014 16:05

To:
cma-l at commedia.org.uk

Subject:
Re: [cma-l] the Community Radio Toolkit Needs You!

Well... We
currently have an active forum supporting people who do community radio - and
you're using it!

At the Community Media Association we've thought long and hard over the years
about setting up an alternative forum - but then we would be moving the
conversations away from this list to another location and splitting the
conversation.  I think we've all seen plenty of user forums that have died
a death through lack of activity.

We still use Mailman for this list because basically email works.  We could
have a secret members-only forum run from the website using the latest
technology - but we prefer to run open mailing lists as it fits with our ethos
to facilitate the free exchange of knowledge and information. Email is quick,
simple, cheap and everybody knows how to use it.

This list receives no funding and is run on a 'best endeavours' basis by the
CMA - the cost of which is borne by the organisation.

These days there are so many competing forums and channels, especially when
social media is also considered, that we think it is a good idea to stick with
a tried and tested reliable technology such as email. And we will occasionally
use Twitter to draw attention to something on this mailing list - if you're not
already one of the 7500+ followers that we currently have on Twitter then do
follow us.

I think we have an excellent resource with the CMA-L mailing list - let's
continue to use it well!

And stay tuned for some upcoming news exclusive to this mailing list of
an opportunity to tender for producing some radio advertisements for a careers
event to be broadcast commercially. You won't get to hear of this anywhere
else!

Best regards for now

Bill

-- 

Operations Manager

Community Media Association

http://www.commedia.org.uk/

https://twitter.com/community_media

http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio & Video

http://www.canstream.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/canstream

On 16 September 2014 15:20, Associated Broadcast Consultants <info at a-bc.co.uk> wrote:

> I agree to a certain extent - the problem occurred with the move to the

> "new" format website.  From what I recall you had to
re-register on the

> site, and it seemed many active contributors were lost at that point.

>

> Another problem is the landing page on the new site after login.
 Even

> though you may have clicked on the Forum tab at the top, after login you
are

> redirected to another page called "Activity" which actually
seems an

> oxymoron because it does not seem very active!  At this stage I
reckon new

> sign-ups might give up - assuming the forum is not active.

>

> I agree there should be an active forum supporting people who do community

> radio.  I have at times thought about setting one up myself, but
really I

> think it's best if such a forum is hosted on an independent website like

> this one or CMA.

>

> Having said that, even the Media UK forum seems less active than it used
to

> be - maybe Forums are not "where it's at" nowadays?

>

> Glyn

>

> -- 

> Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant

> Associated Broadcast Consultants

>  

>

>

>

> On 15 September 2014 19:34, Bruce Rodger <bruce at celticmusicradio.net>
wrote:

>>

>> Hi Phil,

>>

>> I hope my comments will be taken as constructive criticism - as you
will

>> remember I was a regular participant in the original toolkit forum,
but

>> since the re-vamp my contributions - and pretty much everyone
else’s - have

>> mostly dried up. We need to fix that, and I’m not convinced
funding will

>> resolve that.

>>

>> I do support what we’re trying to do with the toolkit -
it’s a very

>> worthwhile project (note the “we” there….)

>>

>> The one thing that surprises me about the community radio scene in the
UK

>> is that there is no active web forum. Think about just about any

>> hobby/sport/pastime/activity, search around a bit, and you’ll
find a wealth

>> of volunteer-run web forums. Whether it’s Land Rover
maintenance, or theatre

>> technology, or skateboarding, or hillwalking, or photography, or
people who

>> live in a certain town, or one-legged blind naturists….. you get
the idea.

>>

>> I’m involved with several, and they’ve grow from being
initially a place

>> where like minded people could chat, through being a repository of
useful

>> information and knowledge, to being the de-facto reference site for
any

>> technical or non-tech queries on that subject. In one that I am
involved

>> with, we have an active membership ranging from school kid know-it-all

>> wannabe’s through to industry professionals at the apex of their
profession.

