Our interview based research we have focused on talking with local pro-community organisations leaders, as they know the realities of local community and troubles that organisations face.
(Welcome), we are 2nd Stage students at Newcastle University. We are currently working on a project named ‘Walker Creative Neighbourhood’. Our aim is to gather the Walker community together and encourage pro-community organisations
co-operation. We would like to develop a set of tools for the community that will help them to organise and support themselves. We assume that after short time after the project has been implemented the people, who are interested in actively participating in their community’s life will be content creators as well, most likely under supervision of moderators (who would also be part of the community). Initiative will help promoting events, education and volounteering opportunities. The project could also include promoting local businesses, entrepreneurship, and also potentially recruitment and freelance opportunities. This project is meant to help community in Walker, thus we would like to ask you a few questions to better understand the community itself.
- Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
- Can you tell us what is the role of your organisation for the people in Walker?
- What is your role in the organisation? (unless covered in point 1.)
- Which kinds of people do commonly get involved in volunteering for your organisation?
- Can you tell us, as far as you are concerned, what is the profile of current volounteers in Walker?
- What is current ‘volounteering atmosphere’ in Walker (how people think and feel like about volounteering)?
- What challenges does your organisation face to reach out to local individuals, who could volunteer?
- How do you think is the best way to inspire people to develop themselves, participate in various activities and volounteer in Walker?
- What do you think is the best way to bring up connection between communities in Walker?
- How do you think is the best way to encourage cooperation between various organisations present in walker?
- What do you think would be the best way to promote/advertise volounteering and other activities?
- What could be the best way to reach people with our initiative in walker?
- A)if digital, what about the people who don’t have access to computers/smartphones, what is the best way to reach to them?
- B) if digital, how can we also engage people who lack IT skills, i.e. the elderly?
- Are there any education projects that you are aware of in Walker?
- if yes, how do they benefit local communites, how they should be promoted?
- How do you think our initiative should be funded?
- What do you think the role of local buisnesses should be in this project?
- how could we encourage them for social reinvestment?
- Alice drew our attention to the mapping of organisations and buisnesses in Walker. How do you imagine a map like that should look like, and what features for the users should it include?
- A)Also, how users should be able to interact with it?
- B)Should mapping be more stiff – limited to the Walker only, or more relaxed, allowing users to see map’ content beyond Walker, which could be helpful to them?
- What do you think the role of local authorities should be in the initiative (or perhaps they shouldn’t participate at all)?
- Do you have any other propositions or comments?
Hi team, your interview guide / outline is well structured and contains all the right questions that should help you get going. Well done. Perhaps ask a question “What challenges does your organisation face to reach out to local individuals, who could volunteer?” “Which kinds of people do commonly get involved in volunteering for your organisation?” Before you go tomorrow and on Wednesday make sure to have checked out the websites of the organisations you will meet. Also, consider who is going to lead the conversation and how you capture notes in response to each question. If you don’t audio, record, make sure you have a way of capturing for example on paper, as you go through the conversation. Also note, expect that perhaps the interview will meander a bit and when this happens let the conversation flow if useful and then interject at some point pointing back to one of your questions.
Hi Everyone, Yes I think your questions will definitely bring up some very relevant topics, and Sebastian’s questions also will be a wise addition. I would suggest you also consider the other element of the topic which is more around the actual mapping of organisations and businesses in Walker. For example there are some interesting questions to think about around the way a map is presented digitally, how a user can interact with it, the perimeters set, and how those perimeters can be made more flexible allowing for organisations which may be just beyond Walker’s borders but which are still pivotal for the community. Additionally one of the representatives you will be meeting runs an organisation which doesn’t have fixed premises but works frequently in the ward. Very much looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.