Simon’s Blog (the official one)

Given that there are only 24 hours in a day, I have had to stop blogging here. I am now spending all my spare time on the ColaLife Campaign and I am now blogging over on the ColaLife blog. See you there!

The Future Choices - Live & Local conference was something to be proud of with well over 300 people descending on the market town of Skipton, with ruralnet|uk’s inclusion objectives at least partially fulfilled by the parallel, and on-going, online activity happening at futurechoices.ruralnet.org.uk.

For ruralnet|uk, the journey to Skipton began in November 2007 when I met up again with Andy Tordoff at the BURA Awards and Andy asked if we (ruralnet|uk) would be able to repeat the Yorkshire Forward/ruralnet|uk double act of 2005 and work together again to deliver ruralnet|2008 in Yorkshire. Well, a lot has happened since then. Over the last nine months we’ve moved from running a stand-alone event, to running a stand-alone event back to back with the Action For Market Towns convention, to a merger of the two events. This provided more choice for delegates over 2, rather than 3 days

Before I go into some of the highlights for me I must thank everyone involved for their unwaivering support and ‘can do’ attitude as we ploughed through the different delivery options. Key to ruralnet|uk being able to pull this off was the partnership with Yorkshire Forward throughout. It was also brilliant that the Co-operative Bank, supporters of the ruralnet|uk conferences over many years, were happy to stay with us on this journey.

So what were the highlights for me? And please bear in mind that I couldn’t be everywhere and so I know I missed some really good stuff which I am now catching up with online.

Let’s start with day 2 with Rhona Pringle’s presentation (see photo) of a very innovative piece of work on ‘Market Towns of the Future’ which presented some potential scenarios, some negative some positive. The presentation is backed up by a significant body of work which is encapsulated in a beautifully produced report (which unfortunately I cannot find online). The objective of the work was to ensure that the right decisions are made for the future of market towns in Yorkshire and Humber but it will be of benefit to all regions in the UK.

The joint event was a lot less interactive than ruralnet|uk conferences are with a lot less time for networking. “Where are the networking boards” one person asked!

Reflecting on Day 1, the opening plenary was chaired by Catherine Hammant , the Chair of Action for Market towns, and was packed full of interesting content. Including:

• A presentation from John Craven
• A video address from Matthew Taylor
• A presentation from Terry Hodgkinson, the Chairman of Yorkshire Forward
• My attempt at a bit of interactivity - Rural Britain a 2020 Vision

In the afternoon, Catherine handed the baton to ruralnet|uk’s Chair, Simon Bland, and we heard from:

• Carole Manley, Mayor of Skipton
• Marcia, Chair of craven District Council
• Andy Tordoff of Yorkshire Forward

You can watch these presenations here. Matthew Taylor also expanded on this address through a Q & A session with me which you can watch here. If you have any questions for Matthew please ask them in the online networking area (you’ll need to register - but it’s very quick).

In my session I attempted to extract a collective vision of rural Britain in 2020 from all those in the room. This came as a bit of a shock for some - people weren’t really expecting to have to DO anything!

Anyway, at the end of the 20 minute session, we collected some 235 pieces of paper with people’s views expressed in words and pictures. These will be brought together online over the next couple of weeks and opened up for others to comment and contribute (watch this space). The aim is to come up with a vision that more than 1000 people have contributed to.

Anyway, for those of you weren’t there, there’s a chance to see what went on and watch many of the presentations online here. We’ve also captured some of the reactions from delegates. We will be continuing to upload material over the next week or so, so please re-visit.

A special thanks to all the staff involved from both AMT and ruralnet|uk including those who were unable to attend and kept things moving back at base.

It’s been great working with AMT on this joint event. Geting to know each other better and mixing our networks will inevitably lead to more and better collaboration into the future.

It’s all coming together for the ruralnet|uk conference tomorrow. Everyone can join in online for the (FREE) online version of the event unfolding here: futurechoices.ruralnet.org.uk. This is a real attempt at inclusion and people engaging online will get some material that it won’t be possible to cover at the face to face event in Skipton (1-2/10/08). This includes an interview with Matthew Taylor talking to me about his recent report to the Prime Minister on rural issues. The site also supports interaction and networking - Matthew Taylor himself is in there poised to answer your questions!

