By looking into people’s opinions, ashes and sparks, being launched next  month, will provide clients with data that they can use to build the relationships that they need to succeed, whether they are in the private, public or charity sectors.

It will also provide a powerful vehicle for those individuals who want to influence the way that organisations and companies behave.

Ashes and sparks is the brainchild of Sue Wolstenholme, at Ashley PR, who has been studying, teaching and practising reputation management for over thirty years.

Explaining how the system works Sue said: ”If you want a good reputation you have to be responsive to those whose opinions matter to you. Until now it has not been easy to discover what those opinions are, other than from the few making the loud headlines.  By listening to how people view, see and hear the news about them and the things that matter to them, organisations can improve their business attitude and make better informed and more appropriate decisions.
With the growth in media channels and audience participation in content creation, we are facing a time when public opinion is everywhere but it is dissipated and difficult to pull together to use constructively or to be properly taken account of.”

Until now, PR practitioners have been mainly dependent upon opinion polling and media measurement, often even erroneously allocating advertising equivalents to the news coverage that they secure, regardless of its effect.

As Sue added: “Everyone has the freedom to express opinions through personal blogs, news forums, phone ins, discussion boards and a range of similar services. However, capturing their views to make a difference is a huge task and even though the voices might be getting louder or more numerous they are still too scattered to be heard clearly enough by those who might do something valuable for them.
Charities, businesses, politicians and others have a duty to listen to public opinion and act responsibly to take real account of it.“

The new site has been developed by Cornwall based web development agency, UKNetWeb, a company that focuses heavily on the technical development of more abstract web based systems and applications.

Project and Account Manager, Aren Grimshaw, commented:
“Although the system itself appears quite simple to the user the real sophistication takes place within the back-end database. The key was to ensure that both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the research could be collected and catalogued in a way that would be easy for analysts to read emerging trends and opinion.”

Ashes and sparks can be found, as a beta site, at http://www.ashesandsparks.com and only by people joining and joining in will they begin to make a difference and tell us the true impact of news.

For further information please contact Sue Wolstenholme on 01579 370991

Editors’ Notes:

Ashes and sparks is a quotation from Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind in which he wrote: “Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth, ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!”

The brand new technology for ashes and sparks, to keep people’s details secure and make the information come together easily into monthly reports for the clients who need to know more, has been built by UKNetWeb at St Agnes.

Reports on the differences that clients are making, based on what they have learned, will be fed back to the panel members who have made them happen.

While other survey sites focus on particular issues or organisations, ashes and sparks is different; people can voice opinions on anything topical – even things they hear from a neighbour or a friend. And sharing opinions this way will make a difference because organisations need to know how people are feeling and have to show that they are listening or they will get the relationships all wrong.

ashes & sparks takes the raw data and looks for common themes or trends within the results. Where there is clear information showing dislike or approval for an individual or an organisation’s actions, they will be shown how to take panelists views into account and make appropriate changes.

Panelists are being asked how they want to be paid: whether they would like credits, vouchers, to be kept informed about the impacts that the site is having, cash, something else or a combination of things and in what quantities.

Organisations interested in the intelligence from the site will pay for reports on three levels that will be: 1 – Just the raw data according to the type of publics with whom they work or need to work;  2. – The data plus an analysis of the issues uppermost in the minds of the type of publics with whom they work or need to work and 3.  – The data the issues and some advice as to how they might build their relationships, using the issues, more effectively.

Each entry into the site will cover:

• what is read / seen / heard in the media / from friends / in passing
• what are believed to be the main details of the story
• what effect the story has on opinions
• what effect the story has on behaviour
• to what degree the media or other source are trusted
• to what degree those involved in the story are trusted
• any outstanding questions

Sue Wolstenholme runs the consultancy Ashley Public Relations from offices in Cornwall, UK and she works internationally.
She is the current President of the European Public Relations Research and Education Association (EUPRERA) and Chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) qualifications awarding body.
Her role in advising clients nearly always involves working with them to build better relationships for the sake of their reputations.
Concerned about the lack of quality information available to organisations on public opinion, Sue saw the need to develop a system that enabled people to express their views on a range of topical items so that something useful might be done with them.

