On Saturday there’s the monthly meeting of The Multipack at Lloyds No. 1, Regency Wharf, Broad Street from 2pm. (map).
The Multipack is a community of multi-talented individuals from across the Midlands UK, that come together to discuss all the things web and share their knowledge, skills and talents. It’s a great opportunity to meet like minded developers, designers and perhaps even the odd expert! Come along and share your ideas, and perhaps learn something new.
I’d imagine these are similar to the Flickrmeets and other events of that ilk that bring together disparate people who usually work in isolation and aren’t aware of others in their field working locally. I’ll be attending my first this weekend…
The new Digital Central website launched recently. Digital Central, if you’re not aware, is a regional development project working in the digital media and music sectors. Essentially that covers film, television, animation, interactive media, computer games, digital imaging, music and radio. In government-agency-speak:
Our aim is to develop an enterprise culture for cluster businesses that will help accelerate economic growth and increase employment through the promotion of innovative new ideas, the development of new market opportunities and the nurturing of a new generation of cluster entrepreneurs.
Digital Central undertakes activity against three key strategic themes: networking, showcasing and innovation.
Networking is one of the key goals for the website (along with a forthcoming Showcase section) with an emphasis on building a community from the somewhat disparate companies and individuals who make up the sector by sharing news and informational along with encouraging comments and debate.
It’s called an eBay To Go widget and anyone can make one to display any eBay auction on any website, just as you might post a YouTube video to your MySpace page or blog. And it’s incredibly easy to make one.
Imagine you’re an artist or craftsperson who sells stuff on eBay and has their own site and/or blog. With a few clicks you can have one of these selling your stuff directly from your site. Simple and yet mildly revolutionary.
And if you’re new to selling your own work (as opposed to old books and CDs) on eBay, check out Antonio Gould’s podcast on the subject. Details here or just download the MP3.
Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet†by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. Established in 1996, the 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Tak’s third project for Thomas Tallis, a media archive, is expected to launch in June.
While the event itself doesn’t really come under the remit of this blog I think this video publicising the Epic Skate Park Beer Festival that was posted on YouTube is really interesting.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for people putting on events is, I think, reputation. If you have a big name draw or a well known brand (such as Capsule’s Supersonic festival being headlined by Mogwai) then you’re okay but if you don’t have those then you’re only going to get your friends coming along. Everyone else is asking “who are these people?”
One way to get a reputation before you’ve really done anything is to present yourself, which is where this video comes in. Before viewing it you probably didn’t know much about the beer festival other than having perhaps seen a poster or flyer. Now you know what the people who are organising it are like and how seriously they take their beer along with having a better idea about the venue. A whole bunch of uncertainties have been banished.
Compare this (without criticism) to the Project X Presents event Like Fxck which also took place at the Epic Skate Park last summer. This was an event that was very hard to describe in advance and which was more about an idea than big names. It turned out to be successful but I found it very hard to get people I knew to go along. There were too many questions for what was a relatively high ticket price (at least compared to a gig at the Jug).
While the Project X people were probably too busy setting things up run a blog or photo diary on their site it would have been feasible to keep some kind of video diary, especially given there were already video people involved. Shoot some of the setup, interview some of the people involved, quickly edit it into a 5 minute piece, whack it on YouTube and embed it in the event’s website. I’d guess an evening’s work once you’ve got the filming done. (Note how the beer festival video was filmed on Wednesday and online by Thursday morning.)
The doesn’t just apply to large scale music events. You could do it with theatre, art shows, anything where the personalities that feed the event and make it what it is tend to be hidden on the day itself. It doesn’t have to be professionally polished, it just has to be honest. And then you’ve started building your reputation before the doors have even opened.
Creative Birmingham, not to be confused with this blog, is a new site masterminded by Stef Lewandowski of 3form that’s now ready for public consumption.
The basic concept is to act as a one page snapshot of all the activity going on in Birmingham’s creative community, combining feeds from sites like this one, events listings, photos by local photographers and spotlighting major items of interest. The beauty of it is it’s pretty much self-maintaining as it just draws in information that’s already out there, and the more information that’s made available through RSS feeds the better it will get.
