Let Brighton bid - Jeremy Hunt says ...No

Jeremy Hunt has rejected the Let Brighton Bid's argument that Brighton should be included in the bidding process for government funds to deliver ultra fast broadband (see letter to Caroline Lucas below). This battle may be lost, but the fight goes on...

Your Ref:	ML.C0011.ID.11.1.12
Our Ref:	196107/KS/31
Caroline Lucas MP
House of Commons London SW1A 0AA caroline.lucas.mp@parliament.uk
		17 January 2012

Dear Caroline,

Thank you for your email of 11 January about the campaign ‘Let Brighton Bid’ and your interest in Brighton and Hove being considered for the Super-Connected Cities Initiative.

I am very pleased to hear of the successes of Brighton and Hove in generating a vibrant digital and creative economy. It is these industries that are essential for driving growth across the UK economy and it is good to hear what has already been achieved.

Regarding your request for Brighton and Hove to be considered for the Super-Connected Cities Initiative, Brighton and Hove will not be eligible to apply for this funding as it is not sufficiently large enough in terms of both population and number of dwellings. The Urban Broadband Fund is limited to £100 million for up to ten cities and proposals will only be accepted from cities meeting the criterion of dwellings exceeding 150,000.

It is possible to identify other urban areas with numbers of dwellings less than 150,000, but they would not meet the requirements of this individual project for a single contiguous area with high-speed ubiquitous connectivity.  If the criterion were set lower, a much larger number of Local Authorities, including some London Boroughs, would be eligible to bid.  For example, if it were set at 120,000, twenty-five Local Authorities, including seven London Boroughs, would be eligible, in addition to the four capitals.

Both the Chancellor’s and my vision for the Urban Broadband Fund is that it will enable a number of the UK’s largest cities to bring about a transformational change in the way in which people interact with each other, both in terms of providing information and accessing services, and the way in which they do business. The Government believes that that the greatest potential for achieving this transformational effect is to start where the concentration of residents and businesses is at their highest. But we are equally determined to ensure that ultimately all our cities, including Brighton & Hove, are part of this vision and I am very happy to work with you to discuss ways to make this happen.

Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport

Why Wired Sussex supports the Brighton TV bid

Just thought it would be worth posting the statement of support Wired Sussex delivered in favour of the bid as it outlines what we believe are some of the key opportunities that Brighton TV could deliver to the city:


“Wired Sussex is an active supporter of Brightonʼs bid for a local TV licence. It is well known that Brighton has a booming digital and media sector, with strengths in TV production, web, gaming and music. A local TV
service will help support the growth of that sector in two crucial ways. First, it will provide an additional avenue through which those who want to make a career in the media industry will be able to obtain experience and skills.

There is no substitute for practical workplace experience and Wired Sussex would be delighted to ensure that our highly successful media internship model is embedded within Brightonʼs local TV operation.

Second, it will enable the city to accelerate the process of delivering expertise in convergent media activity. The success of Brightonʼs media sector lies in its ability to innovate and to do that across the old media
boundaries, generating new ways of engaging audiences and new commercial models. A local TV operation would be an important part of the process of making that happen and growing Brightonʼs reputation as the
place where new business thinking happens.”

Phil Jones, Director, Wired Sussex

Smartphones for Schools: How you could help students in a local school with your old phone

