#isandwell

If you have come across iSandwell before you will know we are very passionate about putting community development at the heart of our digital agenda and feel that working with our wonderful third sector in Sandwell is the best way to achieve citizen-led digitisation. So that basically means we have not been doing it alone, we are lucky enough to be able to work with a wide range of community groups from normal people who live in Sandwell neighbourhoods via our volunteering network to social enterprise, the charity sector, and community groups. Which is why from the 13th to the 18th May we are holding the first iSandwell Digital Festival with events from partners across Sandwell. Now, it's important to note that not all of these events are going to be public due to the user group specific organisations work with but we still want to let you know what is happened - you will know if that event is public as we will add sign up details. Monday 13th May The Recovery College / MAN_AGE Social Media Survival Kit for Men It is no secret that social media can have an impact on anybody's mental health but how can men with mental health issues navigate this minefield safely. In this workshop male mental project MAN_AGE teams up with The Recovery College (Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) to work with the people they support to create a toolkit we all could use. Tuesday 14th May SAFL iPad sessions for beginners Friar Park Millennium Centre - 10am till 12pm With the invention of the tablet it has actually opened a new door for connectivity, from keeping in touch with family who have moved away to looking to tackle loneliness for older people - if you are interested in learning more about using your tablet come and learn about how you can get the best out of it in this relaxed session from SAFL. To book call: 01215560139 

Tuesday 14th May West Bromwich Albion Foundation Young Reporters Great news, FIFA has announced that the Champions League final is going to be held at West Bromwich Albion’s very own Hawthorns and we’ve tasked a group of crack young reporters to tell viewers more about Sandwell and what it means to them in the form of live reports from the home of Sandwell football itself, The Hawthorns.

Wednesday 15th May Options For Life Sensory Music Experience Acorn Lodge Hub, Langley Green 11am to 12:30pm With funding from the National Lottery, Options For Life have been doing some really innovative work. In this workshop they will be showcasing Digital Tech and how it supports participants with profound and multiple learning disabilities access music and enhance their sensory experience. To sign up email https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/options-for-life-sensory-music-experience-tickets-61241682521 

Wednesday 15th May Fab Lab Children & Digital Making Schools across Sandwell  Giving young people the opportunity to have a go with 3D printing and taking part in a series of exercises - oh, and having a go at making their own robot. Wednesday 15th May Black Country Housing Group/Click Start IT support and Benefit Advice Drop In. Central Library, West Bromwich from 10am till 4pm 

Black Country Housing Group/Click Start are offering a free IT support and benefit advice drop in. We are offering advice with Universal Credit/benefits, help with smart phones/technology, social media, job search and training as well as 1-2-1 appointments.

Thursday 16th May Black Country Housing Group/Click Start Phone, Text and Whatsapp Advice Line. Can contact me directly on 07794275047 from 10am till 12pm Anyone can call, text or WhatsApp on 07794275047 for advice with or information on a variety of issues or concerns with debt, Universal Credit/benefits, employment or training. It’s a free service but network provider charges may apply. 

Thursday 16th May Ebony Hemmings / Sandwell Council Youth Democracy Services The Power of Community Vlogging Schools across Sandwell A local creative entrepreneur is linking up with the Sandwell Council Youth Democracy Service to show local young people how they can use the medium of vlogging (video blogging) for social campaigning. 

Thursday 16th May Sandwell College #DemJam - The Future of Work in Sandwell West Bromwich From the eyes of our eye people how do they feel about the Sandwell working landscape and what changes they would like to see? Using the #DemJam hackathon model we’ll be gathering information on aspiration and the changes young people would like to see, we will also be giving young people to formulate questions to put towards our local MPs.

Thursday 16th and Friday 17th May Data Brew / Sandwell Libraries Walk out with a Website Venues across Sandwell One of the biggest issues smaller third sector organisation and community groups face when starting up is not having the funds for a professional website, sometimes an project like a Tenants & Residents Association can go without a website full stop - having a digital platform is a great tool to attract new people to your project and help with funding which is why we have enlisted the help of Data Brew with the support of Sandwell Libraries to make sure you have a professional website along with expert digital advice, free of charge. 

