eDemocracy update
July 31, 2007 Posted by Kevin in : Bristol , 1 comment so farBristol’s eDemocracy work made an appearance in the Times this weekend. The article referred to the success of an online survey which determined the future of a work by internationally renowned graffiti artist Banksy.
The survey, which has been covered on this site before, attracted 400 new members to the Ask Bristol website and ensured that the piece was preserved.
Ultra-Flexible Working Bristol: Pledge your support
July 27, 2007 Posted by Kevin in : Bristol , 1 comment so farOn Monday we held the first Connecting Bristol Lunchtime Innovation Seminar. Fifty people squeezed into the Lord Mayors Reception Room to hear three excellent presentations on a range of flexible working topics.
Richard Manby and Jan Tomlinson (Tomorrows People) led off with a compelling introduction to Slivers of Time, an innovative online marketplace which matches employers requirements and employee availability, allowing people to work in new, ultra flexible, ways.
Pete Goodwin (Accelerate Nottingham) and Stuart Bowden (UKVCC) presented their experiences of introducing Homeshoring in Nottingham. Homeshoring offers people the opportunity to work from home or local hubs, handling calls for call centres. It is well suited to people whose lifestyles tend to be more home-based, particularly those with caring responsibilities or health and mobility issues.
The seminar closed with a presentation by Mike Zeidler about The Hub. The Hub is an example of the sort of physical spaces which are emerging to support more flexible working patterns.
Teams, Departments, Businesses - Support us in establishing an ultra flexible job market in Bristol by signing our online pledge. PLEASE NOTE signing does not commit you to making a financial contribution - at this stage we are after heart and minds rather than cash!
MySpace Calls For Reinforcements
Posted by Matt in : Bristol, Community Media, Connecting SW Conference, Connecting Bristol , 1 comment so farMySpace has denied that the decision to refresh their PR provision has come about due to the pressure it faces from rival Facebook, who are rapidly gaining in popularity. Whilst MySpace still receives a greater number of hits than Facebook, this month Facebook has overtaken MySpace in the number of web searches of its name.
A recent article in the Guardian would have made worrying reading for MySpace – London has overtaken Toronto to become the biggest network on Facebook, with members listed in London now numbering 790,615, which is almost a twofold increase since May. Its userbase, growing at an overall rate of 3%, is growing by 6% a week in London.
Figures for the year to June show that the three main social networking sites have all seen huge growth, with MySpace recording the biggest audience -10.76 million unique users, an increase of 149% - but Facebook are fast catching up. Its UK traffic rose from just 268,000 unique users in June 2006 to 6.01 million in June 2007 – an increase of 2,143%
On the other hand, perhaps MySpace are to be believed when they say that their decision to put the PR account out to tender was “absolutely not” a response to Facebook’s increasing popularity: see this PR faux pas.
Use Blackle for more energy efficient Googling
July 26, 2007 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Innovation, Environment, Technology , 3 commentsThanks to Helen Goulden from CLG for sending this -
When your screen is white - an empty word page, or the Google page, your computer consumes 74 watts, and when its black it consumes only 59 watts. Mark Ontkush wrote an article about the energy saving that would be achieved if Google had a black screen, taking in account the huge number of page views, according to his calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year would be saved. In a response to this article Google created a black version of its search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version, but with a lower energy consumption…. it is also helpful for people with visual impairments too
Try it here