This month we're really pleased to announce both a new guest blog from Vivid Interactive's Mick Landmann and the launch of a project we're all excited about here at Wired Sussex -  the repurposing of old smartphones to help local schools.  Here's Mick with more... Time for that free mobile upgrade. The old discarded mobile that gets stuffed away in a drawer. Can’t bring yourself to throw it away, but can’t find anything useful to do with it either. Well, now you can put your old mobile to good use and help a child's education. It’s very simple. Drop off or post your old smartphone to either of the points below and put it in the 'Smartphone for Schools Drop Off'  box provided, together with its charger and anything else associated with it. Make sure you have taken the sim card out, and if possible reset it to the factory default so that all your data will be wiped. If you don't know how to do this we can do it for you. The phones will then be loaned out to schools for teaching and learning projects ensuring that even those pupils who do not have a smartphone will not be left out.  If you’re not sure if your old phone is actually a ‘smartphone’ it doesn’t matter. Drop it off anyway!   Wired Sussex: Studio 28, Level 6 South, New England house, New England Street, Brighton BN1 5PP The Skiff: 6 Gloucester Street, Brighton BN1 4EW Read on to get more details on how your old mobile could be used to help a child to learn. *** Did you know that in 2011, the combined shipments of smart phones and tablet computers are forecast to exceed those of personal computers (Morgan Stanley).  Did you also know that according to education experts in organisations such as BECTA and Futurlab, Smartphones – mobile phones that offer internet access and apps – have been proven to help children maximise their learning from the age of nine.  According to a recent article in the Guardian about the use of smartphones in the classroom, ‘The National Association of Advisors for Computers in Education, which includes teachers, technologists and policymakers, and cites research that shows the devices(smartphones) can have a "high impact" on students' learning’ ….in many schools, the majority of pupils own a smartphone’.  Despite this potential for learning most schools ban smartphones, indeed all mobiles, in the classroom, partially at least through fear of the disruption of pupils ‘texting’ their friends during lessons. But, most pupils ignore the ban and do text their friends, albeit surreptitiously, from under the desk, something they are very adept at.  Surely better to insist pupils openly bring their phones with them, and place them on the desk in full view thus allowing the teacher to ensure they are not in use and maintain the control they fear losing. But better than that it will allow the use of the smartphones, which after all are much more than mere phones, are powerful computers in fact with very sophisticated and varied functionality, to be used for learning. This is a resource that schools in these particularly austere times can use for free without even any associated maintenance or upgrade costs.   To help teachers take advantage of this and allay their fears of disruption Digital Education Brighton (DEB), an open community group consisting of schools, digital companies, education consultants and people passionate about education, are working with schools to develop and run lessons that actively use the facilities available on their pupils smartphones. This is a sort of triple whammy by dealing with the problem of disruption (phones visible, on the desk not under it), utilising technology that is familiar to the pupils and proven to enhance learning, and providing free resources. But, an objection that arises is that not all pupils can afford smartphones (although their price is dropping rapidly and numbers who do have them rising exponentially) and so there is a potential ‘digital divide’ which disadvantages those pupils from poorer families. The guardian article referred to above suggests that schools could buy some smartphones, using the pupil premium, for pupils who were poor enough not to have one. At Digital Education Brighton we have a much better idea that leaves the pupil premium alone to be spent on other things. The 'Smartphone for Schools Dropoff' will just collect donated smartphones that are no longer in use by their owners. For example, many of us have monthly contracts that allow us periodically to upgrade our phones for free. The discarded phones are often simply put in a drawer never to see the light of day again. Through this scheme these can be put to good use in schools and other learning organisations to enhance our children's education. The idea is simply that the smartphones are loaned to schools, on demand, for specific learning projects utilising smartphones where some of the pupils participating do not own a smartphone themselves. We are, therefore, encouraging both individuals and organisations to donate surplus smartphones of any make and type to the ‘Smartphones for Schools Drop-Off’ at Wired Sussex.  If you've any questions about the scheme, give one of the Wired Sussex team a ring on 01273 692 888. Further details of ‘smartphones in the classroom’ projects organised by DEB will be posted to our blog at digitaleducationbrighton.org.uk as they occur.

CityForum Brighton & Hove

Anthony Zacharzewski, Governor at @demsoc , tells us about his organisation's upcoming B&H CityForum event.

CityForum Brighton & Hove, which takes place on Wednesday at the Sallis Benney Theatre on Grand Parade, is the first in a series of participation initiatives in the city, and digital businesses are being invited to take part in discussions of how technology can support public participation and discussion.

