@DigiShoreditch
Last week I was fortunate enough to get an invite to the Digital Shoreditch Summit. But first, I’ll tell you a little about what Digital Shoreditch actually is…
Now, if Silicon Valley (& SXSW) is the forefront of digital innovation in the States, then Digital Shoreditch, is based in the aptly named ‘Silicon Roundabout’, and endeavours to be the forefront of Digital creativity.
With this being the first year in existence, I didn’t really know what to expect when attending the Summit on the Friday. The event itself had been running throughout the week with a number of events, workshops and talks, such as Gamification, Digital to Analogue and back again and right down to the ‘Geek Off’ pub quiz - there was something to cater for pretty much everyone’s tastes. More here
Anyway… back to the summit, arriving for 8.30am in Tower Hill was no mean feat, I’d managed to postpone some work duties for the day and head down for the event. (Big thanks to Inferno for their support on that one). The aim of the event itself was to bring together some of digital’s finest talent with the hopes of creating a community that far exceeds the ability of an individual, and it was just that. Talent.
The first thing I should say is that there was so much going on throughout the day that I’m going to talk about the bits that stood out for me.
The morning’s events kicked off with the usual meet & greet, although there was a little twist… make of it what you will, but I always find these things to be a little bit gimmicky but in the spirit of things I contributed…
Networking was of course encouraged and on the way in pictures were taken for the ‘dating wall’ - a wall of mugshots of everyone in attendance that you could arrange convenient times to meet up outside of lectures.
After an introduction from Kam Star (One of the founders of Digital Shoreditch) the event kicked into full swing. There were a number of top speakers from the likes of Matt Hawn fom Last.FM, Macolm Poynton from Sapient Nitro & Michael Acton Smith from MindCandy and many others. Talking about topics from music metrics to Moshi Monsters. The most interesting statement of the morning for me, came from Jon Kingsbury of NESTA when talking about how technology can improve our public services: “1/3 of all CO2 emissions are trying to find a parking space”. Now there’s a problem to solve… the solution: Parkopedia
People were encouraged to make notes and ironic statements on the ‘paper’ table cloths and these were later used as a gallery for all those who participated in the event… and yes, that’s a perfect representation of me right there).
First up was Android developer, Kevin McDonagh from Novoda talking about his British Council funded trip to China and the similarities he found in the start-up culture emerging there. A hugely expanding market that has an endless supply of desire.
Andrew Brown from the Leeds Agency: Brass who fell into ‘digital’ as he needed a ‘proper job’ starting out with designing graphics for the likes of the Spectrum ZX, a lovely trip down memory lane.
One of the guys from RJDJ, who introduced us (despite technological failures) to their new iPhone app which is aptly named ‘RJDJ’ and creates personalised music based around gesture controls. My advice would be to use it in private - it’s not the most social app. (you can find out more here). Oh and Theinceptionapp.com – totally mind blowing stuff, you really need to check out for yourself if I’m honest.
Lauren Dyer from Stink Digital cleverly took us through the background of what it was they were about in typical A-Z fashion. Finishing seconds before her time was up. I have never seen anyone speak so fast, that being said it was an amusing ride along the way. Even if I can only remember that ‘Z’ was for Zelous.
One of the girls from Tonic Music – who informed us of the biggest & coolest tracks coming out in the near future… cleverly, everything about them and their latest releases you can find on their FourSquare Brand page.
Chi Hang Li from Special Moves was the probably best presentation of all in my opinion... Less ‘presentation-a-fied’ in short. He spoke about his passion for gaming and that the future success in gaming was down to minimalist controls & simple design. Think about now, with the advancement of technology, how actually complicated & intricate games are becoming, when the likes of the Megadrive only ever relied upon A,B,C & the D-pad. This is perhaps where iPhones are succeeding, by only using pure basic necessities of control. Probably why angry birds is doing so well, eh?
One of the games he mentioned was Cow Clicker, a craze that had exploded through the internet and formed somewhat of a Cult where you customize a cow and click on your it once every X amount of hours to unlock prizes. Although it’s hugely successful, I refuse to check it out, as I tend to have an addictive nature when it comes to games.
