Created in Birmingham » Blogging

An opportunity and an example

Adrienne — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Okay. Still trying to creep back into things after spending ludicrous amounts of time in a darkened room with no technology to make me worse. If I’ve missed your ‘thing’ then sorry, and if you have a ‘thing’ you think is good, tell me about it!

In the meantime, two things that compliment one another have come to my attention.

Firstly, an opportunity:

INTER?OGATION: WALSALL

Call to Artists:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become a secret agent for a day in order to interrogate the public spaces of Walsall.

Using the New Art Gallery Walsall as a base you will investigate the artist’s role in the post-industrial world through one of four methods:

INTER?OGATION: ACTION RESEARCH     (09/09/09)
INTER?OGATION: CONSULTATION         (16/09/09)
INTER?OGATION: COLLABORATION     (23/09/09)
INTER?OGATION: INTERVENTION         (30/09/09)

INTER?OGATION: WALSALL explores the impact that one artist (you) can make in one place, in one day.

This programme of work is organised by Longhouse and the New Art Gallery Walsall, working with lead artist Anna Francis (who can also be found here), and is designed to investigate the impact of short, sharp interventions within the public realm. Deadline for expressions of interest is fairly soon – 12pm Friday 28 August 2009 - so go visit the site to find out more.

Secondly, I really enjoy the idea of creative practice being fused with more spy-like activities – interrogations and investigations.. where everyone gets to be a secret agent and have their own missions! So for those of you whose toes are curling at me daring to mention WALSALL in a CiB post, I wanted to temper that with a signpost towards a great Birmingham artist – Nikki Pugh. I feel she really embodies this excitement within her practice, but best of all has taken the time to document in detail how she’s used this approach with great effect in her “How to Wow” series.

Do you know of any other local artists who work in this way?

w i d e o p e n s p a c e at Curzon Street

Kate Spragg — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:51:22 +0000

A while back I mentioned a strange meet up named BARG happening in the back of an old pub in Digbeth These meetings were for anyone with a creative mind or just a childlike desire to play, and looked at how we can use mobile technology and social media stuff to play interesting games.

These games, much like the Emergent Game a few years ago prove that interactive play doesn’t have to be homed exclusively online or in the playground but can explore geographical areas in new ways, look at how we now communicate online and off, and give a chance for grown adults to play.

Another Nicky doing good work in the city is Nicky Getgood who writes the blog Digbeth is Good. She uses social media stuff like maps, videos and games within her blog which demand importance in the real world and sets the context firmly within the geographical area and a real community. The most interesting projects I have seen recently rely on this process of interweaving online and offline participation, such as 4am Project and other activities like Flickr meetups which happen in the city.

Now spring has sprung the BARG group are taking games onto the streets of Birmingham, with the aim of taking a fresh look at neglected parts of the city, and reclaiming them much like how skateboarders do. This Saturday between 2pm and about 7pm they will be hosting an afternoon of play and picnics on Curzon Street. For more information and maps etc go to Nikki’s personal blog.

Joanne Penn – Victorian Wolverhampton

Kate Spragg — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:45:09 +0000

Victorian Wolverhampton is a new blog started by Joanne Penn at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. It coincides with the redisplays of Wolverhampton’s collection of Victorian art and objects at both the city’s gallery, and out of town museum, Bantock House. I interviewed first time blogger Joanne Penn to find out how she is getting on.

Can you tell us a little bit about Victorian Wolverhampton?
Victorian Wolverhampton celebrates the opening of The Victorian Galleries here at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Bantock House. Everyone here is really excited about the displays finaly opening after so much hard work that has gone into the project, and I thought that to engage the community with the displays, we would need a website which can give them a behind-the-scenes look at what is going on. It’s not all just from me! There is a community panel who are researching stories and information.

What was your first reaction to being given the task of setting up a blog?
I was terrified but really excited all at the same time. I have never done anything like this before, I don’t even have a Facebook or Myspace! I also don’t get on too well with computers, but I love researching and learning especially about local things. I’m not from Wolverhampton either so it has been quite a lot of work as I didn’t know very much about the city at all. I didn’t really know where to start, I had to have a crash course in blogging!

What difficulties have you faced when creating the blog and fitting it around the existing website?
I’ve had to be really careful with what images I have chosen to go on the blog, the images from the collections all have to be credited. Also, all of the information has been subjected to some scrupulous examining by the staff working on the displays, which is a bit daunting. Other difficulties have been technical, as this is my first encounter with blogging, I am really learning as I go along however, I do think that I have picked it up really well, the blog is only 4 weeks old!