The event works on the same principles as CityCamp Brighton, which ran successfully in the city in March. Participants will set the agenda and topics for discussion in the first session of the event, which starts at 2 p.m. and runs into the early evening.

Once the agenda is set, participants will be able to choose between up to 15 separate discussions over the rest of the day, before a final discussion panel at 6.30 featuring leading figures from the city's public services, to whom discussion groups will be able to present their proposals.

The organisers, local non-profit and Wired Sussex member the Democratic Society, are looking for proposals that support community action and participation, and which look to work in partnership with public services. 

This is a first pilot in a programme of participation and engagement events being run as part of NESTA's Creative Councils programme. Demsoc is working with the City Council, the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum, and Hove-based business Public-i to develop a participation culture and a shared civic space for the city, linking online and offline community action. This programme, called We Live Here, will be one of the topics discussed at CityForum.

Other topics proposed for discussion online include:

• Using digital technology for a greener city;
• How can open data tell us whether services are any good?
• Reducing wastage in council procurement
• How to promote local volunteering and charity donations

Tickets for the event are free, and available on Eventbrite at http://cityforumbtn.eventbrite.com. Demsoc's local site is at http://brighton.demsoc.org

The business model canvas triumphs!

Amy Rutter, Digital Marketing Consultant at zero G media

I knew this would be a good morning from the start – collecting fresh hot banana and chocolate muffins from our workshop sponsor, Taylor St Baristas. They smelled so good I’m surprised there were still enough muffins for each of the attendees when they arrived...

zero G media’s free workshop, Design your business, for Wired Sussex’s Digital Open Studios was a great success.

Creative Director Guy Anderson started the morning by asking each attendee to introduce themselves. It was a really nice way of starting the day off and set the tone for the workshop – relaxed and informal.

The group were then introduced to the business model canvas, a tried and tested method for developing businesses and their processes. The canvas template is made up of nine business model blocks: key partners, key activities, value propositions, cost structure, key resources, channels, customer relationships, customer segments and revenue streams.

The group split into smaller teams of two to creatively explore ideas together based on the canvas, relating each block to their own business.

Not only was it an excellent networking session with everyone exchanging details and business cards, but everyone gave each other really great ideas about their business procedures and the general consensus was the canvas supplied a new way of thinking about an organisation’s structure. Much food for thought!

Everyone got so involved in discussion that unfortunately we ran out of time and didn’t have a chance to present ideas to the larger group as planned – but we went on to Taylor St Baristas for a coffee to finish off the session.

We received some excellent feedback which is really encouraging and holds us in good stead for our next planned monthly free events called Smell the coffee.

Brighton proudly shows off its Digital Marketing expertise

Pure360 excelled themselves on Thursday as organisers of Brighton’s first ever Brighton Digital Marketing Festival (BDMF), part of this month’s Digital Festival. 

Showing off an impressive list of speakers, BDMF got our marketing brains sparking from the get go.  Launching with Mark Kelleher, Head of Technology for the BBC, we were entertained and advised to forget what we were taught in marketing school and to test the waters and put stuff out there, as you can’t predict how your customers are going to behave.

Fantastic goody bags kept us fed, watered (and amused) as we listened.  Lewis Lenssen of DC Storm opened our eyes up to an understanding of how the customer’s purchasing journey involves a range of activities that contribute to a sale, and it’s not simply the case that the last clicks wins.  Whereas Chris Dadd of Zenith Mist and Marc Munier of Pure360 both reminded us to design our marketing with browsers in mind as they’ll be more mobile than desktop users by 2013! 

Expertly organised, afternoon attendees were seamlessly then guided to a series of different and very ‘Brightonesque’ venues.  This included Fabrica where we sat happily in deckchairs listening to White Hat Media’s Jeremy Spiller who engaged us with his expert knowledge in 360 degree Search and gave the audience the rare chance to discuss any SEO problems they had.

