Brrism8 - Mobile/CoWorking/Personal

Brrism8 takes place on 21st April at the Pervasive Media Studio and we've got some interesting social media related topics to discuss.   As usual we're using our short presentation/long discussion format (5 minutes from each of the presenters followed by a 45 minute "open space" style discussion where you are free to join whatever groups you are interested in). The speakers are listed below. 

CoWorking

Working for yourself, not by yourself

Work used to be a place you went rather than a thing you did but then came along email/mobiles/the web and then, all of a sudden, the life-work boundary became very blurred. This was even worse for freelancers whose place of work is also the place they live and so, a few years ago, some freelancers from New York decided to start the "Jelly" coworking movement. Social media and the web has carried this meme across the Atlantic and Bristol now has a thriving coworking community. New kinds of physical workspace are being constructed to complement the virtual worlds in which many of us work. What will these places do for our productivity, creativity and community? Will they be able to restore the work-life balance to equilibrium?

About the Speaker

Lee Cottier is a Bristol-based freelancer. As well as his "day job" as a teacher/trainer/coach, he's somehow accidentally carved himself a sideline as a local "champion" of the coworking movement. Under his twitter alter-ego of @CoWorkingWest he's spreading the message of "working for yourself, but not by yourself" and has been organising Jelly coworking events locally for the last 6 months.

Social Media and Me

The Commerce Free View

At last month's Brrism Richard Churchill presented "Social Media is Rubbish, discuss" so this month we're redressing the balance with "Social Media and Me" which takes a more Panglossian approach. This is presented by Heike Harding Reyland who, despite being a voracious user of social media in all its forms, does not use social media in her job. This makes her perfect to talk about social media from the personal perspective and all that entails. About the Speaker

Heike is living proof that social media is the great equaliser because although she "only makes cakes for a living" (her words, not mine) she is more adept in her use of social media than many social media professionals. She tweets from HeikeM and, as you can see, listens to Radio6 and cares very much about what's going to happen to it.

Social Media and the Government

Do the two mix?

This is the first general election to be held since “social media” entered our vocabulary and so we’ll be looking at how the technologies we know and love mix with government.  Rather worryingly, none of the three leaders mentioned technology during last week’s debate but all parties have made some sort of statement about their support for technology.  We’ll look at these and decide if they make sense.

On top of that, the Digital Economy Bill was rushed through parliament as part of the “washup” process and is now law.  What are the consequences for the digital industries and what does it say about our lawmaking processes.  More generally, how can the “here comes everyone” philosophy of social media be harnessed for the good of the governance of this country.

As ever “Brrism talks” are a two way affair and the speaker will introduce the above from a politically neutral point of view in order to stimulate discussion at the meeting.

About the Speaker

Michael Corbett arranges and organises the Brrism meetings but does not usually present at them.  On this occasion he’s stepped into the breach to cover for Sam Machin who is stranded in San Francisco by the ash cloud.  Sam was due to speak on the subject of social media on the move.  There is surely some irony there…