Around our neck of the woods we call food ‘fittle’ and if it especially a good bit of tucker, we’d call it bostin fittle, but how fit is your fittle and what are the barriers for us to eat well in Sandwell?

Well, okay, maybe we don’t go around using this kind of language any more but fittle is definitely Black Country dialect for food, I remember as a child my Grandmother used to take me for lunch while shopping in Blackheath “bostin bit of fittle ay it our chap.’

Now, we live in a different age and we face different challenges to our Grandparents generation and one of those is food poverty - it’s a prevalent issue, we hear about it in the news and almost every town in the UK has a food bank.

It’s time to have a community-led conversation about food poverty and here in the Sandwell we can proudly say we have a community that’s loud, proud and never afraid to share what they think.

That is why Sandwell Council’s iSandwell project has teamed up with the excellent Jubilee Food Network to bring you the #FitFittle campaign.

Over the next few weeks you will find displays in all of Sandwell Council Libraries and as many community centers as we can. Here, you can grab a paper plate and write down your thoughts on what you feel stops us from eating well in Sandwell.

And if you do pop down to your local library or community center you people have already been busy - we went around some of the centers on opening day of the campaign.

What will we do with all of this information?

We will take all of the findings to create a consultation report which will be presented at a food poverty hackathon event on the 6th June, following that event we will make the report public.

There will also be consultation forms across at all Sandwell food banks, any information from those will stay 100% confidential.

If you have any thoughts on tackling food poverty in Sandwell join the conversation on Twitter using the #FitFittle hashtag or if you would like to get involved in any way please do not hesitate to get in touch via [email protected] and we will love to hear from you. 

For now, ask yourself what really are the issues that face us regarding food in our wonderful area, as a community we can be at least the start of an answer to the question.

Young people’s health is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed - can this be done digitally?

By building support services via a channel that is familiar and second nature to many young people, this can help young people to reach out for advice/help without doing anything out the ordinary.

Having a digital-based platform can help people with different forms of information whether it is looking for advice or possible treatments and the advantage of this is that it is likely to be used more widely as the majority of people today are digitally and connected online. There several different apps that can help manage health issues such as self-management apps. These apps monitor moods and help the user to practice and understand self-judgement of why such feelings occurred, e.g. shame, pleasure, despair. Other apps such as GP apps can also be used. The tools allow young people to book a video consultation with GPs from the comfort of their home. Young people with health issues often have difficulties finding self-help resources and accessing services. Well-designed digital tools, like this, can help young people easily obtain and take control of their mental health.

Majority of the youth prefer for their identity to be concealed and for them to be addressed anonymously. A digital-based platform can do this, therefore more of the youth will not hesitate about reaching out. They can file their health issues/problems in an online survey/questionnaire. As services can be accessed online via a computer, smartphone or tablet, digital health can be used for anyone who doesn’t want to work face-to-face with a therapist, or anyone who finds it difficult to leave home.

Digital health resources can be available around the clock, therefore, can fit around your timings and schedule. Online or blended approaches are likely to be cost-effective and can possibly reduce the direct costs of treatment.

Youth organisations play a big part in young people today. To listen and respond to young people, organisations should aim to gain an insight of what young people’s needs are. This could be done by online surveys, feedback forms, social media and forum pages. This is also a way of getting views across as well as remaining anonymous if preferred. If young people prefer meeting people face to face, then youth organisations could set up informal focus groups or drop-in sessions where people could attend and speak about any issues they may have and delegate any new ideas which could help. These sessions could bring people together and foster a sense of confidence and self-esteem. Young People need to feel safe to in order to talk openly and express their concerns and this is very important as expressing your feelings is very important to one’s well-being.

To conclude, to reach out for help, it is not necessary for young people to step out their comfort zone to address an issue and for youth organisations to offer that help does not need direct contact with an individual - the world of online and digital have made many things accessible so why not take advantage of this tool and click away your concerns!

