COMMUNITY REPORTER FAQ and STARTER KIT Creative Recovery Network Community Reporter FAQ and Starter Kit Feral Arts August 2013
What is the Creative Recovery Network? Artists, arts workers and cultural practitioners are taking the lead in helping their communities recover from the impact of natural disasters through the arts. The Creative Recovery Network aims to share knowledge and build an online network ready to support communities in meeting future challenges. Queensland Arts Minister the Honourable Ian Walker MP, explains the background to the development of the Creative Recovery Network: Over the past few years, Queensland s natural disasters have been devastating. Recovering from a flood, drought or a cyclone is not just about making sure the bricks and mortar are back in place it is also the sense of community that enables people to rebuild their lives and be optimistic about their future this is the social infrastructure that keeps a community strong. A new initiative has seen the arts play a key role in helping disaster- affected Queenslanders rebuild their lives and community spirit. Creative Recovery Building Resilience supports arts workshops, programs, performances and training with Queensland Government funding of $600,000. As part of this initiative a group of Queensland arts companies has established the Creative Recovery Network. This group is now reaching out and connecting arts- based community recovery efforts across the state, around the country and the world. Through the Creative Recovery Platform we can grow this network and build a shared knowledge base of stories and experiences contributed by artists and community members alike. I invite all Queensland artists, arts workers and cultural practitioners to support this initiative by joining the Network, creating a profile and sharing your creative recovery experiences. (watch the video of Minister Walker. http://placestories.com/story/141812) Who is leading the development of the Creative Recovery Network? The development of the Creative Recovery Network is currently being led by Queensland community arts and cultural development companies Contact Inc, Creative Regions and Feral Arts, with investment by Arts Queensland and the Australia Council for the Arts. Creative Recovery Network Community Reporter FAQ and Starter Kit Feral Arts August 2013
3 Who can join the Creative Recovery Network? Membership of the Creative Recovery Network is free and open to everyone with an interest in community disaster recovery through the arts. Members can be individuals or organisations. The network began life in Queensland and is growing to connect with other creative recovery work nationally and internationally. What is the Creative Recovery Building Resilience Initiative? The Creative Recovery Building Resilience Initiative is a Queensland State Government response to the Australia Day floods in 2013. It extends the work of the Creative Recovery Pilot Project (2011 12) from which the Creative Recovery Network evolved, supporting the development of community arts projects and disaster preparedness strategies across Lockyer Valley, Western Downs, Gympie, Logan, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Rockhampton and Fraser Coast regions. As part of the Initiative the Creative Recovery Framework and Creative Recovery Training is being delivered with local communities to build disaster response capacity and help develop arts sector disaster preparedness plans. What is the Creative Recovery Framework? The Creative Recovery Framework is a planning tool developed with the input of leading Creative Recovery practitioners from across Australia. The framework was created at the Creative Recovery National Forum in 2012. It provides a broad sketch of Creative Recovery needs and capacities at a local, regional and national level. Arts sector specific stakeholders can use the Framework to help guide planning and preparedness strategies whilst developing and advocating for Creative Recovery practice more broadly. What is Creative Recovery Training? Creative Recovery Training is a partnership between Contact Inc and Red Cross. The training was developed to support artists, artsworkers and community members interested in working creatively in communities affected by disasters. The training relates to both the immediate after- effect and the community's recovery journey. The training presents an understanding of the individual and community context of disaster, an overview of group facilitation skills and project planning tools. For more information email: contact@creativerecovery.net.au
4 What is the Creative Recovery Platform? The Creative Recovery Platform (www.creativerecovery.net.au) is a web site and online knowledge base being created to support the work of the Creative Recovery Network. The platform provides a wide range of online tools and services to enable members to create, communicate and collaborate. Network members can set up a profile page, create digital stories, create and join projects, map their work, access and share resources, participate in discussions and lots more. A Creative Recovery mobile site is being developed to h The Creative Recovery Platform has been developed by Feral Arts using their PlaceStories software system. The platform will continue to be developed and supported over the next six years as part of their Storytelling in the Public Interest program. PlaceStories members can join the Creative Recovery Network using their existing account and profile. The development of the Creative Recovery Platform is ongoing and is guided by the input and ideas from members. Your feedback and suggestions are greatly valued at any time! Who are the Creative Recovery Community Reporters? The Creative Recovery Community Reporters are members of the Creative Recovery Network who volunteer to play an active role in their local community as reporters, storytellers and network contacts. Community Reporters are the eyes and the ears of the Creative Recovery Network. They