Stef’s very keen to get feedback and suggestions on how it can be developed. Email him at stef@3form.net.
The website for New Art Birmingham has launched and perusing it I’m reminded that it’s not just the art fair at Curzon Street Station. There are also events taking place at the Ikon Gallery, New Art Gallery Walsall, Midlands Arts Centre, The Lighthouse in Wolverhampton, and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The site was designed by local company Made Media.
Paul Bradshaw’s Online Journalism Blog is proving quite a gem as he evidently knows his stuff. If you’re interested in how the media landscape is changing or just want to get a handle on how you could be using online means of communication (blogs, podcasts, video, community building, etc) I’d recommend keeping tabs on him. Paul’s the Senior Lecturer in Online Journalism and Magazines at UCE.
Andrew Dubber was confused about how Koopa, an “unsigned” band, can get into the charts when the charts require you to be on a record label so he got in touch with Ditto Music, the Edgbaston-based PR and distribution company who acted as a de-facto label for them. How is what Ditto do different from a traditional label? The ensuing conversation is quite illuminating and well worth a read but in summary it’s not that Koopa were unsigned that’s noteworthy, more that they hadn’t signed away their rights.
Couple of new blogs on the block. Design company Substrakt have launched their blog in advance of a site revamp. More news on them later. Meanwhile Stef Lewandowski of 3form has turned his photo portfolio into a blog where he’s started posting articles and musings about the creative scene.
Clusta is a digital creative agency based in Digbeth now in their 10th year. They’ve got a very impressive client list, from local businesses to international brands all of which is innovative and, dare I say it, cutting edge. Their animation for last year’s Plus festival is probably the best introduction to their style. Click on the image below to view it.
They also have a blog spotlighting cool stuff they’ve found. No RSS feed though. Tut tut…Here ’tis.
TAK! is a design studio, with an emphasis on website design, based in the Custard Factory who have a rather impressive portfolio. Their work for Thomas Tallis, a specialist art school, is up for a SXSW Award for the Tallis Talk service, a simple but effective IM-style forum in which staff and pupils can discuss school-realted issues. Personally I set the bar very high for professional web design and I’m impressed with what they do.
Part of my immediate attraction to TAK! comes from their own website. While coming from the usual portfolio paradigm it manages to give a genuine sense of personality, and while they employ Flash a lot it’s never gratuitous or annoying. The cherry on the top is their blog, hidden under the title Playground, which works on all the right levels. Here you can find out what they’re up to but also what they think is interesting, from fonts to robotic snow ploughs.
If every business website communicated on this level the world would be a better place. Birmingham creatives – please take note.
Antonio Gould has started a series of podcasts, New Media 4casts, for the Channel 4 4talent site exploring how creatives can use new media techniques and technologies effectively. Two shows are online so far on selling online and building a website and he’ll be covering the music and film industries soon. Here’s the RSS feed or you can download direct.
See also the rest of 4talent West Midlands for more resources and advice in this area which I’ll no doubt be exploring over time.
On the back of the BBC moving more of it’s traditional broadcasting to the North West leaving Birmingham as a “broadcasting backwater” The Stirrer has some interesting speculation about what might come next.
“Our sources suggest that later this month (probably at a media conference in Oxford on January 18) the chief executive of Ofcom, Ed Richards is likely to formally announce the creation of a new kind of “public service publisher†which will generate online content, internet TV, and podcasting.
“The budget from the new venture will be in the region of £350 million – and we have to make sure that it’s based here.
“Birmingham has the location – the new learning quarter at Eastside – and if the speed with which next year’s digital film festival was put together is any guide, it also has the political will.”
Interesting stuff. In the long term you could say Manchester is welcome to the sorts of media production that are going to become more and more niche. While I wouldn’t like to speculate on what form it’ll ultimately take the distributed and fractured models exemplified by YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and blogs is only going to get more prevalent over the next 5-10 years and the traditional institutions are going to play a part in that no matter what. If that sort of infrastructure is based in Birmingham it can only be a good thing.
On Saturday there’s the monthly meeting of The Multipack at Lloyds No. 1, Regency Wharf, Broad Street from 2pm. (map).
