I have found a site called Snap shot City through a conference about Creative Clusters. seems another chance to place some photos. Not sure where this is going but I welcome ways of linking the web and real life as it appears to be. i cannot yet get my head around Princesshay, it seems too expensive to survive somehow. Still it has established a mood in which Apple is prepared to try out Exeter so this cannot be bad while it lasts. Since actual wifi is still pretty rare in Exeter the prospect of phones with tunes is a way to continue the concept of connected cultural events.

My photo is part of the time travel theme.

Exeter City Council get a few things right, even if progress on wifi is a bit slow sometimes. The latest thing I have heard about is an ice rink at the castle over the winterlude. Sounds a really great idea.

Rougemont Global Broadcasting should get involved with this. RGB is a sort of experiment while Exeter Television is developing.

So here is a photo and a very short video.



The picture is a fake obviously. Original on Flick by Paul Keleher. Larger sizes also on Flickr

I seem to be in a critical mood today, but maybe some clarity will result.

The Guardian reports that OFCOM will investigate whether there may be future demand for more broadband. Something like that.

It seems to me this discussion more or less ignores the global context of what is happening already. Look at OECD figures from the end of 2006.

Fibre is already there in Korea and Japan. Even for ADSL the UK is in a lower tier than other places in Europe.

Should there have been a stronger role from government some time ago? Maybe, but the reality now is that developments around the web will probably happen first somewhere other than the UK.

As reported in The Guardian

Last week, Stephen Timms used his first big speech as minister for competitiveness to warn that the UK risks being left behind. "We need timely deployment of technology," he said. "We can't afford to lag behind others. We need the right conditions for the market to operate effectively."

Copied from Facebook

You will need to log in, remember password, invent a persona etc.

A recent topic is about another big win for Exeter, appearing on the Monopoly Board in an expensive area.

Carl, sorry mate, I am going to start raising questions about this.

I do a blog about "wifi Exeter" following an Intel survey claiming Exeter had the highest concentration of hotspots per capita. The blog has had to wander ever wider to find examples of wifi in actuality. My guess is that the number of IT Boxes in pubs where the staff know anything about it is in Exeter as a whole, speaking generally, approx zero. The amount of investigation from Exeter City Council into the potential cultural advantage of this infrastructure would also amount to nothing at all. My guess could be wrong so other info welcome.

I think Exeter should consider the reality of wifi, not just link to dubious press releases.

The Princesshay development may be a new era putting Exeter next to Bond Street. Or it may be unsustainable for a remote county town.

It is possible to go bancrupt building too many hotels.

Let us just stick to the aim of a base for Exeter on Facebook. It would be a start.

At the moment I am getting an error message when trying to connect to Exeter e-Friendly.

http://www.exeter.gov.uk/efriendly/

Maybe this is not the right address. Suggest Facebook meanwhile for continued discussion. The Today program thinks Facebook is legit so probably there are people in Exeter who check it sometimes.

Exciting news from Apple

Connect for free.

As long as you have an iPod touch, an iPhone, or a computer with the latest version of iTunes, you get free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes Store and to Starbucks Now Playing content.

Unfortunately this is only true so far in the USA.

New York and Seattle in October, Los Angeles and Chicago early next year.

But Exeter is somewhere on the Apple radar. One of the empty shops in Princesshay claims that Apple will be here soon. This is amazing and a tribute to the wonderful impact of the new buildings. Whether Exeter can sustain this style remains to be seen. Richer Sounds offers some alternatives at the end of Sidwell Street and some people will choose to compare prices when deciding on elecronic devices for the home.

There is a Starbucks in Exeter already, maybe more than one, so it is possible to imagine that the offer of free wifi while downloading tunes will arrive eventually.

Of course there is nothing to stop the combination of music and wifi happening anyway. For example there are now several screens showing adverts. Apparently they could relay sound but I know nothing about anyone trying this.

It is even possible that music could be broadcast outside some advertising or paid download scheme. Maybe the Autumn Festival would be an occasion to experiment.

Back in Exeter. Some photos loaded in Flickr and also a video on YouTube of the Cybertent.



You need the photos to see inside the tent.

There are just a couple of photos of the football.

