Adrian Slatcher reports from the future.
Yesterday was the first time I’ve been to Vision and Media’s offices in Salford Quays. Given the often soulless buildings in that part of the city, I was pleasantly surprised how their branding made it unmissable from the tram stop.
Working with FutureEverything yesterday’s Digital and Creative Futures event was another opportunity for a bit of Future-gazing, a “booster shot” for the discussions that took place at the City Debate earlier in the year. Pitched half way between an unconference and a university seminar, the format squeezed a lot into a short space of time. Presentations on the trajectory of computing from the University of Manchester’s Professor Steve Furber, and on public narratives of the future from Scottish writer Gerry Hassan, were suitably broad “think pieces”. Furber reminded us not only of the way processing power has multiplied, but that we are now coming close to physical limits – that require new ways of thinking to overcome. Hassan was responsible for a project called Scotland 2020, and a similar project in Glasgow which offered an opportunity for residents to talk about their future. Women were more optimistic and pro-active, whilst men (particularly in middle age) were nostalgic for a more industrial past. What mostly struck me about Hassan’s piece was the sense that our future narratives are built on continuations of the present – rather than a more fundamental reinvention that our recent economic turmoil might require.
I’m not sure what a mixed audience – mainly, I think, freelancers and small companies – made of a presentation that was essentially challenging a public sector “narrative”. Following an entertaining if odd musical interlude from Bristol lo-fi art-popper Kid Carpet – which livened us up at the end of our working day – we split into a quickfire unconference format. I attended interesting discussions on iPTV, the lack of emotion in video games and the problems of digital archiving; all of which were a little rushed, as we tried to fit in food, drink and networking, and yet still find 15 minutes to chat about the particular subjects. Other sessions on 3D-film making and the Manchester Aggregator, I had to miss on this occasion.
It was a worthwhile event – yet at the end I was left wondering why it had started so late in the afternoon (it began after 4pm) as there was a little too much on the programme to comfortably fit into the late afternoon slot it had been given. As ever, there were interesting conversations happening round the edges, and there seemed to be an interesting mix of people – Manchester’s social media cafe community cheek and jowl with those from the film and broadcast sector. Happening at the same time as the ever popular Northern Digitals event, it’s probably not a surprise that I didn’t see many people from Manchester’s web companies.
Vision and Media, with FutureEverything, put on a worthwhile show, that could perhaps have benefitted from a little more focus, and a slightly longer time slot. After all, it takes a lot for us city types to schlep all the way out to Salford Quays, nice buffet or not.
Dim Sum Digital 