Today was the closing date for submissions to the Bristol B-Open competition and I am delighted to hear that we have had 11+ proposals for innovative open data projects from Bristol companies. The expert panel (and me) will be shortlisting over the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed we will be able to commission 3 really good ideas!

I only returned from leave on Monday and I was interested to get an update from Mark N (our open data project manager) about the requests for council data that we had received during the application process. It seems that not all council colleages share Councillor Mark Wright’s view that “Bristol City Council only has two forms of data – that which is confidential and that which can be shared”. We have other categories of data – “that which we sell” and “that which is expensive to collect and therefore we can’t just give away”! It is easy to dismiss then latter argument (whose money is it anyway…) but I have been troubled by the former arguement.

The example I was given relates to traffic accident hotspots. We had a request for this data but Mark was told that we could not just give it away as the Council sells it. My own view is that BCC has some sort of ‘moral’ responsibility to make this data available even if it means relinquishing an income stream, but in these austere times, I wonder what other people think… should the council (and Government) maximisize the revenue that might be gained from selling data, or should we give it away on the basis that we can encourage use for the greater good? #opendata #beopen  Any views?

We are holding a Bristol ICT Refurbishment and Reuse Scheme Providers Day on July 7th from 9.30-11:30 at the Council House.  Register for your place  at http://ictrecycling.eventbrite.com/

We want to support the development of an independent and self-supporting Bristol ICT Refurbishment and Reuse Scheme which is able to operate citywide and will act as a framework for distributing our redundant ICT equipment efficiently to individuals and organisations where it will have the most positive social impacts. This is likely to include older people, low income families, carers, social housing tenants, disabled people, care leavers and poorly resourced community and voluntary sector organisations.

In addition to refurbishing/distributing the equipment, we would also like the scheme to include programmes to tackle digital/social exclusion and to provide appropriate connectivity advice to enable the recipients to be connected to the Internet at an affordable price. We also anticipate that there will be interest from other public sector bodies/businesses in providing ICT equipment to the scheme.

We are looking for an organisation who are willing to run this scheme. The Providers Day gives you the chance to find out more details, ask questions, provide input into the final specification which will be put out to tender following the event and find out more about Bristol City Council procurement processes.

We will be offering Bristol City Council’s redundant ICT equipment and support to make links with organisations working on digital/social inclusion and connectivity. It is not our intention to provide long term funding to run the scheme, which will need to self-sustaining after the first year of operation. We will identify what level of funding and in-kind support is available following discussions at the Providers Day. It is our ambition to have a scheme agreed  by September 2010 and we will be happy to accept proposals from consortia or individual organisations.

B-Open innovative data projects competition, part of Media Sandbox 2010, is now live.

B-Open is one of the digital city projects being developed by Connecting Bristol in support of the 20-20 City Strategy. Its about openly sharing council/city data and working with local digital businesses and communities to create new applications and services that bring added value to citizens and help achieve greater connection with the city environment. Whether its engaging with peak oil, climate change or the wider green agenda.

Media Sandbox is a development programme enabling companies to research emerging possibilities in interactive, digital media, create new ideas and deliver innovation to the market.  In its third year Media Sandbox, managed by i-shed, is offering seven £10,000 commissions to support research and development of innovative experiences content, applications of experiences under two strands: open data and pervasive media.

A launch event is taking place on the afternoon of 30 June at Watershed in Bristol.
Further details and registration are available here.

Resources:-

Bristol City Council Open Data Scoping Document.
A copy of the B-Open logo can be download here

In this video Martin describes what happens at the Computer drop-in sessions that Knowle West Media Centre holds every Wednesday between 10am and 3.30pm.  These sessions form part of the South Bristol Digital Neighbourhoods programme.

Martin says these sessions are  ‘informal, fun and free’ – so if you have an older parent or family member in South Bristol, or know of anyone else who wants to get on-line,  encourage them to go along.

Or if you are someone who has good IT skills, why not give Martin a helping hand by offering to be a volunteer?

