Kevin Field
Tech/digital in support of place based social action, community activism and organising. Supporting multiple community tech projects in the UK from accessibility mapping through to digital badging.
Location West Yorkshire, UK
Achievements
Activity
-
Tend to use Asana these days but I have used Project in the past. Currently also experimenting with Jira as part of an Agile course that I am doing alongside this one.
-
@DominoAlbert The link to TechSoup is broken at the moment but they definitely have Microsoft products on there for nfps. I think some are free and some at subsidised rate. Not sure if Project is one of them.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
The last one I can re-call wasn't successful but in the recent UK General Election there were DDoS attempts on the Labour Party website. Wanted to have a look at some of the research pieces on Research Gate about politically motivated attacks but don't have a Higher Ed email address. For those that do might be some interesting items on there.
-
Kevin Field replied to Dadons Abundu
Agree @DadonsAbundu I find it much easier to move things around in a diagram and also to get a better overall sense of timeline. I find it's easier to explain to others in a visual format as well rather than getting lost in rows and columns.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Have you had some experiences in having to amend your plan/s? Frequently, anything from withdrawal of partner in a submission to discontinuation of the technology on which the submission/project has been based.
What were some of the challenges in doing so? Communicating the subsequent mitigation to funders and having to adapt the project to ensure it is... -
@StephanieD.Shiamatey "When a goal is not clear to everyone..." This is an interesting one from the point of view of a Bid team handing over to a project delivery team on funded projects and the loss of understanding that can occur there. I've been working on various approaches to make that transition more successful and how to effectively encourage questions...
-
Kevin Field replied to Cipriano Godinho
It's always useful to understand how these lessons can also be used to improve a dynamic management process rather than gathering dust in an Excel spreadsheet somewhere as well. Asana as a tool is mentioned at the outset of this course and I've used that to template a process as tasks (in this case Bid Management rather than Project Delivery). This means the...
-
Kevin Field replied to Mark Russell
Mark, would definitely underscore your communication channels observation. In my experience, having more tools to communicate doesn't necessarily equate to more effective communication.
-
Similar with the project I have in mind Chamblis. Scope is the area for flexibility and non priority features/ additional user journeys added as potential expansion phases.
-
Kevin Field replied to John Lenehan
Hi John, don't know whether you've spotted that there's a digital learning design course also on Future Learn?
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Hi All. I'm from the UK and I'm a Bid Writer for digital and technology innovation projects. As well as corporate submissions I also do a lot of work around digital in the Third Sector. I have managed many projects over the years, particularly digital in education and engagement. A partnership bid submission is also a little like project management but in a...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Having read the use cases for Mapping for Change (very excited by their work) it'd be great to see awareness amplified through more general community organiser training. In the UK thinking about... https://www.corganisers.org.uk/training/the-national-academy-of-community-organising/ .So building awareness of these tools (& CS) at a grassroots level as a means...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Yes. I have accessed Local Authority open data sets though not contributed. The data sets were about the distribution of grant funding locally (so not enviro/sensor based). I was trying to use the data to help community groups in one area to understand that by not collaborating together around funding opportunities they were missing out in comparison to other...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Social engineering works, in some cases, because there are still many people that have significantly less familiarity with digital and therefore digital threats. There are still people coming online for the first time such as those amongst older generations or those that have been previously digitally excluded in some way. It is also unfair to consider all...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
On lost data...I'd love to say something important, but I'm going for something a bit more trivial and say recordings from our band in the early years. They are awful but make me smile. Yes, I should back these up!
-
Kevin Field made a comment
I'm interested in the course in terms of supporting voluntary/community groups to understand various aspects of digital (so not a teacher, more a volunteer advisor). I know that the National Cyber Security Centre (UK) has an initiative around the Third Sector so that is something I might explore after I've a better understanding from this course. Currently...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
What did you like? It may sound trivial given the amount of learning contained in the course but I think Dr Chie Adachi as presenter of the videos worked well as you could sense her enthusiasm for the subject matter. I've sat through some videos on other recent courses and they've been very dry so on this course they are much more engaging by comparison. What...
