& practice research
blogging for beginners
Can the blogging phenomenon offer anything to people with learning disabilities? Yes, says Denise Stokes, who co-ordinates a pioneering group based in Coventry
Keywords comrriLinication information technology computer networks These keywords are based on ihe subject headings from the British Nursing Index.
phenomenon. So for all you returning cosmonauts, this is how it works. Switch on your broadband, select a freely available commercial site, follow the easy instructions, press
Y
O would have to have been in U outer space for the last few years to have missed out on the blogging
submit/send and hey presto! Yes. comrades, it really is as simple as that. Ten-year-olds will tell you a four-year-old could do it. The web log began around ten years ago as a geek tool for techies to keep in touch. Soon, though, its potential for mass communication led to the development of user-friendly
commercial applications and the blogging boom really took off. Now you can't access any ofthe old-style media without being directed to somebody's blog. As ever with the web, quality is variable and the sheer numbers are dizzying. Some reports reckon there are upwards of 200 million blogs in existence - and counting.
From left to right back row: Denise Stokes {project coordinator), Rob Crutchalow (volunteer), Lynne Cooper {project worker), Rosie Butterworth (media team member), Peter Cl a rk,~t member team photographer). From left to right front row: Alex Union (media team member), Suryabala Amin (media team member), Nick Ledridge (media team member), Paul Hobson (media team member).
16 LEARNING DISABILITY PRACTICE vol 11 no 3 April 2008
practice & research
Not much is known about the online habits of people living with learning disability - they don't generally feature high on the popular cultural agenda. But some intrepid pioneers from down Coventry way (www,grapevinecovandwarks.org) were determined they were not going to be left behind when the blogging boat left the harbour. They saw the potential and jumoed on board. Do visit their website or their blogsites and post a comment but please, since you have persevered thus far with the ageing print medium, read on.
Imagine a world where you don't get out much; it could be that you don't have much money, or that the buses are appalling. You might be afraid to leave home because you have been bullied or worse. Your famJiy may be just a bit over*protective or the carers in your home are short-staffed and there's no one to go with you. Perhaps you don't have many friends. All in all, not the sort of life most of us would want, but this, unfortunately, is the reality for many people with learning disabilities. Part of our core work at Grapevine is about connecting people to their communities. So, why not introduce people to virtual communities or social networks, as they are often known as well? After all, it's only what seven million of us in the UK are doing already. The internet can never replace the taste of a good pizza, the thrill of going to the movies or singing along at a rock concert with your friends. But ask anyone under 40 about Fact'book or MySpace; there's a whole new world of networking out there that some of us know nothing about. Being part of a social networking site or having a blog is a way for people who have a limited circle of friends, to make new ones, to stay in touch and to communicate on their own terms. Using a blog can create a level playing field for people who find it difficult to meet other people, difficulties that might arise because they are pre-judged for looking or acting differently, Blogging isn't a magical tool like the Babel But blogging and other forms of new internet media like podcasting can be more than a lot of chat on the internet. They can be a tool for social change too, if marginalised groups, it comes a close second. Blogs can be used by anyone with internet access and they require only limited literacy skills because blogs are not usually elaborate essays. Blogs can be created using voice recognition software, or they can be done with the help of someone else. At its most basic a blog can be about anything. Here at Grapevine we are starting to realise the potential of this new internet technology. Some of Grapevine's projects have opened up Facebook or MySpace sites to promote their work and we have supported individuals to have their own personal pages. In Grapevine's latest project, 20 young people have formed a group called We Are All The Same (WATS). The aim is to break down barriers between young people with learning disabilities and others in a bid to challenge negative attitudes. They are using MySpace to both keep in touch with each other and advertise their ignore these new forms of self-representation and communication.
'Using a blog can create a level playing field for people who find it difficult to meet other people'
such as those with learning disabilities, are able efforts to tackle prejudices. None of the to blog about their experiences and start up young people with learning disabilities or contribute to online Increasingly, debate. broadcast and print media are turning to what they call 'user-generated content' and 'citizen journalism' for stories - that's blogs, podcasts and sites such as YouTube and MySpace. If we want people with learning disabilities to get who took part had ever used MySpace. whose advantage is that anyone can access a page without signing up as a member. Other Grapevine projects have used Facebook, but the disadvantage with this site is that you have to become a member to look at the pages.
Fish in The H/tch/iifeer's Guide to the Galaxy, but noticed by the mainstream media we cannot
vol 11 no 3 April 2008 LEARNING DISABILITY PRACTICE 17
practice & research
Grapevine's Uncover media team (funded by The Big Lottery Fund) also aims to tackle attitudes and inequalities by getting the voice of people with a learning disability more widely heard through all forms of media. As part of their training project staff and team members opened personal Facebook pages. We did this to get used to talking to each other using technology. Three months later we have nearly 170 friends between eight of us. But hold on a minute, you might be thinking, we have already said that these are not 'real' friends we can meet up v^ith. Well, we know that, but it has given some of us a chance to catch up with old school friends while also making new links. There is even a whiff of a rekindled romance in the air. But do people get mixed up and believe that they have made real friends? This is something we talk about in our group and have decided that having a few virtual friends is better than no friends at all. Some members of the group are gaining more confidence from the exercise and have made connections that have led to people hitting the nightclubs of Coventry. As part of our training we made sure people were aware of the dangers of giving out personal information or accepting people they absolutely didn't know. Usually friendships are made through other friends or by looking for old school friends. We don't claim that it is totally risk free, but we are talking about adults and allowing people to take some chances. The people in our project had heard about the dangers of social networking. One or two have got a bit too enthusiastic about sending lots of things on Facebook. We have since talked about how people do get annoyed with lots of messages. We have also talked about what the owners of Facebook might be doing with our details. People are starting to be more moderate in the amount of time they are spending on Facebook: it is being replaced with going out in some cases. cause. The media team have launched two blog sites. One is for us to talk to anyone about how the media represents people with learning disabilities. We hope that this will challenge negative stereotypes. The other site is for people with learning disabilities to talk to each other about whatever they want. We hope that people will tell us a little bit about their lives and whether they feel they are treated fairly by the rest of society- We don't mind families or profes...