What have you found most surprising or exciting?
I think the most exciting thing was when after working on it for about 2 weeks, it was then published! I was so happy when I looked at the statistics and found that people had actually been looking at this blog that I have worked really hard on. I knew that blogs are the way forward and that they really do reach a wide variety of people, but it’s great to know that people are actually looking for it or stumbling across it and learning something new. It hasn’t had any comments yet, but I am looking forward to feedback from the community about it. What has been surprising is how easy it is once I knew what I was doing, sometimes I have made mistakes, but I’m learning from them and getting quicker at posting items and working on the pages.

What advice can you give for people wanting to start their own blog?
I would say think very carefully about what you want people to get out of your blog. It’s great that it is a space for you to share things that interest you but why are you sharing it? Also, you have to think about the tone of your blog. They tend to be more chatty than websites, and snappy to so that you engage people and make them want to read more. When I first started working on the blog, I think I took too much of an formal tone, I’ve tried to relax this now and be more myself which is very important but then you don’t want to alienate people either- so it’s about trying to get that balance.

Created in Birmingham – time to move on?

Kate Spragg — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:30:01 +0000

There is a bit of a debate about Created in Birmingham going on over at Dave Harte’s blog. It has been suggested that CiB has lost a bit of ‘umpf’ of late, that it may have strayed from it’s original purpose, or is lacking that special something that made it what it was. I am keen to get some of the regular readers in on the debate. I would be really interested to hear your feedback, warts and all.

In light of this, I wanted to let you know some things I am working on at the moment. I’m going to be changing the aesthetic of the blog, and changing the template we use. I’ll be using a free, downloadable template just as Pete did when he first created CiB. I will be doing this for several reasons, one simply because I am not a technical person and wouldn’t have a clue how to design or adapt my own, but mostly because I want to encourage others to start blogs by using these free tools that are available to anyone.

I am also working on a great big CiB Google Map of Birmingham. As a reader of CiB one question has always stuck with me: “That gallery / project / meetup / exhibition looks great, but where the hell is it?” When putting this map together and encouraging others to contribute, I am hoping to find lots of exciting stuff happening all over the city; it’s suburbs and back streets, North & South. I have been partly inspired by Nicky Getgood’s: Digbeth is Good Arty Trail.

I don’t think the map should be a comprehensive documentation of creativity in Birmingham, but a rich working document which evolves over time with many contributors adding locations, photographs, video and trails.

Fazeley Studio Launch

Kate Spragg — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:11:10 +0000

Many apologies for the lack of posts the last week, with this and that happening I haven’t been able to bring you as many posts as I would have like to, normal blogging service shall be restored from herein.

One great thing I missed out on last Friday was the launch of Fazeley Studios in Digbeth. I have gathered together photos, reviews and anecdotes for the pleasure of both you and I to enjoy. As far as I can tell the night was filled with live music, art, a fashion show and lots of booze.

by oneblackbear

From Bham post:

Developed by Lucan Gray, son of Custard Factory owner Bennie Gray, Fazeley Studios, in Digbeth, is a 1.25 acre collection of magnificent but previously derelict listed buildings fronting Fazeley Street which have been restored to form 44 studio offices for creative and digital businesses.

“They [digital industries] are great success stories for the city at an extremely challenging time, so it is important that we can provide them with the kind of space and support that they need in order to grow.”

we make art

by we make art

“The Studios are beautiful and it is starting to become a hub for creativity, which in our minds is a about time. The people behind Fazeley Studios have obviously recognised that creative people don’t always want to work in damp and dirty places such as the Custard Factory and clients want to visit clean and well-presented studios. Long live this new era of creativity in Brum.”

The Destroyers tear up the Fazeley Studios launch from DoP Diaries

More nice things to look at:

Who is based at Fazeley Studios?

Adhere Advertising company blog

Chris Unitt has just moved in…

…with design company substrakt

Meshed Media

Created in Birmingham design competition

Kate Spragg — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:57:40 +0000

A few weeks ago I set out an idea for a CiB charity project involving a design competition resulting in the production of a limited edition CiB t-shirt which will raise money for a Birmingham based charity. Now, two weeks on, I have done a bit of research, taken on-board all of your suggestions and found lots of helpful people who would like to get involved.

We have decided to money raised will go to a popular choice for a Birmingham based charity: Acorns Children’s Hospice.

