The Original Sims

Invest NI is about to announce two sessions on Intellectual Property.

You own what you create (thinks - that would have been a good title …) but many people working in the creative industries don’t quite understand that and if they do how to really take advantage of it. There will be two half day sessions; 16 June in Conor Lecture Theatre at the Art College and on 17 June in Magee College in Derry. People lined up include Marice Cumber founder of Own-IT, Malcom Barclay Developer of Tube Deluxe App and Andrew Ferris, Smalltown America, Stuart Worthington, Music Tank. The official word should be out in the next few days; I’ll blog it here and I expect it will be in [digitalcircle.org]9http://www.digitalcircle.org). I seriously recommend that anyone making their business out of creativity should sign up as soon as you get the chance. Places are very limited.

I met David Kirk last night. We’d only exchanged comments on Facebook and Blogs up until now; important stuff like managing online communities and the joy of a fish supper on a Friday night.

There was clearly something on his mind and he quickly came to the point. It was a challenge; how to raise the game in Northern Ireland for the businesses he had been coaching at the Science Park’s Entrepreneur Academy and the industry they are part of? Specifically how can I help with that through journalism, blogosphere, social media and so on.

Well, I had a lot of ideas, but no real answer.

• I’d love to see a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) style thing in Belfast.

• I know that we need a real website to show off the work that is done in Northern Ireland.

• I know that we have to stop being insular and be more open to ideas.

• I know we have to stop looking to government and grant giving agencies for leadership (as do they).

But that’s what I know, and that doesn’t account for much. The question is what do you know? No, that’s the sub-question.

The questions are “What obstacles do we face in raising the game for the Creative-Tech?” and “How will we break those obstacles down?”

So here’s the offer from David Kirk – if I pull together some form of communication between the Creative and Tech industries (or is it just industry?), he will pull together his friends in Silicon Valley to comment and encourage. That’s a big offer.

This cannot be top – down. This must come from the creative community. DK and DS cannot create a community response. We can foster and encourage and from time to time help focus.

So I’ll start with a few community guidelines:

• Open to anyone who is prepared to work for progress – creative, technical, or neither but in support of creative-tech.

• No negativity – frankly I’m tired of people telling me why I can’t do something “because …” Like brain storming, can we make the comments “Yes, and … “ rather than “No, because …”

• We start here on a Facebook page, but we eventually migrate to a place which makes interactivity easier. I’m only using Facebook to start with as it’s a fairly common platform, free and disposable.

• This MUST be a place where there are ACTIONS taken and DECISIONS made.

I’m starting this group with David and a few email addresses I picked up last night. Please invite anyone to join and begin discussion. David and I will try to lead at the beginning to give it focus, but we don’t own this; we’re just part of it. To stop this just being a place where we talk even more — we need to set the first objective. Let’s start with this and make it stronger and clearer, then let’s do it. “By September 2009, create a means of communication to show the work of the Technical and Creative Industry in Northern Ireland.”

I’m starting as a closed group. I don’t intend keeping it as a closed group. I don’t like SPAM and to be frank starting this as an open group sends what appears to be spam to everyone linked to me in Facebook - for many, this is an irrelevance.

If the group decides, it will be open to join without approval. In the meantime, I’ll approve all who ask for membership.

The starting point is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74685156378

Spent this morning at the Eventure NEW YEAR MEDIA FORUM (Meet the Media and Plan Your Tactics for 2009)

Leading media (almost exclusively traditional media - Newspapers and Television) were on the panel and in the audience for sessions with people from PR businesses, Press Offices and PR Departments in local goverment departments.

The opening session was interesting to listen to.  Remember these are all TV and Print people.  What was being said marked two changes - first the one that affects all media these days - finance, budget and audien ces.  But there is a particularly Northern Ireland aspect to this; the changing nature of news in Northern Ireland and that is just as signicicant.

Somethings we already know: Life is getting tighter in all media businesses in particular Newspapers.  One newspaper’s business editor said that Business news once tucked away is now Front Page – however, that’s making filling the Business Pages harder.

News sales are being driven by Advertising Sections.  Top three weekly sellers by day: Jobs, then Property, then Cars.  Interesting to hear a News Man admitting something we already are aware of as consumers.  His message?  Newspapers must think about moving from News to Informing and Educating.  That’s a realistic if bold statement.

Younger people are switched off (one news man said “switched off by News Papers” I would argue they are switched off by stories) and find the news they want online.

Journalists will have to work harder – News no longer Orange and Green and readers no longer interested in O/G politics in local councils.  The news is no longer led by the Police overnight report. Journalists will have to work harder to investigate and tell the story – not just trot out the facts and get a couple of quotes from either side of the political divide.

There is a new journalistic job (new for NI traditional media, anyway) questioning and explaining policy, spending, effect on public and people. 

