What we're up to with the Wired Sussex degree

Our intention is to create a competitive, fast-track academy for students at the University of

 Brighton – selecting high quality students from different disciplines and linking them to relevant work placements within the digital media network, each for a set time and for a specific project. This will initially be part of a student`s final academic year with the intention that, over time, it could be worked up into a full

 degree programme. This project, combined with a taught digital media module, will be assessed and will count towards a student`s final degree. It will be the first course to offer both a broad overview of digital media as well as the granular experience of working within a digital media company.

We have set up a Steering Group comprising of digital media company members to ensure that we integrate the academic drivers with something that is useful to the companies. The group includes a representative from each area of the sector ie web, e-learning, SEO, games, social media etc. Our recent discussions, with comments and questions about assessment, time management and liaison logistics are now being relayed to the University and we are looking forward to future positive developments.

What does Wired Sussex do - and what do you think we should be doing?

For anyone who's ever wondered what Wired Sussex actually does and how we could help you and your business, here's your chance to find out.

Next Tuesday evening we're running a free event which aims to let you know what Wired Sussex is/has been/will be up to - and gives you a chance to let us know how your business is doing, too. The more we know about the issues our member companies face, the better we're able to help.

Our MD, Phil Jones, will be talking about our future plans; we hope you'll be there to have your say about how you think we could help you better.

You can find out more about the event here. Tickets are free but limited to the venue size, so make sure you register today to guarantee your place.

Curious/Connecting Innovation

Wired Sussex manned the stands at 2 University organised events recently. Curious was organised by the University of Sussex and was about “exploring how together we can meet business and social challenges, inform future research, and benefit business growth and development”. It introduced the invited audience to the key themes for the University’s research agenda in the coming years. One of these is ‘Digital Media’, hence our participation. The other event, organised by the other University (Brighton), was called Connecting Innovation and was also about bringing business and academics together, this time focussing on innovative practice in the creative industries sector. Hence our participation. In this one, I was on the panel commenting on Charlie Leadbetter’s earlier keynote (see www.wethinkthebook.net ). A bit like the Rutles taking the stage after the Beatles.



It is undeniable that both the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton are key players in supporting the growth of the digital media sector here in Brighton. They have the resources, the next generation of young talent, the research opportunities, and the time. And these events do nothing if not prove their willingness to get stuck in and connect up with the wild and wonderful digital media talent base that resides here. Certainly, we at Wired Sussex have spent an enormous amount of time and effort trying to ensure that our members benefit from the presence of 2 class academic institutions.

Perhaps one of the challenges they face is that the way that the digital world innovates (and so moves forward) does not always fit into the models that the universities are used to. The classic models of business innovation are either that of the individual genius having that eureka moment or the industrial R + D model of throwing millions at NASA and getting Teflon invented. Both have their place in digital media (the geek genius in the bedroom is a common image and much of Microsoft hooves to the big spending R + D model), but more and more there is an additional model developing – one which is predicated on collective innovation techniques. A few well known examples:

Crowd sourcing innovation: For 15 years the oil spillage from the Exxon Valdez stayed at the bottom of the Alaskan sea with no-one working out how to dispose of it until an environmental group posted the problem on a crowd sourcing innovation site called InnoCentive. A cement engineer thousands of miles away came up with a solution based on the vibrators used to keep cement from setting.

Open sourcing: The most innovative and interesting area for apps development is currently the iphone – everyone seems to have their own favourite app. This, thanks to Apple’s open source strategy.

The unconference ‘movement’ shifts the dynamic of the dynamic of events to one which is participatory and focussed on collective problem solving.

Historically, academics have been good at finding collective, supportive ways of connecting between each other, so it would be interesting to see how they could work with businesses using similar approaches rather than jettisoning them in favour of what are often perceived as business led innovation models but are often nothing of the kind.

Animated Brighton

I went along to the Brighton Animators Networking Group (BANG) meet up this week. It's been a while since I'd been along to a BANG event but it was really great to see such passion and positivity about the group. As someone who know's virtually nothing about animation I was made to feel very welcome and found the night really interesting.

