Does anyone remember Heinz Wolff? I feel a bit like him today…but only because I’m blogging about a couple of experiments that we’re involved in over here at i4SM. This has nothing to do with The Great Egg Race or Tomorrow’s World or Think of a Number or any other vaguely scientific TV programme from the 70’s or 80’s you’d care to mention.

As this is i4SM, these experiments are obviously firmly centred on the use of social media in providing a useful service for people. Initially, these should both be of interest to those in and around Manchester.

The first is an entry into the b.TWEEN ‘Mapping Creativity’ initiative. As part of the Manchester Beacon, Mapping Creativity is looking to commission an ‘interactive project that drives Manchester’s collective creativity’. So, they’re looking for innovative projects that fit the bill. You can read more about it over at their pages.

The entry that I’ve been lending my support to comes from Alex Hough. I know Alex through Manchester Business School and he’s a chap who is bursting with ideas - one of which he decided to put forward to the Beacon. Here are Alex’s descriptive words for the submission:

“Merging social bookmarking and viable systems visualization to support regional networks

The Manchester Beacon indicates its purpose as a powerful metaphor. A beacon transmits signals This proposal is to provide a map for illuminating projects. Users who gather around this new map can understand more easily how projects relate to each other. More informed strategic decisions can be made, resources can be optimized, events coordinated, and useful partnerships facilitated.

Technology and Theory

The social bookmarking tool Delicious will be applied to create communication channels between Beacon projects. The channels and systems are designed according to the internationally respected Viable System Model, a theory with strong connections to the region through its originator Stafford Beer.”

Reading between the lines, Alex wants to provide better connections, through Delicious, for community groups and projects across the City. Delicious can certainly act in this fashion and I thought that it would be a great application of a simple technology to a potentially complex set of relationships.

So, I’m going to continue supporting Alex whenever, however and if I can. It’s the sort of project that we at i4SM want to see more of.

So, get over there and vote for your favourite project. I’m not going to offer bias here at all as there are some very worthy ideas popping up as part of this initiative. I’ll look forward to the next stages of the Beacon projects and will keep you posted here.

The second experiment is in partnership with MDDA.  It is in the very early stages of delving into the API of a well known social platform to try and pin down whether our theory can be put into practice. The idea is to provide a very useful service to the people of Manchester.

Early signs are good. We’ve got over some of the initial problems that we anticipated and are now building some custom code to ensure we don’t blast through the API call limits and get switched off.

You’ll notice that I’ve not told you anything about what the experiment is. There’s a very good reason for that and it is this. There are so many great brains, clever developers and quick fingers out there in Manchester and beyond, that I feel if I revealed this idea too soon someone would jump on it, build it and try to make money from it.

I don’t want that to happen. I want this to be an experiment in social media where we get some real insights into public take up and interaction with one of these new social tools. I expect to be able to reveal all very soon…in a couple of weeks maybe.

Keep your eyes peeled.

-pc.

*Update* - Pleased to note that Alex has been selected as one of the four projects to go forward to the final stage. We’ll keep you updated on progress.

The 24 hour conversation is over.

My immediate reflections are positive. I really think that the organisers have pulled off a successful event, in what was a very challenging format. Proposing to host a continuous conversation with 200 people, multiple speakers, plenty of prominent Mancunian advocates and a number of celebrities (not to mention a couple of ego’s), was a brave move.

As a ’stop gap event’, the TWE has probably raised a good number of complications about how a more permanent memorial to Tony Wilson should take shape. Talk of a summer school was still evident in some quarters over the last day or so, plus calls from Peter Saville to repeat the conversation next year.

What Manchester City Councils stance is on that is yet to be seen. But everyone at the Council should be very happy with this weekend. Sarah Benjamins, the project manager at MCC, should be applauded for managing the City’s input. Similarly, Sir Richard Leese, Leader of the council has shown a side that most people would perhaps never see - the willingness to engage in open and transparent conversation at a forum like this.

I was particularly impressed with his interjection during one of the sessions, where he implored people to look forward…that’s what the ‘talent’ and the discussion was there for - to look forward and shape the city as a valuable part of the regional and wider economic development. At a time when many were in retrospective mood, I thought it was a timely reminder.

