Tools like blogs, podcasts, video and social networks can give a real boost to campaigning organisations, often for no or little cost

Drop in any time between 5 - 7 for some appproachable one to one support on how to make the best use of the internet.

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When Karl Binder and I had the first conversation about the event it was nothing to do with twitter. It was about using technology to come up with a new way conduct a brainstorm and get people to develop new ideas that could lead to some useful action points.

We didn’t want to steer away from the standard conference format just for the sake of being different. Straightforward speaker presentations are great events and Fazeley Digital 09 has included a few of them. However, the danger is that you hear an expert speak, they make some interesting points and before you have had a chance to think about what it really means or how you are going to act on it, the evening is over, the moment’s gone and you are on to the next event.

While many conferences also have people tweeting/blogging out, we wanted to make it a bit more interactive by inviting people to tweet comments in, and for those people to be able to see in a visible way that their point had been taken on board by having them drawn onto our big physical ideas wall.

We also wanted to be able to post blogs, links, pictures, e-mindmaps and let people carry on grabbing a pen and adding to the ideas wall for the remainder of our digital festival before we try and get a proper summary together and the action points joined up.

Karl came up with a great idea for the format and managed to video stream the event so that even people watching in America were fed back to say that they could follow us well.

We fixed on “My dad’s on twitter but he doesn’t know why” because it is a statement that could lead to quirky stories and narratives, but also get people to really ponder why we use social media and how we can use it better.

So basically, the main things we wanted to achieve were:

Process:

- To get the physical audience participating – shouting out, grabbing pens, sharing ideas and experiences
- To get the virtual audience contributing – by following us, telling us they were following us and chipping in ideas that we could feed off.

Content:

- To get social media experts/addicts to take a step back and look at it through new eyes – how could we be using it better and why does not everyone find it a useful tool? Is that something we can/should address by using it in new ways

- To get social media novices to see what can be useful about twittering, blogging, facebook and all the tools that are available and say how they would like them to be used, or what we could do to help them benefit.

It was an experimental event which we hope was really enjoyable. as expected, some things worked and some things didn’t. What we want now are more comments and ideas about what did and didn’t work, as well as thoughts on the points raised by the speakers.

– below are a list of blog posts. We welcome anyone to comment or to email me (km@fazeleystudios.com) with a new blog link. You can also come to Fazeley and ask for our ideas wall in room 36 – grab a pen and get writing. In a week’s time we’ll be drawing everything together to see what we can do next to get some real action points out of the ideas and discussions.

SPEAKER POSTS

JON HICKMAN: COURSE CONVENOR SOCIAL MEDIA MA AT BCU blogpost and another one here

JAKI BOOTH: A ‘RELATIVE’ TWITTER NOVICE slideshow

DAVE HARTE DIGITAL BIRMINGHAM: blogpost

FAZELEY POSTS

Fazeley Studios

Karl Binder

ATTENDEE POSTS

24 random thoughts

Watch the live stream of the event by going to:
http://bambuser.com/channel/crushhouse
The video coverage will start at around 5pm today.

Chris Unitt and Nick Booth will be live blogging and there is also a Twitter hashtag of ‘#mdot’ to allow you to follow the digital discussion simply by going to http://twitterfall.com/ and searching #mdot . Tweets will be appearing on a screen at the event, so everyone can join in!

Also a big thanks to Alex Huges and Matt Buck who will be our Cartoonists in residence.

Let’s get mindmapping!

He was really supportive but due to his incredibly hectic schedule we just couldn’t find one. He wanted me to put forward his comments about why the Electric couldn’t show Synechdoche New York at the time of its release:

“From Friday 22 May we started showing Synecdoche NY, Cheri and Encounters at the End of the World in just one week. The week before that we showed British indie Is Anybody There and micro budget film Shifty along side high quality mainstream films like Star Trek.

