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In London you have to pay in Bristol you get it for free

The cooperative movement grew from a banding together of groups of people for mutual assistance in trade, manufacture, the supply of credit, housing, or other services. 

Bristol Wireless is one of more than 150 organisations who are helping to develop Bristol’s Digital Challenge bid.  Bristol Wirelasss is also a co-op set up to develop a free-to-access broadband intranet using technologies that are relevant, permanent and affordable to communities that find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide.

Bristol Wireless recently featured on national TV news, watch it here (real player).  The news coverage highlights how in London you have to pay for wi fi whereas in  Bristol, you can get it for free. 

Who's Watching Who?

 
"Sousveillance" – or watching from below refers to individual citizens keeping a technological eye on the people in charge, in comparison to "surveillance" meaning watching from above.
 
Proponents see it as an equalizer making it possible for individual citizens (or groups) to keep tabs on those in charge.  The article gives examples of how images and video footage from mobile phones have been used to tackle all sorts of injustices, criminal and otherwise.  
 
My prediction is that disgruntled customers everywhere will soon adopt sousveillance as their complaint method of choice.  Why fill out the official complaints form, send it off and wait, wait, wait when you can use your phone to covertly snap/film the offending ticket collector  / bus driver / receptionist / consultant  (notice I didn’t say council officer) as they abuse you or some other poor customer, instantly upload it to ourmedia or youtube generate a url and post it to all a sundry, including the organisation’s Chief Exec? 
 
OK, you will need to be swift-fingered to really make it work and the article concedes that it will all be far easier when we have always-on, hard-drive cameras inserted in to our heads (I'm paraphrasing a little).  Still, the most interesting part of this video (thanks again Andy) is the bit where the guy is on the phone to Apple’s frankly embarrassed customer help line operator.  So it can work!

Remember, from now on you, your call or your caller may be recorded and it probably won’t be for “training purposes”      

Innovation and the Art of Parody

These are NOT the key recommendations of the Framework for Innovation in Local Government, which I was delighted to be invited to contribute to, for a third and final time, last week at the impressive Institute of Civil Engineers They are, in fact, pieces by artist Mark Titchner, currently on display at the Arnolfini in Bristol.



I have been a little disappointed with the Arnolfini since it re-opened last year (and I don’t know anyone who has a good word to say about the makeover of the bar area, which I notice is looking very shabby already). However, this exhibition is good fun.

I haven’t come across Mark Titchner before but his ‘big brother’ style statements have a sort of luminous authority, which closely parodies government, council and corporate rhetoric. In fact, some of these statements might have been taken directly from the council’s best value manual??? If any of my local government colleagues feel slighted by these works, I shall tell them - it’s ok to be angry… but don’t stop breathing!

Guardian article about campaign creator

Interesting piece by Steve Mathieson in this week’s Guardian about the Campaign Creator and  similar approaches – interesting because it touches upon some of the thorniest issues surrounding democracy, innovation and the role of Government. 
 
Steve draws an example from Pledgebank of a pledge that generated considerable support and finances to oppose ID cards, suggesting that we might conclude - silly old Government for funding well-meaning innovation projects to encourage civic participation… because civic participation is used to attack Government policy, doh!  I call this the ‘giving out hammers to hit you with’ dilemma.
 

Steve also points out that when Government (in this case, Bristol’s Council Leader) says ‘I share your concerns’ (about the Developer’s choice of name for the new Bristol shopping centre) and calls for people to actively show their backing, the response from activists is often one of entrenched cynicism.
 
So what should we conclude?  My view is that project’s like campaign creator, pledgebank and the BBC’s Action Network are effective because they democratise the opportunity to be heard.  Having a public view is no longer the sole right of politicians, property developers, newspaper journalists or powerful elites - everyone has the right to express and publish a view on ID cards - the re-naming of Broadmead or whatever.   This has to be the first step in generating action – however, as anyone who has ever made a public statement knows, with this great power comes great responsibility – if you say it you have to be prepared to justify it and you have to expect that not everyone will agree with you – if you speak your mind you have to be prepared to listen when others do the same. 
 
The really interesting bit, not addressed in the article, is what happens when different opinions are expressed – how are trade-off’s made, how is consensus reached.  There seems to be something of resurgence in the idea of citizens’ juries at the moment, including DCA experiments to develop classroom and online models.  Whilst there is some mileage here, personally I would like to see the model tweaked further.  Instead of “citizens’ juries” how about “civic juries” made up of a balanced group of politicians, activists and citizens?  Now, that might just might help the hammerers to hit the nail on the head! 
   

A Million Faces

I have just been reading the guest bloggers’ essays in Cybersoc.  Today, Nancy White ‘a recognised expert in understanding and practicing online group facilitation’ has been writing about online communities in their many and varied forms. 

Nancy observes, “Not all groups are communities. Likewise, groups are like individuals: each has a unique fingerprint and context”  She also suggests “When the reason is compelling, people will adopt. There are more compelling online interaction experiences available than ever.”

This stuck a chord as my partner Jenn has only this week discovered her own compelling reason to join an online community, or group, of sorts. 

Amnesty International is demanding that Governments worldwide tackle the unregulated arms trade.  You can sign the million faces petition by submitting a photo or drawing of yourself.  It is very powerful to see so many faces of so many people from across the world, a group with a very unique “finger print and context” and so much more powerful than an anonymous list of signatures.