Similarly, everyone else involved in the organisation and delivery should be pretty pleased. Obviously, there’s always things to learn and build on…so from my perspective (and from talking to a few people in attendance) what could make it better next time?

I heard from a couple of people that the conversation was a little mono directional at times, with not enough opportunity for the talent to question the experienced. Indeed, I’m echoing Paul Robinsons comment that even when appealing for a little more chaos, the “rowdy ones were always shut up“. That’s a shame, as it seems that much about the people and activity being remembered were just that, a little chaotic.

A difficult line to tread. However, perhaps the active internet stream forum on Mogulus could have been fed into the tent for those who couldn’t attend to have had a chance to enter the conversation. This would certainly have opened up the dialogue a little and perhaps prompted more discussion inside. Generating lively discussion is difficult, especially for 24 hours and perhaps if the more ‘unconference’ style of some gatherings had been followed then the level of discussion may have been even lower. To have an agenda that just said “turn up and talk’ could have led to a very flat event indeed.

Having said that, there’s definitely opportunity for social tools and some of the methods used amongst the social media crowd to have more of a prominence next time. Some sessions could have been more like workshops and the restriction on photography and video lifted. Harnessing sites like Flickr and Twitter could have helped build more of a real time presence on the web than was evident this time.

Even more, a reworking of the green room could have helped as discouraging true mixing of the experienced and talented was sometimes reflected in the conversations. A bit of a ‘them and us’ feel that was commented upon a couple of times to me. Some more intimate break out sessions, wouldn’t have gone amiss and helped the talent get closer to the experienced. After all, we know that it’s difficult to walk up to someone you admire and strike up a conversation.

So, a difficult challenge. The organisers set themselves a format that was a tough ask. All in all, they pulled it off.

One final thought. I hope we at i4SM get a chance to talk to Peter Saville about our vision for the Institute.  That’s a conversation we’d really relish.

Over and out.

-pc.

In a scenario where you have Alan McGee, former boss of Creation Records and Tim Burgess of The Charlatans, plus around 60 of the assembled ‘talent’ at TWE it would seem to be a pretty could forum to open dialogue between experience and those seeking advice. After, all this is a ‘conversation’ event.

But, for me, this was a missed opportunity.  Let’s face it, there’s a lot to talk about where and how the media industry, particularly recording artists, is going and in what kind of shape it could be in, in the future.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

But, in the gaps there were some interesting comments, particularly from Alan McGee. I liked his reference to the music industry now being “easy, but hard”. Easy because almost anyone can build themselves a presence on the web using a site like MySpace. The great success of MySpace has been down to their simplifying the creation of web pages for everyone and then latterly forming a considerable niche as the ‘place to be’ for musical types.

But because it is easy, it is hard. Because anyone can do it, it means there are millions of bands on MySpace, millions of bands with a presence of sorts and millions of bands looking for the attention of a limited number of A&R guys. The stories of bands making it without the traditional A&R approach are still, I would argue, few and far between and the mega-successful new bands are still coming through the traditional methods.

So, the point is that it’s now harder to get the attention of the people who still make the market, harder to get airtime and harder to make it to the ranks of the mega-successful.

Once you are successful though, the industry is changing - or at least the dynamics of the power structure are changing. McGee points out that once a band is famous, why does it need a record company? Tim Burgess is sat next to him as he’s saying this, but didn’t extend the point, unfortunately, when his own band - the Charlatans - has recently made their latest album available as a free download. Radiohead did the same and this practice is gaining momentum.

McGee is right though, it’s OK to do this once you are famous as the buying public will lap it up and you have opportunities to generate revenue elsewhere. When you’re an upcoming band in a thriving musical city like Manchester, it’s harder to stand out from the crowd, especially when that crowd has become so much bigger.

Will the changes that the established bands like Radiohead and The Charlatans are forging trickle down to the grass roots and on the way change how bans become popular? Is there a different model to the industry than we see now, or is it so embedded and intertwined amongst A&R, promoters, record labels, radio playlists and TV pluggers as to be an even more difficult struggle for the bands trying to make it?

