Phew, we’ve been very busy and out and about lately.

CORE PROJECTS

We’ve been out of County Hall and working hard on delivering Help Out and Casserole.

Help Out is a new tool which helps people get out in their local environment and make it better. Surrey residents are rightly proud of the lovely place they live. We’re finishing off the technical development for the service this week, but as important, we’ve been out talking to residents and groups in Epsom and Ewell about how they’d like to get involved in contributing in easy, low-commitment ways to keeping it nice.  We’re launching a trial of the prototype in January – so if you know anyone who lives or works in Epsom, please forward this email, get them to sign up at http://surrey.helpout.org.uk or drop me a line at ingrid@wearefuturegov.com

Casserole – a project which reduces social isolation by helping local people share meals – is currently in trial in Redhill. Project manager Murtz Abidi has already been sharing some early lessons and there are opportunities for you to get even more involved. We’re planning a Saturday morning event in Redhill in mid-January drop Murtz a line or join the Casserole mailing list if you’re interested in finding out more or coming along to meet some of the cookers and diners.

HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?

Look out for a brief survey coming your way.  We’ll be asking you about learning points from Future Surrey.  It’s really important that we understand the impact of the work we’ve done together, for building and growth in Surrey and in other councils.  We’re looking for anything from “It helped me see things in a different way” to “I’m working with someone I met at SurreyCamp” – etc.  If a survey ain’t your thing, please feel feel to drop me a line and we can have a quick chat by phone, over a coffee or reply to this post.

FINAL EVENT AND A NEW SERIES OF EVENTS

We’ve been working with Surrey colleague Kate Mathews on a developing an open space series of events coming to you in the new year. The first will be supported by the FutureGov team and will be a chance to hear more about the Future Surrey projects and a recap of the programme as a whole and how you can take it forward. Look out for more information.

As part of the Help Out development, I’ve been talking to a lot of people around Epsom and Ewell about how they are or could help out in the local environment. We’re looking at how people find out about opportunities and what the benefits are of having increased participation in keep both town and countryside looking great.  Some of these benefits are hard to measure, but have some pretty sound theoretical underpinning.  Like the broken windows theory which posits that keeping urban environments nice and sorting things that aren’t right (litter, graffiti, etc)  reduces further damage and has an impact on other anti-social behaviour including criminality.

less of this please...graffiti in Epsom town centre

We hope another benefit of Help Out will be in its transparency and in the ability to view all the great stuff people are doing locally.  Right now it’s hard to see in one place where individuals, groups and local authorities are doing work rectifying problems or maintaining and improving the natural environment.  We hope that one of the benefits of help out will be in its social proof.  That is, your neighbours are out there helping out, picking up litter, etc – so that should encourage more people to do so and discourage others from dropping rubbish in the first place.  By linking Help Out actions to social media, we’ll be able to spread the word wider and hopefully influence more people to lend a hand, or at least not make things worse.

And other benefits…

But as I’ve been working on Help Out, I’ve found another benefit, too. One that I think I’ll struggle to articulate in a business case.

It’s connection to tradition. 

There’s something about valuing tradition. Sometimes the old ways aren’t the best, but I believe there’s something really connecting about understanding and taking part in old folk ways.

I’m not suggesting that everyone go out and join a Morris troupe (although as a foreigner, I never really understood why it gets such a bad rap). But one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about the Help Out project is working alongside local residents and learning ancient land management techniques. Earlier in the autumn I learned about coppicing hazels and last week I was out with Epsom and Ewell’s countryside services laying hedges in Horton Country Park.

a volunteer trims up the laid hedge

Hedge laying is a technique used to create stock proof fences – made out of living trees. Basically you plant the trees densely in a row, let them grow, cut almost all the way through them, and then ‘lay’ them over.  In the Spring, the trees will send up new growth from the cut, which over time creates a thick dense hedge that no errant sheep or cattle can work their way through.  But hedges have other benefits, too. They’re an important home for wildlife, supporting biodiversity. And they’re part of the visual aesthetic landscape of the English countryside.

Stewart Cocker of the Epsom and Ewell countryside team binds in a hedge

I learned how to use a billhook (the hand tool used to in laying hedges). I’ve also learned how to identify new woodland species and learned things like how to identify ash in the winter and that it will burn more easily in the green than most wood.

A mean blade: the billhook

These are all things that I’d like my son to know about. Because I didn’t grow up here, these aren’t things I knew already, but now I can teach him.

