We had a very thoughtfull and committed discussion about All Sorts of Technology and Democracy yesterday, which was great credit to the people from all sorts of places who came along.
And credit to the weird and wonderful place that is Huddersfield. (One of the things we touched on was civic pride as a source of innovation, and, lets hope, rebellion.)
There is a concise and insightful summary of it in the @huddsocialmedia twiiter feed here.
I came away from it thinking, and even now I'm still thinking, that I hadn't even begun to get my head round what we started on, but that there was something very productive and enjoyable there to carry on with.
And maybe all we really did yesterday was find out where we were starting from.
But to give the event any sort of structure we had decided the aim was to come up with a plan, and that any plan would do.
So for now I think it's enough to say that we came up with a plan. And not a bad plan at that.
We are going to create a database. Or rather we are going to create some interfaces - made with all sorts of technology, including pencils and paper - and a database, then anyone who wants to can add to it.
And the database is going to be a collection of places to listen, to hear what's important to people.
And the places in that database are going to be as concrete and local as possible.
So it won't be "Facebook" in the database. It'll be "That Facebook group where they all live in Kirkburton and talk about chess."
And it won't "the bus stop". It'll be "The bus stop outside the Marsh House where two women always get on at half eight Monday to Friday and talk about allotments."
Because that way it will be a database full of places where you can hear people who really care.
And that is a plan. At least to start.
Comments