Online bid wins New Media nomination
May 25, 2007 Posted by Clare in : e-democracy, Bristol, Awards , 2 commentsAn entirely public online collaboration to bid for a £1.2 million Government contract has been nominated to win a New Media Award in the Modernising government award category. The dozens of people involved in openinnovation.net elected to construct their bid online and in public, leveraging extra ideas and energy.
Simon Berry led on development of the proposal, and many Connecting Bristol friends were involved, including David Wilcox, Steve Bridger, Ed Mitchell and Andrew Parkhouse.
Read more at http://www.innovationexchange.net
Here Comes CatBot
Posted by Tomas in : Digital Challenge , add a comment
CatBot is a proposed open source system for easy distribution of large files using peer-to-peer technology (p2p). A peer-to-peer system (aka file trading system) is a method of exchanging data that combines the networked, distributive power of each individual computer, to enable an interconnected mesh of network bandwidth. CatBot is also known as the South West Creative Archive (SWCA). CatBot is currently a collaborative project between FluffyLogic, Knowledge West, South West Screen, BMEX, Bristol University, Bath Spa University, the University of Gloucestershire and the University of the West of England.You can find out more about the project, including details documents on the planning and design of the system at: http://catbot.fluffylogic.net/help.php
New report by Community Media South West & Blueboard
Posted by Shawn in : Education, Digital Challenge, Community Media, Advocacy, Skills , add a commentMAKING IT WORK:
An Enquiry into how companies in the Community Media Sector recruit and
retain skilled freelancers
Research by Ella Bissett Johnson
Edited by Shawn Sobers and Steve Gear
This report is a timely and original development in the analysis of social interest creative practice. It takes the debate much further than merely exploring the merits of such projects, and directly provides an analysis of the economic and skills base for this area of work – the area of community media activity within the creative industries.
According to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the creative industries are now one of the fastest growing sectors in the British economy, and socially aware creative practice is now gaining a stronger profile and being taken seriously by a wide range of cultural agencies. We feel this report provides an important step in recognising not only the economic realities of these community minded organisations via case studies of the companies themselves and the freelancers they employ, but also charts the average skills contained in this community media/arts field of work, and highlights its future sustainability.
This report has been designed to be not only illuminating, but also be useful. It will be of interest to stakeholders of community based media & arts activity, including project facilitators, managers, funders and policy makers, and also for areas such as careers advice and academic fields such as media studies and social policy. Hopefully this report will provide a platform from which to make informed decisions with confidence, from which the sub-sector of community based media education activity can strategically grow and flourish.
To order from Amazon click here.
To download full report as a pdf file click here.
Research funded by ABI Associates, University of the West of England and South West Screen
Supported by Calling the Shots and Firstborn Creatives
Published by - CMSW / Blueboard - Jan 2007
Momentum Group Meeting Notes 23.05.07
May 23, 2007 Posted by Clare in : Bristol, Momentum, Connecting Bristol , 1 comment so farLive notes from the Momentum Meeting
5.15pm
Stephen Hilton introduced the evening “tonight is about stopping looking back and moving forward to what the city will now do”.
5.20pm
Stephen Dodson, Director of the Digital Challenge Programme (not a Digital Challenge Judge!):
The transparency, energy and creativity of the Connecting Bristol bid was hugely impressive – this is my fourth visit to Bristol and we want to help take Connecting Bristol forward. (more…)