This is the first call for submissions and here is how it will work:

Anyone can submit a design entry to the competition, as long as you follow the specifications needed for printing.
From the entries 20 final designs will be chosen and made into 50 limited edition pin badge sets.
One final design will be chosen and will be made into 50 limited edition t-shirts and 50 limited edition canvas bags.
All items will be lovingly screenprinted by hand and sold online by Cut – Out, a fantasic DIY print company based in the West Midlands. All items will be printed with eco friendly inks and on top quality Earth Positive apparel.

The brief:

We want to make a t-shirt that people will really want to wear, so the brief is very loose. The emphasis here is celebrating creative talent in Birmingham and raising some money in the process. You could design something which reflects the creativity of the city, or just your own style, it’s up to you!

Submission guidelines:

The design should work using one colour, if the image is a photograph it needs to be converted to half tone.
The design you submit needs to be 300 dpi (usual print quality).
The design should be no bigger than A3 in size.

Deadline: Friday 6th March 5pm. Send your design as a PDF or JPG file to Createdinbirmingham[at]gmail.com, and hang on to your originals.

Birmingham Twestival

Kate Spragg — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:12:54 +0000

Last night was Birmingham Twestival, a gathering of Birmingham Twitter users. The evening was a delightful mix of games, prizes and squinting at name tags, all in the name of charity. Birmingham joined over 175 countries in hosting a event to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

Photo by Lee Allen

I had a lovely time, mostly trying to spot my twitter friends from either their name tags or avatars, I even won a raffle prize – $200 of hosting vouchers! I asked the Birmingham tweeple to tweet a review:

If you need to remember the names of your new friends you made last night, a list of the attendees was posted on the blog today. Photographer Lee Allen (@photosbylee) took some great photos, you can see them on Flickr.

When I get word of how much was raised I will post it. Thanks to all the organisers for doing such a brilliant job.

Katie Parry’s Twitter-verse

Kate Spragg — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 23:53:12 +0000

This week Wendy Cope, one of the favourites to become the new poet laureate said that you can’t write poetry to order. Channel 4 set a challenge to prove her wrong: Write a poem ‘to lift the spirits of the nation’ in the format of a 140 character Twitter tweet.

Katie Parry aka @supercoolkp, a designer with supercool, did just that and managed to get her tweet read on air on the evening news.

Katie said:

I can’t begin to tell you how chuffed I was – I watch Channel 4 News every weeknight so to see my (Twitter) name on the screen was brilliant.

And it’s another small yet powerful example of the amazing connective potential of Twitter. How else would a graphic designer in Brum get their poem recited on the national news?

The segment is available to watch on YouTube and the best of the rest are on Channel 4 online.

Designer Maker opportunities

Kate Spragg — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:15:05 +0000

Designer Makers are a vital part of the creative industries, yet are often overlooked and are sometimes dismissed as hobbyists. Their are many support networks around the West Midlands that show a thriving sector, and a need for even more good exhibition space to hold all of this new work.

Here are a few opportunities and support networks around at the moment:

Designer Maker West Midlands - the advocate for the designer maker sector in the WM and holds quarterly meetings with designer makers to maintain a dialogue on funding and future opportunities.

Craftspace – a crafts development organisation.

designGap – a selective membership group of well over 200 designer producers, designer-makers and artists.

The Mailbox – have exhibition space available.
Contact: Helen – 0121 6321000, info@mailboxlife.com.

Bilston Craft Gallery – have exhibition space available.
Contact: Carrie Jones – 01902 552506.

Moseley Arts Market – is organised by the Moseley Creative Forum and is held alongside the Farmers Market on the fourth Saturday of every month.

Own Art (Arts Council) – you can sell your work in participating WM galleries through this scheme.

Social Media Surgery for Voluntary and Community Groups III

Kate Spragg — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:03:13 +0000

The Birmingham Bloggers Group will be hosting their third free social media surgery for voluntary and community groups next Wednesday, January 28th at BVSC 138 Digbeth, B5 6DR, (map). You can drop in anytime between 5.30pm to 7.00pm. Volunteers will be on hand to offer free advice to anyone who is curious to how tools like blogs, podcasts, video and social networks could help to their organisation, community group or charity. The surgery will be: No boring speeches or jargon just hot drink and some friendly advice.

I have a particular interest in how small organisations can use all this ‘internet stuff” to promote themselves so I will be going along for the first time to offer up my bit of knowledge and heaps of enthusiasm to anyone who needs it.

My Birmingham RSS feeds

Chris Unitt — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:46:25 +0000

RSS.

Feeds.

Horrible, nasty words that scare normal folk and have them running from the internet to take refuge with their library cards.