That’s more questions than I intended to end this post with, but I suppose what I’m really questioning is whether all the focus on social media in the music industry, all the activity and all the perceived visibility for budding bands is actually making it harder to succeed than we’ve seen in recent history.

To return to the focus of this session. It would have been fantastic to hear Tim Burgess comments on this and even better to have heard from the assembled audience who, let’s face it, will likely never get the chance to be in the same room as these guys again.

-pc.

And so do I.

Unfortunately, I have a prior arrangement for this evening, so I have to leave. Keep up to date over on Paul Robinsons M.E.N Blog.

I’ll be back in the morning.

Some background before we get into the next session:

Ben Kelly designed FAC51, otherwise known as the Hacienda. My wife, Jackie, spent many an evening and early morning in that building and it’s shaped, in some small part, her adult life. It’s not just about the music - the vibe must also have been created by the industrial feel to the Hacienda that was so starkly different to the standard look of the local discotheque. Me, I was into indie, but my club stomping ground was The Jenks Bar in Blackpool. It’s not quite as well known as the Hacienda.

Tom Bloxham is the founder and owner of Urban Splash, one of the most prolific property development companies in Manchester…and beyond for that matter. I’m itching to go to the Midland Hotel now that it’s been restored…and this is key to Urban Splash strategy - redevelopment as opposed to razing and rebuilding.

Peter Saville is joining them on the sofa’s. But first…

Frank Sidebottom has just been on doing, in his own inimitable style, a tribute to Manchester, Factory and Tony Wilson. I’m hoping that the video will be available after the fact…as it was quite a performance.

Fortunately, Mr Sidebottom came into the press room to see where all the action was going on. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, you can judge who has the bigger cranium for yourself.

16:25 - Urban Splash impact on Manchester - chance and accident. This is a recurring theme, it seems. Saville talked earlier about how Factory was just a bunch of people doing what they wanted, looking forwards and not backwards, whilst keeping it interesting. But chance and accident need to be navigated…need to be grabbed, or they’ll pass you by. “Lucky people are successful people”.

I suppose, for the talent dotted around the tent, listening, the message is always going to be follow what you think is the right path, the right thing to do.

Saville is making a nice point here. Urban Splash are keeping the ethos of Factory going - doing as much as they can, as opposed to doing it as cheaply as they can. I suppose when we look at the history of Factory, particularly in light of the case study that I’m determined to commission, this is a nice working title. Factory: Doing as much as it can.

Of course there’s a myriad of subtitles we could string under there, but we’ll leave that to the imagination.

16:45 - Peter Saville is talking about the Manchester Music Archive. I’ve not come across this meme before, but he’s ruminating about some sort of a Centre for Contemporary Arts. This is about recognising what cities have in the now, or the recent past before they destroy it. The Hacienda is a case in point, but as someone said before, the Hacienda meant nothing to most people. I suppose we could say that about any building. Recognising value in the here and now is incredibly difficult it seems.

But, the digerati can play a significant role here. Social tools give us the capability to archive what’s happening now and build an understanding of the current value of the artefacts around the city. We build a current understanding by engaging with the people who actively use or are influenced by their surroundings. The history of the Hacienda is anecdotal…there isn’t that much in the way of an archive of what that building meant to people who went there.

Sure, we can talk to people like Mrs Carruthers and get anecdotal evidence. But, if we could have captured and entered into a dialogue about the Hacienda, at the time, would the future of that building been different?

OK, so sounds like I’m advocating social media changing the world and maybe that’s naive. But if we follow Peter Saville’s point about better understanding the current value of a city’s cultural icons (be they buildings, people or just movements), I think there’s a valuable role for social media in that mix.

Plus, his vision about a Centre for Cultural Arts is a conversation that i4SM should try to get involved with.

-pc.

Ok, here we go again. I needed a sandwich…and I’ve missed the first 15 minutes. Shoot me, I’m human.

Not much to pick up on here, but Coogan saying that perhaps we shouldn’t forget the roots of Manchester creativity. The grime, the industry and picking itself up by it’s bootstraps has defined how Manchester looks nowadays. But hey that’s progress and to echo his second thought we shouldn’t get too reminiscent about 1970’s Manchester.

