Entries from March 2007 ↓

From Seth’s Blog:

The two reasons people say no to your idea

“It’s been done before”
“It’s never been done before”

Even though neither one is truthful, accurate or useful, you need to be prepared for both.

Great stuff, as usual.

A quick update on the post about Coworking Spaces.

The response to this was very positive - as well as getting in touch with Ben from Inventicus who has already been researching the idea (and was looking for partners), Laura from Unlimited also responded saying she’d been looking into setting up something similar to The Hub in Birmingham.

Lawrence Cairns-Smith from The Studio in Cannon St. (ex Orange Studio) also got in touch as well a number of people who said they’d love to use a space like this if it existed.

So we’re getting together for a meeting next Thursday (5th April), 6pm at the Kitchen (Custard Factory) to see how we can move forward with this. Laura will hopefully from this point on be spending a significant portion of her time devoted to the project so it looks like there’s real potential for this to happen.

If anyone else is interested in coming along then please do - the more input the better.

Also I’d really like to canvas some opinion before the meeting so if you have any.

What kinds of features would you like in a coworking space? Where would you like it to be? How often would you use it?
Either respond using comments or email me direct.

Some links to get your creative juices flowing:

• Article on Coworking spaces from The Creativity Exchange
• Lemon Studios
• The Hub
• Coworking spaces wiki

I’ll post more after the meet.

I’ve recently been chatting to Adam and Lee, two of the new owners of the Rainbow Pub in Digbeth, (Birmingham UK) and they’re looking for someone to run a monthly film night. Actually, every Monday’s going to be a film night but three promoters have already stepped forward so they’re looking for one more.

On a more general note, it’s great to see a new injection of energy being put into the place. All respects to the previous owners who made the place one of the best venues we’ve ever had in Birmingham but no-one’s in doubt that it had gone down the pan a bit in the last year.

They have a big refurb going on at the moment and there’s going to be a reopening on the weekend of the 27th (at which I may be playing, I’m not sure). They’ve even reinstated the website events list!

When they return it sounds like the events are going to be quite a bit more diverse than in the past, which I definitely think will be a good thing.

So if anyone’s interested in getting involved with the film night, send me an email and I’ll pass it on.

http://myspace.com/therainbowpub
http://www.therainbowpub.com

This month’s show is for Film and Documentary makers and looks at how new internet technologies are changing the landscape of this industry. Includes interviews with Patrick Walker from Google, Fabien Rigall from Future Shorts and Emily Renshaw Smith from Current TV.

For more information on the shows and to subscribe to the podcast, please visit the New Media 4Casts Homepage.

Useful links for this show:

• 4Docs
• Current TV
• Future Shorts
• YouTube
• Deadwing’s Myspace
• The Brothers Mcleod
• Lecote Solicitors

Useful links on web video

• Video on the Web blog - Full of useful stuff on web video.
• Online Video Industry Index - A great roundup of the major players in the online video industry.
• Brightcove - Set up your own online TV station, including advertising revenue and direct sale systems)

Comments, ideas and suggestions

Please let us know what you think of the issues raised in the show. Do you have any other interesting stories or experience in this field? What would you like to see covered in future shows?

Listen to the Show

After finding out that Stef Lewandowski looks a bit like Sam Fox (apparently) I thought I’d give the “My Celebrity Lookalikes” viral a go.

It was going great to begin with - Val Kilmer, Matthew Fox from Lost, even Richard Gere. Not bad.

But then look what happens right at the end.

Please, someone tell me I don’t look like Maurice Gibb. Please!

How to make spam into art. Genius. Our friend John Xela from Birmingham / Manchester based Type Records is currently the featured artist on Allmusic.com, one of my all-time top ten websites - congrats John. New website launched today: Creative Birmingham. Definitely one for the RSS reader if you’re from round these parts .

I spent an enjoyable half-hour this afternoon interviewing Emily Renshaw-Smith from Current TV for the next show in the New Media 4Casts series for 4Talent. The show will look at the opportunities opened up by new technology for film and documentary makers. It’s been a really interesting one so far and we should be online within a couple of weeks or so.

Here’s the beef, taken from the email I originally received about the project:

“Current TV, which launched August 1, 2005, is the first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience. The network shows young adults what’s going on in their world, in their voice. Current is also the first network in history whose programming is supplied in part by the very audience who watches it. It has developed the television industry’s leading model of “viewer created content” (VC2), which comprises roughly one-third of Current’s on-air broadcast, and allows the audience to submit short-form, nonfiction video “pods. Its award-winning programming ranges from the current trends in technology, fashion, music and videogames, to pressing issues such as the environment, relationships, parenting, finance, and politics. Current is available in 30 million U.S. Homes and will be launching in the UK and Ireland in March.”

“… We’re launching in 8+ million homes in the UK and Ireland in March. And we’re looking for filmmakers who can help us make an impact when we do. …”

They’re also running a competition - 1st prize is lunch with Al Gore. Not a bad contact to have in your address book I reckon. It’d be great to see a Midlands based filmmaker win this.

If you’re interested, get in touch using their website.

Being someone who likes to move around between places while I’m working, and who does sometimes miss sitting in an office with a group of other like-minded people, I was really interested by an post on Co-working spaces I read on the Creativity Exchange blog today.

The idea is to create a flexible working space which can be hired out whenever necessary but more importantly to create a social space and sense of community around the space. As the post put it (sort of) “Part cubicle, part coffee shop”
I think this is exactly the kind of space we need in Birmingham City Centre and / or in Eastside. I’d use it. It fits exactly into a lot of what I think Glenn Howells was trying to say about the importance of dialogue to the development of the creative industries at the Eastside Dialogues last year.

One of the interesting things is that the idea has a wiki which spaces all over the world can use to share information and best practice on how to set one of these places up as well as finding other people to collaborate with when doing so. Having checked it out I’m pleased to see there are already plans to set one up in Birmingham. I’ve emailed Ben who’s proposed the idea to find out more and will post more if and when he gets back to me.

In the meantime I’d be interested to know what people’s thoughts on this are. Would you use it if there was one here? What features would you like it to have?

A great example of how to mix online and offline elements to create a great participative project. Check out the website and tell them who you think should be projected in gigantic letters across Birmingham City Centre.