By the titles of some of today's posts you'd have thought there were some events to talk about, which haven't made much of an appearance so far. Now that I'm nearly blogged out for the day, here are some comments:
- I attended an RSA event at the Scottish Parliament about 'economics, internet and society', which brought together a range of experts to contribute to the debate. Topics ranged from market failure and the rise of Napster; persuasive technologies and vulnerable people; the law as it pertains to copyright, trade marks and data protection; consumer confidence, markets and the internet; the 'Digital Scotland' report; levels of broadband access across the UK.
- Next up, a Festivals Innovation Lab keynote presentation on 'service design' from Sarah Drummond of Snook. Snook have a mission to 'make social change happen through people, design and practical action'. They are behind innovative uses of the web such as MyPolice and improvements to the work of Skills Development Scotland. Themes of collaboration, co-creation, embedding service design and the process/journey of innovation were ever-present.
- I also attended an event hosted by Edinburgh Beltane (not the fire people). No, these people seek to promote public engagement with the higher education sector. The benefits are hoped to be manifold, giving researchers greater confidence to take their work into the wider community, while creating opportunities for people outside the sector to engage with academic research and help realise its potential. It was a breakfast meet up, yet I forgot this and ate before I left... leaving no room for the bacon sarnies. Nevertheless, I left with a bolstered interest in making this blog work and carrying on my research.
- And later this week I will be attending an talk by Andrew Dixon of Creative Scotland: 'Creative Cities are Creative Places'. I shall report back, hopefully without having to wait until the end of the next month to do so... (While finding the previous link I found a British Council project which also looks at Creative Cities; they're everywhere, but particularly in Poland according to that page.)
...and with that I shall put my blog to sleep for the night.