-
Kevin Field replied to DESTAW MATEBIE YERDAW
Hi @DESTAWMATEBIEYERDAW I can't really help answer from a wider digital learning point of view but I've definitely seen cultural differences playing a part with for example with the adoption of Open/Digital Badges.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
My key takeaways are a challenge (how can small charities and community groups be better enabled to act as learning providers through digital learning?) and a resource (the Deakin course itself) that I can point others too as digital learning is something I would encourage others to potentially offer as part of their overall service to increase their impact....
-
Hi @McIntyreNicole I also found this quite a challenge but I've had a go as I'm not directly a learning designer for a single organisation. More I need to keep an awareness of digital learning platforms and techniques for groups of small charities or community groups but I did find it useful as a reflection exercise. Particularly in reflecting on how smaller...
-
Kevin Field replied to Richard Whiteside
@RichardWhiteside I think this is also interesting from the point of view of the prototyping approach that was mentioned in one of the previous sections. Sometimes it is difficult to explain to multi-disciplinary teams that you want to develop 'holding' or temporary elements so you can iterate them rather than spending lots of time trying to deliver a finished...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Apart from curation, in what other ways can educators influence digital learning? Based on Colin's answer to one of the questions, be active in the driving/assessing/shaping/testing of innovation to ensure it is of maximum benefit to learners.
-
Kevin Field replied to McIntyre Nicole
Thanks @McIntyreNicole for asking the question and @DrLisaMilne for answering was grappling with the same language question myself!
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Specialist one, but frequently the Badge Design Canvas used as part of co-design sessions: https://archive.org/details/DigitalMeBadgeDesignCanvas There were then specific canvases around designing learning pathways with multiple stakeholders that I think had been designed as part Cities of Learning UK pilots: https://www.thersa.org/cities-of-learning but I'll...
-
Kevin Field replied to Donna Stone
Interesting @DonnaStone - Similar here in terms of supporting Youth Workers to evaluate open badge evidence. I eventually built a Typeform driven platform that guided the Youth Workers around various materials/guidance/tasks they would need to deliver and evaluate the programme. Almost like a guided Knowledge base for particular journeys/tasks, if that makes...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Used the not so snappily titled Impetus PEF 'Ready for Work' framework as part of a National UK pilot with a range of young people facing barriers to education. These outcomes and this framework being used to create a pathway of Open Badges and related materials to enable the badges to be earned in steps. Essentially exploring new methods of engagement. These...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
I found the digital learner persona/profiles element interesting. It got me thinking in terms of what the feedback mechanisms would be to keep shaping these profiles over time and how you would make these profiles more differentiated. To some extent, I guess the discussions in this course are one way that this could be done.
-
Ditto Claire and Svenning. The importance of adjacency in innovation thinking also underlines this.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
I've recently completed the Future Learn/Oxfam course 'Make Change Happen'. I took this as I am interested in the world of digital civics and digital social innovation. It was set-up exactly like this course, and similar to this course, I found the discussions the most interesting aspect, learning about social and community change projects across the World. I...
-
Kevin Field replied to Cameron Elliott
Hi @CameronElliott I agree with this. I did ITIL Service Management a few years back now and trying to squeeze all of that content into a face to face, week long course was just way too much. Would have preferred online delivery to be able to take the time to relate it to my own work examples at the time in order to properly understand it. Also in courses that...
-
@CaitlinEllis your comment has got me thinking about where I personally think I've learnt the most in my career. I've worked in various sectors but it was the Third Sector where I think I have learnt the most. Having worked with small charities, you kind of have to click all of the buttons, stitch free trials together and find creative ways to do things on...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Looking forward, I'm not necessarily sure I fit any of the archetypes, possibly a bit of the advancer? In my current role I work across multiple innovation topics (that I am rarely an expert on and the learning curve is very steep as it involves bid deadlines) so in a way, being able to do this kind of training would be a good way to help me to understand a...
-
Kevin Field replied to Donna Stone
Agree wholeheartedly on this Donna. I've just done an online course on online harms (children and young people) and been terrified at how dated my knowledge has become so quickly when I'm reading about social media platforms I have never even heard of.
