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27.1.08

We're planning a BarCamp in Bradford

Over at Bmedi@ - the network for the creative, new media and digital industries in Yorkshire - we are planning BarCamp Bradford as the city's first 'unconference', a event where the participant who attend create the programme of sessions themselves. BarCamps are open, participatory, democratic, 'workshop' events; the organisers and sponsors simply provide wireless broadband, a venue, beverages and food! The attendees provide the content - and the buzz ;- )
Full disclosure - I am a board member of Bmedi@.
An unconference is a conference where the content of the sessions is created and managed by the participants (generally day-by-day during the course of the event) rather than by one or more organizers in advance of the event.
The term BarCamp is primarily used in the geek community. Open Space Technology is an energizing and emergent way to organize an agenda for a conference. Those coming to the event can post on a wiki ahead of time topics they want to present about or hope others will present about. The wiki can also be used as an attendee list and to manage the organization of the event from food through to the provision of wifi etc.
We're anticipating sessions on social media, blogging, 3D printing, digital film making, Augmented Reality interfaces, mobile technology trends, Drupal, games design, co-creation, public relations and marketing in the digital age, an SEO clinic as well as talks from some of the bug digital players of the North.
We'd love for you to come - if you're a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you're just curious and interested in digital culture - we'd love to meet you too!
Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out!
We will shortly set up a wiki which will tell you more about the format, our venue, the people who're coming and speaking and the ideas for sessions and what people are thinking about.
The event - venue to be agreed - starts with an introduction by the organisers rearticulating the purpose of the event, the guidelines for conduct during the day, parameters and health and safety.
Parameters explain the start and end time of the event, duration of the sessions, breaks for food, how to access the network etc.
The Rules of Bar Camp?
Rule 1: You must talk about Bar Camp Bradford.
Rule 2: You must blog about Bar Camp Bradford.
Rule 3: If you want to present, you must write your topic and name in a presentation slot.
Rule 4: Only three word intros.
Rule 5: As many presentations at a time as facilities allow for.
Rule 6: No pre-scheduled presentations, no tourists - we might break this rule with a key note speaker
Rule 7: Presentations will go on as long as they have to or until they run into another presentation slot.
Rule 8: If this is your first time at BarCamp, you HAVE to present. (OK, you don't really HAVE to, but try to find someone to present with, or at least ask questions and be an interactive participant.)
Here - I am just seeding the idea and would love some feedback so please do leave a comment. We are thinking of a date in April or May... would that suit?
GREEN for one will be getting involved.

20.1.08

Let's Beat Blue Monday

Right then! Today (Monday, January 21) is the most depressing day of the year. So I suggest you all start making a protest and make it the most wonderful day of the year. In other words blog about what is making you smile.
I, for one, will go into work with a Hiawian shirt and Fez! They always make me feel good about myself.
For a start you can blog about what makes your day - for me I will be in London (after 6.00) so anyone who fancies a beer and curry get in touch with Ian Green (greenboy106@hotmail.com) and we can all meet up for a pigout. Please recommend venues!
By the way please tag your posts with: "beatbluemonday" and let's get people smiling.
What else can you do to Beat Blue Monday? Try these
Try something new

Be creative, or learn something new to get your brain active and start thinking of new things instead of dwelling on the old.
Get physical
By changing your physical state, from a simple shoulder-shake at your desk to a full work-out at the gym, you can change the way you feel.
Contact a friend or relative
Get in touch with someone you have not heard from in a while; thinking of someone else takes your mind off you.
Take a break
Go somewhere different, whether it’s a coffee bar you have never been into, or a faraway luxury holiday; by changing your physical location, you change your perspective on the world.
Be nice to a stranger
Do a random act of kindness; doing good for others is the best form of self-satisfaction.
Help the planet
Be a good ancestor in some way; the planet will be here long after you are gone.
Pamper yourself
Spoil yourself, from a small indulgence to a luxury you have been promising yourself. You can even dye your hair blue to create a stunning eye-catching change.
Plan something new
Whether it’s planning a holiday for later in the year or deciding what to do at the weekend, looking forward to something new or different can be uplifting and refreshing.
Create your own carnival or go to the beach
By turning a bit of your home or office into a carnival or a beach you can pretend your somewhere relaxing and help us create world’s biggest virtual beach party!
Share you thoughts
A problem shared is a problem halved. Visit the Blue Monday blog to see what ideas people have come up with for dealing with life’s little problems.
You can get involved in a range of activities that are taking place across the UK.
Also watch this space - I think we need to have an online party tomorrow - check out the blog at... BeatBlueMonday.

