As we approach more organisations and have more meetings, there’s a reoccurring question that comes up. ” What’s the project called?” So far, each time I explain about NBSE, but now I have made a decision on a project name, for convenience in the first instance. So after a weekend of word juggling, the NBSE project will now be known as “We Share Stuff“. Alas, wesharestuff.com has been taken, but as the project isn’t really after that corporate bling frontage, wesharestuff.org has been secured as the first port of call for the web gubbins. Nothing there yet, but it’s a start to give us a bit of identity. Next up, logo time!

Nick Booth AKA Podnosh gets some debate going on a recent Charity Commissions report.

The Dept. for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) are currently running a consultation regarding the way forward for informal adult learning. It’s been running from January so we’re a tad late on this but the consultation is open until June 12th so at least there’s time to have a look at the proposals and responses etc from the likes of NIACE.

Just a quick aside, no more posts from me now until after June 7th. The proposed NBSE meet is planned for the following week so we’ll pick things up again about then.

WordCamp UK is an informal gathering of WordPress bloggers, podcasters, designers and developers. There is to be an event in July based in Birmingham. As NBSE recognises that blogging has a somewhat prominenet place in our plans / project, we thought it would be a good platform for us and anybody else to discuss our aims and objectives within a specific blogging context. We have requested a slot at the event and will post more information as and when we have it.

As an aside, the wordcamp UK blog has been set up and run by one of the NBSE group members, Mark Steadman.

There will be a meeting to discuss the specific direction that the NBSE model will be heading in. We will need to form a strong structure before a business plan and funding can be established and this will be carried out after the findings from the meet.

If you would like to be involved, are passionate about North Birmingham or feel you could add knowledge on gaining public funding and/or building a social enterprise please join our Facebook group and come along to the meeting.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 11^th June at a location to be confirmed.

I guess initially I’m excited by the engagement potential that social media has to offer. Furthermore, I can see the potential it has within lifelong learning, health matters and unemployment within the community. I’ve found that i’m already implementing some of this stuff so it was a case of sourcing out some like minded individuals to see if we can progress on some of the ideas.

I’m currently looking into funding options, qualification accreditation and ‘Communities of Practice’ as a potential delivery model…or something like that … Key words for me this morning are Engagement, Empowerment & Confidence!

By the way, I don’t foresee my blog posts as being formal. As we’re using it as a reference tool too, I need to just get the stuff down pretty quickly.

The Social Enterprise option came about because both me and Kevin are keen for this project to benefit our local communities. We hope we can find support for our endevours!