Chris Smith Associates

What is it all about ?

One way or the other, I have been blogging, podcasting, making films and using the internet to communicate for nearly ten years here. From working with pan European collaborative groups, like EquiMar, through to the NHS, award winning journalists and community goups; my passion is to use the huge potential of technology to build new ways of connecting with new audiences.

The purpose of this site is to give a flavour of skills I have to offer. I have spent a lot of time working through communication strategies with business leaders, subject matter experts and communities of interest. Together, we've done the thinking and then done the execution. Take a look at some of the samples.  If you think I could help; contact me.

Finally, I hate po-faced websites. But, I hope, you've already guessed that.

Cheers

Chris Smith

The 'Yes'

Lesley went along to the 'Yes Scotland' launch and reports back in this week's podcast. There were a number of missing elements and, as you would expect, Lesley puts her finger on a couple.

It is difficult not to appear and sound 'nippy' in this podcast. However, this event and 'Yes Scotland' launch was trailed as 'the best event in 300 years' on Twitter. I had expected dry ice, at least.

Twitter and augmented reality

I am just starting to get it. As the floods of information come pouring over the digital ramparts, we need tools to prioritise, discriminate and just plain manage the deluge. Remember, back in the day, the proud boast was "300 emails today ", sigh. There was a dream of the 'zero inbox'. Well, today with Twitter is different. If you succumb,even for a second, to the thought Twitter is some hybrid form of email; you are lost , destined to drown. Enough of the warning baloney. 

Tools are arriving in short order to assist...Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and so on. But there is one I really like; Thirst. It is a great App and go check it out. It's like Flipboard for Twitter. Thirst is a start.

I suspect the future is going to be more augmented reality. The Muppets and plasters are a good example - view the video and note a couple of things. The users get it ( without RTFM ) and enjoy the two "realities" ( reality and virtual 3D ). My guess is when they are old enough to enjoy the pleasures of Twitter, their portal into that world is not just a keyboard and mouse.

IMHO...NSFW and other abbreviations

Just because; David Cameron thought 'lol' was 'lots of love' and text speak passed a lot of us by; I found a recent blog by the good folks over at Social Media Today  both funny and insightful. They managed to cobble together a killer list of those little terms, tags and aconyms which litter social media. So, HT and Njoy, as they say.

The Mojo, Minimum Pricing and Scotland Tonight Podcast

This weeks's podcast was a roll and tumble around the hiatus which seems to developed, now we are past the first independence consultation and the local council elections.  Prompted by an excellent blog from 'burdzeyeview' , we plunged into mojo speculation and reflected on the arrival of minimum pricing of alcohol. It was a bright idea which started 5 years ago. Lesley also reflects on some of the time she has spent recently on sofas in television studios...notably Scotland Tonight. She also poses an interesting question. 'Why does television think no one in Inverness has an opinion about the referendum?'. This week , all this and more, in the Lesley Riddoch Podcast.

A conference from your desk.

Check out the venue

Cool conference title; "Virtual Summit 2012". Loved the idea of the 'create your own avatar now' and the 'Venue;Your Desk'.  But what really impressed me was the idea security experts, cyber threat specialists and other top industry features were going to meet 'online'. This must be one of the most gold plated endorsements of an emerging technology any company could hope for; like mechanics driving your car or chefs eating in your restaurant.

Having slogged around enough industry shows and exhibitions in my time, this seems like an interesting new development. All the value of the keynotes and interactions without the lugging luggage, standing in line for tepid coffee, fighting to get a decent seat at the session(s)...and so on. Great to see Haymarket thinking ahead of the curve. Book here.

Finnish Lessons - the podcast

The Nordic Horizons had a meeting in the Scottish Parliament on the subject of Finnish education with a couple of distinguished speakers on the subject.  It was excellent and everyone commented it was inspiring, interesting and challenging. The plan was to record the meeting for your listening pleasure. Sadly, there was a technical problem. So, we did the next best thing and devoted this week's Lesley Riddoch Podcast to a report on the meeting. Detailed notes of the speakers;  Pasi Sahlberg and Donald Christie are available on the website. Photos of the meeting are posted on the Nordic Horizons Facebook page - do join. Powerpoint slides from the presentations will be made available shortly. Enjoy the podcast.

Making the world a better place

I am currently working with a team of health professionals wihin the NHS here in Scotland. The purpose of the project is to raise the profile of this group of Allied Health Professionals or AHPs. Specifically, we are going to use 'social media'.

We are using Twitter, blogs and even podcasts to promote the services. Each member of the team will be blogging in their own right shortly. I will report back here.

Working with bright, busy and interesting people is always a pleasure. I have tried to capture the journey by using a blog as a wiki. You can follow progress over at Project Gandhi.

All the way from Munich

We went to Munich and had a jolly time. Here is a series of photos and our thoughts on Munich. The Scotsman will be publishing a piece on Saturday. so look out for that !

Mental Health and AHPs

 

 

During my work with the NHS, I am constantly meeting interesting people. Recently I met Elaine Hunter who is the author of the report 'Realising Potential - An Action Plan for Allied Health Porfessionals in Mental Health'. 

What's an Allied Health Professional? It's a simple description for a range of health professionals, ranging from Art Therapists through to Speech and Language Therapists. Like a lot of people, I had made the assumption AHP equals physiotherapist. I was wrong.

This comprehensive piece of work details the challenges of facing up to mental health for the full range of Allied Health Professionals,(AHP). I was surprised to find it was well written and accessible, even to someone like myself, an interested lay person. But I was actually heartened by the recommendations, which appear to have 'best practice' at their centre.

I wanted to talk to Elaine about the way as an AHP adviser to the Scottish Government, she went about putting the report together. What were her reflections on the report writng process?

How did she find the wider AHP community as she compiled the input? So,in this short podcast, from a very echoey St Andrews House in Edinburgh, Elaine and I sat down to talk.

Listen to Elaine Hunter here.

 

 

Think FRESh, think Fintry

Fintry is the village in Stirlingshire. The Development Trust there has a windturbine. The community are doing some amazing things; tackling fuel poverty, insulating and other 'community based' activities.

The most amazing thing about the place is the people. On the evidence of meeting a number of them; surprise surprise; they're normal. They worry about jobs, their kids, and all the general stuff we all do. However, where they are different is this.

They have collectively got off their butts and put together an event which is about passing on knowledge. On Friday 9th and Saturday 10th March, you can come along to see a varied menu of goodies. There will an interesting tussle of words and movie clips between an ice cream magnate and land activist in a 'no holds barred' debate refereed by a TV celebrity. Al Gore will be there, on film. You can visit and touch wind turbines. Local people who are living with bio mass, heat pumps and solar panels are throwing their doors open for a wee nosey, if you like. It's all free and gratis.

If the weather is half way good then it is a stunning part of the country; convenient for all the main Scottish towns. For my part, I will be going along expecting to learn something, meet some great people and generally have a fine old time. Hope to see you there.