We are also quietly launching ruralnet|online 2.0 which many of the people reading this will have helped us co-design at the beginnging of the year (see ruralnetonline.org.uk). As you’d expect from the brain power applied to the design, ruralnet|online 2.0, is a bit special. It takes a new and completely different approach to online networking. It is a true attempt to build an online network from the bottom up. Enabling people to operate online AND pulling together all the good stuff already going on.

In summary, if you are working for the good of rural people and places we will give you free webspace and support to help you operate effectively online and complement the other threads of your work. So we empower you to do what you want to do. While you are doing this, we automatically pull in the new activity into the ‘ruralnet|online dashboard‘ (pictured). The dashboard is a bit like the homepage of any online network EXCEPT that the content is nearly all dynamic and represents the activities of the network. If you click on the screenshot you will be taken to an annotated version of the dashboard image explaining this in more detail.

But, I hear you cry, things like Drupal and Ning do this already. Well they nearly do but in contrast with these systems, ruralnet|online users are free to control all aspects of their independent webspaces and we can even pull relevant content from non-ruralnet|online sites into the ‘ruralnet|online dashboard‘. So, you don’t even have to be using ruralnet|online webspace to be part of the ruralnet|online network.

Please take a look at the pilot websites already in place here - there are a range: a classic website; two websites supporting events; a service (RuSource); a blog (this one).

Any questions? Take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions.

Thanks again to everyone inside and outside ruralnet|uk who helped us pull this off.

The report on ‘Next generation Broadband’ by Francesco Caio has just been published and recognises the need for a framework that will encourage community action. Malcolm Corbett of the Community Broadband Network (CBN) summarises below. As I have said previously, it is crucial that communities are give a clear framework so that they can mobilise with confidence.

As I am sure you know earlier this year the Government commissioned a review into Next Generation broadband led by Francesco Caio, former CEO of Cable & Wireless. The review, published today [12/9/09], finds that in the ’short term the case for major government intervention is weak’ but there are no grounds for complacency - ‘government should act now to support investment in NGA (Next generation Access)’. The report goes on to recognise the big role that local communities can play in facilitating next generation broadband deployment.

CBN welcomes the report. We are very pleased that the review recommends a role for us in creating the framework in which local projects can develop and flourish. We look forward to working with government, other public sector agencies, the private sector and community organisations to help turn these recommendations into reality and thus ensure that Britain remains at the forefront of the broadband revolution.

The press release and review summary can be downloaded here

This is the key extract about local projects from the Executive Summary:

Create the conditions to favour the development of new investment models.
The construction of a new access network creates the opportunity to adopt new business and investment models and, in particular, local open access networks. There are more than 300 such schemes across Europe, and Sweden, with a quarter of its broadband provided by fibre, has 200. Some of these are funded by householders providing a high up-front installation fee, sometimes funded from additional borrowing on their mortgage, recognising the potential impact of the new infrastructure on the value of the home.

Such networks warrant attention since they can play an important part in the overall broadband picture, and there are several examples in the UK. Such developments might though be threatened by fragmentation if their technical standards are different and they therefore present a barrier to service providers to utilise their infrastructure. There are two relevant recommendations.

• Establishing standards for local NGA developments. In order to maximise the opportunities for scale deployment, local access networks across the country can organise to standardise technical requirements and present a coherent front to service providers. The Government should ask the Community Broadband Network to organise such a development.
• Directing Government support towards open access networks. Where local or regional authorities are investing in broadband, the Government should amend its guidance so that central government support is conditional on the scheme complying with the open access standard. Where they are privately funded, Ofcom should consider the introduction of a ‘must carry, must Connect’ rule, whereby local access networks cannot unreasonably refuse to carry a service provider, and service providers cannot reasonably refuse to make their service available through the local network, provided this complies with the open access standard.

