Thinking Digital Day 2

So as a first timer to Thinking Digital I had no idea what to expect and wow! The speakers today have covered everything from branding to gadgets, music to animation, partical physics to comedy and from the death of cyberspace to the eternity of perfume! It’s been a roller coaster ride so far and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

My highlights from the day include:

Paul Miller from the School of Everything was the first speaker of the day, and yet it is still some of his words that echo in my head at the end. Paul challenged us to think about how technology could be used to change the ‘real world’, including addressing big problems such as hunger and poverty. He also illustrated how education has somehow managed to escape the natural evolution of things, using outdated systems which don’t respond to current need. Lastly he talked about the fact that when the internet first came about, people thought of it as a physical place - cyberspace - whereas now we have almost come full circle, with our involvement in social networks like Twitter and gatherings like Twestival encouraging to socialise in the’real world’ again. On of Paul’s final statements was fantastic - ‘Cyberspace is dead. Long live Meetspace’. I agree completely!

The next person who really aght my attention was our sonsored speaker, Simone Brunozzi of Amazon Web Services. An evangelist for Cloud Computing and all things Open Source, Simone had my attention right from the off when he explained that he got his job through Second Life. The concept of not only doing away with face to face interviewing but also with phone, Skype, livecasting etc and engaging purely through virtual reality settings (well in the first instance anyway!) really got my attention. Simone’s explanation of Cloud Computing also really brought the concept home to me as a ‘non-techie’ when he talked about Utility Computing. The idea that once upon a time each factory generated it’s own power, took on it’s own expenses, risks and repairs. Then someone sugested one big power station serving several factories, which also meant that if one generator was in need of repair, things could still keep going. The shared resource was of benefit to everyone. Simone summarised everything that is good about Cloud Computing and Open Source quite nicely when he said ‘it’s easy to get support when there is a community built up around the product or resource’, if we work together, great things can happen.

‘You are your brand, so what are you gonna do to make me love you?’ was the challenge from Alex Hunter of Virgin. His talk focused on the role of the consumer and the changing face of marketing in a digital world. For example, no longer do people connect with brands - hey connect with people. Social networking means you have to really take risks and put yourself behind your brand and your product and show you care to get people’s attention. He also talked about how important it is to realise what message you give to the world, when potentially with viral marketing you could be talking to a million people and the click of a button. Definitely food for thought!

Last but by no means least I really have to give it up for The Sancho Plan. Amazing. I don’t really know what else to say! The Sancho Plan is a unique blend of music, animation and live performance which is just astounding and really has to be seen to be believed. I recommend checking them out for yourself (www.thesanchoplan.com) - you won’t be disappointed.

Our thanks to Herb Kim and the rest of the team at Codeworks for a fantastic conference so far, although no doubt i’ll be saying it again tomorrow!

by Leia Bassett

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