b.Log

ACE SAY AYE!!

We found out yesterday that our ACE application was successful so we are starting to spread the word about two exciting projects that will be integrated into b.TWEEN 08. This year’s bigger and better event will be hosted by MOSI www.msim.org.uk Manchester on the 19th and 20th of June ( a fab venue for the event and being very helpful and supportive

Our new improved site will be launched on 25th March ( developed by the lovely Raw Nerve) all entries for both projects will be accepted via the site

The first project is delivered in partnership with Hewlett Packard and is currently under the working title of of Exploding Narrative

Particpants will have the chance of winning £10,000 to develop a location based project

mSCAPES are mobile games, stories and guides triggered by location and experienced on via GPS-enabled PDAs. They are based on user friendly software developed by HP http://www.mscapers.com

What would you like to do with this software that no- one has done before?

We would like to hear your seed idea in less than 150 words

Those responsible for the best five ideas will be given £1,000 to turn their idea into a pitch – using the Quickfire format ( 12 ppt slides/30 seconds per slides/ automated – no exceptions)

Those selected will firstly spend the day at the HP labs where you will find out more about the software; what works, what’s possible, what’s been done before

Developed ideas will then be pitched to an industry expert panel in front of an audience at the ICA on the 10th June. The panel and the audience will help them to hone and improve the idea and presentational style

They will then have a week to hone their idea before pitching at the b.TWEEN launch on the 18th June

Their presentation will be filmed and shown at the ICA, FACT and on screens across Manchester over the next two days. The public will be asked to vote for their favourite idea. The most popular will be given a £10,000 development grant to take the idea into production

The finished work will feature in the Interactive Gallery at b.TWEEN 09

The admission window will be short and will close on the 18th April so spread the word/ get your thinking caps on!!

The second supported project is our normal interactive gallery with a difference:

As usual we will have a public-facing gallery of interactive installations – the best experimental interactive work from 07

This time we want to make sure than the gallery is fully integrated into the forum and that artist, public and delegate alike gain maximum inspiration

In this spirit, each of the showcased artists will be asked to present their work in a “Dragons Den” scenario, where industry experts ( Broadcasters, Advertisers etc) consider how their ideas might be used in a commercial context.

Each will be given 6 minutes to present their ideas in the Quickfire format (12 PowerPoint slides, 30 seconds per slide; slides are automated so when we hit go, speakers have to keep up with the slides – it turns presentation into parlour game – short / punchy/ succinct )

The panel will comment explore their ideas in a commercial context

Recorded pitches will be screened throughout the venue after the event to contextualise the works to the visiting public

Delegates and public will be invited to vote for their favourite work and the artists will be rewarded in the awards ceremony on Friday

we will invite b.TWEEN People to bring the best interactive installations to our attention – again via the new website. The works have to be accessible, interactive and rooted in popular culture ( they will be installed in the museum foyer so have to be intriguing to the museum public and delegates alike) – keep and eye out and spread the word

we need you! Job vacancy at Just-b.

We are looking to appoint a smart Marketing and Sponsorship Manager

This experienced, well-connected, dynamic person will be an integral part of a small team that works on large scale national events and projects working with major national media and technology brands

They will devise and deliver innovative cross-platform marketing campaigns that raise awareness of the company’s projects and raise their national and international profile

They will be responsible for managing relationships with current sponsors and for securing new sponsorship from both public and private sources

Salary negotiable starting at 25K

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 19th NOVEMBER

For more information, e-mail or call Makeila: makeila@just-b.com / 0114 221 0589

feedback from b.TWEEN 07

We have just received the fantastic news that we the Technology Strategy Board have agreed to support the next b.TWEEN which will be hosted in Manchester in June. We are still figuring out how we can make it bigger and better than the last one and would like our community to be involved in the design process.

Just to bring you up to date and to remind you of what went on last year in Bradford and in the spirit of transparency, find the feedback document below. Would be good to know your thoughts if you haven’t passed them on already.