Younger journalists will have to learn our history – some simply don’t know what happened here over the last 40 years.

More young people know about US elections (and more interested) than Stormont.

Some tips for PRs

• Don’t tell me about the policy and the launch then trot out the Chief Executive, bring me the person who it will affect and bring me the person who will “do it””
• Remove these two words from your press releases – “delight” and “major”
• If you want newspaper space, bring me the Story not the puff piece.

My messages: 
      Core message

• If you only use the web for sending out a message you are missin two thirds of the resource; the information coming back and the conversation,
• Use the web and web tools to create your own channels,
• Use the applications (Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, blogging etc) for yourself and learn how they work,
• Observe how other people use them,
• Then use them to develop the conversation not sell a product.

Additional messages

 

• Digital media should be at the heart of a business and communications strategy
• You are embarking on a relationship not a sales pitch.
• This is what young consumers are doing now – in 15 years these are the people who will be ruling the world, business, politics and even PR.
• If you don’t have the budget, then get people who believe in what you are doing to produce web content
• Established management fear the loss of control – experiment outside work and bring evidence of how new media will work.

I think Robert Andrews got it right in the Comment in Paid Content.

The timing has been unfortunate.  While comments fly about Brand/Ross which public and decision makers alike seem unusually well briefed and have opinions, the BBC Trust announced their findings on  that on the same day they published their provisional conclusions on tghe BBC’s proposal Local Video.

The Newspaper Society have been among the loudest opponents of Local Video. While the Local Video service  would in the short term  reach around  half the population of the UK, in the slightly longer term as broadband up take improves, it would reach almost all the UK’s population.

 “Ultra Local” video was being bandied about as a phrase of opposition. But while that sounds awfully like a BBC reporter on every street corner, that image is very far from the truth.  I had some input into the earlier drafts of the proposal before I left the BBC this summer.  The idea was most definitely not “Ultra Local”.  Northern Ireland for example would have been divided in to two parts; essentially east and west of the Bann (Derry to the west and Belfast to the east).  There would have been I expect no more than two or three stories a day from each part.  The audience would have had broadband access to News (hardly Ultra Local), Sport, Traffic and Weather.

We all pay a licence fee – we don’t like it but we are required to do it.  So it is the job of the BBC to provide a service to everyone – using whatever platform they can.

Newspapers don’t do video.  OK they sometimes host video content, but I’ve not seen anything that comes close to broadcast television.  And the video I’ve seen often misses the point of non-linear programme content; the inclination is to produce a three minute bulletin once or twice a day. In the age of 24-hour rolling news this is positively 1950’s broadcasting.

Yes, sales of newspapers are decreasing and that is not good for anyone.  Yes many newspapers established a web presence before the BBC.  But then the web was a new home for text (and some images too). Some newspapers were and are visionaries (first the Daily Telegraph who got to the web ahead of the pack and now the Guardian who lead with the digital strategy). 

There more sources of news we have, the better.  The greater the variety of opinion, the better.  It’s not good that the BBC become so dominant in providing news that other sources are drowned out.   But look how ITV ran from news when Ofcom reduced the requirement.  The BBC and ITV news are required to provide a impartial coverage in their broadcasting.  That extends into the web news provision.  Newspapers are not required to be imaprtial.  This extends into their web provision.  Just read the coverage of this debate on newspaper web sites — if you can find it.  If you can’t there will be a juicy anti-BBC comment on Brand/Ross.

I don’t want the BBC to be the only provider of local news on the web.  But I believe it should be there along with newspapers and everyone else who wants to provide their own local news.
The BBC Trust’s job is to represent us the audience.  In their announcement on 21 November they say:

“The BBC Trust has refused permission for local video because it would not improve services for the public enough to justify either the investment of licence fee funds or the negative impact on commercial media.”

Yes there would be a significant cost in the short term and in that they are right.  But in the longer term, the wider distribution of BBC content to a greater number of license fee payers would have (cost per head: a favored BBC measurement) been reduced and there would have been a better investment in future audiences for the BBC.

Now the "it’s the internet wot won it" stories have started. (For younger readers: the reference is to a Sun headline "It’s the Sun wot won it").

How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics (use the HuffPo -

“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post. ),

and "Ten marketing lessons from the Barack Obama Presidential campaign" (use Twitter -

I found out on Twitter that Joe Biden was to be Obama’s running mate. Amazing. Obama told his fans first BEFORE mainstream media. (Of course, smart reporters were following his Twitter feed).)

Yes and — not completely.  Any politicial operative (politician or professional) is going to use every tool.  Aren’t they?  Even in hokey old Norn Irn?

I have a very old friend - known him for about 30 years.  He’s a very leading light in the politics of "our wee country".  The sort of person who came through the ranks - knows what it is to be a young activist.  He has a Facebook profile.  So far so good. A mutual friend introduced us on Facebook and I sent a message: "If you want a hand with any of this Web 2.0 Social Media stuff, let me know."