-
Kevin Field replied to Patricia Llort
@SeanHolt Hi Sean, good points, different context but I also recognise the challenge of enabling curiosity where you are to some extent also bound to delivering funder outcomes. I tended towards action research funders to compensate for this.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Hello All, I have previously been a Senior Youth Worker in the UK before moving onto a role designing and implementing digital engagement/skills development projects in non formal environments. Have managed funded projects with young carers, young care leavers amongst others using things like Open Badges and co-curation platforms. Previously worked as a...
-
Just reminded myself of another project I worked on with young care leavers. We used Pearltrees for the young people to co-curate resources around the theme of independent living. I'm wondering whether that might work as an interesting engagement mechanism in this context, particularly around the contextual elements discussed in the earlier module on this course.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Bit of a tangent and going back to my old life working with digital badge programmes. People may or may not have particular feelings around the gamification of engagement/learning but certainly digital badges worked for young people wanting to collect evidence of their activities. Thinking here of a volunteering programme in Leeds, UK that was digitally...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Makerspace - yes as part of a programme with young people looking at developing IoT ideas/prototypes in response to community challenges in Manchester, UK. Also support for various hacks etc... at Mozilla's Mozfest that runs each year in London (mainly designing digital/open badges).
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Smart meters (energy consumption). Lawn flower diversity data (pollinators study). Air quality data (work project).
-
Kevin Field replied to Raul Toran
@RaulToran would you be able to provide the name of the app?
-
Kevin Field made a comment
It's a half formed thought but is based on a previous discussion contribution from someone earlier in the course, around sound and acoustics. How the change of land use impacts the sound profile of an area, exploring the potential impact on wellbeing as a consequence, the impact on wildlife e.g bats and other potential areas of concern like the potential for...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
I have circulated the link to the course to bring other potential champions along with me, particularly in relation to the Suburbia Expansion theme identified in one of the early modules. The term 'citizen sensing' and toolkit is also something that I have picked up as well as a wider understanding of what a citizen observatory is.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Off on a slight tangent but used to use an application called Stormboard with young people's groups. Being able to drop in sound clips, pictures and videos and shuffle things around visually helped the young people I was working with to assemble their ideas. Have also used Pearltrees previously so young people could co-curate learning resources on particular...
-
Thanks for posting the link Mel. Toolkit downloaded and also useful that you've provided the vocabulary i.e. 'citizen sensing'.
-
Hi Charlotte, think I was involved in something related. Might have been the same trust? It was monitoring the diversity of particular wild flower types in lawns to track how available pollen sources to bees was decreasing. Because of people getting rid of clover out of their lawn etc.. will see if I can find the link for it.
-
Tara, has a link ever been proven between certain types/levels of sound in terms of it acting as an epilepsy trigger?
-
Kevin Field made a comment
A hyper-local issue around waste incinerators being expanded at two gateways to a populated valley in an area with a significant amount of traffic pollution due to exiting motorway traffic to a nearby large town. I think through the Things Network there maybe an air pollution monitoring project active also but I need to do some more work to find it. Oddly, I...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Hello everyone. I'm Kevin Field from the UK. I'm turning up incredibly late to the course but will hopefully catch you all up soon. I've also just finished the Future Learn/ Oxfam course on 'Making Change Happen' which might also make a nice follow on course for some of you. My background is in working with community groups and young people on digital/digital...
-
Kevin Field replied to Kevin Field
Actually this is slightly underselling what I've done. I have also made my intentions known to one prominent member of my community/a community organiser. Definitely in my comfort zone but she did give positive feedback and validated a couple of my assumptions. Obviously more validation needed to be sought here. Pleasant surprise is that there are a group of...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
I've taken a slight detour from my plan (I am putting that down as being agile rather than being easily distracted) to take advantage of a possible opportunity to find a strong social/technical supporter. Strangely, I think I have helped the company to think about a way of approaching their own work that could be interesting for them in the longer term. Gives...
-
Kevin Field replied to N S
Hi N S, might you be able to use case studies/research around getting young people into work, as I'm guessing there's more been done around that than with older people? Using that research then to expand out to a wider set of potential approaches/options on which to consult some of which may not have been considered in the context of older people?
