Category: DigitalCircle

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting the CAL (Culture, Arts and Leisure) committee. This is an oversight committee which, as far as I can tell, exists to make sure that the department (DCAL) is doing what it is meant to be doing.

Our report was originally submitted as a response to the CAL Committee Inquiry into the Creative Industries. (600K, PDF)

While I think that DCAL is doing everything it can do serve the varied and fragmented responsibility that falls under its satrapy, our session of giving evidence concentrated on more pressing issues. You can read the transcripts of all of the session at the NIAssembly Web Site here (and our specific transcript here)

Some selections:

Is the curriculum in post-primary schools aligned to the type of developments that have taken place in the industry and market?
Absolutely not.
We cannot express how bad the situation is. We may take some responsibility in that it happened on our watch, but the information and communication technology (ICT) qualification is utterly unsuitable for a digital economy. Essentially, we have given people GCSEs and A levels in the 21st century equivalent of typing.
…
People in the industry do not understand the maximum student number (MaSN) cap, and I do not understand it. We are artificially restricting the number of people that we need for the industry.

Read more. It’s incredibly relevant to our industry, as are the other transcripts on that page.

Northern Ireland constantly wrestles with identity. Whether that identity is national, political, sectarian or age-related, our people display their wares openly. This is why we see kerbstones painted, murals dedicated and flags flying; the insecurity around identity causes peacock-like behaviour. Only by building our bowers can we be sure to stamp our individual and community identity on the world. This is why the kerb painting happens at interface areas; places where the insecure feel most need to assert themselves. It’s the show of silent strength, a warning and a sign of virility.

My work involves the whole of Northern Ireland. I live in Bangor. Most of my work is around Belfast. A lesser amount around Derry. And even smaller amounts around the rest of Northern Ireland. And most of that is simply due to the population distribution and the critical mass needed to establish a viable business in this sector. But my work is in Northern Ireland. It bothers me to see small regions within this small province to so fiercely state their parochial identity that it causes the message to be lost. I had to advise a company to not describe themselves as “Ulster-based” because no-one, outside of the few people who care about such things, would even know where Ulster was. And none of them were the target audience. Similary, I spoke to NI Screen late in 2011 about making sure that their press releases regarding some film shoots refer to Northern Ireland because I saw some referring to Belfast when I know the shoots took place all over our wee province. An outsider won’t realise that the great company she saw from “Ulster” is even in the same town as the one which proudly describes itself as from “Derry” and they can’t be merely 70 miles from the third which is “Belfast-based”. We need to think carefully about the messages we send out and work on masking our insecurities.

I would ask that we not refer to Belfast, or Derry, or Newry or Cullybackey in our press releases. Have solidarity with your countryfolk. Respect them for where they come from, be it “Legenderry” or “Limavegas” and support them in their endeavours and remember that the whole of Northern Ireland is a tiny place. We’re never more than an hour from the sea. Never more than 30 minutes from a large body of water. We are alone on this small rock, an outpost of the United Kingdom (whether you like that or not, it won’t change it). Unlike the rest of the UK, we have a land border with a foreign country using a different currency with more lenient tax laws. We are very much isolated and we only have ourselves to rely on.

And because we are the underdog, we need to work harder at this. To work and establish that Belfast and Derry mean more than “The Troubles”. To make the province famous for more than sinkable ships and drunken footballers. And time travelling but ultimately failed cars.

When a story broke about a scam involving a local self-proclaimed venture capitalist, it crossed the world in hours but when we have good stories about Northern Ireland, we can barely get the time of day from the media. We have to change that too. It’s more than just releasing press releases, we need to start working on the message and preparing Northern Ireland for the market.

This isn’t really about the foreign companies which have invested in Northern Ireland; Nortel, Citi, Northgate, Allstate, Oracle to mention just a few. This is about the rise in indigenous talent, companies wholly owned by Northern Irish entrepreneurs. Companies like AirPOS, Planzai, Rumble Labs, Ecliptic Labs, Outsider Games, Troll Inc, Black Market Games, The Creativity Hub, The Design Zoo, Black North, Sixteen South, Waddellmedia, FRONT, Frank, Paperjam Design, Learning Pool, Kainos, RepKnight, Astute Labs, Conquest Dynamics, Purple Guerrilla and hundreds of others I can’t even fit in here. They’re the next source of wealth out there – and if you don’t believe me, look at STC (which was bought by Nortel), CEM (which eventually became the NI branch of Northgate), Meridio (sold to Autonomy), Wombat (which was bought by NYSE Euronext), ATG (bought by Oracle), Singularity (recently bought by Kofax), Lagan (recently purchased by Kana) and the most recent, World Desk (bought earlier this week by Desk Stream).

So, for the future, I don’t want to hear about Belfast or Derry or Newry or Cullybackey. I just want to hear about Northern Ireland. We need to make plans for the “Big Hub”, realising that every part of Northern Ireland is part of the digital vision for the province.

Simple Question: Where did HBO shoot A Game of Thrones?

The simplest answer is “Belfast”, but that’s not entirely accurate. Only a percentage of the shots were taken in Belfast and the rest were shot in Saintfield, Audley’s Castle, Banbridge, Parkgate, Downhill Beach, Magarahorn Quarry and the list continues.

I’m asking that we end the tendency for provincial thinking in Northern Ireland. I’ve seen this most recently with the number of regions (meaning: towns, counties) proposing their new strategies for the incumbent digital knowledge economy and with precious little thought about the bigger picture.

I have always championed the whole of Northern Ireland. I’ve been to every corner of the province and spoken to anyone who had a notion about the future economy and what I’m asking is an end to individual notions of regional advantage. This isn’t about Belfast any more than it is about Derry or Newry or Strabane. This is all about Northern Ireland.

We should be inclusive rather than exclusive. There is no part of Northern Ireland that is not a commuter region for any other part of Northern Ireland. You can get almost anywhere in the province within 90 minutes and you’re seldom more than 50 miles from the coast. We’re such a small region that it doesn’t make sense to promote our differences and borders.

So I’m asking of you, and more importantly the public sector and ALBs/NGOs:

• When talking about the new and shiny, refer to Northern Ireland rather than individual towns unless there is a very specific reason to be exclusive.
• Standardise the programmes and developments across the region. If something is happening in Derry, then it should be happening in Newry and Strabane (and Enniskillen and Dungiven).
• For equality of opportunity, centralise activities in central urban areas. This reduces the chance that any development is going to be on the “wrong side” of the city for a specific community.

And my justification for the above?

Have a look at the geographical distribution of digital businesses in Northern Ireland. There’s a big number beside Belfast but the much more interesting statistic is the number of areas which only have 1-2 businesses resident. They’re spread all over Northern Ireland.

The title of this post came from the Dumb Little Man Tips For Life blog.

Considering my employer, it would seem to embody everything I believe is needed to be effective in my day job.