The finalists for the Creative City awards have been announced (also by Kenny from Big cat PR).

I thought it worthwhile repeating the list with links through to the companies (and to their blogs if I could find one - please add a comment if I’ve got any wrong):

The Regional Outstanding Business Development Award:
Bubblequest Ltd
Internet Arrow
Digital Native Academy Ltd

The Birmingham Outstanding Business Development Award:
Electric Cinema
Substrakt Limited (blog)

Innovation Award:
Adwords Ltd
LHM Media (blog)
IE Design Consultancy Ltd (blog)

Outstanding Market Development Award:
Fierce Earth Ltd (blog)
D A Recordings Ltd (blog)
Fused (blog)

The Best Brand Award:
D A Recordings Ltd (blog)
Violectra trading as Unison Strings Ltd
IE Design Consultancy Ltd (blog)

Creative Industries Award:
D A Recordings Ltd (blog)
Stan’s Cafe (blog)
Fierce Earth Ltd (blog)

Presumably the council will update have updated their website with full details (+how to get tickets). Kate Silverton presents the awards at the ICC on the 29th November. A few years back I went along and got drunk enough to demand to be photographed with Ashley Blake. I don’t really know why. Suffice to say I haven’t been back since.

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• C:CUBED 4 Dec | bTWEEN - Invite only event but you need to be there. For more information, contact Just-b. on 0114 221 0589 or mail info[at]just-b.com. "This is your chance to find out about two new potent funding opportunities: 4IP and the Digital Content Development Programme. Meet the funders and find out what they are looking for. The day will bring decision-makers from key regional arts organisations and digital agencies together to explore how digitisation is revolutionising the arts world"
• “Your blogroll defines you…” | Boy Wonder's Blog - A useful list from Anthony Herron of the blogs he reads. Many key local ones on there (but not mine but then again I rarely blog about music)
• Beat the bullies | Uni Survival - I now do a bit of writing for Dubber's Unisurvival website. Essential reading for students.
• The hinternet, the internet we’re missing - jon bounds - Nice piece by Jon Bounds on the web we're at risk of losing and what we can do about it.
• Swordfish Studios Sold Off in Two Parts | Wii News - It appears Codemasters has bought out Swordfish studios in Birmingham. Great to see Codemasters expand in the region. They took over the former Sega Driving studio in Solihull last year as well.

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I’m well-chuffed to be writing for it and I’ll avoid cross posting in future but this is my first piece which was about bullying:

The daughter of a friend of mine had a bad time at her school. She was misunderstood by the teachers and bullied by a small group of fellow students. The former she dealt with by producing excellent work and getting good results - an ‘I’ll show ‘em’ attitude - the latter proved a bit more complex to deal with and left her upset and withdrawn.

The solution was to move away from the problem, to another school. Now, a couple of years down the line she’s moving on again, to start her Uni life. But all she can think of is what if it happens again? What if the Uni bully finds me out and puts me through three years of hell?

Bullying isn’t just something that happens to kids of course. Adults in the workplace can be as vicitimised as schoolchildren in the playground. So what about the university campus? My immediate reaction on talking to my friend’s daughter was to reassure her that Uni life is simply a world away from school.

In the 10 years I’d been lecturing the most striking aspect of student behaviour was how they group themselves into cliques rather than act as predatory bullies. At worst students feel a sense of isolation but I couldn’t recall a single case of bullying that had been brought to my attention. But that isn’t quite the full picture.

The campus has its bullies just like anywhere else. In fact 63 per cent of respondents to a recent NUS bullying survey responded that they have been bullied or are being bullied right now. It may be less prominent and perhaps less physical than in the playground but then bullying often is. It might be attacks on your looks, clothes, sexuality or race but if you’re simply finding yourself on the end of constant criticism and nit-picking with your contributions being trivialised or undermined then you may well be being bullied. And it may not be just your fellow students who are dishing it out. Academics themselves can often be the perpetrators (or indeed the victims).

So how do you deal with it? Recognising it is the first step. Seek support in family, friends or your student union welfare officer - people will be sympathetic and responsive. Being assertive can often work in certain situations. Be direct with the person who is bullying you, they may not realise the effect it’s having on you.