Regards,
Malcolm

Malcolm Corbett
CEO
Community Broadband Network
EMail: M.Corbett@broadband-uk.coop
Phone: +44 845 456 2466
Mobile: +44 7770 896534
Skype: malcolmcorbett
Web: www.broadband-uk.coop

Back at the beginning of the year we noticed that there were two conferences with a rural theme planned to take place in Yorkshire in the autumn, ours and Action for Market Towns‘ Convention. I contacted our friends at AMT and suggested that we try and link the events up in some way.

Working with AMT was not going to be difficult as we had an ongoing relationship and many common goals. We’ve been talking for a while about how we could deliver our Experts Online service to AMT members and we are currently working on the new AMT website which will move AMT into the Web 2.0 world and empower each person within the AMT team and enable them to take control of their part of AMT’s online presence.

So, with the blessing of our partners, Yorkshire Forward, we moved ruralnet|2008 back a week so that it could run back-to-back with AMT’s convention over three days in the market town of Skipton. This provided the opportunity for a ‘Town Meets Country’ slot in the middle where the two conferences could overlap.

Well. One thing leads to another. As we have developed our own events it has become increasingly clear that it would be sensible to merge the events by compressing the content of both events into two days and not spread it across three. Many people were interested in the content of both events but were unable to commit to three days. Now AMT members will have access to additional workshops on local energy, local food and local retail. ruralnet|uk delegates will be able to participate in AMT’s study tours. All delegates will be able to be a part of my participative Rural Britain 2020 session. The full programme is here.

This development means we can put more investment into the online element of the event which will enable those who can’t afford the conference fee to participate completely free of charge. The online element of ‘Future Choices - Live and Local’ is already in place and is open to everybody and the networking and knowledge transfer has already started. You are invited to get involved. We have exciting plans for the online element of the event including a Q&A session with Matthew Taylor on the ‘Taylor Report’ and more.

If you are looking for the Coca-Cola campaign blog, the details are here.

OR go straight to the Facebook Group.

I am very pleased about this. Another first for a rural development conference in the UK. This will get the face-to-face networking at this year’s event off to a flying start.

We invite anyone to come and join us on the ruralnet|2008 crowdvine and invite your friends. It only takes a few moments to sign up and you can build your own network of friends, message them or comment on their profile, ask them questions - there’s already a car sharing conversation going on.

Please join us whether you’re coming to the conference or not.

This competition has really got me thinking . . . . here’s another idea.

What is your idea’s name
Neighbourhood Watch Widget
A short description of your idea
Making neighbourhood watch groups more effective by improving communications between members themselves and the police service.
Describe your idea. How does it work and who does it help?
Widgets are small areas on a website or blog which deliver information or services provided by a trusted third party. A good example is the JustGiving Fundraising Widget. This widget is tailored for the particular fundraiser and can be placed on his/her own website. The widget shows a progress bar (amount raised vs target), the comments made by the last 3 donors, information about the charity and a button to donate. See http://ruralnet.typepad.com/pride2007/ for an example

Neighbourhood Watch Groups are very effective at reducing crime, the fear of crime and increasing community cohesion. However they face real communication challenges especially when a large proportion of the community works away from the community (eg in rural areas) or do not have email or who are not online (eg the older members of the community living on their own).

The Neighbourhood Watch widget would deliver the following functionality to every community website, blog or neighbourhood watch website that wanted it. Its availability may even stimulate the creation of new community websites. This is what it would do:

1 - Allow website visitors to log incidents: petty crime, anti-social behaviour and suspicious activity in the neighbourhood
2 - Allow visitors to the website to register to receive notifications of such incidents in the following formats: email; RSS; SMS text to their mobile phone; SMS text-to-voice to their landline phone; via twitter
3 - Allow registered visitors to turn the notification facility off or pause it
3 - Display the last 5 incidents reported in the neighborhood
4 - Have a ‘Get Your Own Widget’ button which would take visitors to the central ‘widget generator’ and allow them to specify their location and get their own widget for their own website
5 - When someone registered an incident the widget would send the details to the Police. To do this the widget would need real-time access to Government data
6 - A beat officer (ha!) or Community Support Officer could also register to receive notifications to their mobile phones when they were on duty in a particular neighbourhood
7 - The widget would also indicate that if they are reporting an emergency they should call 999!

I’ve just submitted an idea into the competition recently announced by the  Power of Information Task Force - ‘Show Us a Better Way‘ - tell us what you’d build with public information and we could help fund your idea! Here’s the idea:

What is your idea’s name
The Widget Factory
A short description of your idea
Getting Governmnet Information and Services closer to citizens through existing websites serving communities of location and interest.
Describe you idea. How does it work and who does it help?
Widgets are small areas on a website or blog which deliver information or services provided by a trusted third party. A good example is the JustGiving Fundraising Widget. This widget is tailored for the particular fundraiser and can be placed on his/her own website. The widget shows a progress bar (amount raised vs target), the comments made by the last 3 donors, information about the charity and a button to donate. See http://ruralnet.typepad.com/pride2007/ for an example.

The Widget factory would demonstrate this approach for two or three Government Services with the objective of getting this idea ‘mainstreamed’ so that all future online Government services had a ‘make your own widget’ facility that could be used on a ’self-serve’ basis by bloggers or those who maintain websites for communities of location or practice.

We would ‘go with the stones that rolled’ and work with the Government Departments that were willing to collaborate but ideally would like to produce two widgets:

1 - ‘Tell Us Once’ about the birth of you child. This widget would be designed to be placed on any website where parents already gather: eg NetMums; Nursery and Schools websites etc
2 - The crime stats widget. We are always told that the fear of crime is higher than is warranted by the statistics. This widget would filter national statistics for a particular geographic area or interest group (eg older people) and display them next to the national average figures. This widget could be used on websites serving a particular geographic community or a particular target group (eg older people).

Let’s see what happens. Comment on this idea on the showusabetterway website.

I was pleased to be invited to the launch of the Commission for Rural Communities’ (CRC’s) 10th Annual ‘State of the Countryside’ report at the RSA on Wednesday.

The CRC had taken an interesting approach to the launch by inviting people from outside the rural sector to give short presentations. These were:

• Tony Travers, Director of the London School of Economics
• Joe Saxton, nfpSynergy
• Anthony Walker, CEO, Broadband Stakeholders Group

I know Joe and Anthony and both gave very interesting presentations. But it was Anthony’s remarks about ‘next generation broadband’ that really struck and chord.

He spoke using ‘average statistics’ and indicated that ‘things weren’t too bad’ in rural areas with respect to access to ADSL. And this is true but it’s very unfortunate if you are one of the ‘have nots’ like my Sister-in-Law.

Anthony also mentioned BT’s recent announcement (15/7/08) regarding the ‘UK’s largest ever investment in Super-Fast Broadband‘. Anthony said that he thought that the only hope for rural areas if it is to keep up and not get left behind, is collective community action. I couldn’t agree more.

But we have been here before. In 2002 ruralnet|uk and the Phone Co-op were the joint founders of the ‘Community Broadband Network‘ (CBN) this joined up amazing, community-led initiatives that were taking a DIY approach to internet access. This community action was triggered by the statement from BT at the time that they were not going to upgrade many exchanges in rural areas. CBN was growing fast and was not only providing a broadband service in their communities but also triggering all sorts of other community activity . . . shelters for young people, local history projects, community websites, community TV and so on.

However on 27/4/04 BT announced it was going to enable the majority of rural exchanges after all. Although this was probably good news at the time for most rural residents it completely undermined the community broadband projects. Only the very strongest of them survived. This was a huge loss. The sad thing is that these communities were delivering the broadband of the future (ADSL through telephone exchanges was always a stop-gap measure, a mechanism to keep BT relevant in the broadband market).

Now it looks like the only way rural areas are going to keep up is if they mobilise yet again and help themselves. Many will be reluctant given recent experience.

BT’s announcement of huge investments in Super-Fast Broadband is conditional and I quote: “Plans dependent on regulatory regime and certainty“. Well I think community mobilisation should be conditional too.

We need a clear strategy so that organisations like ruralnet|uk can mobilise and support communities with some certainty that the rug is not going to be pulled from under their feet (again).

Related articles:

The villagers of Vindeln, in remote northern Sweden, are digging up their own roads to lay fiber so that every resident can have broadband access.

Other broadband related articles in this blog.