Daniel Davies

Hack spaces get a mention on BBC. This is great PR! Anyone in Birmingham interested in this sort of thing should pop along to http://www.fizzpop.org.uk/

This is very exciting for Birmingham, and goes a long way for the city. It also got me thinking about the difference between Digbeth, and Jewelry Quarter. JQ has a massive digital scene producing some of the highest quality digital work in the city. The Birmingham companies that are based in JQ, for the most part, are competing at a national and global level, as well of course, leading the way in major local & public sector work. I'm not saying Digbeth companies don't do this, because I don't know enough about them (please tell me more!) But do JQ companies need to do more to draw attention to the fact that they are bringing vast amounts to Birmingham's economy by bringing in so many high-profile contracts from outside the city, even the country? Does the JQ already have an identity that means it can't be seen as a digital centre? What are the key differences between JQ and Digbeth based companies I wonder? Are we all taking enough? Should we be building more bridges across the city?

Fascinating article about parallels between socialism and modern Internet communication. I really liked how open-source was regarded as liberal, which, whilst stating what most people involved in open-source already know, was explained very nicely.