By the way, in the program Dodger explains that it was punk culture that led to the original adventures in Europe after which festival football came to the UK. He writes about "little Englander" TV mentalities, then adds

"Now don't get me wrong, we are not a bunch of hippies. Just because we are democratic and inclusive doesn't mean we are not competitive and don't want to win."

Now don't get me wrong. I am not trying to stir up trouble through wild speculation just because this it is a blog. But the winning team came from Totnes, and they may have hippie supporters.

Back in Cullompton. I have got more of ann idea what this is about. In the printed program Dodger explains that about fifteen years ago a football team from Easton in Bristol decided to go to a summer football festival in Stuttgart. So this is an unusual event for the UK, but not UK in origin really. Teams from Belgium and Lithuania but also closer such as Totnes.

The cydertent is more or less like being at Life Bytes on Sidwell Street Exeter except that everything is Linux. The Google apps seem much the same. So Blogger is similar except for the German. The satellite links to an ISP near Frankfurt.

There may be a broadcast later on Radio Vague. The equipment seems to be here but as far as I can tell it is music that the people who work on Radio Vague best understand. Support may be needed in working out some questions about football. Still, could be worth checking later today.

I'm in Cullompton for the Alternative World Cup. It really is a football event, and other sports as well in ways I don't understand yet. Most teams seem to be from Bristol but others from further away. I found out about it through Bristol Wireless who have a temp internet cafe in a tent. The Psand van with sat dish is parked a few feet away. Most of the year we communicate through email etc. Two summers ago they got to Charmouth for a home education festival - HESFES. You may think it is easy to meet up between Exeter and Bristol but it happens rarely as I find it. Anyway after about half an hour of chat in real time we are back to typing and staring at screens.

I will commute from Exeter I think. Maybe a tent on Saturday.Not sure yet what this is about, except that wifi web access is part of it.

The satellite may not be based in the UK by the way. Blogger has gone into German.

There is more wifi happening in Bristol. Link here to photos.

More details at Bristol Wireless.

I am in the Sintac web access bit at the back of the arcade on Sidmaout main shopping street. But as the sun is shining and there is an actual beach, posts will wait till a rainy day. Could be sometime next week.

Exeter TV now has two new videos from the Globe. Wizz Jones and Wistman's Wood. Both events presented by ENPAS, the Exeter Newtown Performance Appreciation Society. As mentioned previously I do attend the meetings. It is a bit crazy to expect people to pay for tickets in a pub where so much music is free. But stranger things have happened. There will be more during the Autumn Festival in November.

Wistman's Wood



Wizz Jones




For developments, follow Exeter TV

www.exetertv.com

The weekend was excellent. The Future Sound of Exeter welcomed the idea of video during the Respect Festival. Exeter Television, based at Life Bytes on Sidwell Street, recorded during the world music on Saturday and the rock on Sunday. There was at least one high level camera. There were lots of camera around. Clearly with Youtube etc. There is now acceptance for video most of the time. Probably a lot of it will be available for an edit but it is not yet clear how long this will take.

This blog has been partly about bandwidth technology. However the content is getting more interesting so the scope will change for the summer. Possible the "Animx" blog will have a wider scope than just animation. But for the rest of the summer it is assumed that web access is available or else not that important. To be reviewed in the autumn when normal service is resumed.

My information is that Psand will continue working with satellite and wifi, probably often in the south west of England. I put it that way because sometimes the technology may not appear to work as expected. Fortunately I have some archive material from previous years. So the Big Green Gathering is a probable connection with Dragonsfly , dance band from the Voodoo Lounge on the World Music Day.

There is some Dragonsfly video on YouTube that illustrates their range. With the Sidmouth Folk Week approaching I have been thinking about folk music and what limits it has. The video from Glastonbury Town Hall shows something that could happen in the Anchor Gardens. Another video could be part of the range at Dukes. Not much chabce of Dragonsfly turning up, they seem fully booked. But this blog may continue some video benchmarking unless there are better things to do.

I know there is video of Dragonsfly at the Phoenix Exeter but this has yet to be edited. Possibly this will happen before Sidmouth but as real life moves slowly I may link to whwtever can be found on the web and fits in with the text.

Dragonsfly will also be at the Thames Festival in September. Last year or the year before Psand were hoping to provide connectivity for a sax solo. This was not possible for various reasons. This year there will be something on Second Life. Maybe this is a way to round off the summer. I am not sure how it will work.

