*a better process for finding & writing to an MP* ???

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A site that has a generic letter to an MP that covers all the major issues with the existing Digital Economy Bill – in the form of a concise list that uses plain English not technical jargon or long words.

Such a letter would be in the form of clickable/selectable/applicable tick boxes to highlight what paragraphs the letter writer wanted to keep or amend. Once selected the text is 100% customisable. The User adds their name, address and based on their postcode a selection of MP’s is displayed (they can select all of them if they so wish). The system tracks the receipt of such a message and sends a tweet out to the users network that is trackable – a GoogleMap is created of letter senders. Perhaps Audio and Video messages too? Plus a feature that allowed Bloggers to submit their related blog posts (just like the http://www.blogactionday.org) ? with an integrated Twitter Avatar feature?
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Is this doable? Is it worth doing?
How long might it take?
Who might be able to do it easily? The following sites/APIs already exist:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com
http://belocal.com
http://www.writetothem.com (run by http://www.mysociety.org)
http://www.hearfromyourmp.com
http://tweetminster.co.uk
http://www.parliament.uk/about/contacting/mp.cfm
http://audioboo.fm
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Who might sponsor such a system? Google/Yahoo/eBay/Facebook

For me this has been the toughest and most unproductive week of this year – my mind is elsewhere…

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I’m frustrated and extremely concerned that very few (Designers, Developers, Freelancers, Bloggers, General Public, Politician’s etc) seem to recognize a major problem looming above above – in addition to that of next weeks Copenhagen Climate Change Conference…

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I urge you, please do your own research into the proposed Digital Economy Bill – trust me, its a big deal and it needs to be stopped!

Its likely The Bill will be passed by the House of Lords on the 16th of December, and it’ll be heard in the House of Commons on the 6th January.

Please help spread this message in any way you can! Things you can do:

Add a Twibbon to your Twitter Profile
Write & Promote a blog post and Tag it with #debill or #DigitalEconomyBill
Contact or Write To Your MP < this is the most important! MPs need to be aware of the problems!

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As my dad says, “Son, you need to think before you speak”
… I urge you, please consider this statement as I have done and make your own voice heard:
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Your ‘Freedom of Speech‘ is *no longer valid* if Your ‘Freedom to Think‘ is removed! – be it about what you might say, do, create or whom you might collaborate with or be inspired by.–

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The Digital Britain Report published in June 2009 and Digital Economy Bill proposed in the House of Lords sets out a vision for the future that has already raised many questions and set-off many alarm bells regarding data governance, information censorship and content licensing – in short its a massive melting pot that will effect the entire Digital Landscape – which in turn effects You and Your Freedom to Think!

Whether you’re a technology fan or not, its important for you to recognize that your bank statements, medical records, credit card transactions, phone connection, driving theory-test, wages, job applications, newspaper articles, txt messages, emails, television channels, internet services, music and even radio weather forecasts are now digitally connected and delivered – that effects your Right to Privacy and your Freedom of Speech. Obviously it needs some extremely serious consideration, however it appears to be being rushed (pushed) through in front of an election (less than 40 parliamentary days away) – this concerns me *and all of us* greatly!

Putting our Right to Privacy and our Freedom of Speech concerns aside; as a creative fellow the Freedom to Think, be inspired and inspire others is of utmost importance, I prioritize it over making money and I recognize it as more important than my Freedom of Speech. I choose to share and distribute my works and ideas openly using Creative Commons Attribution and I’m inspired by other peoples open content, ideas and conversation daily. I regard closed mindsets, corporate governance, copyright systems and patent laws as *the biggest barriers* to creativity, education, communication and innovation.

I’m not saying that making money from an idea is a bad thing – god knows its on my to-do list but I firmly believe that someone else should be able to access and share my ideas (or use them in a new way) provided they are not using them for financial gain or devaluing my design credit – in my opinion copyright and patent laws need to be redesigned to accommodate this – just imagine what we could do for charities and positive social change!

But I say again, its only the tip of the iceberg and it’s a waste of time campaigning for such things right now because we’ve got more pressing matters to handle!
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Click here to view the embedded video.