Paul Robinson (sat next to me) was just chatting about how Tony Wilson was villified, almost hated around the place for most of his broadcast life. As we mentioned earlier, it was cool to bash Wilson when we were younger. But, I don’t think we really knew much about the guy…after all, I was a kid in Lytham. I never went to the Hacienda, only picked up on New order and Joy Division late in the day and rarely visited Manchester.

I often say that when I did come to this fair city, that I was taken aback that everyone knew my name. “alright pal”, they;d say and I’d mistake it for Paul. Yeah, yeah…small town kid, funny Manc accents and all that.

Yet, I still would say that Tony Wilson was an idiot. A weird fashion, granted, but it was almost fashionable.

14:30 - whoah, we’re 30 minutes in. Maconie prompts “What would Wilson think of this event?” A series of contradictions…anti-establishment…so how do you create something that fits in with that ethos?

And how does Manchester remember him? Statue…

Again, not much to pick up on that hasn’t been said before. So, I’m going to return to the thread above.

After his death, there’s almost a deification of Tony Wilson in the city. Obviously, people couldn’t see the impact he was having, whilst he was doing it, but after the fact it’s been clear to see. I’m not going to go over it again, but I’ll share this photograph with you.

I took this at the exhibition at Urbis last year. It sums up the very real effect that Tony Wilson had on ordinary peoples lives. ‘Nuff said.

14:55 - Amazing interjection from the floor recalling how in the ‘jolson era’ there was a pub on Mill St that use to have Al Jolson competitions. Now, it seems to have little relevance to the proceedings but what a fantastic comment. Did anyone out there catch what that was all about?

I have to take a break now else my head will explode. Will be back at 4pm. Sharp.

-pc.

I wonder what Wilson would have made of social media? I’d bet he’d be there, right in the centre of what’s happening in Manchester and getting his hands dirty. Embrace it? Of course. Feel threatened by it? Unlikely.

I also think he’d be right there at the beginning of i4SM and driving it forward.

13:10 - Stuart Maconie is late…and Mark Radcliffe is 50. He’s also telling porkies about the press rooms screens not working. Elliot Rashman stepping in for Maconie.

Getting into small radio stations was a better route into the industry than being a researcher at the BBC. Recalling how you could just get stuff done, by weedling your way around the organisation. Piccadilly Radio back in the day reflected this - Mancunia music just wasn’t being played. But Radcliffe was able to get into the playlist after pestering to get on the air. Eventually they got two hours one day to play A Certain Ratio, followed by the local cricket scores!

Rashman asking how the radio nowadays can get by without even having human DJ’s during the day! It’s an interesting one. Technology has replaced the old style DJ’s because after all, XFM etc are commercial stations - the bottom line is king, and replacing DJ’s with pre-recorded ‘junk’ helps the bottom line.

Even I’ve been one of XFM’s DJ’s. I kid not. Link to follow.

13:15 - here’s an echo for i4SM’s ideals. Tony and Mark Radcliffe both massive proponents of the North and Manchester in particular. You shouldn’t have to go to London - there’s a massive pool of talent, creativity and drive up here and Manchester needs to stick it’s head above the parapet a bit more.

That’s me speaking. But Radcliffe, Wilson and i4SM have the same goal at heart.

13:20 - Maconie: Wilson felt that if you didn’t have people who thought you were wrong, then you weren’t doing something right! Radcliffe…”Yeah, I lost 2million listeners from the Radio 1 breakfast show.” Applause…and just because it didn’t work, doesn’t mean you were wrong. That’s the spirit. That’s the kind of attitude we need more around the country…its a trait that Americans have in spades.

Indeed, business schools will tell you…fail twice to succeed in business.

Radcliffe is eminently entertaining. Effortless in his northern-ness and a genuine nature that justsmakes you want to go out for a pint with him. That’s a digression.

13:25 - Wilson saw Factory Records as being in the lineage of great northern creations. The canals, industrial revolution and the new Joy Division album. Hey and why not? Manchester needed a leap of faith and Wilson was keen on ensuring that it took the leap.