The b.TWEEN Interactive Media Forum is an annual industry event aimed at innovative small new media companies and digital entrepreneurs. It aims to bring company decision makers up to date with market shifts while introducing them to potential collaborators, business partners, commissioners and investors. B.TWEEN 07 was hosted at the National Media Museum in Bradford on June 14-15.

The unique event is designed to demystify the cultures of big business, nurture entrepreneurialism, encourage cross-platform and cross-sector collaboration and to forge new potent business relationships.

This years programme included 27 speakers from across the supply chain including big industry (Channel 4, BBC, Bebo), creative and digital SMEs (Licorice Films, Soda, XPT) and investors (Games Audit, Enterprise Ventures). Angel Gambino (VP Music & Content, Bebo) delivered the opening keynote, heading up two days of dynamic, informative and high level sessions.

This year, we proactively ensured that the programme was led by and included a representative proportion of women in the industry. This was an unusual step and one greeted positively by the vast majority of delegates.

The BBC came on board as Gold sponsors for this year’s event, offering delegates the rare opportunity to meet BBC Commissioners in one-to-one sessions.

The forum also offered opportunities for delegates to meet speakers, the chance to present the ‘Quickfire’ networking evening event, an interactive gallery and a show-reel of short films. Creative collaboration workshops, delivered by Frank Boyd, were intended to give delegates the opportunity to engage in a collaborative design and pitching process, enabling effective interdisciplinary networking.

Delegate Breakdown

The event attracted 175 participants from the UK and overseas: 50% from Yorkshire (from 43 different companies), 48% from other UK regions and 2% from abroad. The overwhelming majority of participants (65%) represented SMEs or were freelancers, 25% were from large organisations and 10% from the public sector.

With the support of London Westside, we were able to offer twenty bursaries to London-based future technology/new media companies. This expanded the scope of attendees and secured the presence of companies who would otherwise have been unable to attend.

The Programme

Programme content was well received by delegates: the sessions based on honest case studies were particularly popular with delegates; ‘From Shelf to Screen’ (Morgan Holt, Matt Locke, Jonathan Jowitt) and ‘Open Source Business’ (Richard Adams, Kristina Nyzell). Panels that dealt with funding issues, ‘Competing for Eyeballs and Cash Cows’ (Charles Cecil, Morgan Holt, Tamsin Lyons) and ‘Deal or No Deal’ (Ed French, William Latham) were also very popular.

We curated a public facing interactive gallery in the museum foyer, and museum visitors were invited to interact with the showcased projects. It is difficult to accurately judge public engagement levels, but informal feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It was especially positive to see the younger and older generations playing with a variety of interactive work, from cutting edge technology to our collaborative LEGO experiment exploring open source creativity.

Marketing Successes

Marketing effectively communicated what delegates should expect from the event. It was clearly aimed at entrepreneurs wanting to use creative technology for commercial gain. This will be further defined in future marketing strategies to reinforce the b.TWEEN brand as the vital marketplace for big business and SMEs.

Design agency Kiosk designed a strong brand for b.TWEEN 07 that worked well on printed and electronic media. Hard copy flyers were distributed to over 2,500 individuals, with a further 2,000 delivered to public facing organisations such as screen agencies, Arts Council England, UK Filmcouncil, digital development agencies and creative technology networks.

Targeted e-mail updates about the forum and associated activity went out to over 3500 individuals from our extensive database each week.

180 people from across the globe tuned into the online webcasts, effectively disseminating programmed content beyond the forum venue.

b.TWEEN 07 featured on hundreds of industry websites and e-bulletins, including C4, BBC, NMA, Digital Arts Online, BIMA, Start-ups, Kennisland and business support sites such as NESTA, bMedi@, North West Vision, CIDA and Skillset. We employed an ‘article marketer’ who targeted nearly 200 industry-specific blogs and forums, effectively causing an online buzz around the event.

