The UK press is obsessed at the moment with youth gangs and gang violence. And so I thought I would investigate the gangs in Pontypridd.  In the interests of journalism I was forced to hang out in the brilliant local member owned Clwb y Bont.

Are there gangs in Ponty? Yes, without doubt. In a short time I found out about 16 active gangs of young people. These gangs are self organised. They use advanced technologies for communications. Many of the gang mebers were involved in raising finances for their activities. Many members of the gangs wear hoodies despite government and press panics over this obviously threatening form of clothing.

I was truly surprised by the variety of subversive activities being undertaken by the gangs.

The gangs:

• The Film gang. This subversive gang are involved in making short films and have coerced many members of the local community to participate in their activities. (They have been nominated for an award for the Wales short film of the year)
• The Music making gang. Members of this large and growing gang have different roles. Some are invloved in playing in bands, others in organising gigs and yet more in producing the first CD of local unsigned bands, Outside the City.
• The Burlesque gang. This is an interesting gang in that it is composed solely of girls. The Burlesque Troupe as they call themselves have been putting on shows in local pubs and clubs.
• The Comedy gang. This is a gang of jokers organising comedy nights in community venues.
• The Charity Cricket gang. A highly subversive activity involving rivalry between two pubs popular with young people. The gangs are planning a ritualised clash on the cricket pitch in September to raise money for a locally run charity for kids in Bangladesh.
• The LAN party gang. A high tech gang organising weekends of techncial development and building computers for people who want to join the gang but haven|t got a computer and can\t afford one otherwise. May provide technical infrastructure to many of the other gangs.
• The Shakespeare gang. Very new,  have launched a Facebook group appealing for new members to establish a Shakepeare acting group.
• The War games gang. Truly violent, they met on Sunday afternoons upstairs at Clwb y Bont to recreate and re-enact historical battles.
• The Creative writing gang. Also based in Clwb -y-Bont, this gang appear to gather on a Monday. Who knows what they are plotting?
• Gangster rap. In welsh. So the English do not know what they are plotting. Sinister.

So ganglife is growing in South Wales. More and more young people are joining gangs. Interestingly, few are being paid for their membership - indeed many of having to pay to be members. And a huge amount of informal learning is going on. Learning in all kinds of diverse fields. Many of these young people are students or are involved in some form of continuing learning. Is their learning being supported or recognised by the education system and education? Of course not. Because this is learning in gangs. And we all know that gangs are dangerous.

By the way, if any of these gang members recognise themselves and want to send us pictures of their anti=social learning activities, we will be happy to publish them and promise not to report them to the authorities.

“E-learning can be a powerful means of creating open educational resources accessible to everybody thus counteracting a divided knowledge society. In this regard, the Assembly calls on member parliaments to support the so-called “open source” movement in software development and initiatives for open educational resources – freely accessible on the Internet, and to adopt measures to combat the digital divide in order to close the gap between those who have access to ICT and the acquisition of ICT skills and those who do not, thus ensuring digital literacy for all.”

This is good news! You can find out more here.

Photo: RSU: Some rights reserved

Caption: ‘IBM workers and friends protest at the IBM Business Center in virtual world Second Life, amidst concerns that IBM are outsourcing thousands of staff without proper consultation or securities.’

Protesters occupied the IBM Centre for two hours. It greatly heartens me to see such creative and socially constructive use of new technologies. For more about yesterdays demonstration see the IBM Virtual Protest Official Blog.

IBM is misusing outsourcing contracts to reduce his own workforce in a cheap way. In this kind of contract, IBM is selling not only services and machines but also persons. We can see that recently on the AT&T contract.” say the IBM Second Life Strike Organisation.

Tonight the unions are organising “a training course to learn how to:

• enter Second Life and to move around (for beginners),
• use the “IBM demonstration kit”
• and… get ready for the GLOBAL ACTION DAY against IBM’s FORCED-OUTSOURCED JOBS….that will take place TOMORROW.”

Th action starts tonight at 2100 hours at “Union Island” (search “Union Island” in the search menu once you’re in Second Life and click “Teleport”). Tomorrows demonstration takes place from 1800 - 2200 Central european Time. The meeting point is Commonwealth Island. The unions are asking for support from Second Life friends. I’ll be there. Hope to see you too.

I like this challenge passed on from Steve Wheeler. Steve says looks a little like a chain letter. It might look like it but it isn’t and it probably is (see my comment after this post). It is a creative way to use trackback to promote reflection and at the same time to produce a useful set of Open Educational resources. That is what social software should be for. What is more it is fun.

Steve blogs “Mike Hasley, of TechWarrior Blog, has laid down a challenge for me and 4 others to add to a collection of photos that represent our passion in teaching/learning. I have to tag it ‘Meme: Passion Quilt’ and post it on a blog, Flickr, FaceBook or some other social networking tool with a brief commentary of why it is a passion for me.”

I have cheated. I have managed to break to break or lose three digital cameras this year. And I am not that good at taking photos. On the other hand, my friend, Jenny Hughes is very good. Ages ago, I asked her if I could post the photos on the site. I put them on Flickr and then forgot to link to them. So, thanks Steve for reminding me.And the brief commentary. Does it need one? Learning technology is important. But it is not everything. To be able to learn children need peace, freedom from war, freedom from hunger. Bread not bombs. Teachers not soldiers. I love the potential that technology offers for communication, for sharing, for connections and understanding. But technology is not neutral. Technology is a double edged sword. In the hands of the wrong it can be misused. We have to control and shape technology to ensure that it is used for good and not evil.

End of rant. I think Easter is getting to me.

If you would like to see the rest of this collection by Jenny go the the Multimedia / Photos page.

Here are my nominations to add to this collection: Wolfgang Greller, Cristina Costa, Fabio Giglietto, Daniela Reimann