Authorities and Activists Webcasts

I like the way David has has incorporated short video interviews recorded live at the event – hearing directly from the people involved really helps to bring his account to life  - it is also an audible reminder of just why the controlling of urban gulls was such a hot topic when we first launched askbristol


The full webcast including questions from the audience and interactive voting results is now available here.  Kevin has pinpointed his personal highlight here.     .

Guest Bloggers on Cybersoc

I picked this up from emint - worth a look

Each day next week (20-24 March) cybersoc will be publishing posts by a series of special guest bloggers The guest bloggers are   Citizen Journalism: Richard Sambrook, Director of Global News at BBC Online Community Management: Nancy White of Full Circle Associates Online Community Management: Craig Newmark and/or Jim Buckmaster from Craigslist.org Internet Research: Professor Stephen Coleman, Institute of Communication Studies at the University of Leeds Web 2.0: Scott Rafer of Mobile Community site Winksite

Mighty Boosh in Bristol

Activists, Anarchists, Academics and Authorities - After the Conference

The Activists and Authorities in the 21st Century conference in Bristol went well – mainly I feel because of the unusual mix of delegates, the speakers and because the Chair, Stephen Coleman has a remarkable ability to be convincing both as ‘man of the people’ and as ‘learned professor’.
 
I can’t say I enjoyed the event.  I spent the morning feeling sick.  I do a lot of public speaking so I wasn’t bothered by that – it was more the idea that we had brought together a potentially explosive mix of people from opposite ends of the spectrum – when was the last time that you went to an egovernment event where there was an anarchist in the audience advocating rioting as a form of public engagement (although nothing much else to contribute) and err… the council leader?
 
Still, it all seemed to work out in the end. 
 
I was very impressed by Stephen Clift’s presentation – lots of interesting neighbourhood examples from the states that we can use in our Digital Challenge bid. Mary Reid has written about the conference in her blog here. The webcast should be live tomorrow so you can judge for yourself here. 
 

Digital Challenge

“I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and think that if Bristol pull together all the work they have done into a strong narrative, they have a really good chance of winning.”
 
So says Andy Martin in his blog
 
That’s one less person we need to convince then

Inspiration for tomorrow's Digital Challenge Mayoral dinner

Dear MP, Councillors and Colleauges,

We are delighted that you have accepted the Lord Mayor of Bristol’s invitation to dinner.  The dinner provides an opportunity to celebrate Bristol’s significant digital success to date and to consider how the city can build upon this, to bring about real and tangible benefits for all.

Whilst we refer to “digital success” – it is our firm belief that citizens, communities and neighbourhoods are of prime importance.  The technology is simply an enabler, albeit a powerful one, through which new relationships can be formed and new models of service delivery developed. 

To envisage the radical benefits that can be realised through the effective use of technology requires a leap of imagination (rather than in-depth scientific knowledge).  We hope that the following ‘what ifs’ will provide you with a firm leaping-off point, should you require one!

 All of these ‘what-ifs’ (and more) are possible now.  Many of these things are already happening in Bristol and if not Bristol, then across the world.  Through the opportunity that the Digital Challenge provides, we plan to develop a clear digital vision, which will support existing priorities and have most impact on communities who are currently taking least benefit from the city’s access.  We look forward to meeting you and sharing ideas over dinner.

Kind Regards,  

Stephen Hilton, Bristol City Council, Dick Penny, Watershed

What if…

Health & Well-Being:

You can live on a Greek island and work in Bristol (or vice versa)

You visit your GP surgery for an examination by a leading medical specialist, who just so happens to be in New York. Services:

You can talk with your neighbourhood police officer face to face via video phone

You are refusing to even look at the sheltered home ‘they’ want to cart you off to.  But then the worker takes you on a virtual tour.  You can move around the scheme, see what your room will look like and chat with other residents, all from the comfort of your front room.  Perhaps you will look around after all.

Learning:

School has given you a device that allows you to access the curriculum anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Little do they know that you aren’t going to use it to learn – you are going to videoconference with your mates instead!

You can search all of the world’s books in one go (or just summarise all strategies and policies impacting on Bristol).

Imagine if there was a free online encyclopaedia, constantly being written and rewritten by hundreds of thousands of topic experts

Making Life Interesting:

The next time you wait for a train you could use the time to catch up with your work emails, or you could use radical new social software to see if any friends, business contacts, friends of friend, or people you fancy are in the vicinity and want to meet up for a coffee.

You could listen-in to the comedy evening at your local pub, whilst you are at home cooking tea

Business and Work:

You choose where and when you work, to fit in with studying or looking after family.

You receive far fewer emails because there are ‘virtual spaces’ where you can collaborate with other people in your group – jointly working on documents, weighing-up arguments, reaching and communicating conclusions

The Environment:

The air is cleaner because increased home working has led to the volume of commuters into Bristol dropping by one in a hundred, one in ten, half?

Travelling Around:

You can access a real-time map showing how far you are from the nearest bus, train or taxi and the relative cost and journey time.

You are visually impaired so the bus stop tells you when a bus is approaching. When you get off you access discrete real time audio information that guides you around.   

Saving your Money

Imagine if all of your telephone calls were free

Empowering Communities

What if there was a simple-to-use tool that enabled communities to join together to alert authorities to their concerns and receive information in return. 

What if every neighbourhood had space to share ideas and identify local solutions, which they could put into practice by securing pledges of practical help and financial support from like-minded people.

You could watch council (or other authority) meetings live on local TV – send in questions or vote, along with those who are present

Can someone who is not a member of an established political party and who has minimal financial backing become a series contender in the US American Presidential election (it would appear so).