Links for February 21st through March 2nd
Some links for you:
- A review of cultural labour markets by Kate Oakley « Annette Naudin's Blog - I know this is a link to a link but it enables me to point out both that the Kate Oakley piece is worth a read and that Annette Naudin's blog is worth a follow: "This is a blog about my research in Cultural Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education for the creative, media and cultural indsutries"
- eGov monitor - The Digital Route To Recovery | Chris Price - Digital Birmingham - "The city plans major investment in its first Digital District in Digbeth, home to many of Birminghams renowned digital, creative and hi-tech businesses. Plans would see the development of an infrastructure capable of delivering high speed next generation broadband internet to residents and businesses."
- Birmingham's Buildings and Urban Topography - ePapers Repository - All of Phyllis Nicklin's photos (446 of them) plotted on a google map. Links to med-hi res versions of them. Amazing images of Birmingham circa 1950s to 60s. I remember Created in Birmingham dug these up a while back (with some struggle I recall) but here they all are in one place (may have been here for ages but I never noticed).
Links for February 13th through February 18th
Some links for you:
- Chromaroma - This is the blog for: "Chromaroma is an online multiplayer game played out as you travel the city with your Oyster Card. By using Oyster data we are able to show you your Tube travel, and every journey means you amass points, taking a few steps further along the way to owning London." Exciting! One to watch - these guys do great work.
- The Stirrer - NEW BOSS DRIVES INTO CITY TV - Some local media news of interest: "The former manager of Formula 1 racing champion Jensen Button has emerged as a major player on the Birmingham media scene by taking a stake in the fledgling City TV project. Jersey-based millionaire John Byfield who runs the sports marketing and management group Essentially will be chairman of the new venture. Byfield - a solicitor by training - has been drafted in by City TV MD Alan Grindley, who said: The search has been on for several months to find the right person to head up Birmingham's new TV station - someone who will bring a wealth of national and international business experience and investment into Birmingham."
- The Digital Villages Research Network - "The Digital Villages Network Research Project is a major study of the use of Information and Communication Technologies in rural and urban communities in the North East of England. Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the project team is led by the East Cleveland Community Development Group and the University of Teesside. Team members include: Paul Davies, Prof Eileen Green, Carrie Singleton and Steve Thompson"
Links for February 5th through February 9th
Some links for you:
- Birmingham Mail - News - Birmingham News - Tributes paid to former Birmingham Mail photographer John Reavenall - This is sad news. I wrote my masters dissertation (in the late 90s) about digital photography and John was kind enough to let me observe him for a day as he went about his business photographing news stories for a typical day's copy of the Evening Mail. He was a dab hand at using the then very new digital SLRs but was a tad suspicious of me initially loitering around making notes so by the end of the day he'd roped me into helping out, dangling a set of keys behind him to get a baby smile in a picture. He was respectful and personable with everyone he met on that day - whether the picture required a smile or a frown from participants he got exactly the shot he wanted.
- Click where? Journalists clamour to capture your Cardiff news — joni ayn - Bit of a frenzy around local reporting in Cardiff - everyone wants a bit it seems
- 4th Anniversary Quiz « We are Light House - Light House film quiz reaches its fourth anniversary - very well done!
Links for January 28th through January 31st
Some links for you:
- Times Higher Education - How not to write a PhD thesis - "Here are my ten tips for failing a PhD. If you want failure, this is your road map to getting there." - very good (via D'Log I think)
- Capsule Blog » Engaging regional audiences - how do we do it? - "it seems across the creative industries there is quite a limited regional audience that engages with independent activity. So my question to you wonderful folks is why do you think this is? What are the barriers and how do we work towards resolving it?
We’d be really happy to open this debate so - answers on a postcard." - Beatbloggers recruited for Guardian Local project | Help | guardian.co.uk - "Late last year, Guardian News & Media advertised three brand new 'beatblogger' positions as part of our experimental Guardian Local initiative. The Local project is a small-scale community approach to local newsgathering, and will focus on the three politically engaged cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds."