>>

>> It’s not funding that makes these work - the web hosting is often
paid by

>> google adverts, or out of the pockets of the admin team. There are no
paid

>> admins, authors or moderators - it’s done by the community,
simply because

>> it’s THEIR community.

>>

>>

>> The toolkit is never going to happen without formal funding - but what
our

>> community lacks is a community forum. Which is a bit sad, bearing in
mind

>> that community is what we’re all about! It doesn’t take
money, it just takes

>> a bit of time and some community buy-in.

>>

>> Bruce.

>>

>> (ps - I made up the bit about one-legged blind naturists. I
don’t think it

>> exists - unless one of you know different?)

>>

>>

>> Bruce Rodger

>> Celtic Music Radio 95fm

>> bruce at celticmusicradio.net

>>

>>

>>

>> On 15 Sep 2014, at 16:11, Phil Korbel <phil at radioregen.org>
wrote:

>>

>> Hi Bruce

>>

>> The site is un-funded and we've not had the resources to support new

>> content or the forum.

>>

>> Watch this space for the re-launch...

>>

>> Would hate to see you when you're being critical ;)

>>

>> best wishes

>>

>> Phil

>>

>> Phil Korbel FRSA - Director, Radio Regen, charity no. 1077763

>>

>> www.radioregen.org

>> www.communityradiotoolkit.net

>> www.connecttransmit.org.uk

>>

>> Please note that I work at Radio Regen under 2 days a week so
responses

>> might not be as quick as we'd like.  Many thanks.

>>

>>

>> On 15 September 2014 14:51, Bruce Rodger <bruce at celticmusicradio.net>

>> wrote:

>>>

>>> Phil writes: "...The much loved Community Radio Toolkit is
re-launching

>>> soon "...

>>>

>>> I really don't want to be a wet blanket here - but I've got to
ask. Is it

>>> really "much loved"? The document itself is fine, but
the website aint.

>>>

>>> The "Forum" section - which is potentially one of the
most valuable and

>>> useful areas - has had 3 posts this year, the last one 3 months
ago. The

>>> "News" section has had 3 posts this year, and the
"Feature" section - which

>>> claims "Every now and then we put the spotlight on a
different community

>>> radio subject. These features allow us to look at particular
topics in more

>>> depth, with articles, website links and interactive contributions
from

>>> members" - has not been updated in four and a half years.

>>>

>>> I don't find it a particularly user-friendly experience.

>>>

>>> Before the last "rebranding", it was quite a useful
resource, with an

>>> active forum. But I'm now just a very occasional visitor, and any
time I do

>>> visit, I get the feeling that the only footprints in the sand are
the ones I

>>> made last time I visited.

>>>

>>> It's a concept with great potential, but needs more buy-in and

>>> participation from the community to make it work.

>>>

>>> Bruce.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> On 15 September 2014 11:04, Phil Korbel <phil at radioregen.org>
wrote:

>>>>

>>>> Hi colleagues

>>>>

>>>> The much loved Community Radio Toolkit is re-launching soon -
allowing

>>>> far easier access to our huge free library of 'how to'
resources for the

>>>> sector.

>>>>

>>>> As you'll know if you've delved there - it has a lot of
writing in it -

>>>> which looked great on the printed page and pdf's but frankly
runs the risk

>>>> of looking a tad dull on a web page so - we need more pictures!
 If you'd

>>>> like a name-check on the new site and have a photo or cartoon
that really

>>>> says something about community radio would like to share it
with us - and

>>>> the sector?

>>>>

>>>> No prizes - this is just about sharing.  Please send
images by email to

>>>> this address in the next couple of weeks along with a short
caption and

>>>> photographer credit if required.

>>>>

>>>> More news about the re-launch soon

>>>>

>>>> best wishes

>>>>

>>>> Phil

>>>>

>>>> Phil Korbel FRSA - Director, Radio Regen, charity no. 1077763

>>>>

>>>> www.radioregen.org

>>>> www.communityradiotoolkit.net

>>>> www.connecttransmit.org.uk

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