Of course you may be reading this from the other side of the fence. Maybe you’re the one doing the bullying? If so then it’s time to take stock and consider the impact of the pain you’re inflicting on others. You may need some support yourself. If so, the advice is the same - family, friends, support workers. Talk to them, they can help you out.

Above all, whether you’re the bullied or the bully, understand that it needs to be dealt with. University is preparation for the life ahead of you and a better time than any to break whichever cycle you’re trapped in - victim or perpetrator.

Pic from Flickr by Steve Fernandez

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• BBC NEWS | Technology | The Tech Lab: Philip Rosedale - Second Life co-founder gets excited about electricity
• West Midlands’ economy continues to feel economic pain « Observations - Ouch: “The West Midlands saw the steepest fall in new business activity of any UK region in October. “
• Skillset Blog » Blog Archive » More news from the DPA conference in Brighton last week - Report on a presentation about Second Life: “there are three trends that industry should bear in mind: i) user time in virtual worlds is rising and maturing, so don’t ignore it; ii) consumers are building strong digital personas already – through social media – virtual worlds are a logical extension of this - it will happen; iii) Web 3.0 is fusing the virtual and real world – the technology is there.”
• A new series of posts on forming the perfect 4iP pitch - 38minutes - What is says on the tin. Someone (maybe me when I have a min) needs to duplicate this over at the West Mids version of 38 minutes - ‘Who Needs The Sea?‘
• Game changers | Screen WM - Driving innovation and excellence in screen media : Blogs - Jason hall at Screen WM gives an excellent round-up of a panel he chaired on ‘games for Social Change’. Really useful links to West Midlands serious games folks.

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• Symposium No.1: Things To Make & Do. - Staff Uni are having a week of events and repsentations about filmmaking. I have no idea whether this is a public or a student only event but the idea is a good one and shows off the kind of work this particular academic department is getting up to - including help shoot a feature film!
• The 2008 How-Do Media 100 – the full list revealed - North West Media News - How-Do - The North West has a top 100 media people list - time for one in the West Midlands? As discussed here.
• Can crowd-sourcing public service media ever work? | mypipeline - ‘No’, is kind of the short answer. Having submitted an idea to 4IP the author decides that the wisdom of the crowds model works less well than expert scrutiny.

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The North West has a Top 100 people in the Media in the North West list. It comes out of a site that was new to me called How-do (sub-headed: News, opinion and resources for the North West media industry). In terms of keeping up with who’s who and what’s happening in the media in that part of the country How-do is actually a very useful site. Makes the place seem vibrant and busy and connected (which of course is probably how it is).

So I’m really just wondering what we’d get out of a Top 100 people in the Media in the West Midlands list. The media has seven entrants in the Birmingham Post’s Power 50 but maybe it’s time we deemed it mature enough to get a list of its own. 

Oh and before we begin; this is the meedja I’m talking about: TV, radio, the press and publishing, film and production, new media, PR and advertising. NOT the arts. They can sod off and do their own top 100. Any suggestions? Bob Warman at number 47 anyone? And no jokes about there not being a 100 to choose from.

(pic from flickr: andreaweckerie)

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• Creative Industries: Accessing and commercialising content in a digitally networked world - Funding competition opening in March 09 from the Technology Strategy Board. Aimed at Digital end of the creative Industries.
• Creative Industries Technology and Innovation Network - "Our vision is to help the emerging technologies of today become the business reality of tomorrow".
• Social Media vs. Knowledge Management: A Generational War | Enterprise 2.0 blog - "The uber-cause of this war is that Knowledge Management was conceived as a top-down Boomer (born 1946 - 62) management effort, created by this generation just as it was moving into leadership positions. Social Media, on the other hand, is a Millenial/Gen Y (born 1980 -) movement. This overall generational cultural divide has shaped the ongoing corporate cultural war." Long post but really worth your time. Hat tip to Annette Naudin.
• 4Talent Interactive Drama Inspiration Session, Oct 23 @ Hello Digital « Digital Consultant - "Interactive drama is still a bit about the gizmos, the product placement and dumbing down to the micro-attention spans of the teen and youth audiences, who for now are the only viable market for commercial sponsorship in this new found revival of brand-sponsored content." Great summary by Susi O'Neil of the Interactive Drama 4 Talent Inspiration Sessions at Hello Digital.