The idea of the meet up was to talk about the future of BANG, what people wanted from the group and how to take it forward. There were certainly no shortage of ideas as animators, ranging from seasoned professionals to hobbyists, discussed future workshops, events and collaborative projects.

I think BANG is is a fine example of how groups with similar interests can work together and benefit from meeting each other.

The group was started off by Wired Sussex after one or two successful large animation events where it became clear that there was a growing amount of people with an interest in animation in the city.

We ran a few sessions for the group but it became clear that, while we could organise events, we knew little or nothing about animation. We then asked hugely talented animator, event organiser and all-round-genius Sarah Bird for her help and she's been running the group in her spare time ever since.

The group meet fairly regularly for events and workshops and also have a very successful social network style website which enabled animators of all disciplines to chat, post their work and add to a blog. Sites like these often start brightly but fade away; the BANG site though seems to be going from strength to strength with 165 members and activity on the site every day.

In the words of BANG member Katie "I feel very lucky that these groups exist in Brighton to bring together animators, facilitate workshops and showcase animation and am really eager to help with this mighty endeavour!"

So, if you've got an interest in animation then sign up to the BANG site and I hope to see you at an event in the future...

What does Wired Sussex do?

We’re often asked this question, as much of the stuff that keeps us occupied on a day-to-day basis stays behind the scenes. So as a starting point to better communicating that to our members, here’s the first in a series of monthly updates on what we’ve been up to so far in 2009 on behalf of the digital media community in Brighton & beyond. If you want more info on any of these points, please email me or call 01273 692 888. We’ve:

• Put on the Wired Sussex Digital Media Jobs + Skills Fair at the Corn Exchange last week. All together 12 companies, 7 digital media course providers, 5 careers advisors, 21 speakers, 1 mayor (!) and 1050 jobs + skills-seeking attendees and freelancers participated in the day. The event also included the conclusion of the Brighton Internship Programme with the awards to this year’s successful internees plus a series of other heavily attended sessions.

• Hosted visits to Brighton by Microsoft Rare, Turner Networks (CNN / Cartoon Network), LP33 and the UK’s Vice Counsel for Entertainment Technologies, LA.

• Engaged with discussions with Disney, the RDA, UKTI and the UK consulate in LA regarding the siting of a third Disney company in Brighton

• Pushed forward the ‘Wired Sussex Degree’ – an initiative helping to strengthen links between the industry and academia. Recently this has involved a number of meetings with the University of Brighton to progress the degree and the setting up of an active steering group for the project made up of 6 member companies.

• Run a ‘virtual crowds / online communities’ research project with the University of Sussex. • Been in discussions with the University of Chichester about creating a new course for them.

• Formed and run the Digital Media Lecturers Forum, with representatives from all the higher education establishments across the region

• Taken an active part in a number of events with the Universities including Curious (U of S) and Connecting Innovation (U of B).

• Presented to the Local Authority’s cross party Scrutiny Committee on the subject ‘Wired Sussex, Digital Media and New England House’, and been invited to present to the new Council leader Alex Bailey and to the Council Cabinet on the same subject.

• Had further meetings about New England House with developers SJI and their new consultants CDP and have held exploratory meetings with developers Karis and Bio Quintain

• Discussed a project to create a hyper local social network for New England House with the Technology Strategy Board.

• Negotiated an exclusive rights clause to 2nd floor Moore House, Black Lion Street and are currently negotiating leasing terms with developer Karis, partner the Werks and various potential tenants. The signing of this deal will mean we’re finally able to offer our own flexible, small business-friendly office space to Wired Sussex member companies

• Built a new Brighton Internship Programme website which is currently being beta tested

• Put in a multi-partner bid to SEEDA to fund a) a training scheme (Digital media for non-digital companies) which will enable our members to engage with potential clients and b) the provision of focussed 1-2-1 support to a small number of high potential regional DM companies.

• Hosted an introductory event between members and the Better Regulation Executive.

• Run 3 additional smaller networking events: Music + Digital, Women in Media and Getting Grants. As ever, we value your feedback – if you want to comment on any of the above please do get in touch