We would normally have shown a film like Synecdoche NY on release date but as happens occasionally at this time of year it clashed with two of the biggest 2009 releases Star Trek and Angels & Demons. Distributors of new films don’t let us split the screens so in this particular case it wasn’t possible to show all three during one week.”

I also had a conversation with Dorothy and Louisa from the MAC who are busily working away to get this great facility up and running for its big reopening next year. So again they couldn’t make it but really wanted to feed in the following:

“When the MAC reopens in Spring 2010 we will be running a cinema programme similar to the one we ran prior to closure - including significant independent and art-house content.

I hope the reintroduction of mac to the cinematic landscape in Birmingham will go some way to address the concerns being discussed.

It is also worth mentioning that mac will have a new double height 250sq metre gallery, fully equipped for artists’ film/ video installation based work, and there will be a greater emphasis on this in our gallery programming. We will run a full media arts-based learning and participation programme in our newly created digital studio.”

All things to be discussed Mon

Fazeley Studios high tea for tenants has become a bit of an institution – twittered about, blogged about and even adopted by excellent architect firm Bryant Priest Newman

As our grand festival finale we are doing high tea like never before: as big and tasty as we can make it.

After two weeks of talking about the digital future of the city we are going back to traditional, mouth watering English treats (finger sandwiches, cakes, pastries, scones and clotted cream, fresh strawberries, cloudy lemonade, iced coffee, a selection of English teas and coffees) all in our restored 19th century gallery reception.

There will be a chance to grab a pen and write on our big collaborative ideas wall from the event ‘My Dad’s on twitter but he doesn’t know why’ before we make our final list of action points to try and use the city’s virtual networks in new ways (see here).

There are limited spaces so book your place to get your brain and your tastebuds going by networking with some of the best creative minds in the country.

Watch Lord Carter, who is heading the government’s Digital Britain project, announce his findings that will set out the aims needed to address the challenges of the internet and other digital technologies that were highlighted in his Interim Report. His talk at the ICC will be followed by a Q&A session, which will give the Unconference attendees in Fazeley Studios a chance to join the debate via Twitter and discuss the issues that arise from his report.

The official event at the ICC will bring together some of the key regional experts and stakeholders across the digital economy with representation from media, telecoms, creatives, technology, inclusion and industry sectors to review with the Minister his report.

Digital Britain ‘Final Report’ Unconference is the official fringe to the structured ICC conference, driven completely by energy, passion and a room full of people who want to make a difference.

Lunch and refreshments will be available on the day.

Hand made wierd and wonderful beanie toys called ‘Woogies’ and hand made greetings cards plus framed line drawings and paintings. I also design personalised crads, stationary, gift wrap,drawings and beanie toys.
I run creative workshops for children too and paint murals for children and adults
and would be happy to offer my services!
Ruth Radcliffe

Event organisation ideas, flyer & other graphic design production, contacts with mixed UK/Lithuanian young and professional musicians/bands.
Agne Selemonaite

Our meeting room (leather sofa’s, white walls, internet access)which can accommodate up to 20 people (theatre style). Tea, coffee, water/catering additional charge (very reasonable).
Marcia Springer

Radio/Audio production: the results can happily live as audio on your website, or background music at your installation, depending on your needs. Music repertoire and consultancy, derived from over 40 years music programming experience in pretty much any format you can think of: add this to the above, or consider this for your next video project. Voiceovers: deep brown voice to go… lots of experience here
Robin Valk

2 days worth of PR consultation (together or seperately)
Lyle Bignon

Illustration/Design - using a wide range of techniques Costume and Props- Design/ Make Trained all round researcher- can just about research any topic Experienced performer
Mitra Memarzia

Advice on materials, physical design and structural engineering. Collaboration on physical projects (sculpture, large artworks, small bespoke design). 3D computer aided design, complex geometry.
James Thomson

Website design and site auditing, to identify how you could improve your website’s performance
Karl Binder

Get involved here at the Creative Republic website

Opening Hours: Friday 12 June, 4pm – 6pm
Fazeley Studios, Digbeth, Birmingham

“Money is Dead. Long Live Barter.”
John-Paul Flintoff, The Sunday Times

Fancy getting a flash new website, but don’t have the funds? Need some striking new product photography but can’t face the price tag? Looking for some financial advice without the fees?

