News archive 2007
A Co-op in the Classroom
December 2007
One of our co-op members, Chris Growcott, recently held a class on co-operative business at Leith Academy as part of Enterprise Week. This came about when he got chatting to people from Determined to Succeed at a conference.
He talked with the 5th and 6th-year Business Management class about his experience in a co-operative business. They watched a video about the Fair Traders at Stonelaw High School - you can see an extract from the video on the website of Co-operative Education Trust Scotland.
Finally, they tried an arm-wrestling-for-chocolate game and found that those who took the co-operative approach ended up with the most!
The whole thing went down really well with the pupils, Chris enjoyed the experience and we hope to do it again soon through CETS and Determined to Succeed.
World Usability Day
November 2007
Usability is something that we take for granted when things work as they should. We only notice it when something is difficult to use or is the wrong tool for the task.
Usability is certainly an issue in website design, but printed materials also have a usability aspect. Creating a form that's easy to fill in, and printing it on paper that doesn't make your pen skid and leave the ink smudgy isn't rocket science, but bad design is still all too common.
Our design and print team have a huge amount of experience behind them and have seen the pitfalls before. You can tap into their knowledge - contact us to ask for a quote or to meet a designer. We won't try to sell you a fork for eating soup.
World Usability Day is on 8 November, and this year's theme is healthcare. There are events to mark it all over the world.
Edinburgh Doors Open Day
September 2007
It's Doors Open Day in Edinburgh on Saturday 29 September.
No, we aren't inviting everyone to come and wander round our office (maybe next year) - we're talking about the Waste Aware Education Cabin.
Earlier this year, we oversaw the kitting-out of this portacabin at Edinburgh's Seafield Community Recycling Centre, converting it into an education resource for schools and community groups. It's used by the City of Edinburgh Council's Waste Aware Edinburgh team as part of their education work aimed at helping to raise Edinburgh's recycling rate to 30% by 2008.
The cabin will be open for guided tours of the recycling centre on Doors Open Day, and is one of over 70 diverse Edinburgh venues which will be open to the public on Saturday. Don't miss this great opportunity to be a nosey parker around some wonderful buildings.
For details of other Doors Open Days throughout Scotland, see the Doors Open Days website.
World Co-ops Day
July 2007
International Day of Co-operatives landed on 7th July this year, and we've been celebrating with a flush of co-operatively-themed activities...
Brighton rocks!
July 2007
Three of our co-op members went to Brighton in June for Co-operative Congress 2007, getting fired up about everything from global warming to the digital divide and world trade injustice. Congress brings together co-ops from across the spectrum for three days of discussion, innovation and networking and is organised by Co-operatives UK.
There was a strong worker co-op presence, particularly in communication, foods and transport. We initiated a Creative Industries Forum where design co-ops Calverts, Total Coverage, Wave and ourselves shared ideas about good practice. We also visited (and got spoiled by!) Wave at their seaside studios in nearby Hastings, to see how they work.
Black Gold
July 2007
At Congress there was a screening of 'Black Gold', a film by Nick and Marc Francis. It highlights the gross unfairness of the coffee trade and campaigns for co-operative coffee growers in Ethiopia.
You can see a trailer for the film and support the campaign at www.blackgoldmovie.com. Black Gold is now on general release - go and see it!
The dawning of a new co-operative age?
July 2007
There's a real buzz about the co-operative community these days, the like of which we haven't seen since The Graphics Company started up in the late 80s! New co-ops are springing up all over the place, and we'd like to give plugs to Good Company, the magazine for socially enterprising people, published by a co-op, and Ethics Girls, an ethical trading consumer co-operative.
Want to know more about co-ops?
July 2007
Briefly, co-ops are businesses set up for people, not just for profit. They work in a democratic way and have the values of honesty, openness and social responsibility.
If you're interested in starting up a co-op or finding out more, visit Co-operative Development Scotland's website which we have just expanded with lots of new content. You can also sign up to receive their newsletter.
Get them young!
July 2007
Schools can now offer an alternative to traditional enterprise education through Co-operate to Succeed, a Scottish Executive initiative, run by Co-operative Education Trust Scotland (CETS). You can see Stonelaw High Fair Traders talking about their experiences in a video clip on CETS website. The video was made by mediaco-op.
Royal College of Surgeons
February 2007
We recently produced a project review and leaflets for Scotland & Medicine: Connections & Collections. This project, led by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, promotes Scottish medical museums to new audiences.
Scotland & Medicine has been longlisted for the 2007 Gulbenkian Prize. If you would like to support the project's chances of winning, you can leave your comments at the Gulbenkian foundation website.
More on the Scotland & Medicine materials >
The Oscars . . . yes, really!
February 2007
Our photographer, Yie Lim, did the stills for The Saviour, which has been nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.
The film, by Peter Templeman and Stuart Parkyn, was produced by the Australian Film Television and Radio School where Yie was the senior graphic designer and photographer.
The 79th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on 25 February 2007 in Los Angeles. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed.