Get AmbITion! Communicate, collaborate, create and celebrate getting digital in the arts.

  1. Getting Digital Roadshow North (Inverness)

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    This event will be broadcast live 9.40am - 2.25pm!

    We would like to invite you to a day of exploration, exposition, conversation and critical thinking around the digital opportunities for organisations as you think about artistic practice, organisational and audience development and business models in our digital age. Gain practical hands on experience of the Web 2.0 environment with hands-on sessions to inspire and provoke creative thinking on how to integrate Web 2.0 into your organisation. The Roadshow will showcase some of the most exciting models via talks, masterclasses and practical immersive sessions, and show you how to use them to their full potential.

    This Inverness Roadshow is the first of four similar events happening across Scotland between March and June this year. The day will feature keynote speaker Bill Thompson, freelance writer and consultant who works with the BBC; case studies from Jane Hogg, Arts and Theatre’s Trust Fife and Jamie Wooldridge, Ludus Dance and Public Arts at Lancaster University (incorporating The Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster Concerts Series and the Peter Scott Gallery). Plus workshops in Intellectual Property from Intellectual Assets Centre and their partner for this event Euan Duncan of McClure Naismith; Digital Video from New Media Scotland; and See and be Seen, Hear and be Heard with Inner Ear. For the full days agenda, take a look at the PDF below.

    AmbITion Roadshow NorthThis event is free and is open to all arts organisations and individuals interested in digital development who wish to attend.

    AmbITion Roadshow North The morning keynote and case studies will be eventcast live on the web 9.40am - 2.25pm. Please register to attend in-person or online.

    AmbITion Roadshow North info PDFDownload Getting Digital Roadshow North (Inverness) agenda, speaker biographies and links PDF.

  2. Social Networking as used by a Social Media Enthusiast

    From: http://getambition.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/ambition-north-east-roadshow-%E2%80%93-tyneside-cinema-participation-workshop/

    This article is an excerpt of a live blog of the Participation Masterclass with OurManInside aka Christian Payne at the AmbITion North East Roadshow of 5th March.

    Just introduced him and we’re off!

    He’s just asked us to make sure mobile phones are on and Twitterers tweeting. Excellent!

    Did lots of media, travelled 65 countries but wanted to get into photography. Got to work on his local paper when photographer was injured.

    Chose an iconic image and chose the photograph of Che Guevera taken by Alberto Korda “to hide behind”.

    Pointed us to OurManInside.com and is talking about using WordPress as a platform for aggregating blogs, video and other social media. Mentioned using free Revolution Theme by Brian Gardner.

    Started out travelling to Iraq to cover the war as he didn’t believe the news.

    Now sharing about a ‘Crash!’, a blog post that started life when he twittered a video after a car crash.

    Within minutes of the crash, was approached with a crane to help remove car, offers for a fund to help replace car.

    Learnt from that about the importance of sharing about his life on life – there are people out there willing to help you.

    Now passing round a Kodak ZI6 camera which he uses to grab, engage and promote content. Also using the Nokia N95 as his main work tool. (yes he would like a free one please!)

    You can do everything from a mobile phone, you don’t need to edit…

    Top tip: Dabr.co.uk

    He doesn’t do Facebook though. “Not Google-searchable and you need to go on a course to learn how to use the Privacy controls!”

    @Documentally’s Tool Kit: Twitter, WordPress, Flickr, 12 seconds, Qik, Viddler, YouTube, Phreadz, Bambuser.

    Really likes Twitter because you can check out people’s credibility – eg he can check out a plumber and find out how good he is.

    Quite happy to put stuff on Flickr, it grows his network and he can use a tool to find out wherever his pictures are being used in the world. Not concerned about people ’stealing his pictures’, uses Creative Commons licences.

    Was able to invoice a newspaper when he discover that they were using his picture!

    Talking about Qik and Bambuser whilst interviewing the Prime Minster.

    Costs =

    £20 for WordPress theme because he wanted to give credit to the theme designer

    £20/year for Flickr

    Seesmic, so many different applications, sign up and try them…

    Question from the floor: What about Vimeo? Likes Viddler because he met the founders, agrees Vimeo is very nice too.

    Is able to get jobs like going out to the Middle East to do work on refugee crisis just from “throwing stuff online”.

    Phreadz – drag videos from the web and have conversations around it. Link to, have discussions around, embed…

    Universities now using it to allow students and lecturers to share video, incredibly popular. Still in private beta however.