17.1.08

Old Mother Riley - Queen of the Cannibals

The kids are alright

As I sit here my son is playing Beat On The Brat by The Ramones as he gets ready for bed. We’ve just come back from a "Parent’s Evening".
For US readers a Parent’s Evening is an opportunity to go to your child’s school and hear how your off spring are amazing teaching staff with their genius or how they are into hard drugs and attacking classmates in the common room.
Ours is not a genius - nor, I think is he a crack addict, but he is bright and, if he gets the grades for university, is planning a career in journalism. As a former journalist, with no money or pension I have tried to push him in another direction (Note to All Parents: Never, ever push your children in a direction).
But I was intrigued by a recent post by Sacred Facts on the three ages of media and what a career in media means - or what it meant and what it might mean in the future. It goes like this:

Media Career 1.0 (1950s - 1990s)
Go to University, preferably Oxbridge, and take an arts degree to develop your mind. Join a local newspaper or radio station. Blag your way in. Work your way up to a national newsroom or production department. Find an organisation you like and dig in for the long haul. Specialise in print or radio or TV. Climb the vertical ladder step by step, grade by grade. In the 1980s independent production companies open a few more opportunities. It's important to read newspapers, listen to the radio, watch lots of TV. Your employers will even pay you expenses to do so. In the 1990s managers start to talk about "multiskilling". This is obviously a ruse to get you to do two jobs for the price of one and should be resisted. As should any steps to take away your desk/office/locker. You worry content is becoming a mere commodity - it used to be a vocation. Don't panic about the introduction of computers and "emails" - they are just electronic memos. You read "Three Blind Mice" about how the TV networks failed to spot the threat from cable. If you are lucky you may occasionally be asked to go to a conference in another country - airports are exciting. Someone talks about a new idea of "working from home" - sounds like a good way to get a long weekend and avoid dull meetings.

Media Career 2.0 (1990s - 2015)
Take a media studies course that will teach you digital production - or computer science that will teach you how to build web pages. Blag your way in. Move from job to job trying to find interesting projects to build out your CV. Don't specialise in one skill - you need at least two or three. You're your own person and have no interest in a career ladder. If your employer is too restrictive - freelance or, better, offer yourself as a web consultant. Live out of your (Mac) laptop. Your last boss offered you a corner desk to get you to stay - wtf? You never sit at one anyway. You will need Twitter, Facebook, IM as well as email accounts to keep in touch with your peers and find out where the next opportunity may be. You will find yourself watching less and less TV, but radio (or rather audio) is good because you can stream it through your Mac while you work. Don't bother with newspapers - too analogue. What matters are ideas that can be monetized. You read "The Cluetrain Manifesto" about how markets got smarter than business. Make sure you regularly get to one of the many conferences where the digital clan gathers for its global campfire summits. If you can't get a ticket there are lots of social media drinks and breakfasts to go to instead. Airports are a hassle - no free wifi. When you're stoked and on a great project you work 24/7 to get it done - then take 3 weeks off. They can always get you on your mobile and you'll avoid dull meetings.

Media Career 3.0 (2015 - ?)
Take a series of highly vocational courses to give you the widest set of skills you can manage - coding, video, business, psychology, economics, law, web science, marketing. Blag your way in. Network constantly and aggressively. It's all about who you know. The successful ones sit on a beach in Australia and run the website for a European magazine or run an automated digital service which purrs away and earns them money from micro-payments while they sleep; some Californian guy pings you on your all-service IM (which you have open 24/7) to get you to do for his site what you did for the contract before last. Your functionality delivers higher returns than most of your colleagues - so the work chases you. If it doesn't - switch careers. You have to have a network of contacts to thrive - there is no distinction between home and work. TVs? What was the point of those? You watch video on your phone. Print? Too niche. Audio is good because you can stream it on your Mac while you work. You read Lawrence Lessig's latest book on how internet governance failed to keep up with technology. Your mobile screen is your office - you've never met your boss and don't know where he works. Meetings are virtual - video links. Some of the older guys still get on planes to go to conferences and eat together. But airports are hell and since the cost of flying trebled, it hasn't been worth it. You don't do dull meetings.
Yep! I agree with that. And it is already happening.

I agree with all this. But I think Sacred Facts is being a bit too timid. Master Green Gathering Junior, and all his friends, has all this going on:

  • A Facebook profile
  • A Myspace profile
  • A blog
  • A wiki - which he shares with his schoolmates
  • Has spent time in London in the Sony Playstation House doing cool stuff - which they paid for
  • A network of friends from China, Russia, US, Asia, Australia, New Zealand etc who he plays games with online
  • His blog is regularly sent "free games" for him and his friends to review
  • Networks online like his life might be in peril
  • Creates his own podcasts
  • Is completely mobile
  • Plans to live in Japan when he has graduated
  • He reads print - but also uses RSS and other online media
  • He talks to people online he doesn’t know - but at least they are having conversation
Sigh! That’s just the tip of the iceberg. When I was his age my world was confined to home, people I knew in the street, a pen pal or two and that was it. I think the kids are all right…
What do you think?