After Pecha Kucha, it was back to the main room, where all the tables had been moved round, (which honestly confused the hell out of me) for some hardcore presentations from some of the top industry folk.
First up was Vassilios Alexiou from Less Rain - who spoke about their latest project for Landrover called Being Henry, a high-end finished, almost independent film-style piecem which helped you make the decisions to spec out your perfect Range Rover. A lovely visual piece and experience to play with but a lot of hard work with a relatively low pay off. He also spoke about one of their earlier projects, Vandal Squad, which, although initially fuelled and created by Less Rain has since been passed on and now become a fully self-sustaining project where Graffiti is championed and documented online.
Jon Andrews, Creative Technologist from BBH London – who mainly likes to fiddle around with things and make them work in new and exciting ways such as prototyping, hacking and ultimately playing.
His main point was that there is three ways technology can evolve… You can be the first to create it, enhance an existing technology and making it better or combining technologies to make some new & unique. In his opinion the most exciting and biggest opportunities lay in pushing the boundaries of existing tech rather than jumping on the bandwagon of emerging technology.
Gavin Gordon-Rogers, Interactive Creative Director at W+K London – who I seemed to make lots of notes about, amusingly likened the digital word to the Wild West. He said the digital industry is often viewed as the Frontier or the Gold Rush to make a quick buck. This is how he broke it down:
The Natives or Indians… These are the Super Geeks, the likes of the guy who created chatroulette, ultimately, the code whiz-kids).
The Outlaws… These are the guys who are frowned upon, using tech for tech’s sake. One reference he gave was the guys who created ‘Asianate Youself’
The Sherif… The Awards bodies & trade press, trying to sift out ‘The good’ from the Outlaws.
The Bounty Hunters… The Freelancers, have the power to make or break everything you do, but at a price.
The Railroad Tycoons… The likes of Nestle & Facebook are they really out there to make interesting stuff and push the boundaries or to earn their money destroying everything in their wake and getting out whilst the going’s good?
The Saloon Girls… The Ad Agencies, who’s job it is to service the clients with creative nourishment.
Pretty amusing analogy, I’m sure you’ll agree. It made me smile at least. Gavin then went on to explain 5 key points that we should adhere to in order to make sure the creative people don’t turn into a mindless drones, that pursue a 9-5. (My words, not his).
5. Think Zombie – Have no fear, lust for brains (or learning), utter simplicity Zombie’s are single-minded and focused on what their objective is.
4. Be a Mutant Farmer – Experiment with what you’ve got. Put in the Hard work of a farmer, it’s hard work but it pays off. Don’t forget to rotate your crops, so they don’t grow stale.
3. Will Anyone give a shit? You need to seduce your audience into wanting to be involved. Our role is the role of an actor, taking on many roles, the modern day Laurence Oliviere. Make people give a shit.
2. Really? – Will anyone ACTUALLY give a shit? Be honest and truthful to yourself.
1. GBH. – Give Bountiful Haribo, apparently giving Haribo to clients really makes a difference… I don’t know if this is true, but maybe you should try it.
Scott Seaborn, Head of Mobile stuff at Ogilvy. He gave us an insight into how the internet might look in 2020. Yes, as you can imagine, the focus was on Hyper-connected technology that identifies your personal interests, creating a ‘vapour frame’ that only showed users what they want to see and nothing else. In my opinion, you could argue that you’d never discover anything new, but then again, I’m sure technology would have a way around that anyway!
After the conference had finished it was off to Hoxton Bar & Grill for a little bit of post-conference chill-laxing, couple of bands and the odd free drink. Needless to say, there’s not much to talk about there. ;-) I’m sure Digital Shoreditch will go on to bigger and greater things, all I would say is watch this space… and make sure your diary is free in early May next year.
Oh, and feel free to check out a commentary on the event by following @DigiShoreditch ‘s twitter and their hashtag dsldn
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