Connecting Bristol

Every three years the European Commission conducts a review of it’s Universal Service Obligations (USO). The USO outlines the telecommunications standards and services that all EU citizens can expect. The USO also states that if a majority of EU citizens are able to make use of a particular telecoms service, then the policy is to ensure that that service should be available to all citizens across Europe.

Figures from the EC suggest that from 2003-2007 broadband use in member nations tripled to 36% of households and had an annual growth rate of 20%. The commission has also highlighted considerable gaps in provision, notably between Denmark, Luxembourg and Belgium where there is 100% coverage, and Romania where it is closer to 40%.

The review will consider whether the current USO needs to be re-written to force telecoms firms to extend broadband to those areas competition will leave unserved.

Viviane Reding, the EU Telecoms Commissioner announced the review saying, “High-speed internet is the passport to the Information Society and an essential condition for economic growth. This is why it is this Commission’s policy to make broadband internet for all Europeans happen by 2010.”

In his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester this afternoon Gordon Brown unveiled a £300m scheme aimed at ensuring every child in the country has access to a PC and connectivity at home.

There are currently 1.4 million school pupils who don’t have internet access from home. The Prime Minister said “We want to enable all families to use the internet to link back to their children’s school….we will fund over a million extra families to get online, on the way to our ambition of Britain leading the world with more of our people than any other major economy able to access the internet and broadband.”.

The allowances will be worth up to £700 per household to pay for broadband connectivity, technical support and equipment.

Gary Hird, graduate of the Cranfield IT Leadership Programme and a member of the IT Leadership Forum has just written a book on Green IT in Practice

it is available from Amazon

All author royalties are being donated to charity: 50% to an environmental charity called Global Action Plan, and 50% to the charity Myositis Support Group

The deadline is approaching for the TalkTalk Innovation in the Community Awards enables charity and community groups throughout the UK to harness the power of the Internet. 30 winners will receive cash grants of £2,000 each to fund technology related projects, as well as technology equipment to help them make the most of the Internet. Applications are invited up to 30 September 2008. Winners will be notified by 25 October 2008. The categories are;

• Work and training
• Creativity and culture
• Play and sport
• Body and soul
• Learning and knowledge

Application forms and further instructions are available from the TalkTalk website.

We’ve posted before about the very high volume of creative ideas and innovative technology companies emerging around Silicon Gorge. If you are stuck with a stack of enthusiasm and a brilliant idea but no support OpenCoffee might be just what you are looking for. Potential investors looking to identify innovative and creative ideas are, of course, also more than welcome.

OpenCoffee is and informal fortnightly gathering of designers, developers and business professionals in the digital industry. Its a great forum for meeting people developing exciting projects in the sector, and potentially getting involved. The next meeting is to be help on Tuesday September 9 from 8:30am - 10:00am at Starbucks on Park Street in Bristol.

I am Stephen Hewitt, Bristol City Council’s Slivers-of-Time Co-ordinator.

As you may know ‘Slivers-of-Time‘ is a Government backed initiative to help tackle worklessness, improve local services and develop skills. Slivers-of-Time IT already operates in a number of places - East London, Hammersmith and Fulham, Leeds and Liverpool.

It is a virtual employment agency that brings together casual workers (sellers of time) and employers (buyers of time) through a web-based system. It offers a radical new employment model to those who have limited or irregular work availability and therefore find it difficult to gain access to employment through the usual means. It allows them to balance family and caring responsibilities, study commitments and health issues with part-time work commitments. For employers, it allows them to use the Slivers-of-Time to more efficiently meet their business needs by employing temporary/casual staff just when they need them, and at short notice.

The City Council is looking to set up a Slivers-of-Time service within Bristol. This will be on a phased basis. Initially within the City Council to get the system up and running and deal with any teething problems, then to roll it out it to other public bodies and then extend it to all employers - private and voluntary sector - across Bristol.

What we now need is a name for the Slivers-of-Time service in Bristol. Slivers-of-Time is fine as the name of the initiative, but it doesn’t work as a public brand or website name or says what it is about. Admittedly this is not scientific, but when asked what Slivers of Time is, responses I have had back include - an episode of Doctor Who, the next James Bond film, a modern art installation and an album by a second rate heavy metal band.

Successful web sites tend to have short, simple, easily memorable names that are easy to say and hard to misspell. What is needed is a name for the Slivers of Time service within Bristol that is user friendly and reflects that the service will be available to all employers across Bristol (public, private and voluntary sector), not just the City Council.

Some ideas so far include:

• wwwBristol (Work - Whenever - Whatever)
• eWorkBristol
• work2suitU
• timeforwork or time4work
• timetowork or time2work

What do you think of any of these? Or can you think of something better?
Let me know here by Wednesday 10 September 2008.