It has not been possible to arrange permissions for video at the exhibition by Exeter College currently on Sidwell Streeet opposite the Odeon. This is unfortunate as Life Bytes is so close they might have been persuaded to do some video for Exeter TV. However there may be something ready for next year and there have been some conversations about topics to be included.

Some of the work seems to me to fit with ideas about mass distribution and the potential of digital technology. Tereza Buchlova shows some photos that I think were printed inkjet and also some linocut illustrations for "The Truth", a book by Terry Pratchett. It turns out that two of these have been scaled down to fit the dummy books. The linocuts were scanned, resized and then printed inkjet. It is not easy to see much of a difference except for the colour of the background paper where the inkjet has white edges.

There seems not to be any intention for a limited edition of linocuts. The interest is in the effect as a source for litho printing.

So why not put the digital source of the photos online? The next question is how could this be sustained? This is a discussion to be continued.

Show closes at the end of this week. So you don't have to accept my opinion that the linocut looks much like the inkjet.

Also on Sidwell Street, signs of an art exhibit starting Monday. Looks like work completed during study at Exeter College. I may persuade someone from Exeter TV to visit. Based almost next door at Life Bytes. I could not persuade anyone to visit Spacex during the North. But there is still a possible connection.

Continental food in Sidwell Street is becoming a standard feature of Exeter festivals. this blog is written late Saturday and the market will still be there tomorrow. But if you happen to find this later you may be in time for the Autumn festival which may be much the same, though probably not as wet.

The rain has hardly stopped but I did get out as far as Sidwell Street for some food.
Via Belmont Park, where it was still raining but the museum tent was full. Not sure how this connects with their exhibits but more later.

It seems to me that broadband in Exeter is ok.

There is enough of a base for possibilities to be imagined.

I have put more about this on my MySpace blog

My Space is getting more interesting. Vibraphonic are on there and do send messages about performances, even during the main festival.

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum is also on MySpace, with photos from the Beyond the Frame exhibit. I think they could go further. Put some high res scans on the Web, that sort of thing. But maybe something will develop from discussion on MySpace.

I am not really Bobby Womack by the way. My own name was not available and I thought I was just searching to see who else was there when it turned out that was who I was. I can understand it.

Back to the Beyond the Frame show. It is much better than I gathered yesterday.

Round the corner from the wonderful frame are some actual photos. Not clearly signed. In the gap on the way out. There are a few sent in by phone or email. But none in the frame as advertised.

If you just invent something in photoshop, email to you@exeter.gov.uk

Should turn up at Myspace/beyondtheframe

Personally, I am still mostly interested in the landscapes. Spacex showed photos from camera phones as if they were watercolours. Now we are allowed to send user generated content to the Royal Albert. But why is the art archive not on show over the web? And what is the value of gthe photos that do not turn up in a gallery frame?

Couple of finds through a bit of Googling.

Worcester City Museums have a painting, Summer Sea, Newquay by Julius Olsson.

Compares with one in the show.

And the Artfund have a version of a Devonshire valley.

The Artfund is a charity raising money to buy art for the public. So making a reasonably sized scan available online makes a lot of sense.

Not sure what the "Outside the Frame" show is about.

More later. But I still think the museums should put their own stuff on the web as well as expecting new work from the public.

I was not allowed to photograph anything at the Royal Albert during Animated Exeter although the landscape theme would have fitted in to the Tim Brennan events at Spacex. I was allowed to photograph the Blind Ditch occasion at the Phoenix.

So I'm not sure how much can be photographed before August although there is plenty of time.

It seems there could be something on YouTube ahead of most events.

This for Varttina. The Corn Exchange is previously St George's Hall.




There is a search result for Wistman's Wood but this has not much to do with the support act.

They will be at the Globe on 4th July. Maybe video will appear. Not sure many people read this blog anyway but there is a model here for promoting live performance.

Wistman's wood do have sound on Myspace.

Wizz Jones sang Song for Woody at the Globe last night. There may be video later for the people scared away by the rain. Meanwhile here is a version on YouTube. There was some spare space so further publicity needed ahead of Wistman's Wood on 4th July. More on this later.