Over 60s in Camden confront digital exclusion in their community hub – with help from a local, global business

An event in Camden last week showed what volunteers from the local community, and a locally-based company, can do together to address digital inclusion and isolation. The local volunteers have made Belsize library a community hub, following cuts in staffing. The eight company volunteers were from Dentsu Aegis Network, a global digital agency. The event … Continue reading “Over 60s in Camden confront digital exclusion in their community hub – with help from a local, global business”

Older people need support from the @MayorofLondon to ensure #digitalinclusion in #SmartLondon

London’s organisation for older people recommends the Mayor’s Smart City plan should address five key themes for digital inclusion: help in developing skills; training and research; co-designing digital services; connectivity and security; and transport services. The detailed recommendations from Positive Ageing in London follow from discussion at their conference last month. I wondered then whether … Continue reading “Older people need support from the @MayorofLondon to ensure #digitalinclusion in #SmartLondon”

Give more recognition to community needs and Londoners’ voices in #LondonPlan, @londonFunders urge @MayorofLondon

The Mayor’s draft London Plan should give more recognition to the need for community space, affordable housing for people in the community and voluntary sectors, and a stronger voice for Londoners in developing plans. These are among recommendations from London funders and the new Hub for London, based on discussion at last week’s event with … Continue reading “Give more recognition to community needs and Londoners’ voices in #LondonPlan, @londonFunders urge @MayorofLondon”

Lots of plans affecting London civil society – now we need someone to join them up for #TheWayAhead and @MayorofLondon

Lively discussion and networking at today’s meeting about London Plan social infrastructure left me with plenty of insights and one over-riding impression: no-one is looking in-the-round at the future of London’s communities. That’s frustrating – but also an opportunity for convening different interests to realise the idea of co-production originally promoted in The Way Ahead … Continue reading “Lots of plans affecting London civil society – now we need someone to join them up for #TheWayAhead and @MayorofLondon”

Why Smart City London should be a #NetworkedCity: participatory, sharing, inclusive and accessible

City Hall have launched a “listening exercise” to help the Chief Digital Officer Theo Blackwell and his Board fulfil the Mayor’s aim to make London the world’s leading Smart City. Currently Bristol is judged to be in the lead with Manchester and Birmingham third and fourth. The Huawei UK Smart Cities Index rankings were calculated … Continue reading “Why Smart City London should be a #NetworkedCity: participatory, sharing, inclusive and accessible”

Our first year exploring how to make London a more Networked City with #ourwayahead

It’s now a year since we launched the Networked City exploration, so I’ve pulled the story together on our wiki. Main points below. We’ve reached the point where, together with Our Way Ahead, we have a set of proposals for Extending the Hub drawn on the one hand from The Way Ahead “official” research into … Continue reading “Our first year exploring how to make London a more Networked City with #ourwayahead”

Why we need a Community of Practice for networking London civil society

Update: here’s further ideas on how to develop a Community of Practice, which we will take forward at event on March 27 2018. Details and registration here. We are developing a Community of Practice for anyone interested in how to build networks to support London communities, following our workshop game at London Metropolitan University a … Continue reading “Why we need a Community of Practice for networking London civil society”

New Hub for London gets £350,000 to support civil society – hopefully including grassroots groups

The resource hub for London civil society now has £350,000 funding for its first year of operation, confirmed in a press release from the City Bridge Trust. The hub will be run by Greater London Volunteering. As I’ve written extensively here, there are differing views on how the hub will, or should operate, and on … Continue reading “New Hub for London gets £350,000 to support civil society – hopefully including grassroots groups”

How we can apply @thersaorg vision of Convening and Change from @RSAMatthew to London’s civil society

The main theme of the address from CEO Matthew Taylor at last night’s RSA AGM was Convening and Change – which further encourages me to think that the project a group of us pitched last week could contribute to the Society’s mission … and the RSA to ours. In summary, I suggested at an RSA … Continue reading “How we can apply @thersaorg vision of Convening and Change from @RSAMatthew to London’s civil society”

City Hall hailed as potential champion for London grassroots action during consultation on #GLAcivilsocietystrategy. Now – how?

Yesterday the Greater London Authority and its consultants asked a wide range of grassroots organisations at an event in Hackney how they would like to engage better with City Hall – and how the GLA might help in their work. I think the GLA team, and their consultants TSIP and Collaborate should be pleased with … Continue reading “City Hall hailed as potential champion for London grassroots action during consultation on #GLAcivilsocietystrategy. Now – how?”