Connection to community:

I’ve also really enjoyed meeting all the volunteers and communing over tea and delectable brownies made by Gill Sanders – a helper-outer who also writes a cool conservation blog.  I can see that they’ve developed a real sense of connection to the land and to the community through their efforts. And even though I’m more of a participant observer, I have, too. It’s an amazing feeling knowing that the work you’re doing is on a hedge planted by boy scouts 15 years ago and that another group of volunteers laid the hedge the first time and another group in some years time will go back over the work that I did in Horton Country Park with volunteers and the countryside team from Epsom and Ewell, too.

Delicious brownies demolished at tea break

At Casserole the 2 week trial period has been well under way with 3 Diners being cooked for by 6 Cooks. After a couple of visits to local community groups and a market stall in Redhill town we managed to drum up interest and signup 22 Cooks and 4 Diners. In a small and effective trial we are looking to test how Casserole could work in a few different settings ranging rom a highly instructive and involved set up (where Casserole is involved in knowing each detail about the meal, time and date which it is going to be shared) all the way to having very little involvement at all (after literally just introducing a Cook to a Diner).

Already from the small prototype trial we’re beginning to get an idea of what exactly is important for both the Diners and Cooks. We’re learning what the most important areas are to address when it comes to trust and safety of the service as well as what the best way of running it from the users perspective will be. One area that is already emerging is the importance of a text service in communicating with all involved. Another area which has been highlighted is the importance of knowing what to ask at the signup stage for example knowing more about the person in terms of what they do, where they work and who they might know already in the Casserole project, we’ve found that when it comes to matching up people and introducing them having this kind of information makes it easier for people to understand just what type of person the Cook or Diner is.

All of these interesting findings will make it easier to start to understand and plan around how the long term Casserole service should operate in Redhill all the way way signing up to cooking and sharing meals. In the new year we are planning to run a fun event in order to share and celebrate what we’ve learnt from the first trial in Redhill and also showcase what we are planning to carry on running. Watch this space and keep your diaries open around mid January, we’ll be sending invitations our very soon, so if you want more info feel free to get in touch by joining our mailing list or dropping Murtz Abidi a line at murtz@wearefuturegov.com

I’ve been out and about in Epsom and Ewell, meeting lots of people, attending Christmas fairs, driving the wrong way into a tip on my way to the depot, helping the police with their enquiries, petting dogs while chatting to their owners, clearing ditches and laying hedges (more on that later). All of this in service of Help Out.

So what is Help Out. It’s a new approach to helping people help out in their local environment. It’s a web based application that will:

• visualise the existing work that volunteers do keeping town and countryside well maintained
• help people identify possible opportunities to help – either in group activities and planned tasks or in single one-off activities they can do on their own, like litter picking
• help groups publicise and recruit people to planned tasks – such as countryside management or group activities in parks and neighbourhoods, like a street cleaning or a graffiti clear-up ‘party’
• provide a place that individuals can report defects in the environment or opportunities to make things better.

Welcome to another Future Surrey update. We’ve been out and about in Surrey doing some very exciting work lately, and it’s not too late for you to get involved.

CORE PROJECTS

Come find out more about Casserole this weekend!  It helps bring people together over food. It encourages people who are already cooking to make just one extra portion to take to someone in their local area who might need it.  And if you’re in the Redhill area, come by and see Murtz and Joe this Saturday. They’ll be in the Redhill market recruiting cookers and eaters for a two week trial. (I also hear they may have treats to hand out!)

Casserole will be at the Food Lovers Market in Redhill, Saturday 25 November

Help Out visualises all the great work that residents are doing as citizens or volunteers to keep Surrey looking lovely.  It’s a tool that encourages people to help out in the environment in a group or on their own.  You can help out Help Out by providing some feedback, answering some questions or maybe even getting out there and doing something! Sign up here to stay in touch: http://surrey.helpout.org.uk  If you have any contacts with sporting clubs, groups, or businesses in the Epsom and Ewell area that might be looking for projects, drop me a line!

SURREYCAMP: THE REUNION

Did you attend SurreyCamp (or maybe wanted to) and would like to find out how to apply the Future Surrey approach of using design principles and social networking tools to help take your ideas further? If so, come along to SurreyCamp reunion on the afternoon on Monday 12 December at Conquest House in Kingston. There will be a few short presentations and a series of very practical, hands-on workshops. Sign up here. 