Coverage also included podcasts by Channel 4’s 4Talent (available mid-July) and Brand Republic. b.TWEEN 07 appeared regularly in New Media Age and their Editor-in-Chief attended the forum for the full two days. NMA are keen to become a key media sponsor for b.TWEEN 08 and beyond.

All promotional material and press releases clearly affirmed the support of all sponsors.

Feedback

Feedback from delegates was resoundingly positive. 95% of respondents said that it had met or exceeded expectations and 98% of respondents said they would recommend the forum to friends or colleagues

“Great crossover between arts and business, good for the North to generate interest from the South”

“Connecting across sectors, using innovative formats that turn conversation into action”

“A fantastic event where you are exposed to all evolving aspects of the industry. This is a way of keeping in touch and meeting people with cutting edge skills. “

“The whole thing was inspirational and has given me the impetus to push forward with a new venture.”

80% of respondents felt they had formed new creative relationships, whilst 84% felt they had formed new business relationships. The following comments were made about b.TWEEN’s impact on the bottom line

“My attendance at b.TWEEN 2006 and 2007 has lead to at least 100,000 GBP in new revenue with the potential for more. It has opened a lot of doors for me at BBC and Channel Four in particular.”

“Through this event I have found the contacts with which to put together a real time environment. This could potentially dramatically increase the turnover of my company. Unfortunately figures are almost impossible to commit to at this stage.”

“A £1.2M project bid I was pulling together needed input from the person I had a one to one with at b.TWEEN. She helped me develop a business model and mentored me as I developed the bid. If it doesn’t come off, I’ve learned loads in the process, and have gained confidence in my ideas and in inviting imput from others.”

“We have developed new product ideas that we have sold to clients and continue to develop. Worth at least £100,000 of new business each year.”

Lessons Learned

Breakout sessions were a great success with people feeling more involved and allowing more time to discuss ideas with speakers and like-minded people. Feedback has suggested that there should be more time for breakout sessions and a more organised creative collaboration workshop. Delegates also recommended more discussion groups early in the programme to facilitate more effective networking.

As suggested in last years evaluation report, if b.TWEEN is to be positioned as the UK’s largest interactive media forum, and is to develop a stronger international reputation, development of partnerships should be ongoing throughout the entire year. An absolute minimum of six months should be factored in to develop an effective marketing and PR campaign. Due to late confirmation of funding, the majority of planning and production for b.TWEEN 07 was crammed into less than three months. Coverage in monthly industry publications, where editorial and features are decided months in advance of the publication date, required more notice than we were able to give.

The tiered pricing structured seemed satisfactory to the vast majority of attendees. The only people who disagreed with the structure were those from the public sector who had paid higher ticket prices.

89% of respondents felt it would be beneficial to have smaller satellite events throughout the year. This can only happen with a stabilised funding base to enable development of a strategic programme around b.TWEEN with an effective community.

The presence of high-profile female speakers was a key success of b.TWEEN 07. We will continue to engage with strong women in the interactive media world. The interaction of big players and smaller SMEs was another winner. Most delegates felt should this is a key strength that should be developed in future years.

designing with communities

I was asked to write an article by the director of melt. She asked me to invite experts of my choice to dinner to discuss the most commercially potent areas for innovation. the article below is the overview of a conversation between Kristina Nyzell (ex Logo) and Fiddian Warman ( MD, Soda)

Designing with communities

Connected technologies mean that end users can be directly involved in the design and implementation of interactive products. Kristina Nyzell, Fiddian Warman and Katz Kiely met recently to consider how small companies can capture and capitalise on the power of communities. The following is a brief overview of a long and inspiring discussion about turning traditional development processes on their head.

What makes a product successful? Crucially, successful products grow from genuine passion, even obsession. The developer has to be totally immersed in a project. If they are not entirely dedicated to the product, it will never fly. A successful idea is one that gives the business a sense of meaning. It has to be about more than work.