In these challenging economic times, forget about money and embrace bartering at the Creative Swap Shop.

As a highlight of Fazeley Digital 09, Creative Republic and Fazeley Studios are inviting you to meet and mingle with fellow creative types and swap your skills or products for services you really need.

The afternoon will kick off with some good old fashioned speed networking, before guests are invited to barter themselves a bargain.

Before closing time, you’ll also have the chance to bid in our Swap Shop Auction. With some top prizes up for grabs, all you’ll need to do is convince our auctioneer that you’re a worthy winner.

Places are strictly limited, and entry is only available to Creative Republic’s charter signatories who have something to swap! To RSVP, click here and let us know what you’ll be bringing to the Swap Shop.

To sign the Creative Republic Charter, click here.

To take part in more events from Fazeley Digital 09 please visit www.fazeleydigital.com or for more information on Fazeley Studios offices and venue space please visit www.fazeleystudios.com.

THE PROGRAMME:

12.30 - 1.30 pm: Birmingham: A Cinematic Backwater?

1.30 - 2pm: Buffet lunch

2pm – 2.30 pm: ‘Business models for online content’. Paul Bradshaw.

The digital revolution has changed the way in which journalists and publishers can reach audiences and make money, while many businesses are still exploring the realms of what the online world can offer.

Paul Bradshaw explores how it is possible to turn a profit from content led sites and how we can evolve new business models to cope with the era of free informtion.

The UK’s ‘4th most visible person online (according to the MostPublic Index), Paul Bradshaw is a Senior Lecturer in Online Journalism, Magazines and New Media at Birmingham City University’s School of Media, his background is in magazine editing and editorial website management. He has contributed to several books about the internet and online journalism, and one on cult fiction and he is currently writing a book on online journalism.

Paul also works as a consultant with a number of media organisations.

2.30 - 3pm: Nick Booth: Help me Investigate:

Nick Booth explains the concept behind a new 4ip funded project which will redefine the relationship between news and communities and push the boundaries of the democratic power of the web.

Help me Investigate is an ‘open source investigative journalism’ platform for members of the public and journalists to pursue answers to local questions.

It allows journalists and active members of the public, to propose something they want to investigate, to organise, to pursue it and then to report on it and repeat the process

Set up by Nick, along with Paul Bradshaw and web designer Stef Lewandowski, Help me Investigate will be piloted in Birmingham before hopefully being rolled out as a national model.

Nick Booth is former BBC political reporter and television and radio documentary maker. His company Podnosh specialises in using social media for social and democratic benefit and advises organisations on the impact and opportunities of social media, such as blogging, podcasting, youtube, flickr and other social networking sites.

3.30 - 5pm: Advantage Proof of Concept Fund:

Iwona Tempowski will give a fifteen minute talk and Q&A session on the Advantage Proof of Concept Fund, answering the two key questions on the mind of everyone who approaches the fund: which projects are suitable for support and how do you go about getting it?

If you have a particular project in progress, Iwona is booking 30 minute one to one sessions to advise on individiual appliations, helping to maximise your chances of success.

The £5.8 million Advantage Proof of Concept Grant Fund was launched in 2008 to promote economic growth through innovation by supporting many of the third party costs that businesses face when developing new products and processes. It provide pre-commercialisation capital for technical and commercial proof of concept, typically between £15,000 and £30,000.

The Fund is expecting to make more than 200 awards by March 31st 2010 and is now accepting applications on a rolling basis.

To book a one to one workshop please email Iwona.Tempowski@centraltechnologybelt.com