This evening it's the long awaited (by
me, anyway) panel presentation for Amplified Leicester at
Phoenix Square film and Digital Media Centre: “Amplified Communities of Faith
or Belief”. The whole presentation was recorded; you can watch it on vimeo.
Groups working in the Protected
Characteristic of Religion or Belief (as described in the Equality Act 2010)
are some of the biggest users users of social media. But for what purposes?
Each of the panellists shows how their organisations use social media to
different ends - some surprising and unexpected - related to extending spheres
of influence; promoting effective social action; engaging children and young
people; fostering rational discussion and debate.
In the photo above, Sue Thomas, Professor of New
Media in the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University,
introduces the panel (left to right, Matt Hughes, Richard Hopper, Sughra Ahmed,
me).
Matt Hughes Matthew works at the Samworth Enterprise
Academy, a Church of England school in Leicester which has focuses on the
Christian ethos in education. He manages IT provision there, which involves
response to social media. He also runs a training, design and development
social enterprise called Engage Multimedia who work with various charities and
community groups in the local area.
Richard Hopper Richard is a science researcher at De
Montfort University. He is also Secretary of the Leicester Secular
Society, the oldest active one in the world – and still based in the first
meeting place in the world purpose built for secular discussion. Richard
recently set up a Facebook group to promote the society. The group
now has over 50 members.
Sughra Ahmed Sughra is a Research Fellow in the Islamic
Foundation’s Policy Research Centre. She is a Trustee of the Interfaith
Network UK and Director of Leicester Council of Faiths. She recently published Seen and Not Heard: Voices of Young British Muslims. She organised flashmob iftar during
Ramadan and “Picnic in the Park” thereafter, feeding homeless people and
refugees, coordinated through Facebook.
I’ve done a good job selecting
interesting panellists – too good a job! Each of them gives a presentation
lasting ten minutes then takes a few questions. A few too many questions maybe.
The cumulative effect is that, having left myself to last, I have hardly a
couple of minutes to sum up and to say something interesting about use of
social media by the Council of Faiths. I hope I manage to do that; for once,
less really is more!