They’re not that tricky though. I’ve been keeping track of hundreds of websites to find stuff to post here. Visiting them all daily would have taken too long and cost me my sanity, so instead I used RSS. Most competent websites have an ‘RSS feed’ sending out the latest updates. All you need to do is use an RSS reader (I use Google Reader, there are others) and you’ve got a time-saving one-stop-shop for all your favourite websites.

Anyway, point being, as I’ve sent Kate a file listing pretty much all my Birmingham RSS feeds I thought I’d put a copy here and share it.

The file is here. Import it into Google Reader by going to ‘Settings’ then ‘Import/Export’ and follow the instructions.

Disclaimer – for various reasons, not every Birmingham blog is in there and some that are are now defunct, etc and so on. Basically, this is not comprehensive.

Also worth checking out – last month Substrakt compiled a list of their favourite Birmingham blogs.

The Undercurrent

Chris Unitt — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:07:30 +0000

The Undercurrent is:

several voices from Birminghamâ€™s Creative Community, with disciplines spanning Music to Design, Photography to Fine Art, collectively exploring the idea of an online magazine in the form of a blogâ€¦

Many authors, bringing their own fresh perspectivesâ€¦

Those authors include 7 Inch Cinema, Capsule, Geoffrey Dolman, Lucy McLauchlan and Surely? At the moment it seems to be aggregating content from their existing blogs (from what I can tell – probably using WP-o-matic, blog fans). It’ll be interesting to see where this goes.

CMYKern

Chris Unitt — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:44:40 +0000

James Griffin is a 22 year old graphic designer working out of this fair city.Â He’s running a great blog called CMYKern picking up on bits of design that catch his eye, just the sort of blog I have a large soft spot for (they’re great for adding colour to your RSS reader).

The scope of his posts aren’t limited geographically but he does seem to profile some local things every now and again, including this post on Jibbering Art’s recent Shambala exhibition where he makes an excellent point:

Being the second largest city in Britain we need to make the most of this type of event and embrace the cities creativity. I didnâ€™t realize how much stuff there was going on in Birmingham until I moved back here after my studies. Birmingham doesnâ€™t lack creativity, or public space, as is apparent by this exhibition, what it does lack is a medium in which to reach out to people. A medium to let people know what is going on. I stumbled across this exhibition by chance and it saddens me to think that I might not have caught up with this exhibition had it not been for a chance encounter.

Yes!Â Excellently said.Â As much as I’d like to trumpet CiB’s efforts in this area, I spend much more time meeting people who don’t read this blog than people who do.Â There’s much more to be done in making people aware of what’s going on.

Companies and such on Twitter

Chris Unitt — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:03:50 +0000

Back in April Pete did a round-up of Birmingham creatives on Twitter.Â There have been many additions since then, including accounts registered in the names of various local companies, festivals, etc who are using the (free!) service in all sorts of ways.

Not all of them are being used all year round or even updated all that regularly, but you never know when someone’s going to pick up an account and start using it again.

Here are the ones I’m aware of, in no particular order:

Film Dash
PLUS Design
Stan’s Cafe – Of All The People In All The World
Nikki Pugh’s Ludogeography
Aquaplane (a local band)
Hello Digital
Project X Presents
Birmingham Eastside
Type
Robot v Dinosaur
Light House Media Centre
Created in Birmingham
Sutton Art Festival
4Talent
Ash10
MyTurf (online volunteering network)
Custard Factory
BCU Media
Things Guide
Ironman Records
Smile
Birmingham Jazz Festival
Fierce Festival
Likemind
Gigbeth
Creative Networks
Network Musician

I also have my suspicions that the person behind The Day Today (occasionally coughing out lines from the show) is a prominent fellow in the city’s media.Â There’s only circumstantial evidence so far, but I’m on their case.

If you’ve come across any others to add to the list then please shout em up in the comments.

Smile on Baskerville

Chris Unitt — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:52:10 +0000

This is a lovely example of how to use that free online stuff (call it blogging, Twittering, social media if you like) to drum up interest in your work.

Twitter is a micro-blogging service.Â Smile is a creative consultancy.Â Smile don’t have a blog as such but they have a Twitter account and a Smile website.Â They’re working on the Baskerville Project (as is Alex Hughes, whose well-timed post has just dropped into my RSS reader) and they’ve put some beautiful photos on their site and Twitterered to tell interested folk like me that they’re there.

I don’t quite know what they’re doing but I’m really interested in seeing the finished product now.

More photos on the Smile website.