Commercially potent products are those that answer basic human needs, desires and behaviour. People tend not change the way they behave, but will rather buy into models that improve their lives and fit easily into their day to day routines. Take MySpace as an example. It became popular because it made it simple for every kid to have a webpage and to connect to other kids with similar interests wherever they are. It became popular because it answered a simple need effectively.

It is important to stop at a very early point in the design process and be convinced that the product in question offers real benefits to an individual or a series of individuals. A community is made up of real people. What do they do? How do they act and interact? How will the new product make their lives easier, more inspired, more interesting? The end user should be at the very core of the design process.

Once the producer is convinced that the initial idea answers a real market need, only then is it time to consider which platform would deliver it most effectively. It is tempting to put the cart before the horse and to think about technology first. Resist the temptation. A company developing a game should start by looking first at play behaviour, then think about the appropriate delivery technology second.

A lot of investment is wasted imagining what people would want to buy. Most companies design a product then stick rigidly to original plans with no more than a token gesture nod to market research. This development process has a beginning, middle and an end. There is no room for organic growth and evolution.

Our discussion explored a revolutionary new design process; asking the target user what they want from idea conception. An effective online community can act as a co creator; working with developers to ensure the end product reaches maximum potential. Involving end users from conception can improve speed and effectiveness of the process if well managed. This methodology involves sharing a seed idea or a beta stage product early in development, listening to feedback and designing the next iteration based on their suggestions. Concepts can always be improved and people love giving advice. Each member of the community will have different likes, dislikes and opinions. They will give the honest and valuable feedback necessary to develop something people will actually want to buy.

If the consumer is involved with the design process, they feel ownership of the product and are more likely to buy it when it is released to market. This in turn builds a more solid business case. Buying just becomes another part of a process they have already bought into and once products have been purchased, the consumer is more likely to recommend them to friends.

An effective user community should be developed from the outset of the project, not as an afterthought. Seeding and growing a successful online network can be massively beneficial on many levels: they can train new users, do your marketing for you and even suggest new product ideas. If the community becomes particularly successful, you may even by able to sell branded products to them (hats, badges etc.) Strategic development of an online community can replace traditional marketing spend. If your product is good, members will do your marketing for you by evangelising online (via Blogs, recommendation etc) and via word of mouth.

There can be little doubt that all this is beneficial, but it is equally unavoidable that the approach is challenging and time consuming. A small business should not underestimate the resource intensity of this process and this must be factored into the business plan.

Avoid complication. Simple things are always the best. Think about doing one thing, and doing it well. Be prepared to let go and listen to the users. Flickr is a classic example of this. It started life as one small element in a massively complicated online game. Photo sharing became popular with their growing userbase, so the developers scrapped the rest and concentrated on making this one element work, and work well. The rest is history.

Building a successful community

The most difficult thing is to get to people in the first place. Reach them through as many routes as possible and enthuse them with your passion for your product.

Once people have started wanting to know more, set up touch points and meeting points where people can start to discuss things that interest them. Make sure the communication channels feel natural and that it is easy for community members to find out more about each other and to communicate. Some members will be more vocal and active than others and will organise their own user group. In LEGO speak these groups are called LEGO User Groups (LUGs). These influentials should be rewarded with incentives. Give them special status as ‘founders’ that nobody else will ever get. Rewards are important, but financial incentives tend to change dynamics and not always for the best. Incredible things happen when people are not paid to creative and innovate. Inventors often work better when their driver is passion not money. It is important that this process happens step-by-step; setting up touch points, meeting points and establishing influential members. These steps cannot be rushed. An online community is about people coming together through free will, it is voluntary and has to be, by nature, out of control. Communities can be learned from, but cannot be dictated to. They are fragile. If businesses intervene and start to impose top down control, the community will wither and die.