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Working on developing a mini manifesto for community groups to tackle loneliness. Have asked a political candidate for assistance to develop a manifesto as it's something I've not done before. Will use this to gauge interest and check assumptions. Currently researching loneliness and well being National movements as well as placed based action movements to...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
How will you get quick feedback and from whom? As this is a place based approach, talking to the community groups themselves directly is do-able to understand impact on membership and participation. Work with socially isolated groups to check messaging, tactics and assumptions are right (by proxy).
What will you do if your assumptions are wrong? At worst,... -
Kevin Field made a comment
Training young carers to develop media skills and campaigns to highlight their stories/situations to lobby for change as part of a range of other activities. Led to changes in the UK's Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/youngcarer/legislation
-
In hindsight I think I would form this into some kind of community pledge or mini-manifesto reflecting commitments from different stakeholders. This has also been a useful exercise as I'd completely missed out local health and social care professionals in my overall strategy and in the previous modules, rather a large omission! :/
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Loneliness is inclusive and progressive. It doesn’t care about age, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity or religion. It does, however, sadly, favour people with mobility issues and support needs. Loneliness is positively blooming in the UK. We'll all have experienced it at some point in our lives. Whether through exam stress, money worries, divorce, moving to...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
The People's History Museum in Manchester, rather than a single story, multiple stories about activism (and the bravery of people) have influenced me personally to try and make more of a difference in my community. The stories of the people behind the creation of the magnificent Trade Union banners (the banners also being entire stories in themselves) I found...
-
Building on the UK thread. The NWG Exploitation Response Unit, has resources that include stories, use cases and statistical pieces around trafficking and modern day slavery. Including infographics for easy social media dissemination. Helpfully it breaks it's messaging down into materials for particular audiences, young people, parents etc.. Other elements...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
As many have mentioned, reading through the discussion comments has been really insightful and motivational in it's own right. Not necessarily one element from the course so far stands out, more of a combination of learning enabling me to think more strategically.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
This exercise has caused me to have a Eureka! moment, especially the consideration of unusual allies element. 'Shining a light on loneliness' almost literally as we have a lighting company HQ'd in the town!
-
Kevin Field made a comment
The tool has been initially useful, because it's made me consider champions that I might not thought of previously. Housing Associations (or someone with HA's) are not organisations I'd considered before as potential champions. That might help us to come up with an alternative strategy to work around the blockers (who technically should be champions). Blockers...
-
Similar for me here. Sphere of control is the community groups we're working with directly. Sphere of influence is the wider network of community groups, other community initiatives (such as the Neighbourhood Plan) and the wider community in general (through forums and the like). In terms of sphere of interest/concern, again, similar in that it's the Local...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
The course earlier spoke about critical junctures. I influenced a very London-centric partnership to expand the scope of their intended activities to include 'left behind' towns and cities outside of London. Also to review their top down approach to look more at place based co-design and development. I think here, it worked because the Local Trust's Left...
-
@CaitlinBaker I would also possibly add neglecting personal/professional development in here in addition to self-care. Obviously self-care being the most important. However, as we're all doing this course, I guess we get smiley faces for starting to address the self-development angle ;)
-
Kevin Field replied to Silke M
Tenacity is exactly the word I was looking for earlier - thank you! I think you've hit the nail on the head for me in terms of having "realistic idea about required actions etc..." something that I can also identify with as an area to improve on personally.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Energy management. As an excitable person, I throw a lot of energy at things and essentially tire myself out trying to motivate others/make change happen. So a change in mindset from being a hare to being a tortoise and improving my ability/patience to bring others with me.
-
@RichardEnglish Hi Richard, of course. Link to Digital Social Innovation Case Studies from DSI4EU: https://digitalsocial.eu/case-studies | A link to Newcastle Uni's Digital Civics projects: https://digitalcivics.io/ | Unicef's Innovation Lab: https://www.unicef.org/innovation/topics/innovation-labs | AHRC's Connecting Communities projects:...
-
@NS Both very interesting articles. Thanks for posting these up!