use the Creative Recovery Platform to: report on the impact of natural disasters in their community report on Creative Recovery projects in their community help others in their community join and use the Creative Recovery Platform connect and collaborate with Community Reporters in other communities be an online point of contact for the Creative Recovery Network in their community Why do we need Creative Recovery Community Reporters? The Creative Recovery Network is all about being better prepared for future challenges. One of the lessons from the Queensland floods in 2011 is that natural disasters don t discriminate. No one knows when or where the next disaster will strike, so we need to build an active network of Creative Recovery Community Reporters in communities across the state and around the country. Preparation is a key to helping communities to become stronger and more resilient. Having Community Reporters on the ground and ready to support the activation of the local arts community is an important part of that local preparation. What skills and equipment to do I need to be a Community Reporter? There are no formal requirements. It is an advantage if you have access to a computer and an internet connection either at home or in the workplace but you can also connect and report via a mobile phone. It is an advantage if you have some
5 experience in either digital storytelling or social media publishing. A digital camera and/or smart phone will be useful for creating stories. Will I get support? Absolutely! In addition to guides and documentation like this we will provide custom how- to videos. We will also provide webinars to help build the skills of Community Reporters. The network will provide email and phone support for all members and especially our Community Reporters (email: contact@creativerecovery.net.au) We are also working with Arts Queensland on a proposal to bring new Community Reporters from across the state together for a Creative Recovery Community Preparation workshop before the end of 2013. As the network grows we will encourage Community Reporters to use the platform to post and answer support requests and to connect and support each other directly. Can I still participate in the Creative Recovery Network if I don t become a Community Reporter? Absolutely! You can still join the Creative Recovery Network and participate without becoming a Community Reporter. You can also visit the Creative Recovery Platform at any time to get up to date with what s going. You can register to receive Creative Recovery email news feeds without even having to join the network. Maybe you know people in your local community who would be a great Community Reporter that you can introduce to the Creative Recovery Network?
6 Okay, I want to be a Community Reporter! How do I get started? That s Great! Let s get started! If you are not already a member of the Creative Recovery Network the first thing is to join. Go to www.creativerecovery.net.au, click on the JOIN US button next to the community name and follow the steps. If you are already a PlaceStories member but not yet part of the Community Recovery Network you can use your existing account details to log in and join the community. What information should I provide on my Creative Recovery Profile? We encourage people to add a photo and bio about themselves. This is important in building connections within the network and promoting the skills and experience you can contribute toward preparing and responding to natural disaster. Individual members should not add a street level address to their profile. For most organisations providing a street address is fine. You can decide whether to provide contact information (email, telephone etc) or to share details about any other social media accounts. What are the Tags? The Creative Recovery Platform uses custom tags to help organise both the members of the Network and the stories that we create. Tagging yourself with appropriate tags from the options provided with help other Network members find you and connect with you. Everyone who wants to be a Community Reporter should use add the Community Reporter tag to their profile.
7 Who owns the stories I publish to the Creative Recovery Platform? You do! And you also decide on the privacy settings of your content. Stories created and published via the Creative Recovery mobile website are public by default and at the moment privacy settings need to be done on the main website. How do I create Stories? There is a range story types that you can create using the Creative Recovery Platform. Click on the Create Story link in the top menu and follow the steps to try out the different options. Remember to tag your stories so that others will be able to search and find them in the database. Creative Recovery - Mobile Website The Creative Recovery Platform mobile site is specifically designed to support the work of Community Reporters. It supports a number of quick and simple to create story types (postcards, videos and phone recordings). You can access the site by the navigating to the main Creative Recovery home page on your phone. www.creativerecovery.net.au. The site is still in development and some features may not work properly on smart phone running older operating systems.
8 Mobile Video Stories please keep your video stories short (10-15 sec) at this stage while the mobile site is still in development. Phone Recording Stories we are trialing a service called Twillio to help create audio stories straight from your mobile phone. Please let us know what you think! Please email us your feedback and suggestions on how to improve the mobile site! For help or further information about the Creative Recovery Network please feel free to contact Scotia on 0423 987 207 or scotia@contact.org.au or contact@creativerecovery.net.au. For any questions or suggestions relating to the Creative Recovery Platform please feel free to contact Feral Arts (07) 3333 2700 or ferals@feralarts.com.au or contact@creativerecovery.net.au.