CO-PRODUCTION 

We had an amazing two half-days working with you on co-production.  I think it’s fair to say that it’s one of the few events I’ve ever been to where the immediate feedback has been “I will change the way I think and how I behave with others.” Great stuff! Read all about it here.   And we even co-produced a handy guide to sabotaging any effort to work effectively with users and residents. See how many behaviours you recognise.

WARNING AND INFORMING

Are you ready for winter? Is your social media? I recently spoke to Surrey’s local resilience forum on using social media during adverse events. It’s great to see a whole range of professionals from different services prepared to work together in new ways.

DON’T FORGET THE MUFFINS

It’s another  Muffins and Mingles at County Hall on 30 November. Join members of the Future Surrey team to find out more about what we’re doing or get advice on social media and/or user-centred design.  Come see us in Costa from 11 to 12 on Wednesday 30 November.

Photo credit: Jit Bag on Flickr

Roll up, roll up! Casserole is hitting the markets. This Saturday 26th November we’ll be running a Casserole stall at the Redhill market where we want to talk to all sorts of people about what we are doing. We want to spread the word about Casserole in Redhill and we’ll be on high street from 9.30 onwards so if you are passing by make sure you say hi. We’ll be explaining everything about Casserole and asking people what they think as well as trying to get more people on board with the pilot that we are running in the coming weeks.

Casserole will be at the Food Lovers Market in Redhill, Saturday 25 November

If you are out and about in Redhill or know someone who lives close by make sure you tell them to visit our stall, we’ll have tea and coffee and maybe even a little snack! If you are interested in knowing more about the trial then feel free to get in touch with Murtz (murtz@wearefuturegov.com) and if you are interested in signing up for the 2 week pilot then simply fill in the online form so we can get in touch with you.

The trial itself is simple as pie, all we want to do is ask a few people to cook 2 meals in 2 weeks and share this with someone we match them up with in their area. We’ll introduce everyone first and also make sure that everyone is cooking and eating things that they like.

If you are interested in being a “Cook” the form is here or if you are more interested in being a “Diner” the form is here.  If you are unable to access these forms from work and can’t get them at home either, drop Murtz a line a murtz@wearefuturegov.com and he’ll hook you up to cook or eat.

Photo credit: Jit Bag on Flickr

Did you attend SurreyCamp (or maybe wanted to) and would like to find out how to apply the Future Surrey approach of using design principles and social networking tools to help take your ideas further? If so, come along to SurreyCamp reunion is on the afternoon of Monday 12 December. There will be a few short presentations and a series of very practical, hands-on workshops.  You can get more details and free tickets here.  This will also be a chance to get a detailed look at the Future Surrey projects.

Growing up in America in the 70s, I was inundated with anti-littering messages.

• Woodsy the Owl told me, Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute!
• The crying Indian, [heavy handedly] guilted us all into realising we were destroying our country with our casual littering. (YouTube video)
• And then there was the one that played on the sensitive cultural stereotypes of my home state: There ain’t no lower class than Tennessee Trash.  (YouTube video)

What strikes me now is that these messages sort of stop with personal responsibility to NOT litter. There’s not a clear call to action for helping to clean up and help out with the local environment.

Although the Tidy Britain cinema and tv ads of the 60s and 70s weren’t a part of my growing up, a Surrey park user told me about them yesterday.  There’s a really interesting difference between the US and UK versions.  Although they also play up the guilt angle, there’s something else there, too. The idea of people taking action. (Like this COI video with its Litter Defense Volunteers)  Or how there’s more than one negative impact from littering, such as the draining of the public purse.  (Like in this video where New Seekers singer tells her bandmate that cleaning up litter costs £25 million each year)

But it seems to me that there’s isn’t much of that same call to action now. Where there is, it’s largely limited to the “just don’t mess things up” rather than we all have to help out to keep things nice.

Surrey has a beautiful environment. Its residents are rightly proud and have high standards. But the environment is something that always needs looking after, even if everyone behaves well. Leaves fall, things decay, weeds grow. But there’s not as much money   Surrey’s residents will need to take a more active role in keeping this area a fantastic place to live and work.  We need low cost easy-to-use tools that make it easy for people to help out in the place where they live through micro-volunteering and to low-commitment casual volunteering on organised schemes.