That was months ago - I’m still waiting.  There is another politician, this time in Stormont rather than Westminster who used Bebo to target young people in his constituancy during the last election.  All very well, but it was not universally welcomed.  Why?  Because he was using social networking like a mail shot.

The point of social networking is to build a network of social relationships as the name would suggest.

So here is mt free advice of the day to politicians who have seen the success of the Web in the US Presidential campaign: 1) build your network before you need to use it, and 2) optimise "opt in" rather than "mail shot".

But if you want to know "how" rather than "what", then I am available at a large fee (including my old friend who I offered a free service to - sorry mate.)

My former colleague Ashley Highfield, the former BBC director of future media and technology, is leaving Project Kangaroo after just four months to take the role of managing director for Microsoft UK’s online operation, MediaGuardian.co.uk revealed today.

Invited to the EGSA (Educational Guidance Service for Adults) bi-annual staff meeting today I was asked to give a talk on the importance of Media Literacy.  This is a term that has not been in common usage for very long and has become popular with the rise of Web/Internet and the expansion of professional, amateur, citizen media production.

I think it’s important for two main reasons; first we need to know the agendas of those professional organisations that bring us News and Information every day, and we need to know how we can use the media (especially Web) to distribute our own information and news.

One of the points that was raised by someone of my generation was that all the words and terminology is difficult to follow sometimes.  Words like Blog, Wiki, Podcast are new and everything moves so fast, it’s hard to keep up.  I agree, but you need to take hold and learn about these things.

There was some discussion about Digital Natives (young people who have grown up with digital technology) and Digital Immigrants (older people who need to learn about it now).  But I argue that there needs to be a third in that terminology; something like “Digital Conquistadors” people who invade the language and ideas behind digital technology and use it for their own needs.

We older users of digital media need to be even more aggressive and not just as consumers but as utilisers and for others who cannot do it for themselves, as enablers.

We all know that the worst possible thing for a presidential campaign is to win the build up through a lead in the polls but to lose the election by not getting out the vote ("Do we?" -Ed.)

I’ve seen some good personalised virals before, but this is probably the best.  It’s really not my fault, I don’t have a vote in the US, but that’s not going to stop me staying up all night next Tuesday/Wednesday to watch the results.

By the way - great coverage by Kevin Anderson of the Guardian.  Here’s one of his recent reports.

Channel 4 has abandoned plans for its proposed radio project. Having won the franchise in July 2007, Channel 4 set out an ambitious plan for a range of music and speech stations on DAB including a direct competitor to Radio 4.  The first station E4 Radio was due to air next spring.  The plan will save around £10m in 2009.

Channel 4 Radio is the majority shareholder in 4 Digital. Its other shareholders are UTV Radio, Bauer Radio (owners of Cool FM and Downtown), BSkyB, the Carphone Warehouse Group, and UBC Media.

Back in August The Observer reported:

The problems is that negotiations with Global, and C4’s own joint venture partners, are not proceeding smoothly. 4 Digital is majority owned by Channel 4, but some of the minority partners, who include UTV Radio and Magic FM owner Bauer Radio, have reservations about the cost of funding new digital channels at a time when the economic outlook is gloomy. Digital licences run for 12 years, and it costs £1.5m a year to air a single station, says the source close to the talks. ‘That’s just the transmission: never mind the cost of running the station and paying the presenters. You could run a national FM or AM station for the same cost if the frequency was available.’

On Friday the decision was widely reported.  The Stage said:

Responding to the news, Ofcom said: “Ofcom recognises that the economic environment is very challenging and that all organisations need to make decisions in light of the circumstances they face.”
It said it would meet with the other members of 4 Digital Group over the next few days to discuss how they propose to take matters forward.
Ofcom also revealed it is in discussions with other multiplex operators and the BBC to consider how best to “secure a viable outcome which is in the interests of radio listeners and the industry”.
Channel 4’s withdrawal from the radio market will come as a blow to independent drama producers, who had hoped the broadcaster’s offerings would increase opportunity for production outside of BBC stations.

Podcast Duration 20′.20" - File Size 18.6 megs

In this edition Jeff Peel from Quadriga Consulting who has recently published a paper on Web 2.0 and Marketing.

Grace Smith runs postscript5.co.uk. On Twitter Grace describes herself as "Freelance Web & Graphic Designer in love with web standards and social media."

Matt Johnston is Digital Circle’s co-ordinator. But in his online life is known as Cimota. He’s one of the contributers to Infurious - the people behind Murderdrome the digital comic for the iPhone which recently hit the headlines when Apple decided that cartoon gore was just not their thing - Have they never watched the Simpsons?

They discuss digital marketing and promotion in Northern Ireland, but more importantly from Northern Ireland to the world.

Go to the Podcast