Last month, Leila Malik, iSandwell Digital Champion for young persons health issues ran an open data campaign looking at what are the biggest issues young people face in Sandwell. Social media affecting body image can out on top by big margin.

In this blog Leila who is herself a young person based in Tipton, reflects on this issue. You can share your views on Twitter with the #iSandwell hashtag.

Social media plays a big part in our lives. It is such a great, easy way to connect with friends via electronic communication as well as keeping up to date with your favourite celebrities – it has many benefits with so little effort from the comfort of wherever you are. So, with having many benefits, can social media still be bad for us?

Research suggests that we are sacrificing too much of our mental-health, well-being as well as our time on social media, such a communication tool could be regarded as an ‘abstract presence’, which could potentially metaphorically be presenting the ‘effects of a drug’.

Social media can bring about countless different feelings and be the cause of several issues, for instance, depression, eating disorders as well as other health issues. An endless stream of stress is often resembled as an ‘aftereffect’ of social media.  This is exposed through unimportant thoughts, such as how many likes you have on your media handle on a photo as compared to your friends. Although this type of reinforcement can build self-confidence, it can also destroy it!

Social media not only exposes young people to certain beauty standards but also develops different ways of perceiving what ‘beauty’ is. This way of perception contributes to the development of many health issues, whether it is depression or eating disorders and to begin disliking yourself aiming to be like others on social media. Research suggests that this does not just affect females but men too. The advertising of models being pretty, charming and ‘thin’ brings a sense of dissatisfaction to people with their own bodies -they are sending across the wrong message regarding what is acceptable and what is not.

There has always been a notion that models are a certain way such as slim and eye catching and has always been shown in the media. Before the progression of social media, television advertisements and billboard adverts were the way forward which meant that it was to promote products but as people are on their phone’s constantly for many hours a day, these images of being perfect and acceptable are popping up every other minute - this is a constant reminder of how todays idea of acceptable is. This is leading young people to damage their health by going on extreme diets to lose weight in order to look ‘good’. This also affects people mentally as they are irritable and desperate to fit in todays generation causing negative affects on the mind leading to depression.

Overall, Social media has many benefits, but does, indeed, have its drawbacks. Research clearly suggests that people who are on social media for more time are damaging their health both physically and mentally and to tackle this issue, people need to be educated on how social media use could be making them feel about themselves as social media use is correlated with depression, stress and anxiety.

This month's iSandwell Lab theme we are looking into how we can get the community to use and better understand open data. Digital Champion, Leila Malik from Tipton has created a project that is collecting data on youth health issues to use as data journalism and influence policy in Sandwell - here she is to tell you more.

Why do people, generally, identify health issues only if it is physically perceived?

You’ve all heard of the saying,

“don’t judge a book by its cover”

If someone looks alright from the outside does not always mean they are okay from the inside.

Mental health & physical health both reflect on a person’s well-being - the two should not be thought of as separate.

Poor physical health can lead to an increased risk of developing mental health problems, similarly, poor mental health can negatively impact on physical health.

Mental health issues can be anything that affects the mind state resulting to becoming unhappy and unwell - it is all about what we think, feel and behave and this is the makeup of one-self.

One of the biggest challenges with poor mental health is removing the stigma that surrounds it.

Many do not hesitate seeking help for a physical problem yet so many ignore emotional and mental health issues so why is that?

Is it that we feel too embarrassed, confused or scared to talk about it?                

If yes, WHY?  

If you had a broken arm, you’d seek help so why is mental issue any different?

There are a lot of issues that affect young people’s health such as; eating disorders, child obesity, bullying, social media obsession, alcohol/drugs and many more. This can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle and could also lead to depression. Therefore, it is very important to talk about every nook and cranny to whoever you feel comfortable with. It could be a family member, a friend or even a counselor, it can be anyone – Just don’t keep it all bottled up!

Although public awareness and understanding of health issues have improved dramatically in recent years, there are still people scared to speak out because of what others think.

So, what do you think can help towards increasing awareness?

To spread awareness, I feel that mental health should be added to the national curriculum and introduced to primary schools followed by in-depth at secondary schools. By this being a topic addressed and spoken about will give individuals the confidence to approach for help instead of shying away from talking about any health issues they might have.