John Bradford recently posted an entry on TechCrunch UK highlighting and celebrating the range and vibrancy of new technology businesses emerging across the city.

You can read John’s full post here

Connecting Bristol are a key partner in the DEHEMs (Digital Environment Home Energy Management System) project. DEHEMs is a European Union funded project looking to improve domestic energy efficiency and reduce household emissions.

The project kicked off in June 2008 and will develop and test an energy monitoring and display system for homes. The project partnership includes a mix of European Local Authorities, businesses and Universities. As part of the development process we would like to gain an understanding of what people are currently thinking and doing with regard to energy use.

With this in mind we have created a short survey of 20 questions, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. We value your opinion and would appreciate it if you could complete the survey.

Superfast broadband is coming, but it will take some time and isn’t likely to reach everyone, everywhere. Communities in Bristol already have experience of clubbing together, led by organisations like Bristol Wireless, to ensure that they can have wifi access to the net.

The ONSnet project in Holland has demonstrated a successful model for installing economical, co-operatively owned fibre networks. Community Broadband Network have put together a video demonstrating the positive impact of the ONSnet in the city of Nuenen.

View this video file

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Building Democracy Programme has £150K available to develop about 10 projects that will use innovative approaches to help stimulate public debate.

MoJ is following MySociety’s approach by inviting potential bidders to float their initial ideas online and to strengthen their proposals through open discussion before making a final submission.

It will be interesting to see if this open collaborative approach can work in the setting of a Government-sponsored site.

The deadline for submissions is 26th September 08.

RIPA International (formally the Royal Institute of Public Administration) is an international training organisation specialising in Public sector reform. Yesterday I presented some ideas to RIPA delegates around how Web 2.0 principals and practices can inform and improve the way Councils deliver services, use data and consult with citizens.

Some of the ideas are pretty new and challenging but seemed to be well received by an audience from a wide variety of geographical locations and policy contexts.

In order to demonstrate how technology can hugely simplify the process of creating and submitting complex information I took a photograph of some of the group using my iPhone . An application on the phone automatically and seamlessly uploaded the image to my flickr account, tagging it with the location, date, time and the current weather conditions. Its always a bit of a risk doing these things live but thankfully it worked perfectly.

There’s help at hand for thousands of young people in Bristol who have been taking exams this summer with after the launch of a new Connexions West of England website.

www.connexionswest.org.uk is designed for young people and adults looking to progress in education, employment or training, and also provides useful information about Connexions West of England including the recently launched Education Business Partnership.
The website comes online just when many young people are wondering what their exam results hold in store. For many, the path to further study or the world of work will be well mapped out but for others there will be uncertainty and a need for practical information, advice and guidance.

The new website therefore includes a CV toolkit and tips on how to write the kind of covering letter that will immediately interest a prospective employer. Want to know how to find those jobs which are never advertised? The website will tell you.
Those seeking training for specific jobs and careers can also find information which will point them in the right direction.
www.connexionswest.org.uk provides links to useful websites which can make the first steps towards work and training less of an ordeal and more of an adventure.
For many young people the decisions they need to make are complicated by a lack of support from family and friends that others may take for granted. The life zone tackles these issues head-on, pointing users in the right direction for advice on topics such as health, housing, the law, money, relationships and travel and transport.
Adults also have access through the website to careers information and advice services and information about learning, training courses and work, from a network of organisations.

e-Inclusion Recycling refurbish and redistribute used PC’s from private businesses and public bodies to individuals, organisations and communities in Newport. I visited the centre yesterday and was hugely impressed by the efficiency of the operation and by their focus on using the business as a force for social change.

The organisation is established as a Community Interest Company, giving it all the flexibility and certainty of the company format, but at the same time ensuring that the enterprise works for the benefit of the community rather than for owners or investors. Julie Traynor, the Founder and Managing Director or e-Inclusion Recycling, has put together a set of excellent online videos demonstrating all aspects of their work.

Since the introduction of the Local Government Act in 2000 districts across England and Wales have had the option of directly electing their Mayor. Whilst traditional Mayorships have been largely ceremonial positions, Elected Mayors assume a far more active political role, with powers similar to those of the Councils executive committee.

A few of the early Elected Mayors created something of a media sensation; Hartlepool memorably voted in H’Angus the Monkey and Middlesbrough elected Ray “Robocop” Mallon, a famously hardline ex-police chief.

Currently there are thirteen directly elected Mayors in England, including the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Thirty five Local Authorities in total have held a referendum to establish the publics appetite for a directly elected mayor. So far one third of these have been successful. A campaign has just been started to gather the support for holding just such a referendum in Bristol. There are strong views and compelling arguments for and against, so which way should Bristol go?

