Category: Local Government

Why maps will become THE way we pool very local information.

I think it is only a matter of time before we switch from hyperlocal blogging to hyperlocal “mapping”.

Below is a short TED2010 talk from Blaise Aguera y Arcas of Microsoft Live Labs.

He is demonstrating augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft. It’s quite a substantial extension from where Google appears to be just at the moment and shows glimpses of great possibilities.

If you serve neighbourhoods,  interested in very local media or work for a news organisation, whether press, web or broadcast then it may be worth sparing a few minutes to watch this:

Social media, government and risk

The short video below is Carl Haggerty, Enterprise Architect at Devon County Council, talking about his thoughts on the nay sayers in government, local or central, who use the problems of risk to prevent social media use.  For him this is a misuse of the idea of risk management. Indeed the right response to managing the risks that social media might present to government is to – use social media.

Which Flip should I buy?

UPDATE:  I rewrote this in October 2012. To see new views please go here.

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It’s a question I’m often asked.   May I start with something simple.  I’m assuming you want something that is easy to use, easy to carry and makes video which is simple to edit and very quick to upload to the internet.  If so buy this one, the Flip Mino – but not the high definition one.

If you are going to but a flip get this one
If you are going to buy a flip get this one

Why?

It is light and very easy to carry in a pocket or a bag.
I’ve used and owned the larger ones but found that the red record button was prone to stick.  On these it works like a dream.
60 minutes is plenty of recording time.
The built in usb connector is darned useful.
It does wide screen, which is nice.
There’s no point in buying the high definition one because the lens is the same and the files are just bigger and take ages to upload to the net.

Tip:  the white one if often cheaper than the black one and you’ll rarely find any for less than they sell on Amazon.

What if I want something like a Flip that isn’t a Flip?

At the moment the best reason to do that is because you want better sound. The Flip does perfectly decent sound in straightforward conditions – but make it very noisy and you start to struggle a bit.

Oddly there are not that many sensible choices. There are growing number of high definition flip type camera  that allow you to do what you can’t do with a flip – plug in an external microphone.

Dave Briggs has this very informative explanation of why it’s worth buying a Kodak Zi8:

What Dave says is right, but the point of the Flip is simplicity.  Once you have to add an external microphone, plug it in,

Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera - almost but not quite
Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera – almost but not quite

mess with it, hope it doesn’t drop out then – to keep the file size down, remember to reset the video recording quality to less than HD (for upload speed) I’m not convinced the more complex camera will be better. It does have one advantage – you can take stills.

It is still simpler to buy the Flip and ask someone to step into a quiet room to talk to them.

However sound is all important in online video so there’s a more expensive but better solution.  I bought one a few weeks ago and love the new Zoom Q3.  You can record just audio if you wish ( a still photo combined with an mp3 makes great content) and will record very simple video with great audio. There’s a built in USB connector, you can use and sd card and the file sizes are weeny – so whizz up to the net.

This is what @documentally says about it – and I agree with him:

What then is special about it?:

Robust
Same ease of use at the Flip
Great sound without needing an external mic
Low resolution video – hence small file sizes.
Does just audio in great quality

So for for me the almost ultimate is the Zoom Q3 – give me widescreen yet low def video on the Zoom Q4 and I’ll be a very happy man.

Spawning Social Media Surgeries.

If you’ve never seen a social media surgery before then John Popham’s video above is just about what you might expect.  He shot it last night at the first such surgery in Leeds, which he started after visiting our first anniversary surgery last month.

Folk in Leeds are  using a similar model to the central Birmingham surgery, you get some idea from this video at the most recent Birmingham social media surgery

It focuses on the informal and matching volunteer webby types to volunteer community types. As we found when we began these here in Birmingham, there seems to be a a great deal of enthusiasm in the digital community in West Yorkshire to get on and make things happen. Simon Duncan thought it a “great success”.

Why then do I say surgeries are spawning?

Huddersfield.  Their first is next week.

York (courtesy of the comment below from the wonder John Popham) is in December.

In South Africa Marlon Parker is adapting the idea for shopping centres and the general citizen.

Cornella near Barcelona will soon have one organised by Chris Pinchen of Citilab – who visited us again in October:

Talk About Local uses the technique and has now spawned the wonderful idea of a social media tent for fetes and fairs.

Lichfield has experimented with one.

Sheffield incorporated one in Unsheffield this summer (umh “unbrum”? – I wonder).

Podnosh has run them in Acocks Green – which was featured by the Birmingham Post and now has a life of it’s own – plus Lozells.  Alan Colson now also runs a social media surgery for councillors in Solihull.

Others include a more business minded approach in  Nottingham, (similar to our own work at Hello Digital)  SCIP in Brighton, and far afield  Mosman, Australia has now used there’s to created a site for their neighbourhood.

Any Missing?