Birmingham Counterculture

Chris Unitt — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:19:56 +0000

On Birmingham Counterculture, a blog started just before the weekend, Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms B promises to:

raise issues, concerns and/or promote countercultural events and activities

in and around Birmingham.

Why this has to be done as “a slap in the face to mainstream cultural developments” (which are to be demoted) isn’t yet clear but then I’m a live-and-let-live kinda guy.

There’s been little promotion so far, but targets have included Eastside Projects, Creative Republic and the council (via Artsfest).Â I’m looking forward to what the people behind this want to champion so will stick with it for a bit and hope the scent of crazy (excessive capitals/question marks and hiding behind a pseudonym) subsides a little.

Fierce Earth are blogging

Chris Unitt — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:35:24 +0000

Which makes me very pleased indeed.Â Gemma’s posts over at My Fierce Placement have given a great insight into the breadth of work that Fierce Earth are involved with so it’ll be interesting to see what’s posted on the Fierce Earth blog.

As well as producing the Fierce Festival, Fierce Earth provide training via Metapod (for start-up creatives) and Momentum (for producers/curators).Â They also offer consultancy services, having recently worked with Birmingham Jazz (amongst several others) and are soon to start working with Tindal Street Press.

It looks like they’ll also be using the blog to spread the word about interesting opportunities that they come across.Â Worth keeping an eye on.

Ad Nauseam

Chris Unitt — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:58:13 +0000

The email described this blog as

a collection of adverts i see and photograph around birmingham and rants thereon

Oh, but it’s so much better than that.

Jonny knows an absurdity when he sees one, has a pretty incredible memory and, best of all, he’s funny. One to bookmark.

Birmingham creatives on Twitter

Pete Ashton — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:50:17 +0000

Twitter is a service that’s getting a fair bit of traction in Brum right now. Like most of these things it’s as useful as you find it to be so don’t feel you’re “doing it wrong” if you don’t get it, but I’m finding it rather invaluable so you might too.

It’s a combination of things really. The format is limited to 140 characters so it meshes well with SMS texting meaning you can use it from your phone but it also works on the website and via instant messaging along with a bunch of 3rd party applications (I like Twhirl myself). At it’s core it works along the same lines as Facebook status updates and you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s not much difference, but the magic comes from the way it manages conversations and the fine tuning you can do.

Above all it’s an example of what I’m calling an “ambient stream”. Nothing on Twitter is actually that important, unless it is. You can just check in every so often and get a feel of what your community/ies are up to. If there’s anything of relevance that’s great but if not then it’s no great loss. You can spend hours communicating with people or just ignore the service for a day – it doesn’t matter.

I find it useful for random meetups. If someone “tweets” (as it’s known) that they’re in a certain cafe or pub then I might pop in if I’m in the area. Or I might not. Or if I’m looking for help or advice with something I can send out a quick message and see if anyone’s free with no obligation.

(Oh, here’s a handy video which might help. Or not.)

Anyway, if you think it might be useful have a play and see what you think. But be aware it took me a good year to get my head around what I might use it for so it might not hit you at first.

So here’s a list of some of the Birmingham-types who are on Twitter that Created in Birmingham readers might want to follow. You might also want to scan through the list of people I’m following if it takes your fancy. I’ve tried to keep this list more arts/design than tech but there are, of course, overlaps.

In no particular order
Antonio Gould
Jon Bounds
Julia Gilbert
Paul Bradshaw
Stef Lewandowski
Andrew Dubber
Nick Lockey
Ruth Ward
Russ L
Nick Booth
Chris Unitt
John @ 383
Mark Badger
Joanna Geary has two accounts
Danny Smith
Craig of Friends of the Stars
Antonio Roberts
Keri Davis
Ana Milgram
Dunc Autumnstore
Kerry Fused
Anthony Herron
and Pete Ashton.

I should probably stop there. The a good strategy would be to find some people you already know or are connected to and look at who they’re following. And if you fancy some really unfocused ambient Twitter-noise you could subscribe to this feed of Birmingham Twitterers.

Yes, it’s all kinda pointless. That’s kinda the point.

—

Okay, here’s a good case study. Immediately after writing this I’m thinking what I might do before going home today. A tweet from Kerry pops up on my computer that she’s “going to ikon to private view for ruth claxton exhibition”. Hmm. That sounds interesting. Didn’t know about that. I may well pop up there.

Result!

Brum Blogmeet 3

Pete Ashton — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:43:40 +0000

A meetup of people who blog in Birmingham took place last night. It went rather well I thought.