Links for January 23rd through January 27th
Some links for you:
- SOCIAL MEDIA: Your EIGHT step guide to getting started& « The Dan Slee Blog - Very useful: "This blog post was inspired by #ukgc10s local government hug session where one person asked for help in how to get started with social media. Some good pieces of advice came out. Here are some from the session and some that struck me afterwards&" (via @podnosh I think, or someone like that who's good at spotting these things)
- Behind the scenes of a travel feature – pt 1: transparency and the trouble with top tens « Tourist Vs Traveller - Journalism students everywhere, one to read: "Well, here’s a chance to go behind the scenes of a feature and see the writer’s process (well, mine,) as well as gain access to the original pool of journalistic research."
- Know Your Place - Weds 3rd Feb - An event for people considering becoming freelancers. This page has the speaker line-up but click around the site as there's other useful bits on it as well.
Links for January 17th through January 22nd
Some links for you:
- local-data.gov.uk « Policy and Performance - Ingrid Koehler on local data: "there are some good reasons for opening up. There are efficiency gains – we can rationalise data middle-men and re-interpreters and stop paying for having data thrown back at us (except where it adds real value). We can eliminate much of the cost of FOI requests – we’ll just be able to point people to the URL. And we can get a much better picture of what local performance looks like, better than OnePlace, so we can use this data to better address the really tough issues in the LAA set. And if the data is used for really useful things, there will be all kinds of improvement and efficiency around helping people to manage their own neighbourhoods and care and access to services without expensive contacts and interventions. And that’s before we even look at issues of transparency and accountability."
- Young people in Birmingham and West Midlands go for Creative & Media Diploma « Observations - "Recent data released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families shows that learner participation in the new 14–19 Diplomas in the West Midlands is focused on the Creative & Media course so far."
- Colour-ful spring « More Canals than Venice - Very good. There should be more pen portraits like this. I'd also quite like to see this kind of thing in some of the more formal marketing that the City undertakes. I reckon those in charge of Birmingham's marketing budget have a very narrow view of business visitors. I suspect some of them would quite fancy a night in the Victoria listening to the kind of cool stuff these guys put on.
Journal article - cluster bluster
Just to note that I’ve got an article in the current issue of Creative Industries Journal: ‘Issues in Developing an Audio-Visual Cluster in the West Midlands’. Here’s the abstract:
The uptake of clusters as a model with which to develop regional economies has been variable since the UK government first issued advice to regional development agencies in the late 1990s. The West Midlands made clusters one of its key strategies for economic growth and nominated the audio-visual sector as an embryonic cluster in order to help support its development. This article examines the development of this cluster from its inception and identifies issues in the way it was conceived and the roles played by the regional development agency, industry and higher education. The author draws on government and regional policies, cluster strategies and other internal documentation produced for the cluster, as well his own experience as an innovation manager for the cluster.
The full article is behind a paywall on Intellect’s website or you can pay £12 to get a copy posted to you. If you’re at a university and your library subscribes to it then there should be a copy there soon as well. The full list of articles in this issue looks quite interesting.
Links for January 5th through January 15th
Some links for you:
- Local innovation: collecting examples of best practice - Social by Social - "I'm writing a short pamphlet for IDeA and NESTA explaining the practical benefits of social media for councils and their partners. It's intended to be quick and easy to digest and show council officers how social media and other digital tools can be used by councils to meet their objectives in the coming years. I hope it will showcase the good work that's happening already, encourage more people to try these things out, and drive interest in this community"
- It was the best of times, it was the worst of times « Observations - Despite a positive performance in the last quarter of 2009, the Cultural Observatorys latest recession snapshot suggests the West Midlands cultural sector is facing a period of funding uncertainty.
- Commissioners drag feet on meeting Webcasts - Lebanon Daily News - Student of mine doing good work in US whilst on his Christmas break: "As part of his dissertation research, he recently obtained approval from Jonestown Borough Council to broadcast or stream its meetings - at no cost - on the borough's Web site beginning next month. "
- The Ruse of the Creative Class | The American Prospect - Great piece. Apparently Florida's new book says some cities in the US are beyond help. This piece takes him to task given that his previous position was about how investing in creative economies was vital for all kinds of cities.