Once a community is thriving, measures can then be put into place to assess product value. By example, at the touch points, if they buy something, if they register, if they record something, all these things can be used as indicators of how well your idea is doing. Make it easy for them to recommend the idea to a friend. If enough members are motivated to recommend it, it has inherent value.

People like to have their voices heard and to have an opinion. This can’t be underestimated. To use Sodaplay as an example, the lengths that people will go to create stuff and to share knowledge with others is incredible. Given a forum to support other people they will spend just as long sharing what they have learned as they did learning it.

It is good to talk directly to the developing community but self-promotion should be avoided. Nobody wants to hear corporate marketing speak. The key thing is to have constructive dialogues with what is effectively an information rich resource. A large community is bound to know more than a small company. Ask questions as long as the answers are listened to.

The power of communities can be seen at play in the changes that LEGO have made over the last few years. They went through a period of making products that were unrecognisable as LEGO. The community went up in arms. ‘Where are the bricks?’ they said. When the company realised they were worthless without their community they began to give them places to meet and started listening to their voices. The number of meeting points increased and large user groups started registering. The web is now littered with LUGs.

The most successful communities offer opportunities for physical gatherings to augment online discussions. To use Flickr as an example again, groups based on particular interests and geographical locations meet regularly. LEGO offers incentives for community members to set up gatherings and competitions. First LEGO league competitions have evolved around LEGO Mindstorms. These events strengthen communities and gives them longevity.

Most importantly, DON’T be afraid to voice your opinions in the community. Honesty keeps communities alive. Communities are made up of real people that can smell bullshit a mile away and who will leave as quickly as they came.

More about the people

Kristina Nyzell most recently worked with LEGO, strengthening their brand and increasing their market share by developing strong online communities. She has had a varied and impressive career, starting out in military intelligence developing war rooms and gathering insights and foresights. Since then, she has run her own successful company, worked with KPMG advising small creative companies and is currently developing an open source PhD with an online community.

Fiddian Warman is MD of Soda Creative, the pioneering developer of high traffic online creative collaborative communities. For the past seven years, Soda have run their own BAFTA winning site Sodaplay.com, which has averaged around 3 million page impressions per month with a database of 500,000 models created by Sodaplay’s community. Go to http://www.soda.co.uk or http://sodaplay.com to find out more.

Below are a few more examples of successful online communities

http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.threadless.com
http://www.loopt.com
http://www.deviantart.com

And go to http://gettingreal.37signals.com for must read design advice.

Both Fiddian and Kristina will share their knowledge and expertise at b.TWEEN 07

Peter Cowley confirmed

Peter Cowley confirmed today that he will be presenting at b.TWEEN 07.

We met today to talk about Endemol’s digital media investment fund. The fund was launched in June 2006, a response to a changing media scape where TV is rapidly losing footing and the big broadcasting moguls are losing their grip on audiences.

They aim to invest in Indies with good sales driven content ideas around participation programmes, aggregation, evolving platforms such as mobile, IPTV and video-on-demand services, gaming and gambling. All of the major gambling brands are desperate to find ways of using content to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Since the launch they have received around 150 ideas. They have been surprised by how few of the proposals have clear business cases built around them, and by how few of the companies they talked to are investment ready. There has been no shortage of good ideas, just a shortage of the commercial acumen to accompany them. They have just entered their first investment deal through the fund with a company that has been trading for two years though wouldn’t tell who the company is

Endemol have also just announced a creative partnership with electronic arts (EA) to develop a new entertainment concept that will bridge the gap between TV and Games. “Virtual Me” combines EA’s avatar creation technology with Endemol’s TV formats to offer audiences a way to meet and greet in a virtual space. It will be launched in the next series of ‘Big Brother’ and will allow players to participate in virtual versions of TV shows like ‘Fame Academy’ and ‘Deal Or No Deal’, and to form real relationships with other virtual avatars on the web (www.VirtualMe.com).