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Now here’s a great idea: today we had the first meeting in Birmingham of a book club looking at books and policy documents of relevance to the Creative Industries. At the moment it consists of a small group of academics/researchers/lecturers at Birmingham City University but the plan is to widen its scope. Evidence of that comes from the fact that even though I’ve moved on I still got an invite as did someone who works for the Arts council and Creative Partnerships.

Up for discussion was ‘We-think’ by Charles Leadbetter. At the risk of truncating what was a wide-ranging discussion I’ll just say that nobody really thought the book was that great to be honest. Generally it’s so utopian about the future of how we function as a society, as shaped by the collaborative influence of the internet, that one of our group described it as “like overdosing on marshmallows or a double-dose of ecstasy with crack on top”. Many of the examples given in the book to exemplify We-think in action lack a sufficient depth (and in parts seem curiously under-researched) but there was value in some of them in highlighting that collaboration as Leadbetter conceptualises it isn’t a new thing. 

We touched on big themes - the role of cultural studies, the public sphere, praxis, technological determinism - and suggested that this was a book that would appeal to policy makers since it identified in straightforward terms the kind of opportunities for positive action that the web offers. That’s not a criticism (that policy-makers somehow can’t read complex stuff), rather a strength since academics who can articulate in clear terms are to be applauded. Which makes the lack of rigour in the book all the more disappointing, as is the occasional attempt at futurology - inadvisable in an era of such rapid change.

The above does little justice to two hours of superb debate and a realisation that this kind of discussion should also involve others who want to raise the level of debate about the Creative and Cultural Industries. It’s not in my remit to dish out invites but we meet again on the 17th December - drop a line to paul.long [at] bcu.ac.uk if you’re interested.

Up for discussion next the very-difficult-to-find-at-a-reasonable-price John Hope Mason’s ‘The Value of Creativity’ in the context of the government’s Creative Britain policy paper from earlier this year.

(pic by Sifter - British Library Reading room)

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“November 2009: Three marathons in a year might be tough but will she resist the temptation of being back in New York? She might opt for the world half marathon the month before in Birmingham as well”

In fact I’d mentioned this as a possibility to a couple of people recently and there is some logic in thinking she’ll come to Brum. This year she would have gone to the world half marathon championship as preparation for running the New York Marathon which she won in style on Sunday. However, as the halves were in Brazil she opted for the 10 mile Great South Run instead.

So next year, if she decides to run New York again, I reckon the Guardian have it spot on and she’ll come to next year’s world halves in Birmingham in October as well. Now that would be just great, both for the city as a whole and for us runners who would have the privilege of running in the same race as her in our home town. The thought of Paula legging it past the Bartons Arms and avoiding bolshy Sunday shoppers at the back of Rackhams fills me with glee. Bring it on!

(pic by matt semel)

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• 4iP | School for Startups and 4iP-y ideas - "In your market segment, what do the customers have in common and is this group of customers growing? Where’s the proof that it’s growing? What other segments adjoin this group. What unique capabilities would make this appropriate for another, adjoining segment? All of these questions help come up with ideas for the web, mobile or in social gaming which will not end up one-hit-wonders, but which will find growth well into the future without the need for much more support from 4iP."
• More than just watching TV | BBC Internet Blog - "Watching TV is more than just watching TV - how you need to understand people to create successful technology". Nice diagram with this one - go check it out.
• 4iP | What is 4iP not? - Just in case you needed reminding…..
• Matthew Postgate appointed as Controller of BBC R&I « TEST - Matt Locke, himself former BBC, suggests "five things that would be inspiring, intriguing, or even controversial" for the BBC's new head of research and innovation at BBC Future Media and Technology.
• BBC NEWS | Health | Saving lives in a virtual world - Example of how Second Life can be used as a learning tool.

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