2.0 Introduction
2.1 Seminars
2.2 Conferences
2.3 Festivals
2.4 Publications
2.5 Projects
Date: Thursday 23 October 2008
Time: 2 - 8.30pm
Venue: Venue Cymru, Llandudno, LL30 1BB
Partner: Cyfle | www.cyfle.co.uk/
Partner: Technium CAST | www.techniumcast.com
Partner: Local Supplier Development Project | www.menterabusnes.com/
Recent dramatic developments in online technologies have brought us together for social, business and educational purposes. Think Facebook, Flickr, De.li.cio.us, Wikipedia, WordPress and Blogger. Think again on Open Source, Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science. But is this just part of a wider change in society?
Book now! FREE but advance booking essential.
357 messages.
Keir Whitaker, Carsonified: English version (mins 30:00 )
Tarek Cheniti, Said Business School: English version (mins 20:00 )
Matthew Yeomans, Custom Communication: fersiwn Cymraeg (mins 30:00 )
Matthew Yeomans, Custom Communication: English version (mins 30:00 )
Tarek Cheniti, Said Business School: Fersiwn Cymraeg (mins 20:00 )
Keir Whitaker, Carsonified: Fersiwn Cymraeg (mins 30:00 )
Peter Westwood, WordPress: Fersiwn Cymraeg (mins 27:00 )
Peter Westwood, WordPress: English version (mins 27:00 )
- receive practical advice for your business and social networks
- get clued-in to the critical debate on business benefits and privacy issues
- experience real world networking with practitioners, businesses and students
Hands-on Workshops:
- An introduction to Social Media: Matthew Yeomans, Director, Custom Communications
- Getting Creative with Linux: North Wales Linux User’s Group
Speed Networking in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government’s Local Supplier Development Project
Seminar:
- Peter Westwood, Lead Developer for Wordpress
- Keir Whitaker, Event Manager at Large, Carsonified
- Tarek Cheniti, Saïd Business School, Oxford University
Timetable:
2 – 4pm Workshop
4 – 4.30pm Tea Break
4.30 – 6pm Networking
6 – 6.30pm Buffet
6.30 - 8.30pm Seminar
This session will act as an introduction to the world of social media – how it can be used to reduce costs, increase your marketing reach without breaking the budget and to enhance the effectiveness of your business. The workshop is aimed at individuals and businesses working in the creative industries and other industry sectors who are new to social media.
Workshop Leader: Matthew Yeomans, Director, Custom Communications. http://www.customcommunication.co.uk
Matthew Yeomans is the founder of Custom Communication. He has spent 15 years working with major media companies as a journalist and editorial consultant. Matthew wrote the The Ag, a pioneering news blog for Time.com and his work has been published in National Geographic, The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, Time, Wired, Bon Appetit, Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Golf Magazine and many other publications. He has held the position of senior online editor at The Industry Standard and senior editor at the Village Voice. Matthew’s writing can be found on his personal site, Mateoland.com.
Linux is an alternative operating system which is free to copy and use, and comes with a wealth of free cutting-edge creative applications. This workshop will take you through the process of installing Linux on an old PC, turning it into a computer suitable for basic business use, for next to no cost. The workshop will also look at a few of the creative solutions available for Linux, stepping through a couple of short projects to help get you started.
Workshop Leaders: Phil Thane and Kevin Donnelly from the North Wales Linux User’s Group
The North Wales Linux User’s Group uses a mailing list and occasional meetings for peer-to-peer problem solving and discussion of the latest developments in free and open-source software. To join the mailing-list, and get free advice on all things Linux, go to:
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/northwales/
A social media event wouldn’t be complete without a bit of networking. This session bring you face-to-face with other delegates in a structured but informal networking environment. The session will take the form of speed networking and will be led by the Welsh Assembly Government’s Local Supplier Development Project.
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Seminar
Mandy Rose is Creative Director; Multi-Platform for BBC Wales; with a remit looking at strategy, skills and capacity building, project direction and ideas development for Multi-Platform projects. As Editor of the New Media department in Wales Mandy was responsible for award-winning initiatives with a focus on participatory media including the Capture Wales/Cipolwg ar Gyrmu digital storytelling project, ‘Voices’, a pan-BBC multi-platform investigation of language, accent, and dialect in the UK; and ‘My Science Fiction Life’, a collective biography of science fiction fans for BBC Four. Previously Mandy worked as a producer/director of factual programmes before setting up and co-producing the Video Nation project for BBC2.
Peter Westwood is an experienced software developer with over 5 years hands on experience. After completing his MEng in Software Engineering he took a job with a large multinational corporation developing desktop and embedded software in a variety of languages. He spends much of his spare time working on WordPress – `a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform `. A WordPress user for over 4 years, and a lead WordPress developer for 1 year. As well as working on the core WordPress software he is the developer/maintainer of a growing number of WordPress plugins including wp-contact-form and wp-mime-config. He has a thirst for knowledge and is always keen to get a deeper understanding of a problem and investigate it through to a solution. A keen user of open source software he has experience with a large number of tools and is always looking for new ones to try. He blogs sporadically at http://blog.ftwr.co.uk and http://westi.wordpress.com and when he does venture offline he can often be found taking photos, some of which he shares on flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/westi). He lives in Horsham, West Sussex.