Incidentally, BBC viewing figures apparently plummeted to new low last Saturday, with less than 15% of the audience tuning in to their TV offer.

back from the smoke

back from another couple of days in London.Richard Adams did what he does so well; answering any particular brief you choose to throw at him. This time we discussed how to build a community around the approaching forum to extend discussion before & after the physical gathering. will be setting up a seperate blog and inviting some of our esteemed speakers & conspirators to post regularly. Jem Stone agreed to be one of the regular contributors.Thinking about editing the posts shortly after the forom ends and moving some to print. See how it progresses.
Met Frank and discussed how we can make the pre b.TWEEN work most effectively for those that choose to book.We have decided to deliver a mini lab- three mentors delivering short workshops looking at pitching as a development tool (Frank) building a community around a product (Richard) and making projects people shaped. We hope it will help attendees prepare for their one to ones the following day
David Puttnam was coincidentally at Bafta.Frank introduced him. I,being the shameless bint that i am immediately cut to the chase & asked him what it would take to persuade him to open the forum. He answered “well you could try asking!” so l asked and he sounded positive
will email him & see what happens

festivaI site Iaunched

After 12 months of development, of discussing, persuading,enthusing and proposal writing b.TWEEN 06 feels real at last. The new minisite was launched today and we’re pleased as punch with the way the programme is developing.
I found our last advisory meeting (about a month ago). particularly difficult. matt, adam, frank and fidd are perfect advisor in that they don’t pull punches. Without it the programme would have been paltry in comparison. This will be no escape from work and preach to the converted networking session. It will be a brain cruncher with real value add for those entrepreurs who want to be creative and to make a good living from their creative skills. Surely not too much to ask!
Very happy with the way the b.TWEEN interactive commissions are panning out. Our first arts council commission has gone to the hackney based artist collective; something.They will use rfid chips to explore social narratives.Good to see a positive use of what seems an essentially machievelian technology.
visiting arts have kindly funded a collaboration between the fab Soda ( lncidentally also based in hackney.must be something in the water );-) and chinese information artist Yang Lei. No idea what form this project wlll take yet but will keep you posted.
Above & beyond these commissions, Jeff from ACID in brisbane is developing a purpose built communication tool to bring remote audiences from Oz into the mix.And students from bradford uni are working on a mobile based networking tool.

dana centre ravensbourne celebration

went to the dana centre yesterday. Lewis invited me to join a selection panel for the cybersonica commission. Six proposals were under consideration- all interesting, some far more interesting than others. We had the usual discussion about how much a commissioner can expect from an artist for a fairly small amount of money. Apparently an artist should expect a maximum day rate of £175. Considering they often have overheads to pay as everybody else, and that they probably spend at least as much time writing proposals, this seems a tad harsh. l guess this says a lot about how culture is undervalued in uk today. Ah,well. Whoever said life was fair.;-)
went from there to a celebration of emerging talent from ravensbourne college. (great showcase)and 2 a series of lectures. the most interesting by a young entrepreneur who decided to leave after his first year to set up last fm and has just been bought out by an investor. Always great to hear success stories.
took a couple of pointers away with me:
Give as much stuff away for free as you can to grab attention. Attention is the currency of the internet. lf you can attract eyeballs, youre on your way to a product that can be commercialised.
Less positively another speaker saw Tim Berners Lee talking at a conference recently.He was apparently referring to the web as a huge containable database and advocating putting the genie back in the bottle.

my day in lego land

l spent yesterday with a fine bunch of chaps & chapesses discovering the joys of serious lego: using lego as a planning & visualisation tool. we explored how play could or should affect our day to day activities, how our activities overlap & possible benefits from these crossovers
cheers to the magical mr. stuart nolan for inviting me along. lt was apart from anything else an enlightening opportunity to find out more about the processes & challenges of respected peers.

at last we blog

and blog on