    12 seconds.tv – ‘record a 12 second update’

    ‘How to do a 12’ lesson – Don’t ever speak over 12 seconds!

    If you want to talk about what you’re doing… try to get involved in conversations.

    Restaurant in London using 12 seconds to film their special of the day. Also film the making of it, really doing well from it!

    Discovered that if he spent life with a hood over his head he wouldn’t be able to make as much out of his life.

    Now has two monitors, one for work and one for friends. Can communicate with friends and switch on and off when he wants to (and they want to). Has a vastly improved social life from becoming a video blogger.

    Read the rest here: Christian Payne’s Participation workshop at the AmbITion North East Roadshow.

  3. If you missed it… Digital Marketing Re:Connected Remembered!

    {Article originally posted to AmbITion Extranet by Adrian Slatcher}

    For the arts content is always king, so it was great to see a wide range of the North West’s arts organisations revelling in a day of cutting edge digital content on Monday. I was the organiser, so I’m not pretending to be an impartial witness, but the day seemed to go down well with everyone.

    First up was Vito Rocco, who’s forthcoming movie, a low budget British rom-com called “Faintheart” is out early next year. A traditional film in many ways, what was unusual was the support that came from Myspace in both the production process and the marketing. Before the movie was made, some of the casting was done via homemade videos; whilst during the filming the “making of” rushes were uploaded to Myspace. Perhaps even more interesting, the launch of the movie will see a “heart map” where free premieres will take place where the most fans of the movie congregate. Vito said that he’d be interested in using the internet more collaboratively in the future, perhaps through development of a portmanteau movie or similar.

    Complementing Vito was Marcus Romer who is artistic director at Pilot Theatre in York. Their Second Life presence allows them to do set design in a virtual space, cheaply and easily as well as allowing streaming.

    Because the arts sometimes doesn’t get to see the cutting edge, two “mavericks” had been invited along: Hugh Hancock author of “Machinima for Dummies” showed us how to make a short animation in “World of Warcraft” – the popular online RPG, and finally Christian Payne uber-blogger and social-media maven inspired everyone with his can-do approach to social media, wherever his in the world.

    By the afternoon workshops we were all ready to have a go for ourselves. CJ Lyon showed us how to create a mobile phone “swarm” using “swarmteams”, an easy way of connecting a group of people via SMS and the web, and Old Trafford’s Lets Go Global helped us make a short film in an hour. Ok it was more Granada Reports than Citizen Kane, but, still!

    In true social media stylee, we twittered, flickrd and live streamed the video. So you can relive some of the excitement…

    http://www.manchesterdda.com/2008/10/27/digital-content-reconnected-event-live-blog/

  4. Watching it Online: mobile video, HD video

    {Article originally posted to AmbITion Extranet by Hannah Rudman}

    Christian Payne made this excellent video – on his mobile phone – of his day in Manchester, speaking at AmbITion’s latest networking/training event: Digital Content re:connected.

    Christian spent all day with his mobile in hand, capturing soundbytes and conversations. One of his observations about videoing with mobile is that people are far more natural and open when faced with a tiny phone camera than they are when a big lens and mic are presented, and this lovely personal and reflective video proves it!
    Also check out the live blog archive and Twitter stream from the day. Over 40 people enjoyed the event live, with over 200 tuning in via the web stream.

    Abandoning TV altogether, MSN and Endemol have launched Kirill, an interactive online sci-fi show. The Kirill series will run for ten episodes of three minutes each, following the stories of two characters living in a mysterious world. the content is free, bumpered with advertising – and as ever with online content, extremely context aware advertising – in this case, X-Box 360.

    Produced by Endemol and Pure Grass Films the show will screen in High Definition through Microsoft Silverlight technology (Mac users get the plug-in via Firefox).The HD quality may be the missing link that some arts organisations have been waiting for the web to deliver before they were prepared to show video and audio online.

    Kirill watchers will be invited to get involved with the show through character blogs, videos and audio films, which will be hidden across the web. Secret websites will also be created to help watchers decipher clues about the plot and characters. This looks like the mainstreaming of Alternative Reality Games – ARGs – into interactive and interesting popular content. Its a brilliant way to empower people to use the web creatively and fully.

  5. Video: AmbITion Nuggets in a Nutshell: Christian Payne, Particpation 2.0 Masterclass

    Christian Payne, AKA @documentally and OurManInside.com offers up his 3 tips for digital engagement from his masterclass, Participation 2.0 at the AmbITion Roadshows 2009.

Scottish Arts Council Culture Sparks Rudman Consulting Arts Council England