12.1.08

Countdown starts to Beat Blue Monday

Yes it’s coming up to that day again – the most depressing day of the year is on Monday, January 21.
Blue Monday is the most depressing day of the year according to a mathematical equation was first devised by Dr Cliff Arnall, former lecturer at Cardiff University and founder of No Pills, a consultancy specialising in confidence, motivation and happiness. Blue Monday marks the start of the final full week in January when people experience a series of combined depressive effects. The mathematical equation is:The model was broken down using six immediately identifiable factors; weather (W), debt (d), time since Christmas (T), time since failing our New Year’s resolutions (Q), low motivational levels (M) and the feeling of a need to take action (Na).The equation calculates that Monday, January 21, 2008 is officially the worst day of the year, when the Christmas glow has faded away, New Year’s resolutions have been broken, cold Winter weather has set in and credit card bills will be landing on doormats across the land - whilst the January pay-check is still one week away.
However, with the Samaritans, the team at GREEN is looking to Beat Blue Monday with a range of feel good activities - we are even going to create a beach party in our offices in the UK.
Here’s some thing you can do to Beat Blue Monday:

Blog - Write a blog about what you are doing to Beat Blue Monday. Make your readers smile. If you do write a blog post on Monday 21 - make sure to tag it: "beatbluemonday".
Try something new -Be creative, or learn something new to get your brain active and start thinking of new things instead of dwelling on the old.
Get physical - By changing your physical state, from a simple shoulder-shake at your desk to a full work-out at the gym, you can change the way you feel.
Contact a friend or relative - Get in touch with someone you have not heard from in a while; thinking of someone else takes your mind off you.
Take a break - Go somewhere different, whether it’s a coffee bar you have never been into, or a faraway luxury holiday; by changing your physical location, you change your perspective on the world.
Be nice to a stranger - Do a random act of kindness; doing good for others is the best form of self-satisfaction.
Help the planet - Be a good ancestor in some way; the planet will be here long after you are gone.
Pamper yourself - Spoil yourself, from a small indulgence to a luxury you have been promising yourself. You can even dye your hair blue to create a stunning eye-catching change.
Plan something new - Whether it’s planning a holiday for later in the year or deciding what to do at the weekend, looking forward to something new or different can be uplifting and refreshing.
Share your thoughts - A problem shared is a problem halved. Visit the Blue Monday blog to see what ideas people have come up with for dealing with life’s little problems.

11.1.08

"Bloggers don't have our ethics"

Interesting item on BBC Radio 4 last night called New Kids on the Blog (geddit!?) – about the rise of citizen journalism in the US and how the political bloggers in particular are becoming more influential.
The main argument of the programme is that the public is becoming increasingly disillusioned by traditional media as the main thrust of most “news media” is led by an adversarial approach.
This involves a tough interview with a key anchor man or simply putting two people together in the same room with contrary views and lighting the blue touch paper. And I do have some sympathy with this view. Operating in public relations and reading the newspapers as an occupational hazard news is increasingly a mean now to express an opinion – particularly in the field of political journalism.
Indeed, some newspapers like the Daily Mail have a agenda on virtually every story they do.
But one of the key issues that the “traditional journalists” – including Dan Rather – raised was the issue of truth and ethics echoing an earlier rant but the former “Dean of the White House Press Corps” Helen Thomas, who claims that “bloggers and everyone…with a laptop thinks they’re journalists…They don’t have our ethics.”
Given that journalism never established itself as a true profession with a governing body, licensing procedure, or an official code of ethics, it’s fair to ask what exactly are the ethics that journalists practice that the rest of us don’t? FULL DISCLOSURE: I was a journalist for many years.
Thomas is wrong. Most bloggers do adopt an ethical stance I found – mainly because if you diss the readership you are going to create a shit storm. At the most basic level bloggers are ethical because they are nice, decent human beings.
And if they do transgress they are quick to admit it, correct, and apologise for errors immediately and publicly.
Now when did a newspaper last do that?

7.1.08

GREEN are recruiting... are you the one?

Yes, we are now recruiting again - we need an account manager with a few years experience who is not afraid of leading from the front.
As a fast-growing, award-winning, public relations and communications agency GREEN is seeking to appoint a new Account Manager/Senior Account Manager to support a wide range of clients.
If you want to work alongside some of the most talented people in the business and you’re passionate about public relations - with relevant previous experience - we want to talk to you.
Our blue chip clients operate in a wide range of sectors from business-to-business, consumer, regeneration and government.
The company currently employs several communications professionals who are specialists in PR, social media, creativity, journalism, design, internet, copywriting, brochure management and events management. GREEN has a wide client list in the corporate, professional services and public services sectors.
We help our clients win the reputation they deserve through intelligent creativity and passionate delivery.
For an informal chat contact via email at ian@greencomms.com and andy@greencomms.com or give us a bell on 0845 4503210.

5.1.08


Banksy at work again