Digital Britain Unconferences

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After attending the Digital Britain Summit recently via the backchannel aka Twitter, it was no surprise that those of us on Twitter decided that an unconference was in order. There are now multiple events planned which will be taking place all over the nation from May 5th 2009 (prior to the publication of the Carter Report) and you need to be there!!

Firstly, the Summit was pretty appalling really. There was 100 times more controversy, joined up and future-proofed thinking, experience, expertise, and passion on the Twitter channel. The backchannel was the place to be, though sadly, the majority of the "decision makers" have probably never actually tried Twitter and were no doubt unaware of the furore ongoing there during the Summit. Hence the unconferences for the digitally aware.

You can find more info here about the Digital Britain unconferences or of course on the #digitalbritain channel on Twitter.

Secondly, the fact that a not for profit site - Write to reply - could produce a working and popular method to seek public comments on the DB report against a Government produced DBERR comment site (which didn't actually accept any comments for the first few days) is an indication of the state of understanding of IT and usage by government in this country. Write to reply have now set up the Fake Digital Britain report and anyone involved in any way with Digital Britain, NGA (Next Generation Access), broadband etc would do well to keep abreast of the latest postings there and contribute.

For those in this country who sell/export/use their digital skills (never mind what Stephen Fry said about using a mouse, some of us have world beating digital skills we are selling to other nations who have a stronger currency than the pound), it has become increasingly apparent that the government and the telcos in this country are completely out of touch with what is required to be a digitally connected nation.

FTTH it has to be. No interim measures, no false arguments about expense, no technical disputes, no dithering. FTTH. No half-hearted USOs that were ten years out of date before conception. No rural areas last. No last century, trad telco ownership models. No suits. FTTH owned by this community which is the UK - citizens and businesses.

Many are no longer just blogging or talking/shouting at events but are taking the situation into our own hands, and barcamps, mashup events etc will bring together those who can JFDI and make FTTH happen in the UK. Already there are projects flying under the radar which intend to turn this ludicrous broadband situation on its head.

It will no doubt prove not too difficult to show those who have exhibited an almost criminal incompetence to lead this country into the light for the last 25 years (yes, it really was 1984 when FTTH was first proposed on a national scale in this country) how to JFDI Fibre To Every Home.

Please forward this blog post, or pass on the links to the unconferences and other resources mentioned to ANYONE you know who cares about the state of this country, their business, the economy, their community, their children. Solving this problem affects everyone of us, now and in the future.