John Coster Blog: It All Begins on Monday

Next Monday I’ll be in Manchester to deliver a 10 minute presentation. Not to difficult for me you might think, but this has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The reason? It’s the opening shot in the big push towards the Community Media Hub at Phoenix Square to cover the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

The theme for the day is “Will citizen media take over the 2012 Games?”

The event website says:

“This day-long event will be the first public presentation of Professor Andy Miah’s Media Blueprint for London 2012,an independent proposal to create a UK wide Underground Media Zone during the London 2012 Games. The event is co-sponsored by Abandon Normal Devices, the London 2012 Creative Programmers Network and theUniversity of the West of Scotland.

http://www.soarmagazine.co.uk/2010/09/30/john-coster-blog-it-all-begins-on-monday/

Leicester Speaks in Local Democracy Week 11-17th October

A partnership of more than 30 Leicester organisations and community groups has come together to give local people the chance to voice their opinions, share their ideas and debate issues ranging from the case for an elected mayor to the needs of young people in events taking place in venues across the city between 11 and 17 October.

Some 25 events have already been organised as part of the Leicester Speaks initiative which is thought to be the most ambitious programme ever mounted to mark the annual Local Democracy Week in the UK.

Read More - Leicester Speaks in Local Democracy Week

Citizens Eye Ipadio INO Mag - Ex Offenders News Agency

Leicester Documentary Club

It was great to watch the 3.45pm screening yesterday of The Wildest Dream at Phoenix Square - I spoke to the audience before the film, telling them about the Leicester Documentary Club & next January's planned DocFilm Festival. 

It was a good turnout and nice to meet up with friends. Views were mixed about the film. Most felt the scenery & camera work were fantastic but the way the film was planned out and some of the shots were a bit cheesy! 

If you get a chance to see it at the Phoenix I would recommend it.

Visit the Leicester Documentary Club facebook group

John Coster Blog: The Young Get Inspired

The media appears to be full of horror stories at the moment about the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The sporting events get underway in 10 days and large parts of the build seem to be incomplete.

I would like to see the event go ahead for all the athletes who have been training hard and are using the Games as preparation for London 2012. But also for all the children across the world who will be spurred on to take up sport. It’s these large-scale events that showcase competition at its best and shines a light into a world of opportunity for developing countries.

http://www.soarmagazine.co.uk/2010/09/23/john-coster-blog-the-young-getting-inspired/

Games Maker or Community Reporter – who’s more important?

The applications for the 2012 Games Volunteer programme are now open to the general public. It’s a fantastic opportunity for people across the country to experience the world’s biggest sporting and media event up close and personal.
The application asks if you want tickets to the events and to meet the athletes etc. If you answer ‘yes’ your application is likely to be rejected. Why? When you volunteer at these kind of events you could be placed absolutely anywhere in the games system and positioned away from the action. You may in fact see no sport at all.

This is how volunteering is sometimes. Doing what needs to be done rather than what you want to do. The fantastic thing about volunteering is you may enjoy what you do and be surprised to find that by undertaking a certain task you find enjoyment and have developed personally, by unexpectedly challenging yourself.

Read more of Soar Community blog

Latest Soar Community & Back Issues - Read Online

Latest issue September 2010

Soar Community Issue 6

Soar Community Issue 5

Soar Community Issue 3

Soar Community Issue 4

Soar Community Issue 1

Soar Community Issue 2

Nearly 3 years....

It's been nearly 3 years since I started up Citizens Eye. After the success of the Media Centre for Sky Ride we are planning the next one for the Leicester Marathon on Sunday 10th October. I'm also having a meeting with Geoff Rowe of the Comedy Festival about running a Media Centre throughout their event in February 2011....should be a laugh!! Pun intended.

Plans are picking up speed for Community Media Week that takes place between 8-13th November. It's a full timetable of events & activities across the city & county. This is the reason I've been looking for previous reports or studies that we took part in to build a portfolio of evidence for.....well I'm not sure who but I guess its reflection time. It will 3 years to the day I went to prison on 5th October (2007).

One of the Governor's of HMP Welford Road (where I spent the first week) has asked me to visit his office at the prison to discuss going back to talk to prisoners about 2nd chances & opportunities when they are released. It will be a real challenge to walk back through the gates that I entered in the back of one of those big white trucks but it should help.

John Coster Blog: So what will be our Legacy?

Whenever I speak to someone about the Olympics and its arrival in London during the summer of 2012, it’s a mixed reaction. There are roughly two schools of thought I’ve met.

The first are what I call the ‘Doomers’. It’s a disaster waiting to happen ‘look at Athens 2004’, the opening ceremony will be rubbish compared to ‘Sydney 2000 or Beijing 2008’, we don’t have the money. The other is the ‘Boomers’. They love it. In fact, once you get them started they remember where they were when Steve Redgrave did this and Steve Ovett did that…does Chris Hoy really eat Shredded Wheat?

http://www.soarmagazine.co.uk/2010/09/09/john-coster-blog-so-what-will-be-our-legacy/

Citizens Eye Ipadio Ride Leicester Bike Team

Citizens Eye Ipadio Interview With Apphia

Citizens Eye Ipadio Leicester Documentary Club

Community Action Photographers (CAPs) Get The Job Done!

Well done to the CAPs or Community Action Photographers led by co-editors Tara Gatherer & Andy Williams.

They put in a great effort with their team and have been rewarded with a great article on page 12 of today’s Leicester Mercury – http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Citizens-Skyride-photos-capture-atmosphere-day/article-2589849-detail/article.html

The thisisleicestershire website has a photo gallery of their images -http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/skyridegallery.html

And also BBC Leicester has used their images in a photo gallery – http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/leicester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8957000/8957174.stm

British Cycling Website Uses Citizens Eye Ipadios

The British Cycling website posted information to do with Leicester's Sky Ride event and used 3 Ipadio reports created by our Community Reporters Tina Barton & Elisha Shamba.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/recreation/article/rec20100829-Report--Sky-Ride-Leicester-0

John Coster Blog: We came We Reported We Conquered

Sky Ride and the 8th Bike Film Festival are now over and the feedback from people has been fantastic.

The 50 community reporters did a great job of capturing the cycling event that saw over 12,500 people enjoy the traffic-free streets of Leicester.

Read more of the blog