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Technically, the following act is illegal. Imagine if these laws were applied to your conversation, your ideas and your Freedom to Think:
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Click here to view the embedded video.

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I know I’m not the only person who thinks sharing ideas and information without boundaries is truly the key to economic growth, creative enterprise and innovation but from what I’ve seen and read I’m failing to find any evidence that the UK Government or Lord Mandelson are on my wavelength in any way, shape or form.

UK Government, driven by Lord Mandelson, recognizes that our existing communications infrastructures need to be updated. They plan to modernize us with some digital pipework, building blocks and legislation to cope with the futures demand; and to support economic growth, enterprise and innovation – this in itself sounds great!  but…

Whilst Lord Mandelson (Business Secretary and Minister for Information) is driving forward Three Strike proposals to disconnect people from the Internet in the event of copyright violations we are wasting our time arguing that copyright violations may or may not be illegal and do or don’t warrant punishment. The simple fact is this, content in all its forms is now as freely available as conversation and you can’t listen in on every conversation or introduce a giant swearbox – the ‘Business Secretary and Minister for Information’ must surely realize that the businesses of tomorrow won’t actually have secretaries, nor will information be administered – I’ll also suggest he’s smart enough not to care about our squabbling as it only buys him time to push, push, push…

If your mind is stuck on having the Internet as a Human Right or Legal Right as its already viewed by some countries in Europe then you need to look at the larger Digital Landscape and the scope of such non-future-proof policy making: If I download a pirated film, will I be disconnected from accessing my bank account or banned from attending my online Open University lecture?

Hannah Nicklin‘s recent Open Letter to Peter Mandelson was perfectly crafted, information packed and said everything it needed to in terms of a protest letter but as she points out in her more recent blog post ‘Its not working‘ – we need a more directed approach and real-world Campaign – so has anyone got any ideas?

Last Thursday (24th November 2009) I went to London to meet the founder of Louder.org.uk and the OpenRightsGroup.Org team. Together we are proposing a campaign (be it online, offline or preferably both) that focuses on today’s digital economy creators, thinkers and makers – tweeters, bloggers, designers, developers, musicians etc…
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The ultimate freedom is the freedom to think, to express, to have a voice, to create, to share, to connect with others, to collaborate, to innovate, to inspire and be inspired.
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Share your Creative Freedom! Connection is a Right!
We’ve got 40 days until YOUR Freedom is disconnected!

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PLEASE call your MP to tell them why the Digital Economy Bill shouldn’t be pushed through before the election << CLICK LINK << and if you want to help directly please email freedom@fellowcreative.com
– Share Your Creative Freedom! and spread the word!

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Disclaimer: The ’40 Days’ reference is based upon ’40 Parliamentary Days’ as suggested in conversation by the Open Rights Group – these thoughts fell from my fingers into the keyboard – they are my honest opinions and open thinking because that’s what blogs are for right? Please do comment or contact me directly if you feel I need to correct or adjust any details or references…

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What is Tuttle?
The Tuttle Club is a loose association of people working better together both online and off.

It is not a business networking event. It is simply a meeting place for people to share in conversation, have a coffee, work on their laptop (with free WiFi), and hopefully talk to complete strangers about what they are reading, inspired by, or perhaps even working on in their shed or spare time – hopefully leading to some creative collaboration and long-term innovation.

In this video, Lloyd Davis (the Founder of Tuttle) loosely outlines it’s story in conversation with Chris Dalby:

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When and Where?
Monday 5th October 2009 may seem like a strange day for a networking event, but I repeat, this is not a business networking event! 9.30am – 11.30am, wear what you like, bring who you like, share what you like, and it doesn’t necessarily have to end at 11.30am.

The Venue: The George Vaults (35 The High Street, Rochester – upstairs!). It’s free to attend (you might have to buy your own coffee).

You don’t need to sign-up to attend but please do email or leave a comment below (with preferably your name and email) so we have a rough idea who’s and how many are coming. If anyone would like to sponsor the coffee please don’t hesitate to let me know =)

If you’d like more information please email (tuttle101@fellowcreative.com) or call me directly (Carl: 07929 601737).
More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog.