Mark Kelleher is right in saying that you need a marketing conference every year as times are changing so quickly.  Apart from anything, I felt like the day re-charged my creative brain, inspired new ideas and was a great opportunity to network and appreciate how much Brighton’s digital marketing sector is thriving.  The after party free(!!) bar and live music entertainment gave that certain social ‘lubrication’ which finished the event on a high.

Next year Pure360 are already planning to run it as a 2 day conference as it was so popular the free tickets ‘sold out’ in just 3 hours.  Until then, we’re left with the legacy of this year’s event with helpful keynotes and a great Digital Marketing Advice section available at a click of a button.  I can’t wait to do it all again, and it seems that I’m not alone:

Jason Buck, of The Long Dog: As a speaker it was great to meet so many different people with so many different backgrounds, but with a common passion for engaging and learning more about the latest from the world of digital.

Tom Jackson, of RamJam:  It was a great day and having good speakers made all the difference. Mark Kelleher, Jeremy Spiller and Craig Menzies in particular gave great talks and useful insights into their respective fields. I’ll make sure I sign up for the next one!

Jeremy Spiller, of White Hat Media: It was an honour to be invited to speak at the Brighton Digital Marketing Festival, the audience were superb and it was a brilliant day. The event had a superb format in that people moved from venue to venue giving them a good chance to chat and relax between sessions.  Also I was fortunate to be speaking in Fabrica a converted church and the seating was deck chairs. Supremely well organised by the team from Pure360, the whole event was a huge success and I'm very much looking forward to the next one. 

Caroline Morris, Recruitment and Internships Manager for Wired Sussex

Au'guest' Blog month - Recruitment will only be as good as the efforts you put in

For the final instalment of our guest blog month Darren Fell talks about how he recruits 'Crunchy' new staff

Darren Fell, @TeamCrunch is the MD of Crunch

Recruitment is often seen as another of those painful business necessities. You need more staff, you advertise, you interview - it can all get very dull. Being an online accountant (featuring an ever-growing development and design team) we’ve applied an old adage loved by developers and accountants alike - garbage in, garbage out. That is, the results of your recruitment will only be as good as the efforts you put in.

We’ve acquired a lot of our technical staff through Wired Sussex (a handful of designers and a several developers), and the response is always excellent - the trick is deciding what to do with applicants once you have their details. Do you want to sit through a parade of similar interviews and arbitrarily pick your favourite based on that one event, or do you want to set them a challenge to prove they’re capable and - more importantly - they want to work for you?

At Crunch we take a somewhat more esoteric approach to recruitment than other digital firms. That’s not to say we’re not passionate about finding the very best people, but we find the traditional send-CV-have-interview-have-second-interview rigmarole a bit tiresome - and we’re sure most applicants do too.

Even though our company continues to grow (we’ve taken on around 15 new staff in just the last few months, most recently a new web developer), I’m still keen to interview every applicant personally. We look for an X-factor, a je ne sais quoi. We need to see if potential applicants are suitably “Crunchy”.

To make sure we’re attracting the right kind of people, we set our applicants challenges. For our latest round of hiring we’re challenging applicants to get a high score on our iPhone game to prove their mental prowess before we start the interview process.

Although it may sound like a bit of fun, these hiring practises help us find the most suitable people, and have some highly beneficial side-effects. Because we look for interesting people - not just pumped-up CVs - our office is chock full of talent beyond just number-crunching and coding. We have musicians, artists, photographers, writers and even an astrophysicist and trained hazardous materials handler in our midst.

This extensive talent pool means when it comes time to do things like have staff photos taken, we have the expertise in-house. It also makes for a much more eclectic and enjoyable atmosphere. Conventional wisdom would have it that if accountants and developers (two of the most stereotypically dull professions in the world) got together, it would be a recipe for a workplace so boring as to drive a person mad. However with a little effort to recruit the right people we’ve made our offices a lively, friendly, and above all interesting place to work.