Look around you. Perhaps Wilson had a profound effect on what has been the Manchester renaissance, giving us a peek at the “bright lights of possibility into a bleak landscape”. Manchester has a wonderful history of invention…yet we could argue that it doesn’t capitalise. Baby (the first memory capable computer) is an interesting case in point. The first computer music (early MP3 here)…let’s break that down - Manchester invents the computerand ends up with a massive music industry. This is Manchester.

The US takes the computer and forms a huge new industrial and service sector for the rest of the world. They get Silicon Valley. We get Factory Records. Which is better? The world would always have had the computer…but perhaps not Factory Records.

13:35 - Lovely story from Radcliffe about Wilson bringing Blue Monday into Piccadilly Radio and demanding he played it immediately. Not the A-sde though…the instrumental B-side! After 7 or 8 minutes…well, you get the picture.

Interesting Wilson theory. His cycle was 13 years…1963, 1976, 1989 - seismic ripples in the music industry. Wilson takes on  Schumpeter anyone?

13:50 - Lovely comment on the mogulus channel. “Wilson - the author of Manchester”. I’ve had a lingering thought for a while that Manchester Business School should have a case study on Tony Wilson and the Factory. We should do that…it’s a small way that MBS could bring his ‘experience’ to the MBA’s. It may be how not to run a business, but it would be about life. Let’s discuss that.

13:55 - Summing up the last five minutes - the media industry is disconnected with their audiences. The demographics that radio stations base their audience on are flawed. There are changes happening out amongst the listeners/viewers that are not understood by the controllers. Go figure.

14:00 - and relax.

Somewhat irritatingly Wordpress won’t accept iFrames in the post, so I’m just going to do updates every few minutes or so. Coveritlive would have been greate as it constantly refreshes. Never mind. I’m sure there’s a technical way around it.

So, I’m sat in the press room here at Urbis. Not much sign of activity right now, but then there’s 30 minutes to go.

So, up first is Steve Coogan, Alex Poots and Peter Saville.

Some background if you aren’t aware…Steve Coogan - think Alan Partridge, Paul Calf, Pauline Calf…acclaimed mancunian comedian…somewhat controversial during his career (but that’s not for me to comment upon) and a guy who has brought much mirth to the TV in the last few years.

Peter Saville, iconic designer responsible for much of the Factory artistic direction through the 80’s and 90’s - take a look at Joy Divisions Closer and many of the New Order classic album covers. Saville was a major collaborator with Wilson and remains a strong creative force in the UK.

11:55 - Still waiting for signs of action…whilst the AV guys fix their feed into Second Life.

12:10 - Action. Waiting for audio feed from the Pavilion! Hmmm, missed the start…the only thing I can tell you right now is that Steve Coogan has had his hair cut. Hopefully the audio feed will start to come through soon.

12:35 - just nipped back from the Pavilion…feed now on. Going to be interesting to see how they keep this going for 24 hours is my first perception.

Right now we’re getting the skinny from Messrs Coogan and Saville about Tony Wilson. The ‘older brother to an entire generation” is how SC summed him up. He recalled one of my early memories of TW - the fact that everyone said they thought he was an idiot. It was cool to say he was such. Coogan muses that perhaps this is because we felt we were cooler than him. Hmm.

When 24hr Party People was released, there was a story about Wilson being irritated that the poster called him a ****. Not because it called him in this way, but because the poster was toned down!! *will dig out the link for you when I get a chance.

12:40 - Comments from the TWE feed aren’t exactly complementary right now.  I think Coogan is quite amusing (no surprise), but he could do with letting Peter Saville get a word in!

12:45 - Coogan on 24hr Party People. Wanted TW to appear like a flawed hero. Someone we could laugh at and laugh with.

12:50 - It’s really quite difficult to comment on what is going on in this environment. Apologies. May have to find another location to work from!

Saville ruminating about the amazing effect that Wilson and ‘a few other people’ had when basically they were just doing what they wanted to do. “Just do it” don’t worry about where it’s going and what’s going to happen. If you do that you won’t do anything. Profound from Mr Saville.

Wilson wasn’t entirely happy with how 24Hr came out, but his belief in other’s vision and artistic freedom let it ride.