With ashes & sparks we wanted to provide a single place for people to log their opinions and create change.

By providing a structured format in which to leave thoughts and opinions, directly linked and referenced to items in the media, or topics of conversation amongst the community, we aim to build a new barometer for public opinion.

But, when it comes down to it, what’s in it for the various individuals and groups involved?

Panel Members

In many cases we found that people voice opinions in a hope that they can add understanding, change the course of events or affect change on an item under discussion.

After all, to be motivated to voice an opinion in the first place, we’d assume some level of interest in the subject being talked about. Whether positive or negative, something would need to trigger you to take the time to engage in the debate.

Many comments and opinions get lost in a sea of commentary spewed across forums, blogs, emails, letters, petitions and other outlets.

Not with ashes and sparks.

By participating you will be able express your opinions in a simple and confidential format. You will be able to record questions you want answered and explain what made you feel the way you do.

Your answers will form part of a wider databank of public opinion that can be presented directly but anonymously to those involved.

[We would like to reward all panel members in a more tangible way. Ideas we have considered include; a dividend scheme, a points system and competition entries. We would love to hear your ideas, please email them to info@ashesandsparks.co.uk with the subject ‘Rewards’ to register your idea.]

Organisations

A key aspect of improving any organisation’s reputation is to build meaningful and lasting relationships with those upon whom we depend for survival. These individuals may be employees, customers,  students, patients, supporters or neighbours in the local community.

Understanding how these groups (often referred to as an organisation’s ‘publics’) truly think and feel about an issue can be a difficult task.

It may be that your organisation chooses to commission some market research, takes a snapshot of comments from the many available media sources or starts some form of opinion poll. These are all good methods of getting to grips with opinion; however, gaining real time information about how your publics have reacted to a particular event or a piece of coverage may not be possible. Secondly, identifying changes in public opinion as they emerge is near impossible.

The ashes & sparks site has been created to capture the opinions of it’s users through allowing them to respond to current events that they hear via word of mouth or in the media. With one standard survey covering a range of areas directly related to news items there are no issues of leading questions. All questioning will be neutral and not sponsored by organisations, thus enabling panel members to leave their feedback on any topical news item they feel passionate about.

Topical news items will be added to the ashes & sparks site as they appear in the news with options for panel members to add up to three of their own subject matters per day.

Each survey will ask respondents to name the media source where they first read, saw or heard the story, a short precis of the story, how that story affected their opinions, how trustworthy they felt the media source was and any questions they would like answered.

Media Organisations

Our unique survey will attempt to gauge how our respondents feel about the media sources they read, watch or listen to.

The standard survey has been created to question respondents on the level of perceived bias in coverage and the quality of reporting.

This information will be extremely valuable to any media organisation in determining its performance.

If you would like more information about the ashes & sparks site please email us at info@ashesandsparks.co.uk

Surely, with so much communication going on out there, it is impossible to understand how everyone really feels about a particular issue?

That started us thinking.

We wanted to identify a way of measuring public opinion in a way that takes on board all of the new and emerging forms of communication. We wanted to be able to track opinion from its first mention in the newspaper right through to global demonstrations.

We wanted to get to grips with how people came to feel the way they did about an issue. We wanted to understand the depth of their feelings and uncover the questions they wanted answered.

Until now our opportunities to voice opinion seem to follow the interests of a particular organisation, asking for submissions or feedback around a given subject or idea rather than reacting to the areas we want to talk about.

With Ashes and Sparks we wanted to create something different – A research site that enables our users to talk about the issues that matter most to them.

We want to shrink the gap that exists between an organisation and its public. We want to uncover the areas you are interested in, the questions you want answered, and present them directly to those that can make things happen.

We believe we have the answer.

We are currently reaching the final stages of our site development. At present we have a panel of Alpha testers working on the site prior to our Beta launch within the next couple of weeks.

If you would like to be one of the first people to use the new site please take a moment to visit www.ashesandsparks.co.uk where you can enter your details to receive a Beta code the moment they are released.

In the meantime we will be working hard to keep you fully informed of what is to come. Please subscribe to our feed or register for a Beta code to be kept up to date with the latest news from the site.

Aren Grimshaw
Research Manager
Ashes and Sparks