The funny thing is, there’s lots of this going on in Surrey already. But it’s not easy to find out about it and it’s not always obvious what the effects are. Not because they aren’t good, but because they’re not always shared as well as they could be.

As part of the Future Surrey programme, we are working on some ways to address these issues.  Making Surrey even lovelier and showing residents how their neighbours are helping out.

Introducing HELP OUT

Help Out is a tool which will help people

• find one-off opportunities to support their local community by improving the place where they live
• report problems in the local area (e.g. graffiti, fly-tipping, dirty street signs, fallen leaves and opportunities to beautify the area.)
• see what issues have been reported
• claim issues they’d like to fix or make better
• see what other individuals are doing
• see what the council and community groups are doing to improve the local area, including responding to reported issues
• find opportunities to work with existing casual volunteering programmes run by local volunteer trusts, countryside services and park rangers among others.

How we’re Helping Out: 

Working with practitioners across Surrey and with residents in the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, we are using a rapid prototyping process which allows us to flexibly design and develop the whole service: tech, communications, social media integration and delivery.

This means we’re be talking with local people about their attitudes to the place where they live. What makes them proud. What makes them want to contribute. And how they want to engage.  And by the 19th of December, we’ll have something to show potential users and practitioners and be able to make some clear decisions about how and whether we’ll fully develop Help Out (but we think this is a goer).

Help us out with Help Out:

To find out more and keep informed about Help Out sign up at http://surrey.helpout.org.uk or contact Ingrid Koehler at ingrid@wearefuturegov.com

Crisis communications is changing. Social media is changing the immediacy and tone of of communications and engagement during adverse avents. The looting we saw this summer was partly spread by mobile access to social networks and closed network messaging services like Blackberry Messenger.

There are already some great examples of local authorities and local emergency services using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter as well as interactive websites to support emergency preparedness. Agencies and citizens are using them as tool during the event, too. Lives have been saved because people have been able to help their neighbours during floods and fires. Emergency services can’t be everywhere.

And just as important being ready to use social media in the recovery phase. Local authorities, self-organising citizens and the voluntary sector have been using social media to help people in need and cleaning up after flood, looting and snow.

Earlier this week I presented to the Warning and Informing Communications group of Surrey’s Local Resilience Forum and shared ideas of what others are doing and how social media could make Surrey’s crisis communications even better.

Download the slides with notes from the Social Media group on the Future Surrey network or here if you have access to Slideshare. 

We’ve just come off two great (half) days on a co-production session. The information we shared about the session was deliberately vague. No agenda. No stated outcomes. Just an invitation to spend some time talking about co-production.

We did this because we wanted to co-produce this event with Surrey staff. It often takes a lot of courage to just ‘let stuff happen’, but we were confident enough that our facilitators Johnnie Moore and Andres Roberts would do a great job. (And they did.)

They started off the event with a couple of ice-breaking and reflection exercises. And then we moved into an open space format.  Open space is an approach where participants set the agenda, perhaps along a loose theme. So we were all chatting about different topics – the important thing there is that you only go to the topic that interests you most. If the topic doesn’t interest you so much after you get into it, you’re free to leave.  People discussed everything from more productive meetings to project planning for co-production to better approaches for internal comms to make sure that people were able to bring in the spirit of co-production and sessions talking about co-production with real people, too! We even had a session where we co-designed the ultimate way to sabotage the co-production process (in an effort to identify behaviours that may be happening all the time).

An open space agenda

At the end, we had some reflection for feedback. It was amazing how many people shared some quite emotional reflections. For myself, I felt the two days had actually made me feel more connected to Surrey and even more energised about some of the tasks ahead. One person reflected on how they had been inadvertently shutting down the space for creativity and collaboration with others through their behaviour and that they would work to stop that – perhaps some of the most honest and affirming feedback I’d ever heard. Some people talked about how they worried they didn’t quite in in Surrey, but now they felt they really did and they’d met new colleagues and made allies from old ones. A small start, maybe – but truly indicative of the way that doing things in a different way can have a lasting effect on people’s work behaviours.  That’s what transformational change is all about.

Sharing offers to work together.

Interestingly, straight after I had a great chat with people from the Community Partnerships team about running open space events in locality. Including strategy, background research and recruiting participants. It’s really exciting to see people trying new approaches and using techniques that allow us to work more closely and not in a us-v-them approach that community meetings sometimes come to.