Knowle West Media Centre is one of  the UK On-Line Centres that operate in and around Bristol. You can search here for your nearest centre.

I have been reading around the subject of Innovative Open Data projects with a Government / Democracy link.

Here are some of the useful resources I have been sent (thank you Brrism and Petef) or stumbled across.  If you know of any other good articles or sources of info, please share.

Economist – Of Government and Geeks

Tim Berners Lee – The Year Open Data went Live (TED Video)

Gordon Brown’s speech on Building Britain’s Digital Future (March 2010)

Apps for Democracy (DC)

Truly Open Data, Nat Torkington

Open Government, Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice, Daniel Lathrop, Laurel Ruma, O’Reilly Media, February 2010

London Data Store

Asbometer

Started the day at Colston Hall (which has to be the best Bristol City Council meeting venue) for a gathering of 30-40 Bristol digital companies and organisations, kindly convened by Mike Bennet of Bristol Media, on behalf of Bristol City Council’s IT and Communications Teams.

The aim was to start a conversation about the Council’s plans for a new website – and in particular, how it can be used to best effect once it arrives.

Unfortunately, I had to leave early…. to be at Filwood Community Centre to help with the Council Leader’s input into the media coverage of the Bristol Digital TV Switchover – but from what I saw and have subsequently heard, things went pretty well.

I thought the presentations from Paul Arrigoni (IT Director) and Peter Holt (Comms Director) were refreshingly honest, open and engaging. I keft with a real sense that Bristol CC wants to engage with people who have an interest in what “the Web” can do to help transform the Council and the city. And in the world of Connecting Bristol, that is really quite a breakthrough.

There is some Twitter/Blog coverage of the event here.

As Tim Berners Lee calls for Governments, Scientists and Institutions to make their data openly available on the Web and Government launches its Open Data Portal this afternoon we held the first meeting of our Innovative Data Projects group – this is just one of the new “20-20” projects that the the recent Council Budget meeting agreed £1million funding for.

Barbara Janke the Council Leader came up with the name (so best not change it) but the working title is “Opening-up our Data”, which nicely sums up what the group is all about…or not?

Because, as with any innovation-type project in Local Government, there are justifiable worries about staff capacity (“what if we are over whelmed by the demand”), timescale (“we have so many priorities”), legality, procurement and public reputation.  The last is always a particular concern…

“What if we free up our data and people use it against us?” and “What if people use data in  ways that we did not think of and cannot control?”

I find this type of reasoning quite interesting.  Some council colleagues perhaps do not recognise that Public Sector employees are generally held in about as much public esteem as… er, bankers?  In my mind, being open and honest with data can only help us to build trust and confidence.

Anyway, by the end of the meeting all anxieties had been voiced and enthusiasm had triumphed – everyone was pretty much in agreement that opening-up Council data is a good thing to aspire to.

Thanks to Peter Holt, Paul Arrigoni, Clare Reddington, Rob Scott, Alex Minshul, Sarah McMahon and Carolyn Hassan for attending and contributing so eloquently.

Peter Holt, who is Bristol City Council’s Director of Communications suggested that I blog the whole thing.  So I feel duly empowered to report back on our progress. Keep an eye out here.

A major new Bristol project on saving energy by using information and communication technology has been shortlisted for the European ICT for Energy Efficiency Project Award – only a month after its launch.

On 1st November Connecting Bristol launched www.greenaddict.eu a web site on the greener use of ICT.

The website was developed as a result of an innovative study to calculate the carbon footprint of business use of ICT in the city and to develop a Green ICT solutions database.

With funding from the Carbon Trust, Connecting Bristol commissioned the study, during the last year, which revealed among other things that the business use of ICT costs Bristol approximately £11 million per year in energy costs and produces over 67,000 tonnes of CO₂.

