Bristol, Search and Group Dynamics

Brrism7 takes place on 17th March at the Pervasive Media Studio and we've got some interesting social media related topics to discuss. As usual we're using our short presentation/long discussion format (5 minutes from each of the presenters followed by a 45 minute "open space" style discussion where you are free to join whatever groups you are interested in). The speakers are listed below.

(For meeting time/venue details, and to sign up for a free ticket, please go along to the EventBrite page.)

---

Connecting Bristol

Creating a world-class Digital City

Connectivity, Technology and Media are the cornerstones of a prosperous and ambitious city like Bristol. These three ‘Digital Elements’ enable the city to, do more business; to present a modern face to the outside world; and to engage effectively with local citizens and communities. Bristol already has a wealth of digital expertise and talent, in private and public sectors, in academia and in our communities. However, we believe that Bristol and the city region can reap wider benefits from this success if we adopt an approach based on "open" "green" and "social" innovation. This talk will explore what this might look like in practice.

About the Speaker
Stephen Hilton leads Connecting Bristol, which is Bristol City Council’s Digital City Partnership. Stephen’s varied interests include Web 2.0, Digital Inclusion, e-Democracy, Next Generation broadband Access and ICT and the Environment. Previously, Stephen worked as Bristol City Council’s Consultation and e-Participation Manager. During this time Stephen established a leading role for Bristol City Council in the area of local e-Democracy and e-participation. Politech Institute named Bristol as European City for e-Democracy and Stephen received a personal award as BT Government Innovator of the Year in the National Government Computing Awards. You can follow Stephen on Twitter.

---

Search in the Stream

How Live Content is changing Search

Social Media has not only changed the way that web content is generated but it has also changed the way in which web content is found. This session centres around the realisation that the web is now a stream and that content is now fragmented, distributed and much more real-time than it once was. What are the new rules? How can we exploit new content types. And live content types.

About the Speaker
Justin Gale is based in Bristol and has a senior worldwide role focusing on search and digital strategy for Hewlett Packard. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

---

Internet Classics

A group is its own worst enemy

The internet isn't that old but its old enough to have its "classics" - i.e. articles (or blog posts) that have passed the tests of time and are still being cited long after their writing. These articles deserve to be brought to the attention of a new audience and discussed in 2010. We're starting off with an article that was written 7 years ago which, in internet time, was eons ago. Its called "A Group is its own worst enemy", its by Clay Shirky and it talks about group dynamics, specifically group dynamics in the context of social software.

About the Speaker
Michael Corbett is Bristol Social Media's founder, organiser and master of ceremonies. He's an independent consultant who specialises in social media and its socio-technical implications for organisations. You can connect with him on Facebook, LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.

Three Speakers and a Hoe Down

Brrism's second meeting of the 2010 will take place at the Pervasive Media Studio on the 17th February. Read more and signup below.

Not only is this Brrism's second meeting of this new decade, it is also the second meeting with the new YouTube format. Here's the lineup:




Writing the Social Media Future. Writers such as George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Neal Stephenson have created fictional futures exploring the impact of future technologies on humanity. Despite only being works of imagination, speculative fiction can stimulate discussion about how humanity could be affected by technology in the future and, as Orwell demonstrated in 1984, these can be frighteningly close to the bone. In a unique blend of social media future gazing and fiction writing, Brrism is collaborating with local author Emma Newman to generate themes relating to the future of social media, leading to the creation of an original short story written by Emma after the meeting for the Brrism community. (Editors Note: Emma is a soon-to-be-published author who writes novels, short stories and flash fiction (stories of 1000 words or less). She got her publishing deal through networking on Twitter, and has been podcasting her novel a chapter at a time for the last six months. If you have a few minutes, I'd recomend a quick peek at her website before the meeting.)


Social Media is rubbish, discuss. Did you know that social media is a cure for cancer and will single handedly reverse all climate change problems within our lifetime? OK, so I may have made that up, but don't you think that all this social media hype is getting out of hand? In order to make sure we don't all get carried away by this shiny new internet stuff, Brrism asked Richard Churchill to put on his best Victor Meldrew voice and ask us if we're not getting just a tiny bit carried away by all this shiny new internet stuff. He takes a common sense tour of social media and points out that it's important to use the right tools for the job and not get sucked in by the hype.


The WikiMedia Foundation. Wikipedia has already changed the world. From its launch in 2001 its become the 6th most popular website in the world and is the boon for enquiring minds the world over. But Wikipedia is just one project borne out of the Wikimedia Foundation and so we've asked Steve Virgin, board director of WikiMediaUK, to talk to use about the foundation's other projects and what local initiatives are being led from the UK.