We look forward to meeting you there =)

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Walkaround BarcampBrighton 4 (2009)
Original footage filmed and uploaded by Chris Keene

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The rest of my thoughts form the remainder of this post – plus a brief mention of my trip to Tuttle in Royal Tunbridge Wells on Wednesday 9th (thank you all whom make me welcome!).

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It was my 4th BarCamp of recent years, I’ve now attended three in Brighton and one in London. I’ve run sessions at three out of four, but ‘participated’ at all, as are The Rules of BarCamp =)

For those who may not be familiar with the BarCamp experience I offer a quote from ‘Man on the Moon’, the 1999 film based on the life of Andy Kaufman:

“The audience expects me to shock them all the time, and besides faking my own death I don’t know what to do.”

Replacing the word ‘shock’ with ‘encourage discussion and thought’ lacks the comedic genius of Kaufman but it does loosely describe both a) my consciousness every-time I sit down to write a blog post; and b) the BarCamp attendees role (focused mainly on shared participation and experience).

The beautiful part about a BarCamp (and to a large extent a Tuttle gathering) is that there’s no need for anyone to be nervous or fake their own death – all attendees are accepting, friendly, supportive and most importantly willing to share – you definitely get out what you put in! The key things to remember are that product presentations and sales pitches are not allowed, the ‘two ears one mouth‘ approach is a considered rule of thumb; and if you find that you’re not interested in a session or conversation you can simply use the two foot rule and walk onto the next without disruption or feeling as if you’ve offended anyone.

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I view BarCamp and conversation as non-linear (they are threaded and dispersed, two-way or multi-channel, just like Web 2.0 social media and online community).

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If you ‘the reader of this post’ have actually met me in person it is probable that you will already know of my respect for Dr Edward de Bono and his concept of PO and Six Thinking Hats methodology. You may also be aware of my fascination with the two hemispheres of the brain and how the left-brain is extremely process driven where as the right-brain is more dispersed and energy driven. I recommend watching Jill Bolte Taylor’s amazing TED talk for a better insight:

You may not be aware that I present much of my thinking relative to the mathematical theory of ‘Dispersed cross-sensitivity (in a self-organizing system)’ – which roughly speaking means:

“Water flowing down a river does less for the land than rain falling widely over the same area – this is why the Grand Canyon runs through a desert.” Edward de Bono

It is under this same principle, and with the same high regard for ‘creativity and innovation without boundaries’ that I scatter my thinking, my time and my energy, in a perhaps bold attempt to develop inspiration, understanding, thoughts and abilities (both within myself and others) – I continue this approach when I attend events like BarCamp and Tuttle.

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A quick summary of BarCamp 4

I met and was introduced to at least eight new and truly interesting people – this was worth the journey alone! I also attended a host of sessions including a few geeky presentations such as ‘an introduction to the internet browsers new CSS3 standard‘ and ‘Andriod Mobile development made simple’, through to graduate employment discussions like ‘Is a qualification, or just plain enthusiasm, the most suitable requirement for getting a job in a creative/digital agency? by Sam Murray-Sutton‘ and even broader workshops such as ‘How to trace your family tree online by Rachel Clarke‘ – I trust this underlines my dispersed ‘rain falling’ analogy.

The diagram below is a quick attempt to demonstrate some of my developing thoughts relating to the ‘current’ social, technological and capitalist evolution (from an Industrial Age, towards a Digital Age), and an apparent acceptance/emergence of a dispersed approach – from linear (top-down) processes and policies, to dispersed (bottom-up) business models, communities and social networks.

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Now, at this point, I must state very clearly that this post offers no answers, and on the day I attended BarCamp I did not intend to deliver answers, nor did I intend to present a linear series of questions, I simply set out to scatter some random thoughts amongst some open-minded participants in an attempt to discover if any of my concepts/mindset rang true.

The closest thought connection I made that day was during a session delivered by Tom Hume entitled ‘Aikido & Software Development’.