-
Kevin Field made a comment
It's interesting that 'academic' is picked out here (for me) and brings up a 'power' issue from the last module. I read a paper around how UK Universities could be doing much more working in partnership with the Third Sector to support research and quantification around grassroots social challenges and issues. From my own experience, in examples where academia...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Slightly different angle, but I frequently check in to see what's happening in the field/movement of digital social innovation by looking at the case studies on DSI4EU (an EU Horizon 2020 funded project). Case studies like the Smart Citizen project, digital in support of community environmental projects/action are areas where there are interesting overlaps in...
-
Definitely agree with you on this Kate. Rather than just think, "oh no what a mess this is, where do I even start?" having that framework to examine the situation has definitely, for me, brought some clarity and the ability to start developing some form of coherent strategy.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
The considerations on power in the module has certainly helped to better shape my thinking and possibly helped me to identify more strategically how to use my own time and energy to enable positive change. This revised thinking, looking more in terms of 'guiding' groups towards empowering themselves to develop community/collective power (power with). It has...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Power from within: Believe that I can support others to recognise their role in community groups as a force for inclusion. Then likewise that individuals in these groups are able to see the participation opportunities they offer as a positive power to tackle social isolation. Power with: Create the basis/tools in which these disparate groups can form around...
-
Kevin Field replied to Kate P
Kate wholeheartedly agree with this. We have seen some moves in the UK to address funder accessibility, particularly the National Communities Lottery and NESTA where there has been a greater effort to act in a partnership brokering role, as well as shortened or video based applications. Doesn't directly address the language issue necessarily but does show...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Programme managing a National skills development initiative. Power for me came through having the agency to adapt the programme using feedback and insight gained from young people to improve it for others. In hind sight, I could've done more at the outset in terms of empowerment of others in terms of greater levels of co-design and co-development with young...
-
Thought of a final piece of advice for anyone supporting change making organisations with digital/tech. Physical demonstrators (think scale models) of tech/digital applications are far more effective than trying to explain things conceptually.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Language, or a shared language, I think is a major one. Not language in the sense of English, French etc.. more in terms of language when trying to do something in a cross sector way. It makes trying to initiate/support change very challenging. So translating technical for some community groups, social impact language for corporate, community...
-
Kevin Field replied to Sue Clarke
@SueClarke Brilliant Sue. Good luck with your explorations. I know a little about the Rhino conservation project you will probably read about on there (not that you're likely to encounter many of them in Somerset mind ;)
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Goal: Reduce social isolation experienced by a range of groups in our community
lnstitutional: Local Authority Teams can build on, support and enable locally tailored social isolation strategies that have been developed by, for and with the community. Enabling better targetting of funding and interventions.
Ideas: For community groups to understand what...
-
Kevin Field replied to Egle Kaminskaite
@EgleKaminskaite great, and would like to build on this myself, that regeneration and redevelopment of cities/and city districts should enable aspirations for those in surrounding deprived communities rather than operate as 'ivory towers'.
-
Kevin Field replied to Sue Clarke
Hi Sue. Have you seen the work that Wild Labs are doing with re-wilding? Might be worth looking at even for some of the more 'out there' developments like the Blockchain and Tuna sustainability use case. Interesting!
-
Kevin Field replied to Naomi C
Hi Naomi - an interesting one re: town as global leader in sustainability. Can you break it down slightly to make it less overwhelming? If it helps, I've tried to do this by looking at a specific theme/niche. So focusing on sustainability approaches for the Heritage Action Zone in my town for example. This is all in theory, I haven't actually support any...
-
Kevin Field made a comment
All groups in the town online, visible and working together to improve access to community participation opportunities thereby helping to reduce social isolation for all. On a personal level, I'd like to feel absolutely confident that everything has been done to explore development on brownfield sites in the UK before further environmental/habitat destruction...
-
Kevin Field replied to Barbara VP
Could add 'disruption'/'disruptive' to the buzzwords?
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Consideration is made re: the pace of change but maybe there is something to expand on around the unevenness of the potential benefits of change/transformation? Thinking here of the digital divide/digital exclusion for example.
-
Kevin Field made a comment
Hi All,
Playing catch-up on the course. Have previously been involved with supporting young carers and young care leavers in terms of advocacy and to effect change in the UK. Currently exploring the role of digital/tech in support of place based social action/community activism across a range of themes. Previous roles include Youth Work and rural communities...