The Hoedown. Every Brrism has a hoedown and February is no exception. This one's called Arranging the Comic Strip and will get you talking, get you on your feet and get you in the right frame of mind for the Brrism OpenSpace that follows. Take a look at the pictures from previous meetings to get a feel for what happens when a bunch of interesting and intelligent people come together at a Brrism meeting.

Thanks once again to the brilliant Pervasive Media Studio for lending us their premises for the event.

Brrism enters the Video Age

I first heard a recording of my voice when I was 7 years old. My dad had this funny old reel-to-reel tape recorder (purchased in the 1960s) and I was convinced that it was the recorder that was making my voice “sound all funny”. I soon discovered that it wasn’t. I really DO sound like that.

Several decades later, the same thing happens but this time with digital video. Once again, I think it must be the camera that’s making me “look all funny”. And once again, I realise that it isn’t…

This Wednesday, Bristol Social Media (Brrism) will be holding its monthly meeting at the Pervasive Media Studio. People have complained at previous Brrisms about the difficulty in finding the studio (we've even had people who've given up and gone home without getting there) and so last week I decided to do something about it. Sam Downie and myself went out and shot the video below. Sam did a great job of shooting and editing the video – I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him – but, despite his video skills, I still look and sound funny. Strange that...

Seriously, if you haven’t been to the Pervasive Media Studio before, I’d suggest you have a quick look to familiarise yourself with the location of Bristol’s very own “Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross”. Just remember to turn the volume down. ;)

Constructive feedback on the video is welcome too – please leave a comment on the YouTube page.

If you click on the video frame you’ll be taken to YouTube and you might notice that Brrism has its own YouTube “channel”. This is because, at this coming meeting, each of the guest speaker’s 5 minute presentations will be videoed and uploaded to BrrismTV. These videos can be embedded on other people’s blogs (just as the video was embedded in this blog) and its hoped that the videos will be used as a prologue to all other social media items about that particular topic. (In other words, people start with the video and follow links to other blogs/websites/tweets about that topic.) Is this taking us towards a meeting format for the social media age? Judge for yourself at the meeting. It won't be perfect and I’m sure it will need a bit of and tweaking around the edges. Brrism aims to be as innovative as the social media that it focuses on.

The three speakers for Wednesday are Paul Smith, Lee Cottier and Colin Rainsforth. Break a leg, guys and don’t worry if you think the camera will make you look/sound funny: It does that to everyone!

Brrism5 - Time, Politics and Community

It's a brand new year, a brand new decade and Brrism has a brand new format. Every Brrism meeting now consists of three topics and an icebreaker. For the first meeting of 2010 (which takes place on Wednesday 20th at the Pervasive Media Studio) the line up is as follows:

• The Digital Economy Bill with Paul Smith (twitter, blog). Paul is a PPC which I normally take to mean "Pay per Click" but Paul assures me that it means "Prospective Parliamentary Candidate" which gives him an added incentive to be interested in the Digital Economy Bill which is currently making its way through the House of Lords before progressing to the House of Commons and being made law. This is your chance to find out about the bill, discuss it with fellow Brrismers and decide what action to take (e.g. change ISP, write to your MP, etc etc). Pre-meeting discussion can take place here (registration required).
• Social Media versus Time Management with Lee Cottier (twitter). The first of January is the day that we traditionally make our New Year's resolutions with the second of January being the day that we traditionally forget them. Lee will be telling us how we can rethink our habits around social media such we can work more effectively and not get sucked into the Twitter/Facebook/etc time-waste. Pre-meeting discussion can take place here (registration required).
• Social media tools for the Brrism Community with Colin Rainsforth (twitter, website). Brrism's "pattern of use" so far has been a great deal of activity in the week of the meeting followed by 3 weeks of inactivity. It would be great if we could generate conversations that would transcend the meetings and allow us to act as an integrated community throughout the month. Colin has much experience with social media tools as well as being involved with online communities before the likes of Ecademy and Facebook made the term popular. Pre-meeting discussion can take place here (registration required).
• Icebreaker: The 2009 Memory Game. 2009 was chock full of interesting news stories concerning social media and this game refreshes your memory, gets you talking to other people at the meeting and allows you to have a lot of fun.

As usual, Brrism is free though we do like people to chip in a quid or two to cover the food and drinks that are provided. Also be aware that there will be digital cameras at the event and if you are on the run from the police it would be best to stay away as your mug could end up on the internet. You will also have to sign up on EventBrite by using the form below.

The venue is always hard to find. There is a map here or email the venue for directions.