The Wisdom of Crowds:Developing Digital CitiesDave HarteBirmingham City UniversityDigital Birminghamdave@daveharte.comhttp://daveharte.com@daveharte

Birmingham Second Life Island

Making Birmingham a digital city for everyone.

Digital Cities - some ingredients

First, some theory

Ingredient 1: A desire to talk about things

Ingredient 2: A social culture

Ingredient 3: Data

Policy Matters

Ingredient 4: Some ‘big stuff’ to get angry about

Some theory:We know nothing about the future of technology

http://davidszondy.com/future/futurepast.htm

McLuhan: Users shape technology use

Future users:Here’s what 4 year olds know - a screen that ships without a mouse ships broken

Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky Cognitive Surplus

“Desperate Housewives essentially functioned as a kind of cognitive heat sink, dissipating thinking that might otherwise have built up and caused society to overheat”

Clay Shirky – Cognitive Surplus

“Someone working alone, with really cheap tools, has a reasonable hope of carving out enough of the cognitive surplus, enough of the desire to participate, enough of the collective goodwill of the citizens, to create a resource you couldn't have imagined existing even five years ago.”

Some theory

Let’s not predict technology use

Users are a resource

Little bits of time to create amazing things

Ingredient 1

A DESIRE TO TALK ABOUT THINGS

Thriving blogging scene

Ingredient 2

A SOCIAL CULTURE

WXWM - impromptu, self-organising

Social Media Surgeries

http://bevocal.org.uk

• BeVocal gives gentle introductions to using data in new ways

• Aimed at enhancing understanding of new ways to use internet tools

Ingredient 3

DATA

Timely Information

“RAW DATA NOW”

My raw data

Hacking the City

Timely Information for Citizens

Pilot project ‘Birmingham Open City’

National & International profile for local stuff

Some Policy - UK

Creative BritainWe’re better than anyone else, well done.

Ofcom Public Service Broadcasting reviewPeople value quality. Quality public broadcasting can be online.

Power of InformationPublic sector meets active citizenshipPush to free up data

The Policy Context

Digital BritainLet’s get the pipes in place

Policy recognising shift:that’s helpful

Digital Inclusion matters“Increased awareness would lead to more people engaging in digital participation. Building awareness of what it is possible to do quickly and easily online could encourage greater participation.”

(Ofcom Citizen Participation research)

Ingredient 4

SOME ‘BIG STUFF’ TO GET ANGRY ABOUT

HACKING THE CITY

A digital opportunity:

Cognitive surplus + Raw Data = new and exciting area of the digital economy

It’s a business opportunity

But, there’s going to be a fight

Commerce

Economic Development

Professionals

High margins

Professional Pride

Corporate culture

Networking culture

Charity

Cultural Development

Amateur

Free

Civic Pride

Grassroots culture

Social Culture

A new digital workforce

In small companiesIn public sectorIn bedrooms

NetworkedShowing off

Creating the conditions for a Digital City

It is all about the crowd (users, workers, brokers)

pic: peteashton

Creating the conditions for a Digital City

In-fighting, bickering - it’s all good fun

pic: peteashton

Summary

Ingredient 1: A desire to talk about things

Ingredient 2: A social culture

Ingredient 3: Data

Ingredient 4: Some ‘big stuff’ to get angry about

= a messy, exciting digital city

Thank you