Here is another link to inspire Exeter Television. It is in itself a short documentary that works ok online. The content is about citizen journalism, found through OhmyNews. The location is East Coast USA but presumably the same sort of bandwidth will apply in Exeter at some point.

This one was from the marquee selling magazines and CDs and instruments. Filed under 'English' folk were a selection of what might be called 'classic rock'. More research needed on history of folk as understood by most people visiting Sidmouth, some of whom were just on holiday and came across the music by accident.

Some photos not included in the OhmyNews story. The editors tend to reject those that are not too relevant or strong quality.



This is the rope for holding back the crowds from the Anchor Gardens. Evidence that the event is now well established. The rose was a gift for the security staff from a grateful member of the audience. The queue is never too long as people do leave for other venues.

I have now sent in a revised story for OhmyNews

Not edited yet. Some text has gone missing but should return.

There is a short mp3 copied from a video of Crediton World Music Choir. One really good development from writing about the tech aspects of Sidmouth was the loan of a camera from Exeter Television. This is still being edited but will áppear over the next few months.

I have dropped some opinion into a box. Briefly I have stopped worrying about wifi and immediacy as part of a festival or real time event. Online shifts in time and space so it augments an occasion. Something like that. Not sure how the OhmyNews editors will treat this. I am sending in stories as if it was a blog, there were three last year. And the ideas are not well formed. Still, something else will follow. I hope more people will start sending in stories.

Not off topic yet. Exeter wifi could follow up during Vibraphonic or in the autumn. The Melonious Funk session is included in the Sidmouth video. Not really folk but already a tradition to close the Dukes sequence.

I have now found Sidmouth Internet Access and Repairs, hiding at the back of an arcade. Sidmouth shopping Centre, 91 High Street to be precise. There is also a food hall with vegitarian takeaways.

So this is ok for checking Gmail and adding to a blog. Having said that, there is not much to add. I still have some photos in mind and plan to try for a seat for the Thelonious Funk at the Dukes. It may be a bit more jazzy than Chameleon last year. The version of Misty on the Myspace site is quite slow and extended. Don't remember Chameleon quite like that.

No signs of wifi as such.

Still working on the Sidmouth article for OhmyNews. Talking to Jo Gedrych of exeter Television has resulted in the load of a a video camera. So this is engaged journalism. The video won't be much of a feature of the story as it will take a while to edit. For one thing it has to be reporting, not a series of performances.

Citizen photographer Gary Trembling has now returned to London. There will be links later to some photos. I don't have time to load them up at the moment. Just one above, see Melonious Funk below. Maybe more at the weekend. There is something compelling about Sidmouth Folk Week as a concentration of time and space. It will come to an end gradually but the wind today had a hint of autumn. I think maybe why we write about the uses of IT in support of the event is that we just wqant to be associated with something that works anyway. There is definitely a sense this year that the new model is established. Still, looking at ways to extend it in a parallel digitised world could contribute something.

Meanwhile, Paul Gillard has loaded some short clips from a Country event held for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust back in July. Holsworthy is way north of Sidmouth so there is a gap in space and time. Also Country seems not to be included much in the Folk scope. The Fallen Apples did a couple of Johnny Cash numbers at the Volunteer but mostly stuck to blues. Anyway you can see from the clips that the people near Holsworthy seemed to enjoy it.

The Guardian is still looking at ways to expand online. The Web Editor's Week before last mentions attempts to grab the attention of the festival audience in Edinburgh.

"More people than ever will use the site from Edinburgh itself, not least because the Fringe box office's e-ticket terminals on top of Waverley station will be connected to Guardian Unlimited. Some will follow events avidly from afar. Others - especially our increasing number of overseas users - will have only the faintest of notions what we're all getting so worked up about. Still others are allergic to Edinburgh and won't want to read a word.

This year, we're launching a dedicated version of our Culture Vulture weblog (the imaginatively christened Festival Vulture). It'll host a stream of eyewitness journalism - pictures and sound, as well as text. We're hoping the blog will be a bit like Edinburgh itself, a place where performers, critics and audiences can rub shoulders.

That's not as straightforward as it sounds. Normally, when editing the blog, our main priority is community - the sense that we're connecting with an engaged, vocal audience. If we do well as editors, we draw out from our communities as much as we put in. But when those same communities are dispersed, or fighting their way up the Royal Mile, rather than sitting at a computer, it becomes much harder to pull them in and make them talk."

Now actually, this may not be a sensible idea. Maybe if they are "fighting their way up the Royal Mile" they should be left alone. Program information before the event might have saved them a trip if they are going in the wrong direction. Photos later may be interesting if they don't have enough of their own.

I realise I am criticising a point of view I have tried to promote previously. Why has the Anchor not got a few screens of what is going on at Dukes or on the Esplanade so you can decide whether to move on? Well, obviously there are limits to co-operation and anyway would people reaaly welcome the confusion? My current theory is that online is out of time and space so real life may not be connected in all circumstances.

Melonious Funk are playing at the Dukes tomorrow, Friday. Seems to be a variation on Chameleon who played last year. After a week of folk, a blast of funk and jazz will suit a lot of people, my guess. If only Exeter had some of the Sidmouth atmosphere during Vibraphonic.

Melonious Funk at Myspace, four tracks

I am working on an article for OhmyNews about Sidmouth Folk Week. They want more background on the vent than there is in my first submission.

So the story will be rewritten after the event, maybe next weekend. I am interested in how web tech etc. can be used as part of a festival. Any comments or links welcome, especially about Exeter and/or Sidmouth.