Firstly his presentation title reminded me of a blog post I’d seen entitled ‘How to be a Samurai designer’, but Tom’s considered similarities between the martial art of Aikido and the complex art of software development went much deeper than a short blog post, covering key individuals such as Mary Poppendieck, to highlight some common cultural/philosophical values such as ‘keeping balanced in your approach’, ‘keeping a clean sword cut’ (code cleanliness and re-factoring), ‘keeping up regular practice and re-examination of technique’ – plus the importance of mastering the basics.

The presentation, and resulting participant feedback (from both Tom’s well delivered presentation and my own un-structured un-focused session), plus a recent trip to Royal Tunbridge Wells Tuttle (where I met yet more interesting and friendly folk) has provoked my thinking upon ‘the principles and learning of development systems’; which have since forced me to further consider our likely evolution from Industrial to Digital (or at least our acceptance/emergence of Digital Age values/practices).

From a perspective of martial arts, I find myself pondering the potential value in ‘protecting yourself whilst protecting your opponent’ and most interestingly:

During our move from Industrial Age to the Digital Age, we must be extremely mindful when transferring the weight from one foot to the other or else we risk falling over or being caught unaware by unforeseen opponents (circumstances).

Spreading our weight across both feet and being agile in both movement and thinking may allow us to defeat the toughest opponent.

Finally I digress once again, towards another TED talk on social dynamics and motivational drivers, to underline how some of our ‘Industrial Age’ beliefs are now proven to be fallacies – and thus there may be better ways to ‘learn, exercise and develop’ long-term value. See: Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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I do hope this post hasn’t been too unfocused/unstructured. I do hope you’ve got some goodness out of it and I look forward to any thoughts and constructive criticisms you may have on my latest babble =)

This post is long (2000+ wordcount) but its hopefully worth a read – for those who’d prefer the short version, here it is:

Inspired by the great work, creative community and positive impact of The Skiff in Brighton, The Werks in Hove and the vision of Tuttle on Tour, I’m currently investigating the creation of Kent’s first open co-working space for Creatives and Digital freelancers – perhaps a space like this!

Photo: BarCamp Brighton #emptybuildings
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Josh Russell

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Video: Walkaround BarcampBrighton 4 (2009)
Original footage filmed and uploaded by Chris Keene

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The long version will be here (still writing and adding to it):

Nine weeks ago, whilst delivering some Creative Midwifery to a new client, they randomly and unexpectedly offered me a 2400 sq.ft. open-plan studio space in a currently derelict yet commercially licensed building that is approximately 4 minutes walk from Rochester train station, 3 minutes walk from a large public car park, a stones throw away from a large block of creative student housing, and 6 minutes walk from the Rochester campus of the UK’s first Creative Arts University (UCA).

I’ve seen growing numbers of derelict and vacated buildings in my local area, and stumbled across a variety of Creative Community Initiatives from twitter folk such as @artistsmakers and @p45Camp – this got me thinking…

Now I have *an idea* rather than a clear thought out plan but I have had some interesting conversations already, combined with the fact I’ve been pondering a ‘BarCamp Kent‘ for about 5 months now after finding a potential venue in Canterbury – I’d love your thoughts and input on the following please =)

The vision… 2400 sq.ft (including toilets, two self contained offices, a kitchen area and a large open plan space)… it could be the perfect co-working space for freelancers, start-ups and students to relax, work, drink coffee and hopefully collaborate and innovate 24hrs a day; the building in question has two additional floors which could be developed over time to support the wider creative community and the buildings basement is already perfect for local-band/musician practice area. I’d simply like to help the creative and digital folk of Kent by connecting them with each other and the wider *vibrant* communities such as Brighton (many of whom seem to originate from Medway) and introduce them to what I see as ‘perfectly logical yet seemingly innovative community philosophies’ such as BarCamp, Tuttle and FREE & Unlocked Wi-Fi (as yet overlooked by local creatives, business communities, local academic institutions and even Medway coffee shops – *please note that since writing this original article I have been informed that the NUCLEUS Cafe does in fact supply WiFi to paying customers via a login code upon placing an order* – but this still isn’t Unlocked Wifi). Given the current economic climate and societies growing lack of employment, self-esteem and self-worth I view this approach as a must.