I’m keeping a roundup running on my blog, collective memory style, of links to stuff that’s come out of it including a video of the “unpanel” discussion. Many cool ideas and plans came out of the evening (the big theme was probably coworking spaces) and now we’ve got and solid and enthusiastic core community there’ll be many more of these to come.

NGA Blogs Begins

Pete Ashton — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:47:34 +0000

This year’s New Generation Arts festival, run by BCU across the city, is being blogged right on the main website, which is nice to see. Along with general news it’s split into four categories with a dedicated blogger for each one:

Creative Writing (Mike Morrison)
Music (Steve Shaw)
Interactive (Chris Unitt)
Visual Arts (Danny Smith)

ArtsFest has a blog

Pete Ashton — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:52:28 +0000

Usually I just put these notices in the bulleted links but this one’s worth noting in it’s own post.

A few weeks back I had a chat over tea with Emily and Elise, the two, yes two, people who run the entirety of ArtsFest about how they might use blogs and that to help the ArtsFest cause. After much working through the issues doing this as a council project with all the red tape that entails I left them with some ideas and I’m delighted to say they’ve taken the plunge.

ArtsFest365 is, as the name implies, an attempt to broaden the ArtsFest mission across the whole year. It’s still early days as they find their feet but I’m liking what I see so far.

Oh, and here’s a photo of them!

Guest blogged in Birmingham

Julia Gilbert — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:54:23 +0000

Hello, my name is Julia Gilbert, your Created in Birmingham guest blogger. You may also know me from such social media tools as Flickr, del.icio.us, Tumblr and Twitter.

While Pete is taking a well-deserved trip across the pond to attend SXSWi on behalf of us Brummies. I’ll be taking up the reins, so that nothing urgent gets missed.

I am not a professional ‘creative’ so have no work of my own to promote, although I am a big fan of creative activity, especially stuff happening locally. I have lived in Brum for 11 years now, so consider myself an honorary Brummie.

My own blog has suffered a severe lack of activity of late, but having attended the recent Brum Bloggers meetup, I feel a new surge of enthusiasm and hope to get it back on track soon! I also blog much more regularly on The Kitten Channel, and occasionally on BiNS (where I am the Typo Fairy, who comes and magically fixes Jon’s typos before he hits Publish or sometimes after if he’s being impatient!).

Hopefully Pete will be able to forward any important emails to me, but if you have some urgent news and you want to make sure I get it, feel free to copy me in on julia.gilbert AT gmail.com.

Just hope I don’t break anything!

Birmingham Music Network

Pete Ashton — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:36:25 +0000

Whoa! It’s like looking in a mirror!

The Birmingham Music Network, managed by Mark Badger of Iron Man Records and others, has a new blog inspired by Created in Birmingham apparently, right down to using the same theme. Which kinda gives the game away on how I made this blog look like it does. But I’m not bothered – it gives me the motivation to give this place a much needed overhaul at some point. And at the end of the day it’s all about the content.

CiB can’t hope to cover all the musical activity going on in the city along with everything else. The Music Network blog can try harder so if you’re of a musical creating disposition get over there and join.

Bloggers Meetup next Monday

Pete Ashton — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:04:43 +0000

The second Birmingham Bloggers Meetup is on Monday, February 18 at the Dragon Inn on Hurst St (used to be an O’Neills). That link is the Facebook event page so for those not using the evil beastie here’s the skinny.

The meet starts at 7.00 and should last for a couple of hours at least. There’s no agenda and you just need to have a blog or be interested in blogging to attend.

The pub has wifi the with the username “sponsored” and the password “service”. Look for mildly nerdy types with laptops.

So far 17 people are confirmed as attending. Which is rather a lot really when you think about it. We’re gonna need a bigger table…

Emily Quinton

Pete Ashton — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:11:30 +0000

Photographer Emily Quinton has a new weblog which warms my heart. She also has a couple of Flickr accounts, one for business and one for pleasure. Here’s a couple of shots.

New Media 4Cast the fifth

Pete Ashton — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:05:56 +0000

The fifth and final edition of Antonio Gould’s New Media 4Casts is online covering how engaging with the blogging community can help creative types reach new customers across the world. The core example, which I’d encourage you to check out, is Emily Malcom’s Black Apple blog. Subscribe on the site or listen here:
[audio:http://www.channel4.com/4talent/media/midlands/new_media/audio/socialmedia4cast.mp3]

Logu and Tsz

Pete Ashton — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:10:20 +0000

Logulogu. Lawrence Roper of the Studio 4 gallery and the Outcrowd Collective, has a weblog for his side projects and the like. Here’s a nice picture currently gracing the front page by Tsz.

