Momentum Group Meeting Notes 23.05.07
May 23, 2007 Posted by Clare in : Bristol, Momentum, Connecting Bristol , trackbackLive 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.
As a programme, digital challenge has been successful and Bristol has contributed to a much wider debate. This is why getting funding for DC10 was so important, working with central government, regional agencies and local groups to take this forward. Government spends somewhere in the region £54 billion on social exclusion issues, and £12.5 billion on IT within the central budget, the mission now is to explore how ICT acts as an enabler to tackle these issues and enable people tap into some of these budgets to deliver better services. This is an ongoing challenge.
Future funding will come largely through the Local Area Agreement and the Local Strategic Partnership. We will be helping all the DC10 set up regional workshops to explore issues around 1) understanding how to communicate properly with the community 2) understanding local targets and 3) knowing how the ICT agenda can meet some of these.
5.30pm
Comments and Questions:
Mark Leaver: is there not an opportunity in digital switch over, to take some of these things forward? At the moment this is not being exploited for opportunities like informal learning.
Stephen Hilton: One of the DC10’s themes is digital switchover and Connecting Bristol is now responsible for digital switchover in the Regional Assembly.
Stephen Dodson: One of the issues is putting in the return path to enable interactivity – this needs to be put the specifications.
5.40pm
Stephen Hilton on DC10 (group of finalists from Digital Challenge)
The network was awarded £2million after that digital challenge and it is up to the members to decide how to use these resources. The first meeting of the DC10 was in Sunderland and part of the agenda was how to use this money. Bristol’s view was that each authority should have an allocation, but money should also be left in the pot for people to bid into it. This is the solution that was chosen to go forward and each DC10 member has been awarded £100,000 to support their continued involvement. The group also agreed some headlines to address which include next generation networks and connectivity, digital environment, personal/social care (promotion of independent living), and digital switchover (and IPTV).
The next meeting is in June. There have been discussions about its name, branding, PR etc, to make sure it becomes a real focus for best practice in digital inclusion.
Tomas Rawlings - is there any mention of open source in the bid?
Jaya Chakrabarti - Japan Govt has decided to go open source
5.50pm
Stephen Hilton - The Environmental group has an interest in the thin client solutions created by Bristol Wireless and our bid document contained a lot of information and statistics around this that we want to take forward. Flexible working also remains a priority - Nottingham have a very interesting project around local flexible working with Boots and other employers, which has proved very popular with people who haven’t worked before. Our Slivers of Time proposal will also be taken forward by a working group.
Bristol is also increasingly being cited as a ‘wireless city’ and a brand is being developed around this. Progress locally includes the establishment of a wireless working group from public and private sector stakeholders to establish a city-wide single network. The first manifestation of this will be a wireless network from Brislington Park and Ride to the new Broadmead site as part of the showcase bus routes.
6pm
Discussion around Panorama wireless story - what does this mean? Should we be worried?
Helen Bream - Bristol Schools for Future has good statistics around the fact this is not a danger.
Overview of Panorama programme
Link to Guardian article refuting Panorama’s claims
Tomas - research needs to be done by a neutral and trusted party to ensure the level is above that of the MMR debate.
6.15pm
Stephen - the other thing being worked on as part of the DC10 is the Digital Environment and Bristol is currently drafting a bid back to the DC10 for funding. Focus areas would be neighbourhoods around the country with carbon makeover projects. In Bristol, this would support Knowle West. We have also put forward Bristol to lead a green digital challenge with a focus on environmental issues.
We are also looking to work with Manchester and others on a European bid called Green Shift around smart homes and pervasive environments. This would range from research around responsible power consumption, to test bedding innovative new products and applications. The deadline for this bid is Oct/Nov.
Tomas - we also need more research and thinking around how we re-use and recondition computers and come up with innovative software solutions to counter the march of upgrade culture.
Helen - Re-use is also part of the Building Schools for the Future vision.
6.30pm
Stephen Hilton - Kevin is in Brusells for a launch of an EU fund which we will bid into for a programme of work around older people.
News from Momentum group:
Andy Parkhouse - there is an idea for creating a zero-carbon data centre (server centre). This needs to be explored, if the worst predictions of climate change are true, investment in servers and skills and digital technology may be obsolete. How can we get an EU bid together?
Also, plugged Bristol day - an extra bank holiday for Bristol
Tomas - Fluffy logic has recently been involved in building Catbot, a peer to peer file sharing network, with local universities and funders.
Helen - Computers for Pupils - equipment for people who cannot afford access to equipment. However the ongoing costs of putting in internet access is too steep. Have identified a device called AMEO which we are currently inviting expressions of interest around, to drive down the costs of data charges for this device.
Mark Leaver - South West Screen is offering bursaries to attend interactive media festival Btween this year. More info at: http://www.just-b.com/btween and http://www.swscreen.co.uk/WhatWeFund/151.aspx
@Symes - New 1,200 sq m (12,900 sq ft) community building to be run and managed by Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership (HWCP) that will host a range of new services and facilities for community use.
Bristol City Council - looking for Youth programmes for EU bids. Workshop coming up, which will be circulated via this site.
Woodsy, Bristol Wireless - Our power consumption has been reduced by two thirds by consolidating servers. Bristol Wireless also doing live streaming for Venn Festival and also has been refurbishing computers and if people want to buy one, they can get in touch with Bristol Wireless.
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