13:00 - The first hour is over. Not quite sure what to make of that really. The technical difficulties didn’t help.

First up, is that it’s going to be interesting to see how they can keep this going for 24hrs. It’s a challenging format and kudos for giving it a go, but I’m wondering how much staying power the creatives who are here are going to have. Time will tell.

Second. The recollections of Tony certainly chime with my own as a kid growing up. More later.

Tomorrow brings the 24hr Conversation to the i4SM blog. I’ll be at Reification -  the Tony Wilson Experience and blogging throughout the time I’m there.

Carefully grafted from the official website, here’s what the experience is all about:

The Tony Wilson Experience - billed as the longest ever intelligent conversation - is a chance for young, talented people with an interest in the creative arts to take part in a non-stop, 24 hour series of workshops with some of the biggest names from the music industry, screenwriting, broadcasting, writing, design, photography and film. Staged in memory of the late broadcaster and cultural entrepreneur, and supported by Manchester City Council, the sessions will be challenging, inspirational and at times experimental.

So, I’ll be there, squeezed into the press area, milling about outside the tent and dipping through the green room (I hope) trying to catch a flavour of the day.

In addition, the event will be streamed into Second Life (go to One Manchester) and on the official website.

It’s going to be an interesting day. Not sure whether I’ll be covering the entire 24 hours just yet…

The tool I’ll be using to blog about each conversation is coveritlive…so if you do happen to be here tomorrow, you’ll be able to interact directly with the blog. After the fact, you’ll be able to relive my blogathon in all it’s glory.

-pc.

Well, I can now confirm that Professor Peter Kawalek of i4SM and Manchester Business School will be attending the 2Gether08 gathering on July 2nd/3rd in London.

Peter will be a speaker at the event, date and time to be confirmed.

Even though i4SM is in it’s infancy, we are delighted to be associated with the 2Gether08 efforts. This is an event that seeks to catalyse real social change through the bringing together of social entrepreneurs and technologists.

All kinds of people have good ideas, but not necessarily the connections to make them happen - Steve Moore and the team at 2Gether08 are just trying to make those connections happen…whilst putting on a great couple of days to boot.

I encourage you to go along if you can make it.

More details:

The 2gether Festival takes place at Rochelle School in London on the 2 and 3 July 2008.

2gether is one the largest ever events focused on the transforming power of popular technologies and how they can shape our future lives and bring benefits to wider society.

To register to attend the event click here

i4SM are delighted to be partnering with the main sponsor of the Festival Channel 4 which is supported by the RSA, Chinwag, Unltd, the Catalyst Awards, Ipsos Mori, Social Innovation Camp, Think Public, Protein and the Innovation Exchange.

Our ambition is to create a genuinely participative event which generates over 100 hours of content including; -

• keynote presentations and panel discussions,
• open space sessions,
• ideas pitching sessions,
• creative workshops,
• interviews with key figures in technology and those at the forefront of social change,
• awards ceremonies,
• two parties and;,
• a few surprises!

With the help of participants we are adding new sessions, innovations and speakers every day.

For more information on the Festival, the programme of talks and activities and to join in the online discussion check out the website at www.2gether08.com

We have conceived 2gether as an event that is co-created with those who attend so your participation matters.

When you register to attend the event will we ask for recommendations for speakers, to suggest sessions you would like to run and any other ideas you have for content to share at the Festival.

Submit your ideas and we will ensure that our team follows up with you within 24 hours to help your work up the idea into a session.

We will also be launching an online social network to allow participants to connect, converse and share ideas before and after the event.

In addition to the main sessions you will also be invited to attend the The New Statesman 10th Anniversary New Media Awards on the evening of the 2nd July and a set piece debate being hosted by The Spectator on  ‘Is our politics big enough to respond to an age of mass collaboration?’

The event will also provide an opportunity to find out a lot more about Channel 4’s groundbreaking new £50 million public service digital fund 4IP which launches this autumn

We will bring the two days to and end with a 90 pecha kucha session to capture the best ideas that have emerged over the course of the Festival and a party hosted by Channel 4.

To find out more about the event and register at the early bird rate of £195+Vat click here

-pc.