Over the years, and within existing and future strategy, Medway authorities and Kent focused development agencies have spent (and will continue to spend) £millions investing government funds and tax payers money into renovating and building minimalist glass-filled office spaces (that try to look like The Hub), calling them Innovation Centers, and charging start-ups and freelancers a minimum of £300 per month for a serviced office space that has no real value or encouraged/flourishing *sense of community* (except a canteen like break-out space and a meeting room which can only be rented by the hour provided they can afford £15+ a time, and providing a host of monthly *traditional* corporate run networking events that are focused on the short-term bottom line and Return on Investment [ROI] rather that long-term Inspiration, Innovation and Social Return on Investment [SROI]).

I’d like to provide a space (nothing flash but clean, dry, secure, with kitchen and toilet) that houses some comfy weathered sofas, a few beanbags, some chairs and desks, book shelf, free Wi-Fi, some power sockets and a decent coffee machine (with an available free meeting room and projector for anyone who needs it). I’d then like to focus efforts on what I believe would truly help support and develop a sense of *creatively inspired community* within Medway’s (Kent’s) creative/digital freelance and student community (encouragement, inspiration, play and conversation).

Remember, 2400 sq.ft is a big space, and given that other floors are potentially available, I’m thinking BarCamp Kent and other fun stuff, including after hours social media workshops, portfolio discussions, and creative sessions for students and businesses – bring on your ideas! =) Given the seemingly low rates I’ve currently been offered (about £800 – £1000 per month +rates +bills) and a likely required upfront investment of £5000-8000 to fit and furnish the space, I think we’re looking for approximately 8-10 freelancers who’d be willing to commit approximately £100-150 per month for a full time co-working desk (with full access and priority to free meeting spaces and facilities). Then I’d look to fund the rest of the space in other ways such as Workshop footfall (Social Media is just one growing area where I know many a professional who could do a talk or skill-swap). I of course understand they’ll be legal requirements and processes to abide by but I’ll be looking to avoid traditional funders and authorities who’ll clog everything up with red tape, middle men and ownership issues – in my view, the space should be owned and run by the community with the freedom to do what they want in it (within reason of course).

I haven’t agreed or really planned anything yet! *please note that nothing is confirmed and I have no idea how to realise it yet*, but as with anyone with a concrete vision *not* I do have some ideas on names =) “Space – The 1st Floor”, ‘The 1st Floor’, ‘Level 2.0.1′ “Space – as yet indefinable…” Or we could simply run with ” Floor 1984″ – an interesting name for an open space that’s community focused and free (ask @documentally on twitter if you need an explanation for the #1984 reference but don’t tell him about the potential use of a community webcam =)
I’m currently running my thinking under the operation name ‘Floor101.org’ but this is likely to change – I’m also hoping to organize a Medway based Tuttle to see if the ‘Digital Creative’ (and broader creative community) community does indeed exist – lookout for tuttle.101.

Now I’m not saying that any such space will be realised quickly (or ever), this thinking (and your input) may simply help visualise a journey – Eg. it may lead to starting a Medway Tuttle to see if the right community players do exist for such a space to be sustainable long-term. As I type this I’m sat in Café Nucleus which doesn’t have FREE Unlocked WiFi (it does have WiFi for paying customers) but with very little investment and a few phonecalls – ‘anything is possible’ and they do serve a good latté for £1.75 =? I look forward to hearing your thoughts (more details, references and research below).

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As some of you may be aware I live in Medway (Kent, UK) but have spent much of my past 3 years travelling in a triangle – between Kent, London and Brighton – mostly on public transport and mainly for client work, attending events, collaborating with creative/digital thinkers and fellow coffee drinkers (with the occasional pint of Guinness thrown in for good measure). In mid 2008, in addition to my Kent studio commitments, I made a decision to support the opening of a new Brighton based co-working space by taking on the rent for two full-time desks at TheSkiff; a space founded by my friend and colleague @JonMarkwell at Inuda (the company who developed my original SustainableWidget.com prototype). My intention at the time was to move my professional and personal life from Medway to Brighton (the additional desk being available to freelancers I work with, or simply available to the wider community when vacant) – a life-changing decision to move away from my long standing friends and family, a financial gamble with a good cause, but a decision based on a comparative fact:

“Compared to Medway (where I have lived, studied, teach occasionally, and have started two businesses during the past 8 years) Brighton has proven itself to have a *better* vibrant, creative and digital *sense of community* populated by some truly wonderful folk.”

