This ongoing project by TSRC and Barrow Cadbury Trust explored how ‘below the radar’ community activity can maximise its impact. It began with an event on 8 July 2011, and continued with online discussions and a final event in April 2012.

All discussions, plus comments, videos, pictures and resources can be found on the Beyond the Radar micro-site http://btr11.civicrowd.com.

The project has been informed by ongoing TSRC research into below the radar activity.

Twitter: #btr11

Reports:

BTR11 online content analysis (pdf, 448KB)

Event report, July 2011: Beyond the radar, Love Passion and Fun (pdf, 1.1MB)

Discussions and events:

Twitter chat, Wednesday 18th April:
how is social media used for knowledge exchange between academics and communities?

Social networking below the radar: social media or action media? 4 April 2012
Held in partnership with Globalnet21 and hosted by the Big Lottery Fund.

This event culminated the Beyond the Radar series. It explored the use of social media by community groups and activities and evaluated lessons learned from the experience of the BTR11 project. It also looked more generally at what activities work for below the radar groups, how social media can help increase networks or have greater impact?

Storify of the day
Twitter report (pdf)
Presentation by Angus McCabe

Podcasts:

Matthew Scott, director of Community Sector Coalition, discusses the importance of the thousands of community groups that exist below the radar
Angus McCabe, who leads TSRC's Below the Radar research, discusses the importance of linking the virtual world with the real one
Hugh Flouch is the founder of Networked Neighbourhoods, an organisation working with clients to foster digital society at the local level. He tlks about Harringey Online and how the virtual world meets the real one

Strengthening Civil society through social media, 28 February 2012, 7.30 – 8.30pm
Online discussion with Globalnet21. Panel included Joe Taylor, NATCAN and David Wilcox, Social Reporter.

Below the Radar and the unintended consequences of voluntary sector reconfiguration, 1 February 2012, 2-4pm
The panel included Big Lottery Fund, Community Development Foundation, Trust for London, and Barrow Cadbury Trust, along with TSRC.

Civil Society Beyond the Radar, 30 January 2012
Previous discussion hosted by GlobalNet21 with presentations by David Tyler, Community Matters, and Angus McCabe, TSRC.

What motivates people to act? 19 October 2011, 7-9pm
Previous online discussion in partership with NatCAN. Panel members included Maxine Moar, Simon Skidmore, Joe Taylor.

How can community groups achieve their aims despite the cuts? 19 July 2011
Live Q&A held by the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network.

Launch event, 8 July 2011, 10am - 4pm

CLG, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DU

Event report: Love passion and fun below the radar

See outcomes, videos, pictures

Beyond the Radar 8 July 2011

View more presentations from 3sectorrc

Practitioners, policy makers and researchers explored questions such as:

What are the challenges facing community groups and action in the current climate
How do the disempowered gain a voice?
The positive and negative forces that affect below the radar communities – how can these be used positively or overcome?
Who are the influential stakeholders? How can they be reached? How can they be influenced to affect change?
What do research findings tell us? What insight do they offer for policy makers looking to support community action?

Delegate list

Agenda

Evaluation form