Attention is drwn using this to Electric Eskimo, a “secret side project, just for fun really, fairly lo-fi and analogue. My attempt at singing and a reason for collaborating (getting drunk and messing about) with other musicians and friends…”

via Self Ctrl.

Spreading the love a bit

Pete Ashton — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:19:21 +0000

Sure, CiB got the award thing and that’s all lovely and stuff, but no blog is an island, especially one like this which employs the via credit liberally. So here’s a quick run down in no particular order of some of the Birmingham blogs I like to think of as Rather Good.

(Not a comprehensive list, inclusion based on arbitrary factors, won’t be relevant in a week’s time as everything changes, etc…)

Andrew Dubber is someone I’d consider a peer and while his New Music Strategies blog has an international reach his being based in Birmingham makes it essential reading. Together with online journalism guru Paul Bradshaw it’s nice to have experts on hand as they help focus my thinking about these unchartered waters.

Ana Milgram, aka Art Stalking Ana, and Nikki Pugh are a couple of practicing artists who really get the blogging thing, giving coverage to stuff they’re involved with and a bit of criticism to complement their practices. Useful models for artists to look at, especially given they’re usually isolated in their studios. A blogging network of artists would be a good thing.

Some of the city’s design agencies provide me with a river of cool stuff which they collect as inspiration and post on their blogs. It’s rarely Birmingham centric but it goes to illustrate the global thinking of these folks. Or something. Substrakt, Boxer, Clusta, Surely and TAK! spring to mind.

Actually, TAK! deserve a second mention as I’m always impressed by how Dom uses that blog to share his knowledge in a way that promotes his business, alongside having some fun, of course. Definitely a blog people can learn from.

Antonio Gould consults in the world of social media these days and when he blogs it’s usually interesting and thought provoking. He helps me put a real world spin on my more fantastical ideas.

Duncan of The Autumn Store’s blog has become somewhat invaluable of late. Rather than just plug his gig nights he uses his blog to spread the knowledge he’s garnered putting on bands and talking about stuff he likes the look of. A great model for a local arts blog.

Birmingham: It’s Not Shit’s Jon Bounds is like a blogging brother to me, coming at this stuff with the same spirit yet from different directions. Jon really should be running the local tourist board and no mistake.

Anthony Herron of new-ish record label Boy Wonder has embraced the blogging thing with gusto, using it to get his opinions out there and start to join a bigger debate. Early days still but I have high hopes.

There are a number of podcasters in the city but none have quite the level of passion, dedication and consistency as Little Chris and his Brumcast where he manages to fill a hour every week with new Birmingham music. Give the guy a medal.

Bunny Bissoux became one of my favourite blogs this autumn as she single handedly became the best advertisement for the Custard Factory’s Sunday Flea Market where she had a stall. Hard to describe exactly what maker her blog so good other than it’s a joy to read.

Charlotte Carey gets the whole blogging thing, though she’s a little schizophrenic about it. She’s got a personal blog and a main blog on Creative Enterprise but I like to treat them as one thing. Again, hard to pin down but that’s a good thing.

Leon Trimble’s Chromatouch blog is a great example of a digital notebook. He’s a VJ and experimental film maker by trade and uses this blog to record stuff he finds along those lines. As such it gives a good picture of where he’s coming from and what he’s thinking about.

Clare Edwards of Gigbeth fame is one of the people I’ve been wanting to get blogging properly for a while now. She’s nearly there.

The Crowded Gallery blog from photographer Craig Holmes is a nice example of how you can add a small amount of informal chat and revolutionise your web presence.

Related to this, photographer Steve Gerrard’s blog is a fantastic example of using a blog to promote the photographer as a person. I’d hire Steve not only because I like his photos but because I feel like I know him. It helps that he’s a lovely guy as this really comes out in his blog.

And also on the “lovely people” tip, Friends of the Stars blog well because their souls are pure. What started off as a jokey diary of how rubbish they were at getting their album out has turned into a savvy promotional tool for their music and the scene they operate in, though I suspect a lot of this savvy was accidental.

Andy Pryke is one of Birmingham’s original bloggers (so much so he wrote his own blogging software) so he deserves a mention out of respect, but also because he’s a regular face at arts events with his curly hair and big grin. A lovely man whose enthusiasm for the local arts and music scene is infectious.

I’m intrigued by what Fused are going to do with their slowly growing network of blogs after dipping a toe into fashion. It seems they’ve got all the tools ready and are just waiting for the right moment to launch. If they get it right, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t, Fused could become a rather powerful force online.