Working with WordPress: How WordPress works and how you can make it work for you
This presentation will offer some insights into the development process of the WordPress open source publishing platform: how it works in practice; how decisions are made; what to expect next from the project; and how you can get involved in the community. We will also explore some of the different ways in which WordPress can be used, looking at levels of customisability and WordPress’s ‘theme’ system, which can be used to extend the design and functionality of a WordPress site.
We will also explore the other open source projects that are part of the WordPress family looking at the ease with which you can integrate the different projects to create a complete site.
Finally we will take a look at ways of using WordPress to generate an income and find paid work, exploring some of the sites and mailing lists which will help you to do this.
Keir started his career as an IT support technician in an East London NHS organisation and progressed to the position of Web Services Manager for a large NHS Trust. After leaving the NHS in 2004 Keir worked as a freelance PHP and Microsoft .Net developer for over three years and undertook a wide variety of projects ranging from small scale publicity sites to online shops and data processing systems for large corporate companies.
In 2007 Keir launched `Workshops For Web People`, a small project aimed at bringing affordable web training to the Midlands and beyond. The first, and ultimately only, workshop took place in Leicester in November 2007 and was run by acclaimed web designer Andy Clarke and was attended by over 40 people from the local area and beyond.
In February 2008 Keir joined Caronified and has been responsible for co-ordinating `Carson Workshops` and the first ever FUEL conference. FUEL is a new event aimed at helping businesses make the most of web based tools to improve how they communicate and interact with their customers. It also looked at themes of openness, transparency, exceptional customer service, grabbing the spotlight and building effective online communities. As part of the programme Keir presented a 30 minute talk called `Cheaponomics`. He has also delivered technical workshops on PHP at Carsonified HQ in Bath.
Outside of work Keir is challenged daily by his one year old daughter but still finds time to occasionally tinker with his own projects.
Presentation
We are led to believe that a company`s most valued assets are its products and services. Whilst this may have been the case some years ago it`s becoming increasingly apparent that an organisation is defined by it`s culture and the personalities that work in it. Technology has enabled us to be increasingly open about the way in which we work and allows us to give glimpses into office life, ask for feedback as well as talk about upcoming products.
Allowing your customers to engage in your business can have a hugely positive impact. From generating ideas for new products or services to encouraging people to talk positively about your work `social media` enables us to enter into meaningful dialogue with customers and `fans` in a new and exciting way. By being open, transparent and admitting when things go wrong we are moving into a new age of interaction with customers.
Using examples from Carsonified and beyond this presentation will discuss ways in which any business, regardless of size, can and should embrace the new breed of online social media applications without delay.
The slides of Keir`s presentation are available at SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/keirwhitaker/northern-bloc-presentation-presentation
Tarek Cheniti is a final year doctoral student in Science and Technology Studies at the Said Business School. His research looks at the governance of the Internet- particularly the intersection between policymaking and practices of self-governance in everyday use. It examines two main sites: the UN Internet Governance Forum- a multilateral body which brings together government officials, business representatives and civil society activists; and Second Life- a virtual reality where issues of governance and standard-setting are prominent. The research engages with and assesses the value of current ways of understanding the governance of cyberspace. Instead of looking at it as a process of decision-making and law-enforcement, it suggests that governance is crafted in mundane practices which do not necessarily reflect institutional structures. Thus, the research aims at improving our understanding of how governance takes place in technological applications which are too personalised to be subjected to top-down control, but too pervasive to be left to individual judgement.
Tarek has previously served as a consultant for the United Nations in the context of the World Summit of the Information Society (Tunis 2005). He also had short-term professional experiences with the European Union, the international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, and a number of corporations. He holds a Masters degree in the analysis, design and management of information systems from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor’s degree in international trade from the Institute of Higher Commercial Studies in Carthage, Tunisia.
My other life: a critical take on social media
Despite persistent claims about the effects and capabilities of new social media, little is known on why, by whom and within what limits they are taken up. These questions are important for three main reasons. First, social media are often expected to generate new ways of socializing, but we still need to understand the kind of circumstances which facilitate or inhibit their use. Second, the private sector is increasingly investing in these technologies, but we are not sure whether a significant difference to the nature and practice of business is actually being made. Last, governments are warning us against the potentially harmful effects of social media, but we do not know whether it is possible (and if so, what it really takes) to regulate them.
In this presentation I argue for the importance of addressing these questions from a perspective which maintains a working skepticism with respect to the attributes and possibilities of social media. Drawing upon empirical work in policy circles and on Second Life, I examine the ways in which we (i.e. users and practitioners of social media) have been configured to think in particular ways about their opportunities and risks. The objective of this talk is not to present a dystopian view of new media, but to critically engage with claims and promises which are usually left unquestioned. I thus identify two main topics of particular salience for the seminar- governance and networks- and provide an illustration of how we can better understand the uptake and use of social media by looking into the day-to-day experience of ordinary users.
The talk concludes that, even though a significant change in our social relations is associated with virtual networking, the nature and direction of that change is neither universal (i.e. uniformly experienced by all individuals) nor predictable. We therefore need to keep an open mind about whether and how social media are transforming our experience of society.
Arts Council of Wales, Conwy County Borough Council / Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy
