Tag: brumbloggers

Created in Birmingham, behind by a Nosemonkey.

If you have been following the fight to get Created in Birmingham recognised as the UK’s best blog you might like to know that one of the other nominees has fallen on their sword.   UK Blogger Nosemonkey’s Vote for me post has been revised to say:

Update: Actually, scrap that. Vote for Created in Birmingham instead. Never heard of them before, but they seem to have the best chance of preventing mad borderline racist Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips from winning….let’s not have a repeat of the most idiotic maniacs ruling the roost. There’s enough of that on this here internet already, thanks very much.

So don’t let them down. Each and every day you can make Nosemonkey happy by voting for Created in Birmingham at this link.  Neil Clark, The View from Here would you prefer Mel or CiB to win?

Vote Created in Birmingham

link to voting page


Created in Birmingham is not just a blog, it is a cultural asset to the city.

CiB has been core to helping dozens of folk begin their own blogs so helping Brummie talent join a global conversation. For this alone it’s worth a vote in the uk section of the worlds best blogs competition. You can vote here once a day between now and Janury13th.  If you’d don’t want Melanie Phillips from the Daily Mail to win, this is time well spent.

(by the way Pete Ashton – who established CiB – is also on the short list. I voted for him yesterday because I prefer his blog!)

Twitpanto – one helluva social object.

A triumph darling.  Jon Bounds and catnip (with a huge host of help) amused the entire interwebs (well a bit of it) with the worlds first Twitter Panto. Besides creating the wordle above, Matthew Somerville pulled together the script and audience in one wonderful social thingy. Actors Online reckons it brought the house down (how often must they use that one?) and the whole caboodle got brum happy too.

Updates:

I Googled twitpanto at about 10pm December 23rd and found – for the first time in years – that there were no ads to accompany it. Twitpanto is a real thing that really happened but so far ahead of some long tail curve that not even mighty google knows where it fits. Surely a Christmas miracle.

Chris loved it because:

  • It was absolutely chaotic but it absolutely worked
  • The audience participation – it’s an important part of a panto and seeing over 50 tweets of ‘oh no it’s not’ and ‘oh yes it is’ come rolling in was fantastic
  • It was popular – not a penny was spent on promotion but it spread because people liked the idea. #twitpanto was the top trending topic on twitter and so far my tag search is showing over 1,300 uses of the tag (and they’re still coming)

    • Birthday boy Lloyd Davis appeared as himself (I’m sure he looked different in Brazil) and described what happened as “an anthropological treasure trove”. Nick Burcher also enthused:

    a great demonstration of the versatility of Twitter and really highlighted the difference between Twitter and more ‘traditional’ social networks like MySpace and Facebook (where it would have been difficult to re-create the immediacy of #twitpanto and would have been even harder to follow it!) A collaborative, non-sponsored effort, #twitpanto was a great example of how social media can facilitate an expansive conversation between like-minded individuals just for fun and just because……

    Tom Roper professes a liking for the vulgarity of panto and wasn’t disappointed to find twitpanto “rowdy, bawdy and sometimes hard to follow, just like the real thing”.

    Emma Jones (Dandini!) concludes:  “pantomime is such a great match for Twitter – it’s all about the instant feedback and audience participation!, echoed by Robert Anderson: “My first job after leaving university was in panto– Jack and the Beanstalk in York, if you must know. Many of the audience told me that they didn’t go to the theatre during the year but always went to the panto. Why? Because it was social, populist and they could get involved. Crucially they enjoyed the show and told their friends about it– retweeted, if you like. Could it be that the panto spirit sums up what two-way communication (ie the social bit) is all about?”

    Social Media Surgeries – breeding in Brum

    We Share Stuff has announced a new set of Sunday morning internet surgeries in Erdington – building on what else has been developing in Birmingham.

    so put Sunday 23rd November in your diaries as the ‘We Share Stuff’ team will be at The Red Couch cafe, Erdington each Sunday morning from 11:00am to around 1:00pm. The surgery will be free to attend and the cafe itself serves a wide selection of drinks and snacks. So if you’re curious about the Internet, want to know how to get a voice online, or merely want to drop by for a chat, please do. The atmosphere is real friendly and we promise not to bombard anyone with jargon. It’s all about showing you how easy the Internet is becoming.

    It’s an important reminder than no one needs any formal organisation to be able to offer this help, just somewhere warm with wifi and somebody willing to serve a hot drink or two.

    Meanwhile the Birmingham Bloggers group (with space and support from BVSC & the Birmingham 3rd Sector Assembly) is running a second social media surgery for voluntary organisations and community groups from the city Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 from 5.30pm to 7.00pm at the same venue at the first one (BVSC in Digbeth – see map link here).  If you came last time you are always welcome to come again. Please sign up by clicking here – just so we know how many folk may turn up.

    The original surgeries run by Pete Ashton may be thinner on the ground  this winter – unless of course more of us pop along to keep them going – but you can still find him at Rooty’s.