Fibrevolutionary Unconferences

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There will be a tweetup/unconference on Monday in Leeds. Aim for The Armouries and you should be in the right place!! Look for the demonstration and the placards outside....

That is a joke!! Why do people have this strange and very mistaken vision of myself and others in the community network space?! We are the core constituency named in the Caio and Digital Britain reports, the First Third (you can call it The Final Third, but we managed to change 'last mile' to first mile ....!)

We have no idea how to knit yogurt, you know. We can lay fibre in rural areas, and have. The first UK rural community fibre connections were not laid by anyone at the conference this week.... they were laid by us. And there is an awful lot more due to go in to rural fields and verges imminently because now we know we CAN JFDI.

We care about our communities and constituencies, whom we talk and listen to regularly, openly, and in depth. We are putting in open networks. Community owned networks. Sustainable networks. Probably, if the current maths is right, very profitable networks.

And we know, better than anyone, how to get to where we are going. Which is why we are doing precisely that, mainly using the technology now at our disposal eg Google Wave, Skype, Livestream, Twitter, FB, blogs, webcams etc. Fibre. WiMax. FiWi. Sadly, many of the applications don't work as intended over our connections, but we do our best and it will get better as we own more and more of the first mile.

I wish others would use the technology we espouse to its full capabilities occasionally, but you just don't. There is no intention in any way to dis what is happening in the conference by having an unconference or tweetup. It's just another way of adding to what is already happening and achieving the results required. For UK Plc.

If you want to get involved in breaking new ground in the First Third, come and look for the group in wellies and cardis, who will all have "exile" on their delegate badges. Or just get on Wave, Twitter, Livestream and join in, without leaving your sofa.








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Digital Britain Unconference Reports

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Read more! It is unsurprising that Unconferences were held to debate the DB report, and the reports are now out, and embedded below. Please make comments before 16th June 2009.

There are still ongoing discussions on Twitter under #dbuc09 #digitalbritain and #ruralbroadband although today many of those in rural areas are far more concerned about DFB (Dairy Farmers of Britain) going tits up and what this means to the farmers, 10% of the UK milk supply and the rural economy - potential bankruptcies UK wide, land sales etc etc. #DFB.

Digital Britain Unconferences Summary

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Finance Business & Law dbuc09 digitalbritai

Digital Britain Unconferences Report

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Finance Business & Law dbuc09 digitalbritai

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Digital Britain Unconferences

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Read more! 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.


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Digital Britain conference

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Read more! Am watching the Digital Britain conference

For those who missed Malcolm Corbett's comment about his use of PirateBay etc, here it is:

I admitted to being a 'thieving' consumer.

Recently I heard hotel california on the radio. I own it on vinyl, consequently haven't listened to it for years, so I downloaded it from a piratebay link.

A while ago I was abroad and in the hotel thought it would be great to watch an episode of green wing (which we own on dvd). C4 wouldn't allow me to stream it abroad ... So I downloaded it from a link on piratebay.

Also a while ago I heard a song by portishead - a band I sort of missed out on, so I downloaded the album, liked it and bought two more cds from amazon.

This means I 'illegally' downloaded two things I already own and one I subsequently bought, all at zero cost to the industry. What's the problem?

The real point is about the nonsense of criminalising consumers rather than working out new business models that exploit the advantages of zero cost digital distribution & peer to peer customer recommendation.

Cheers
Malcolm
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UPDATE@ the Digital Britain Unconference is happening from 5th May and there is undoubtedly an event near you. A must attend if you care about broadband ...

Twitter channel
Digital Broadband Unconference Website
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