A lightbulb moment

I love this picture, the room is in Saddlescombe Farm, and apart from the lightbulb looks almost exactly as it is drawn in a book about the farm in the 1860’s. If a funny little place, only open to the public a couple if days a year, but right onthe South Downs way. I spent a (freezing) Tuesday afternoon there, planning with colleagues how we might make it more accessible. We could try selling tea there on Summer week-ends, but we can’t attract too many cars there, as it’s such a sensitive site. So our main target will be walkers and riders, and perhaps we can attract people down from the top of Devil’s Dyke.

On Friday I found myself sitting at head office, working out the terms of reference for a proposed Technology for Engagement Group. It includes a number of people on the succesful Virtual Tours group (we had our phpto taken afterwards for the staff magazine, to celebrate our JODI award). We plan to support properties looking into using new technology for interpretation and it was interesting to hear the ideas that were coming in – Tyntesfield are exploring “mscapes” or mediascapes, and I’d not heard of these before. Other properties were thinking about podcasts and vidcasts and user generated web content.

The group also plans to be a first point of contact for companies and researchers approaching the Trust with innovative ideas, and I was keen that we should be a fixed term group, so we discussed running for two years. And maybe finishing with a technology conference.

Anyhow, today I’m thinking that we haven’t yet thought about how new media might improve access to Saddlescombe without attracting cars.

Simon Jenkins brings people to my blog

I’m looking at my blogs stats, and seeing a small but healthy level of interest. What is interesting is that a number of people pitch up here after searching for “Simon Jenkins” I’ve just Googled it, and my blog doesn’t appear on the first page. I’m too lazy to look further, but I’m guessing any link to me is pages deep in Google, so those coming to me through that search must be determined researchers. I bet they’re disappointed, my only reference to Simon Jenkins thus far has been a poorly typed “live” blog from his speech at a conference.

I feel its my duty to offer something controversial, like “Why Simon Jenkins is Wrong”. But, Google that, and you get a parade of similarly titled blog posts. So I simply take this opportunity to say thank you to him for driving a little attention my way, my drivel isn’t worthy to be compared to his writing.

Our new chair has a vision for Trust, which he mentioned in that speech but also sets out in an article for the Times. There’s a lot in there I like: he talks of our house managers becoming impresarios, creating engaging atmospheres in our mansions. But there is something I take issue with. He talks of the National Trust being a victim of overbearing Health and Safety. And its not the first time that he’s said that.

This role I have sits me on the regional Health and Safety Committee and from my limited experience it isn’t legislation, or the HSE, that is the problem. The committee considers actual accidents that have happened, and tries to learn lessons from them that might prevent the same thing happening again. It involves a lot of people, but it doesn’t happen often, and I think my time is well spent. Broadly speaking, I see the HSE doing the same thing on a national scale.

It isn’t legislation or the HSE that decides whether “the manager of an adventure centre in the Lake District has to fill in a risk assesment for each party of schoolchildren.” (Which in fact they don’t. Its up to the leader of the school-party to make the risk assessment. What we do, to help them, is give them a pre-prepared form or “exchange of information” which lists the possible risks that we are aware of.) It is not “Overzealous health and safety regulations” which “are impeding more public participation in our properties.” It is greed. It is compensation lawyers, and the people who see the National Trust as wealthy well-insured organisation, that will more than likely pay out on a personal injury claim. The sort of people who jump from a tree and break their leg, then suggest we should compensate them because we hadn’t taken reasonable measures to ensure our trees where not easy to climb!

So there you have it. Simon Jenkins was wrong after all.

Back at work

I had a lot of time left at the end of my leave year, so I’ve been out of the office for what seems like ages. Not posting either. Back now. Happy New Year to you all.

It was a close run thing, but the Trust’s poll for Green Father Christmas or Red Santa Clause was won by the Greenites our green FC at Standen was very well recieved, so I think we’ll be kitting out more of the region’s Father Christmases with green togs for next year.

Today, apart from doing a bit of administration for my team’s Personal Development Reviews,  I’m also looking at: our final brief for a pilot of updated tills; commenting on a partnership idea between one of our properties and a local mental health charity; trying to fix a meeting with Go Ape, t talk about the possibilities of future partnerships.

I’ve also had a look at a prototype site our central web-team have created, which shows how we might share user generated content, to create a far more personal and interactive interpretation of some of our places. It’s a bit clunky in this early stage, and uses the blog aesthetic, which somehow isn’t yet working for me in this context, but I’ll watch with interest as it develops.