A History of the Mayors of Bristol
View this video file

Campaigning, technology and the environment have been interests of ours at Connecting Bristol for quite some time, and I think one of the things that we have recognised is the power of using the technology to mount a positive campaign; promoting an appealing alternative can often have better results than simply railing against an existing situation.

John Bradford at JBSH has recently outlined the Carrot Mob model as a positive way for consumers to influence the decisions made by corporates. In essence customers organise their purchasing power to reward businesses which make environmentally friendly choices. Carrot Mob have produced a video about their first successful campaign in the US, and there is really no reason why similar things couldn’t happen in Bristol. With Pledge Bank and ePetitions software freely available all thats missing is someone with the passion to kick it off.

If you’ve read anything about Green ICT lately (including this blog) you can’t have missed the stat highlighting that ICT currently accounts for 2% of global CO2 emissions, as much as the airline industry. The Climate Group and the Global e‐Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) have just released their report “SMART 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age“.

While confirming the current 2% figure it also suggests that this could double by 2020. But amongst these worrying figures they recognise the unique ability ICT has to monitor and maximise energy efficiency both within and outside of its own sector. This could potentially cut CO2 emissions by up to five times this amount and would represent a saving of 7.8 Giga‐tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020 – greater than the current annual emissions of either the US or China. Tele‐working, video‐conferencing, e‐paper, and e‐commerce are reconised to have a part to play but by far the biggest global opportunities lie in exploring smart building design and use, smart logistics, smart electricity grids, and smart industrial motor systems.

You can wait a lifetime to be nominated for an award… and then two come along at the same time.

The NOMINET Best Practice Challenge is a competition that recognises British organisations, groups or individuals who have embraced the challenge of making the Internet a secure, open, accessible or diverse experience for all.

Connecting Bristol and Bristol City Council’s e-Democracy site, AskBristol are both on the NOMINET shortlist in the Open Internet category.

The competition will be tough with both mySociety’s Petition Downing Street site and the Open University’s Open Learn competing for honours in the same category. But the team will be there on Wednesday evening to hear the results. Wish us luck!

Do you know a project that could benefit from a £2,000 technology grant?

Charities and community groups from across the UK are being invited to apply for money for technology products and services through TalkTalk’s new Innovation in the Community Awards scheme.

TalkTalk, the communications company from The Carphone Warehouse, is continuing its commitment to making broadband Internet access a right, not a privilege by launching the Awards with UK digital inclusion charity Citizens Online. Non-profit making organisations and charities in the UK in need of funding for an internet-related project are invited to put forward requests for cash for technology products and services. Thirty organisations will be chosen to win £2,000 each to help fund their particular project, as well as receiving TalkTalk free broadband. The Awards have been designed to help groups make the most of the Internet by encouraging applications for investment in PCs, hardware, software or technical expertise.

Applications are invited from 2 July to 28 September. Entries can be lodged online at www.talktalk.co.uk Winners will be notified by 10 October and the awards presented at the House of Lords in November. Further information about the awards is available by calling 020 7282 2815 or by email

Frequently as a PR company we have the need for stakeholder and one-to-one communications, but in a time poor and disparate industry it can be hard to keep in contact with our network. One of the staple skills of a journalist or PR is to build a powerful and far-reaching network to obtain and distribute news or a client’s message. As a result, we came up with the idea of PRBristol.co.uk.

The objective is to provide a stronger voice for the PR and news industry and to use blogs to share best practice and to improve communication between PR practitioners and the news media.

Organisations in the private and public sector are using new technology in increasingly sophisticated ways to communicate with consumers, customers and stakeholders. The lines are also becoming increasingly blurred between those who make the news and those who break the stories, not least because of the introduction of multi-media platforms which have revolutionised the way news is disseminated.

www.prBristol.co.uk will introduce the industry to the fast-moving world of social networking and to other developments up and down the spectrum of news media. This site is intended to be useful, informative and influential.

We have also developed other microsites to assist the network such as a ‘News at a glance’ feature to be used as your home page in your browser or the ‘The Watering Hole’, which adds to the social network dimension of a journalist’s or PR’s social life!

I would be grateful for any observations and input as we want this network of sites to benefit PRs, in-house press officers, freelancers, journalists, editors, broadcast journalists, news agencies and photographers in the Bristol area.

The British Computer Society (BCS) is searching for the best MP website 2008.

We the citizens are invited to suggest MP websites that successfully engage, excite, and usefully inform us. They also have to be easy to navigate, accessible and make effective use of modern media techniques such as blogs, pod or video casts and instant messaging.

All of Bristol’s MPs have a web presence:

Kerry McCarthy

Doug Naysmith

Stephen Williams

Dawn Primarolo

Roger Berry

You can vote HERE for MP sites that you feel are worthy of an award - and those you feel are not!