About

I am a Social Media Surgeon, facilitating community development, economic development, business development, and personal development, largely through the power of social media and new technologies.

My work is largely divided into four (complementary) activities:

Social Media: I help business and public and voluntary organisations, to use social media to engage with communities and communicate their messages;

Digital Inclusion: I am passionate about the power of the internet to improve people’s lives and I work hard to make sure all people can benefit;

Rural Broadband: I help engage and mobilise communities in rural areas to secure better broadband provision; and

Live Internet Broadcasting: I am Chief Executive of Citizens’ Interactive Broadcasting, a not-for-profit company which specialises in live, online video broadcasting of events, and trains others to do this for themselves.

I am a Digital Storyteller and I want to help others tell their digital stories too.

I am the originator of #twicket, the World’s First Live Broadcast of a Village Cricket Match, conceived as an idea to highlight the need for fast upload speeds on internet connections, and rural broadband issues in general, which quickly became a global phenomenon thanks to the support of Stephen Fry on Twitter.

I help businesses, public and voluntary organisations to use social media to improve the way they communicate with their customers, constituents and supporters. I am a social reporter, helping events and organisations communicate their activities to the world, and I am a founder of the Huddersfield Social Media Cafe and a co-facilitator of #lgovsm, the weekly twitter chat about local government and social media. I promote and facilitate the application of modern technologies and social media to society’s issues and problems.

I have worked at senior level on Digital Skills strategy, Digital Inclusion, Public Sector transformation using technology, and the role of ICT in regeneration.  My career includes six years as Director of the South Yorkshire FE colleges’ consortium, and four years as European funding advisor to the FE colleges of Yorkshire & the Humber. Much of my earlier career was spent in the fields of community development and social enterprise, including two years as Chair of Community Enterprise UK.

I have been working hard to establish and spread Social Media Surgeries around Yorkshire & the Humber and the rest of the north of England, and I was a founder member of the Big Society in the North Forum. I am helping to develop the Big Society Social App Store, a suite of online tools designed to make community development easier to do, and I’m working on programmes to harness the power of social media to aid civic engagement and local regeneration.

Also, I am experienced in social reporting, including aiding local communities to tell their stories through local websites, youtube channels, and event reporting. I do reporting of events myself, including live blogging, live video-streaming, vox pop interviews, photography, and audio recording. You can find out more about my work portfolio here.

I was born and spent much of my earlier life in Nottingham, and went to university in Durham. I have lived and worked in the West Midlands, and now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. I am a long-distance, mainly absentee, supporter of Notts County Football Club, avid follower of the England cricket team, and lover of what they call “classic rock” music, particularly Rush and Magnum.

You can find more about me at  http://uk.linkedin.com/in/johnpopham

If you want to hire me to advise your organisation, amplify your work or organise something interesting, probably the easiest way to contact me is via Twitter

email – john[dot]popham[at]johnpopham[.]com

Other places I can be found on the internet

My youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/syfec1

My videos on Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/user1541305

My photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpopham

Archives of live video streams

http://bambuser.com/channel/johnpopham

http://qik.com/johnpopham

Audio http://audioboo.fm/johnpopham

More audio http://www.ipadio.com/phlogs/JohnPopham/

Stuff I find and want to share http://johnpopham.tumblr.com/