“I’m interested in talking to people about how radio broadcasters might work with audio-centric audiences to produce more timely, context-sensitive, responsive and portable news & entertainment services.

Context sensitive audio - stuff that’s designed to play in specific places or at specific times - is a powerful way of both telling stories and putting people in touch with their local surroundings. Capturing and broadcasting audience voices, converting text into audio, and associating audio outputs with other trusted information sources: these are all effective, low-cost and lightweight ways of empowering, engaging and enlightening the general public.

Ultimately, I’m hoping to come away from 2gether08 with a clearer idea of what a truly interactive spoken-word radio station might look and sound like. So if you have any ideas on that score, please come and join me.

HOW I’LL BE WORKING

Since I’m getting more and more antipathetic towards the traditional idea of one person standing up and talking, I thought I’d try something a bit different in terms of presenting my thoughts at this event.

So next Wednesday, I’m going to broadcast my talk using an iTripped ipod and publish my frequency on my T-shirt. As long as you stick fairly close to me you should be able to pick up my talk at any time.

I’ll bring a couple of small portable radios along for people who don’t have a FM radio player on their phone. And I’ll use Twitter regularly throughout the day to tell you where I am.

I’ll also make the talk available as a podcast on my blog, and allow people to copy an mp3 file from my phone via Bluetooth. There’s also a number of links on my delicious account to sites and services that I think might help us talk up a few specific ideas for new audio-based interactive applications. Or perhaps we could map out how audiences might like to get to grips with portable audio - and even participate in the making of interactive radio content.

Any examples of podcasting or location-based audio that people can bring to the party will be very welcome.”

Digital writer Tim Wright will share a range of ideas and techniques that can empower writers to adapt and develop their creative output successfully in an increasingly complex cross-platform marketplace. Who is it for? 6 Freelance writers in the Broadcast industry. The course is funded by the Skillset TV Freelance Fund and is offered at a greatly discounted rate.
See http://www.01zero-one.co.uk/MultiplatformStorytelling.htm

“The panel brings together three award winning creative mavericks: Hazel Grian, Alex Mayhew & Tim Wright. Tim and Alex are no strangers to the creative opportunities offered by emerging media platforms. They have built long and successful careers around bending, stretching and pushing creative boundaries. Hazel has only recently made her first foray into the wonderful world of interaction design from a background of comedy screenwriting

In their groundbreaking projects, the line between the real and the imaginary blurs. Users are integrated into developing narratives, rather than skimming along the surface. The panellists have fluid and playful processes that challenge and learn from audiences and collaborators. They are not driven by technology but pick and choose from the enormous media toybox as and when a story needs it. Together, they will tell a tale of perseverance, frustration, compromise, playfulness, spontaneity and evolution. They will explain how they have satisfied their creative sparks while keeping the wolf from the door.”

‘We’re in this together’ will provide both ideas for behavioural change and practical solutions to help consumers reduce their household CO2 emissions by one tonne over three years.

In an unprecedented demonstration of support, retailers, banking, media and service providers from across the UK (B&Q, Barclaycard, British Gas, Marks & Spencer, O2, Royal & SunAlliance, BSkyB & Tesco) have all united behind this initiative, with more brands set to join throughout 2007 including HSBC and National Express. The coalition also reaches outside business with active support coming from the Energy Saving Trust, Defra, the National Consumer Council and The Church of England.

The campaign, building over 3 years, aims to reach every UK household by continuing to increase the number of brands in the partnership, and the number of initiatives offered to consumers. Should every UK household take up the campaign initiatives, there is a potential saving of 25million tonnes of CO2; more than the combined emissions of Scotland and Wales.

Partners will provide either products, services or advice for consumers to actively facilitate the reduction of their household emissions. These initiatives will be brought together on www.together.com where the collective reduction in emissions will be calculated, intermediate targets established, and people given access to information on how they can take part.

Dr Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group says, “Today marks an unprecedented commitment from some of the UK’s favourite brands to help their customers tackle climate change. These brands have come up with new and innovative ways to make it easier to save energy, from watching TV, insulating roofs and insuring cars, to washing our clothes and lighting our homes.”

Dr Howard continues, “People need to feel that these companies have developed solutions which allow consumers to make do their bit. It’s a case of leading by example and all our partners are committed to making dealing with climate change more accessible to their customers. The success of the campaign will rest on reaching as many people as possible, not just the usual audience for green initiatives.”

Chiefly, Tim helped to devise the ‘Remote Control’ feature that allows people to unleash some ‘unexpected events’ on the Castaway island directly from the web. Right now you can choose to remove half the chickens in the island coop, or hatch out a few extra chicks overnight. Will the audience be nasty or nice?

Tim also helped to devise a treasure hunt game that involves spotting odd symbols and signs in the BBC1 Sunday shows, collecting them on the web and then using them to identify a secret location. The ultimate prize is a holiday for two in New Zealand.

“Work out a series of puzzles over 30 days in order to find the location of the mysterious Red Gold and stop the Malice Box from detonating and unleashing an unimaginable evil (as well as having a chance at winning a bunch of prizes).” http://www.maliceboxquest.com

As Rob Bevan has already commented: ‘Simulation=Solution”.

By concretising events and situations in a series of manipulated images, we are making the whole project more real, more achievable. Remember - don’t leave space to the professionals.

The event takes place at 01zero-one, Hopkins Street, Soho, London W1F 0HS (off Peter Street) and is free of charge, as long as you pre-register by mailing insync [at] 01zero-one [dot] co [dot] uk

Throughout the day there will be opportunities to learn about how web and mobile technologies are changing the way people can participate in playful experiences - from posting a simple image into a shared moblog, right through to losing yourself in an augmented reality game.

Confirmed speakers include Pat Kane, author of ‘The Play Ethic’, Stuart Nolan, Serious Play Lego expert and magician, Jamie Cason of BBC Interactive, and digital writer and poet Gavin Stewart - plus leading players from digital innovators such as Mind Candy, Future Platforms, Rabbit and XPT.

Throughout the day, event curator Tim Wright will also be developing a new collaborative narrative project using text, image and performance contributions from attendees to help him in his mission to - one day - play golf on the moon with David Bowie.