It’s safe to say D’log makes my job a hell of a lot easier. I don’t know where he finds half the stuff he does but I’m happy to just sit back and let him do it. Everyone in the Midlands should be following this blog.

The aforementioned Andrew Dubber explained the social internet to Mark Badger and he dove in head first without water wings or a snorkel. The resulting Iron Man Records blog can be rather disorienting but it’s a pretty accurate representation of the stuff that comes Mark’s way. Part of me wants him to calm it down but the sensible part of me knows it’s better the way it is, a reflection of the chaos that is Mark’s life.

I like watching journalists experiment with blogging. They’re a bit like web nerds in that they’re really keen to figure out how it all works and what it’s all for. Two Birmingham journos who really seem to get it are Joanna Geary and Tom Scotney, both of the Birmingham Post. Their blogs are as different as their personalities and might not be of interest to those outside the journalistic bubble, but as the media landscape in Birmingham changes watching how these two figure it all out is fascinating.

Marc Reck’s blog was pretty invaluable last year for both Project X Presents and La Traviata, not to mention his presence as a Birmingham DJ. He’s gone a bit quiet of late but I understand there’s a bit project a’coming regarding an elephant.

Who is Nunovo? What exactly does he/she/it do? And why? And, ultimately, does it matter is these questions are never answered? What I can say is Nunovo has pointed me to stuff in varying degrees of note over the last year and I’m very grateful for the existence of the various blogs.

If blogging is like pontificating in a crowded pub then Russ L is the guy at the bar keeping order with judiciously placed glances. Or something. His blog is essential, not just for putting us in our places but for his monthly roundups of Things To Do and extensive reviews of gigs and events. And he’s a reliable haunter of the comment boxes.

Nick Booth of Podnosh is an interesting case. Ostensibly we’re doing the same thing – using new technologies to encourage communities in Birmingham to use new technologies – yet we very rarely seem to blog about much in common. I’ve decided to see this as a good thing implying we’re both on the right track and that the future of Birmingham’s social internet is more varied and vibrant.

Adrian Goldberg’s Stirrer is another odd one (and not strictly a blog if you can define such things). Adrian’s a lovely chap but the tone of his site irritates the hell out of me and the attached forum is too often a nightmare of idiocy. Still, he’s carved out a niche for himself and that I have little desire to go there could be seen as a success in that regard. I include him here as he does cover arts stuff and his video interviews with local authors have been very nice to see.

Here’s a nice example of why you should take blogging seriously when designing a website. When Chris Keenan’s Prime Objective website was built the blog was tacked on and buried under the Flash interface as an afterthought. It’s since become one of the best arts blogs in the region, but it’s still buried under that Flash interface with no permalinks to the posts. Aargh! But the RSS feed works and it’s well worth keeping tabs on, even if it’s impossible to link to, because Chris is a fascinating chap who does interesting work, keeping his eyes and ears open to to the world.

Rich Batsford is currently off the radar a bit on his 6 month sabbatical in Australia but he’s been an essential figure on the Birmingham blog scene, tying together his personal perspectives on life with his heavy involvement in stuff. Hurry back, Rich!

Thomas Moronic was one of my favourite finds of last year. Ostensibly a creative writing blog where our hero plays about with words and ideas, he also uses it to profile and interview the people who likes and admires. Analogous to an old-school zine in many ways, it oozes attitude and character.

There are a number of bloggers who do gig reviews but the most consistent has to be The Hearing Aid. The coverage is mostly, but not exclusively, of the indie variety and The Baron covers that niche well, regularly haunting the Rainbow and Barfly.

Finally, my man Stef Lewandowski whose uses his blog to rant and rave about stuff, rubbing folk in power the wrong way at times but usually getting away with it. And when he’s not venting about how things should be done he’s offering handy tutorials on setting up blogs and websites and evangelizing the good word.

That’s your lot. As you’d expect there’s an emphasis on the arts and creative blogs and I’ve missed out loads in order to make this a vaguely manageable list, so apologies to those who didn’t make it. You’re all doing good work and I still loves ya.

And if any journalists want to use this post when writing an article, say one on mapping the UK’s blogosphere, feel free to pinch and plunder.

Music is all about the lists

Pete Ashton — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:58:29 +0000

I just wasted two hours of my life writing about the 10 Birmingham bands I think are quite bloody marvelous so the least you can do is go read it. There’s even audio to back up my assertions, and the invitation to draw my attention to other potentially bloody marvelous bands in the region. Get to it. (Pointing out typos is optional, as ever.)