(Massive thanks to folk including @stevepurkiss @thinkgareth @edevries @richtextformat and @jonmarkwell – you are all legends!). Many such folk have welcomed me on-board their creative projects and even offered up their sofas, spare beds and meeting-room floors as a place for me to work or sleep during random last minute trips South to commission or work with some really great Brighton based clients and to attend amazing events such as BarCamp. (Here’s just a few such events: BrightonBarCamp, BrightonTuttle, dConstruct, Full-Frontal…) The sense of *creative community* to which I refer is something I find hard to summarize in words (energy, buzz, enthusiasm, anything is possible, #tuttle-esq…), but it is certainly something I haven’t experienced in Kent apart from my early days studying at Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD) back in 1997.

After 25 years local experience I can say for certain that Kent (and specifically Medway) is home to many businesses (including many *traditional* design, marketing, technology and engineering companies) and it appears rife with industrial estates and enterprise hubs for start-ups and SMEs, as well as a newly opened Innovation Centre (which as far as I can tell is more focused on business rent than actual innovation). Over recent years (since at least 2006) Medway has become the focus of much Regional Investment and Regeneration and is viewed and written about by local councils and development agencies as a world class region for tourism and culture, and there appears to be a strategic plan of transformation into a city of learning, culture, tourism and enterprise by 2016 (and I’ve heard Academics, Strategists and Consultants talking publicly about Medway being at the heart of the South East Creative & Digital Economy). In support of the above thinking, Kent is home to three campus of the UK’s first Creative Arts University (one of which is in Medway, plus a host of other academic institutions including Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Greenwich). Medway is also home to funded initiatives such as The Joiners Workshop (a £3+million Space for Creative Businesses) and the NUCLEUS Arts Centre (formerly the New Art Centre – the largest artist’s studio complex in North Kent). There are also community initiatives such as Made In Medway founded by designer Steve Rowland (who as it happens used to be Brighton based).

Yet with all of the above in mind, and with my local network spanning Creatives, Developers, Academia/Learning, Training & Development and organizations such as MEBP I still feel a lacking sense of local ‘innovative energy’ and *creative community* – this frustrates me greatly. Partly because it doesn’t aid my personal creativity, but more importantly because I’m convinced that the area is full of passionate and creative musicians, artists, designers, sculptures, film-makers and technologists (including media folks and web-developers) who are spending their days working from their back bedrooms (or even in jobs they hate) because they lack the creative infrastructure they’d need to be a freelancer (or even feel that they could be). I believe that freelance creatives don’t need a full-time office or enterprise hub, nor can they afford one – I’m convinced that they do what they do because they love it, they don’t do it for the money (the truth is most would do it for free if they felt valued and could afford a roof over their head, a mug of warm coffee and the occasional pint of Guinness – and I’m referring to ladies too!). They do it because they want to communicate and express, some want feedback, exchange and conversation but most just need to know they are not alone – they don’t fit the traditional business plan model and most are allergic to filling in forms. Brighton has coffee shops with sofas, open Wi-Fi and a non-plastic, friendly atmosphere where developers and creative thinkers can go to talk, work from their laptop and moleskine notebooks, think and meet – its cheaper than an office but its probably more valuable. All of the enterprise hubs and £3m Innovation Centre’s in Medway are commercial, sure they have “break-out spaces” but sadly this term inevitably leads to a canteen like atmosphere with modern plastic furniture which should be replaced by weathered *old* comfy sofas where anyone can kick their shoes off and sit cross legged with a laptop, book or paintbrush. The only real thing I see in the way of such a simple idea are the complicated risk assessments of innovation and creativity!

The journey continues… on Monday 5th October 2009 I organized Tuttle.101… a year on (October 2010) there’s exciting things afoot!