We are currently organising social media surgeries in Merthyr Tydfil and Ebbw Vale, Wales. Have a look at the following two events hosted by A465.com, an initiative for people living and working in the Heads of the Valleys.

Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Social media surgeries
Orbit Business Centre, Merthyr Tydfil
8:30AM – 10:30AM session for businesses
12:00 noon – 2:20PM session for community groups

Friday 24th February
Social media surgeries
The General Offices, Steelworks Road, Ebbw Vale
9:00AM – 11:00AM session for businesses
12:30PM – 2:50PM session for community groups

As you can see above there are two dates, each of which has two sessions. You can find a whole lot more event info on the A465 site or have a look at the flyer for business and the flyer for community groups/projects. Book your free place now.

Ar hyn o bryd rydyn ni wrthi’n trefnu cymorthfeydd cyfryngau cymdeithasol ym Merthyr Tudful a Glynebwy. Gweler y digwyddiadau isod sydd yn cael eu cynnal gan A465.com, menter i bobol sydd yn byw ac yn gweithio ym Mlaenau’r Cymoedd.

Dydd Mercher 22ain mis Chwefror 2012
Cymorthfeydd cyfryngau cymdeithasol
Canolfan Busnes Orbit, Merthyr Tudful
8:30AM – 10:30AM sesiwn i fusnesu
12:00 hanner dydd – 2:20PM sesiwn i grwpiau cymunedol

Dydd Gwener 24ain mis Chwefror 2012
Cymorthfeydd cyfryngau cymdeithasol
Swyddfeydd Cyffredinol, Heol Gwaith Dur, Glynebwy
9:00AM – 11:00AM sesiwn i fusnesu
12:30PM – 2:50PM sesiwn i grwpiau cymunedol

Mae dau ddyddiad o ddau sesiwn fel y dwedais uchod. Rwyt ti’n gallu ffeindio mwy ar y wefan A465 neu cer i’r daflen i fusnes a’r daflen i grwpiau cymunedol. Archeba dy le am ddim nawr.

Fantastic blog post by Kevin Marks, one of my favourite tech commentators, about the folly of encoding your URL into a QR code.

The Guardian published an article I wrote about the National Theatre Wales Community today in their Culture Professionals Network. Here’s the link – it’s called “The next step to social networking is to build your own online community” and looks at how the community, which is built on the Ning platform,  has been used by the theatre to develop as a company.

One of the most important ways in which the community has affected the growth of the company has been to enable them to invite participation in their development of policies and initiatives. Everything that they do is communicated through the community, including the framing of their approach to commissioning, casting and theatre criticism. The community site allows the to throw the virtual doors open and invite comments and debate about their work and the direction of theatre in Wales.

Encouraging people to participate in an online community isn’t easy – it’s not just a simple matter of ‘build it and they will come’. It takes commitment from the people at the top to set participation in online discussions by the staff as a clear priority for the work of the company, something that John McGrath the Artistic Director has given in spades.

John is one of the most committed bloggers on the site, regularly sharing his thoughts and reflections about the work of the theatre, responding to people who seek his views. We trained their staff to administer the network, to blog and to help people to feel welcome and encourage them to participate in the debates and discussions held online/

One thing is certain – setting up an online community for a major national institution has been an exciting process and has brought some changes to the way that the company operates – it changes the demands on the staff team, requires training and guidance and it changes the feeling that people have about the institution – hopefully people have felt more involved and listened to.ask for his thoughts and leading debates about where theatre is going – see for example this recent discussion on the shape of political theatre.

There is still a lot to do for the company to realise all the opportunities to connect and communicate with the arts community in Wales that this resource offers them, but they have made a tremendous start and we wish them all the best as they continue to develop their online community, and the theatre community as a whole in Wales.

The pre-trial process of Bradley Manning has started in the United States, with the 24 year old army private accused of the biggest leak of classified information in military history. National Theatre Wales is creating a new play written by Tim Price about the alleged wikileaker and the time he spend in Haverfordwest in Wales.

Tim has blogged on the Guardian about why he is writing the play and I have been commissioned by NTW to design the multiplatform element of the show. There is a group on NTW’s community site (built by NativeHQ) where the show and the issues around it are being discussed.

More will be revealed as we develop the show, which will open in Bradley Manning’s own Haverfordwest school in April, but for the moment, all I will say is that I’ve been thinking about how a live theatre performance can interact with a global audience through the internet, and how it can move beyond the broadcast thinking of the approach taken by National Theatre Live 

We are helping the Size of Wales with their environmental campaign. Check out the video to find out more. Our work is focused on using social media to raise awareness and money.

Please leave a comment on the YouTube vid which will help to boost its ranking. You can also like the Facebook page to follow the latest news. For each Like, Size of Wales’ partners will contribute £1 to the fund.

More info on this project to follow shortly.

I couple of weeks ago I was invited to give a presentation to a group of Social Entrepreneurs at a great conference organised by the Wales Co-Operative Centre and the Welsh Social Enterprise Coalition in Swansea. Wales has a long tradition of Social Enterprise going back to the 19th Century, from Robert Owen to Aneurin Bevan.

The presentation was livestreamed, and the video is available online here. If you’re interested, the software I used for the slideshow is Prezi.

We’ve just started a NativeHQ page on LinkedIn. We’re still testing the service as a business in order to figure out its value. Do subscribe if you want to follow our posts on the use social media in the real world.

Rydyn ni newydd dechrau tudalen NativeHQ ar LinkedIn. Rydyn ni’n wrthi’n profi’r gwasanaeth fel busnes er mwyn ymchwilio ei werth. Tanysgrifia os wyt ti eisiau dilyn ein cofnodion ynglyn a’r defnydd cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn y byd go iawn.