happy at some point in this visit to give an overview of grass roots hyperlocal web activity in the uk, commercial and non commercial as a show and tell

could do something in birmingham or london

it’s particularly important that Cion see there is a viable grass roots alternative to traditional regulated media as the business model for the latter continues to struggle especially in the uk

I can help with grass roots web contacts in some of the other touch down points – esp cardiff, edinburgh, manchester

I Chaired the OECD expert group on e-government for several years and was a regular UK delegation lead to any number of EU committees and working groups in the tech space.

Many of the contributions here bave been on the difficulties to use (ERDF) funding for the roll out of broadband. I agree this is an issue but I would also like to start a debate on problems with current state aid rules for the role out of broadband.

As you may be aware, the commission is reviewing Broadband Guidelines
in relation to the state aid. Withing the review process they have started a public consultation on the revision of the Broadband Guidelines.

For further information, the questionnaire (in all official EU languages) is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/consultations/2011_broadband_guidelines/index_en.html

Replies should be sent until 31 August 2011 to the following e-mail address: comp-broadband-guidelines@ec.europa.eu

I would be interested to know is someone is intersted to share our responses or to develop some kind of joint input.

Face to face social technology underpins trust building. Web enabled processes and technologies then are essential to convert such interaction in viable incomes and benefits. If we think of the Birmingham case what stands out is that the communities formed in close physical proximity and relationships that cannot be created from digital environments. In the case of LILA similarly the relationships of farmers and their laboratories and markets drive adoption. These relationships were there before technology.

But many areas, especially more backward ones, have not yet explored their own opportunities, and like LILA is doing, they need a bit of help to do that. I think that if we put a bit of attention to develop self-discovery on a broad base, recognise it as a real need and not just as a post-facto change management issues, a lot of the stress of where and how to invest EU funds – which has to do with perceived inequalities – would go away.

The hard reality is that we(EU) do not have the funds to do all at once, and even if we understand what it takes to be top notch in one place, we are uncomfortable with letting more and more small towns and regions in the dark. The diversity in the Union will pull us apart if we don’t find a solution. A winner take all approach will simply not work.

The answer lies in the leverage of asymmetries – combining seemingly unrelated factors that create a lot of value – LILA is a case in point. A little technology changing many mindsets, all at once. And I am sure that social interaction and how buy-in was achieved played no small part.

Birmingham could probably broaden its opportunities linking to nodes in other cities to create a broader front for highly motivated businesses in the gaming IT area.

In RigaDO for example we are working to enable such social interactions. We have a prototype model that is beginning to be tested. It is open and generic and can be adapted to any situation. So we are glad to take it to other places and test it there. In this model, alignment of people flows first; next come projects and resource allocation which should be much easier and with enthusiasm instead of resistance.

Makes a nice overview. Will usein presentation

It’s a good starting point to show the links between digitization and societal changes. I see a lot of connections with Manuel Castells’ theory of the network society.