By expressing yourself and your feelings you will have a better mindset as physical and psychological impacts can be linked and by addressing these matters could avoid any distress.               

Eliminating any health issues results to a happier you!

We would love to get your views on board, so please take a few moments out and complete the survey below to help us understand what is affecting young people and any opinions on how it can be addressed – Thank you!

Link: https://goo.gl/forms/0g8DWD4m82rGKp123

Following on from our learning in previous sessions, It’s time to look at the need for digital in the region.

What are the issues that need champions to be addressing in regards to people?

One of the discussions Ted the facilitator highlighted that the digital skill itself is getting the person to use digital, ie encouraging a user to check their emails.

Some other points to note:

People have IT skills but it’s how we unlock this and getting them engaging

Continued support going forward for third sector

Offing technological support and showing how it is done, in order to develop confidence.

Here is the group feedback from this activity.

Where do our digital skills from as an individual and where do we get our information from? That is our next activity is mapping out our feelings on this subject.

One of the issues is recognising how far technology has come, Ted from RnR brings up the subject of carbon paper to a half bemused crowd but he states the importance of the social culture that comes with digital advancement.

A few issues to highlight from this session are the importance of trial & error and self taught on an individual journey.

What about where we get our information from? Some people said assistant based apps which you can talk to and request information - we even had somebody stating they get their news from a conspiracy website.

The question is how to we take this information to grow digital champions and we can use this in regards to the people we support in Sandwell.

A participant representing Ashley Housing highlights the importance of transferable skills, finding out what people are already good at in regards to digital and then using that as a foundation to build their digital skills - this was followed up by another colleague using a persons interest base in order to use as a platform to build their skills.

Manjit from Sandwell Council highlights Sandwell is actually rated medium on the UK Government's Digital Exclusion Heatmap and it’s worth noting, and a big part of this is the culture around digital, as in a lot of citizens are unaware they do actually have digital skills and it’s a case of helping them to understand they do.

You can see the personal feedback from the wall itself.

In this blog Darren Wright a member of the 2018 iSandwell Accelerator program talks about what he’ll be doing as part of the project and how you can get involved:

All organisations collect information from the people they work with. That can range from the email addresses of members right through to complex information about services provided and people that have been supported. In most cases the information that is collected is data. Data is often described in quite technical terms and that can cause people without a technical background to be quite wary of getting too involved in data management.

Through working with many community groups, we have come to understand that a lot of the terminology around data doesn’t make sense unless you work with it every day. Translating the concepts around information management into plain English is one of the ways we can support organisations to have confidence in what they do with data. Working with iSandwell we are going to build a Data Toolkit to provide you with all the tips and tricks you need to better manage the information your organisation collects. We want to look at the day to day problems you have, in managing information, and help you to tackle those challenges.

We also want to help people to release the power of the information they collect. In any neighbourhood it is usually the local community groups that are best placed to tell the story of the people that live there. Through the information you collect you have the best understanding of the aspirations and goals of the people you work with. Through using data creatively, you can draw a picture of your neighbourhood and give a voice to your neighbours.

Our toolkit will help you to tackle things like understanding what data protection means to your organisation. Concerns about data protection regulations are very current for many organisations; we want to work with you to demystify the rules and give you practical tips for keeping information secure.

We will also look at different types of data that organisations collect to get a better understanding of why you collect things and what you do with them. Many organisations have not had the time to sit down and think about what they collect from the people they work with. We hope to help organisations to reduce some of their paperwork just through thinking about what is essential to collect.

Part of the toolkit will also explain things like open data and how it can benefit your organisation. It will look at how you can use the data you collect to promote your work and hopefully access different types of funding and support.

We want to make the toolkit as relevant as possible to the organisations and community groups of Sandwell so we will be taking our tools out to a number of community events to find out how you manage your information. We want to gather real world stories about how you use information and the challenges you face. If we can address those challenges together then we hope you can support the other organisations you work with to do the same.

Sign up: www.datatools-sandwell.org.uk