This study is the first of its kind to provide a baseline for a city to measure progress in reducing ICT-related carbon emissions, and provides a template for other cities who wish to follow Bristol’s lead. The project will support Bristol’s commitment to achieving its carbon reduction targets, to reduce emissions by 40% by 2020 and 80% by 2050

The European ICT for Energy Efficiency Project Award was set up to promote innovation in ICT that will contribute to substantial and measurable improvements in energy efficiency, and that have the potential to provide visible and convincing showcases for investment by business, citizens or both.

People can vote for the project by registering at the EU ICT for Energy Efficiency website The competition attracts a 20,000 Euro prize which, if Bristol wins, we will use to fund more green ICT activity across the city.

Social media has been the standout success story at the heart of Web 2.0. It’s brought us opportunities to connect and collaborate with colleagues, old school friends and professional networks, as well as any number of niche interest offerings (69,000 people have joined the ‘Physics Doesn’t Exist, Its All Gnomes‘ Facebook group).

The number of people worldwide who are actively involved in social networking is vast; so huge in fact that it can be a major conceptual task to process it. The video below gives a comparative illustration of the order of magnitude we are talking about, and the impact it is having, not only on our social lives, but on how we interact with businesses and other service providers

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Out of 80 successful applications to the Technology Strategy Board’s recent Digital Britain funding, Bristol companies secured at least five grants, another example of the city’s success in producing innovative ideas and new business models across the creative and public sectors.

The feasibility grants are designed to stimulate innovation in business models, applications, services and technologies. Each study lasts up to three months and has received up to £25,000 in funding.

Details of the Bristol-based successes are below, if you know of any more winning bids, please do add them in the comments section:

New Digital Markets | ARKive and Wildscreen Trading Ltd, Nature Picture Library, VID Communications

ARKive is a world class example of a large multimedia content aggregrator/distributor. This feasibility study will explore the challenges and potential for novel business models and technical applications to address the future management and distribution of a specific range of digital media content (video & images), with the aim of finding a fair and efficient flow of revenue across the value chain, from content suppliers to consumers/visitors to the ARKive site. This will develop future capability to protect and exploit rights holders interests.

Smarter Self Reporting via Location Aware Public Services | Overlay Media and Connecting Bristol

Whilst mobile phones have become a pervasive technology for citizens, Government and Local Authorities have yet to seize the potential of mobile access to provide real-time, interactive, location-aware information and services to customers. This project aims to develop a location-aware framework for the provision of two-way mobile access to public services, which can demonstrate potential for efficiency savings, inclusion and improved service delivery and has potential to be scaled-up to meet the needs of all Local Authorities.

Joined up Britain: Nationwide location based information and entertainment | Calvium

An information platform of nationwide location-based content stored and accessible through web services and delivered on peoples GPS phones. The study will explore how to use technology to radically simplify and streamline processes so that thousands of individuals and companies can create and manage a compelling located media points that combined deliver a comprehensive, integrated nationwide service (a bit like a wikipedia structure for located media).

Digital Crystals | Tim Kindberg of Matter 2 Media

The design and implementation of ‘digital crystals’, intelligent signage devices located in public places such as retail (in-store and shop windows), bus stops, waiting rooms, clubs etc. Digital Crystals are internet-connected and provide information, advertising and mobile-based interaction for people nearby. This study will go beyond the limitations of current interactions with public signage to explore the creation of a matrix of devices in urban areas that, unlike current digital signs, are (a) affordable by many types of space-owner, (b) mobile-friendly, (c) designed to fit gracefully in their environment, and (d) collectively programmable for city-wide campaigns.

How Can Augmented Reality on a Mobile Device be Used by Historical Places to Deliver Content which Informs, Entertains, and Directs the User? | Mobile Pie

A study into how the use of Augmented Reality (AR) on mobile devices can improve the ways that public information available on existing networks can be brought to users in a useful and immediate context. In particular the study will concentrate on using 3D characters overlaid on real world real-time camera input to make users aware of historical sites and facts. It will also look into how the technology could be taken further to distribute more information, through micro-payments and allowing user generated and user shared content.

Thanks to Bristol Pervasive Media Studios for rounding-up the info