Britain is dead. Long live Digital Britain.

I often feel that we are privileged to live in this time: technology is forcing a series of changes not just to the way we do business, but the way we live our life itself. Economic historians talk about us being in a ‘wave of innovation’, explaining history in terms of dramatic transformations like pottery and the printing press. Technology is one of those. It is interesting stuff and those of you with a thirst for knowledge can find out more by searching on Schumpeter’s Waves of Economic Innovation and Kondratiev Waves.

Anyway, the reasoning behind my ramblings is that this week has finally seen the launch of the Digital Britain report, which was supposed to “cement the UK’s position as a world leader in the knowledge and learning economy.” Since October last year, we have been given the opportunity to shape the platform for the way we live life and do business going forward, but it’ll happily bet that most of you won’t have even looked at the report, let alone understood that you could have contributed to it. And you wouldn’t be alone.

For me the evolution of the report itself has been interesting: the government has tried to approach this in a conventional way – quietly issuing green papers, allowing individuals to submit their comments “for review” and debating it in parliament; the digital community has done what it does best – hosting unconferences and developing an online version of the report (The Fake Digital Britain Report) that anyone could adapt, shape, comment on and debate in an open forum. Honest, open exchange vs. highbrow politics.

When the report was issued, naturally many of the points raised by the digital experts were ignored. The Director of Digital Engagement, the man who was recently appointed to lead us forward in the use of digital channels didn’t even comment on the report, either via Twitter or his blog, on the day of the launch. He might have done now but frankly it’s too late to be of interest. So funnily enough, the report, which could have been a fantastic opportunity for Gordon Brown to get on the front foot, has been slammed. And not just because your tax will go up by 50p a week to pay for universal Broadband access.

Why is this important and what does it have to do with recruitment advertising? As we are all painfully aware, the recruitment landscape is in a period of dramatic transformation. Some of these changes are driven by financial necessity, like the shift to Direct Sourcing; other changes are more fundamental in nature. Like the questions of how we will work, what we will do and where. Many of the answers to these questions will be shaped by the decisions that are being made right now and therefore it is our responsibility to at least acknowledge the debate and understand the principles, so we can advise clients how to respond. Or you can pretend it isn’t happening.

The report can be accessed here. It is 245 pages, so may take some reading. The unconventional report can be accessed here. Mind you, if you are just interested in the debates, a simple trawl of the blogsphere will provide you will plenty of food for thought. To get you started, try this

All work and no play…

On a completely separate tangent, games have been a hot topic of late. We have been working with KPMG to develop a series of games that will provide a level of interactivity and engagement to the site, whilst at the same time implicitly challenging the preconceived brand impressions of KPMG and accountancy as dull and grey. We have used a flash developer but there are sites that will develop the games for you. Or you can simply purchase and reskin existing games. 3^rdSense is one such site and they have recently updated their site with a ream of examples. It is worth having a peek and playing a few, just to get a sense as to whether you think they would work for your clients or not. I can’t wait to try ‘Work Experience Waiter’.

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A

Are you digital enough?

Yesterday saw the release of the much anticipated Digital Britain report. This reports outlines our Government’s plan to be at the “forefront of the global digital economy” and is one in a series of similar reports published by various quangos since the internet became mainstream back in the early nineties. Apparently we will all be digital by 2012, which is nice. It has received the usual barrage of criticism from a range of mainstream (and more obscure) journalists, but I’ll be withholding judgement until I’ve read it (a nice task for the weekend). Anyway, if you are interested, its there for the reading.

‘Tweeting’ goes mainstream

A while ago, we talked about Twitter in one of our Friday mails. Twitter is a social media application that allows users to post updates about what they are doing (a practice also known as micro-blogging) – try to think of it like updating your status on Facebook or LinkedIn. The key difference is that updates can be sent to and from your mobile phone, irrespective as to whether you have internet access or not. The service is free and users are restricted to 140 characters, but Twitter reserves the right to collect and use data.

I’ve avoided it for quite a while mainly because its has principally been a playground toy of journalists, celebs and the broader PR community, but over the past month, its usage has skyrocketed and it is now definitely a mainstream application that needs to be considered. What I find interesting is how people within organisations are using it as a form of direct sourcing – posting job requests via their company Twitter profile. To get you started, I’ve attached a couple of interesting examples here (Stephen Fry is understandably the most eloquent)

·         Stephen Fry’s blog is the best example that I’ve come across that explains how to use Twitter (http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/2009/01/29/twitter/)

·         Barack Obama (http://twitter.com/BarackObama)

·         SAB Miller (http://twitter.com/sabmiller)

·         Hodes (http://twitter.com/hodes)  

A ‘couple’ of social media sites you might like

I got a call the other day from a senior Marketing Director at KPMG who had seen my response to a question on LinkedIn, found out that Hodes is a KPMG agency and contacted our client Alison to get my details. She was interested in looking at some examples of Social Media usage in the corporate world. Whilst trawling the web, I came across a very useful blog that outlines a huge list of activities and offerings. I’ve listed a couple below.

• Bank of America:
  • Online video: Managers sing at a corporate meeting.
  • Social networks: Small Business Community on Clearspace.  Medal Me! Facebook application
• British Airways:
  • Microblogging: Twitter account
  • Social Networks:  Metrotwin community
• GSK:
  • Blogging:  alliconnect.
  • Social networks: myAlli weight loss community.

·         Heinz. 

o   Online video:  YouTube contest

• IBM.
  • Microblogging:  Smart SOA SocialNetwork ((S3N)) Team on Twitter.
  • Online video:  Rational Heroes machinima videos and Meet Mr. Fong on YouTube.
  • Social networks:  Rational Heroes community space.⁷²
  • Wikis:  developerWorks.
• National Geographic:
  • Mashups: Wildlife Filmaker
  • Microblogging: Twitter account
  • Online Video: Everyday Explorers, YouTube channel
  • Social networks: Imbee, MySpace,
  • Widgets: NGM Widgets, Facebook widget

Embrace your inner woman (http://accidentalcampposes.tumblr.com/)

As a very swift introduction to the harsh realities of lifelong commitment to one individual (congratulations, btw), Anthony has discovered a series of guerrilla attempts by his fiancée to ‘out’ him by posting a number of highly disingenuous photos. In an attempt to regain the upper hand, Anthony swiftly created a site dedicated to highlighting that all men should be in touch with their inner woman. So far only three submissions. Or perhaps I should use another word?

The last site is a designer’s portfolio site which caught my eye. We’ve also been looking at how individuals are looking to manage their personal brand in this new environment and this example stood out for me as simple, intuitive and endearing. Nothing new, just a simple idea nicely executed.

Enjoy

A

Debategraph (http://debategraph.org/)

Hosted by Independent newspaper, debategraph is a wiki that maps all the arguments and issues on particular topics. Interested in exploring the causes, consequences and responses to the global financial crisis? Want to know if computers can think? Or would you like to delve into the classic existential debate posed by the Bard in Hamlet?  Then this site is for you. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do, it’s a really useful and engaging tool.

Al Jazeerah ‘War on Gaza’ mashup (http://labs.aljazeera.net/warongaza/)

I first came across this site on the BBC Digital Plant podcast. Its an interesting example of how the Broadcast community is interlinking professional reporting with individual commentary to produce a more comprehensive insight into a particular topic. In this case, news agency Al Jazeerah has entered the world of neogeography  to create an interactive map that tracks the reporting on the conflict, allowing users to break the information down to various layers (number of deaths, strikes etc.). It’s something that has been done before, but the most interesting feature is that information can be derived from people themselves, using a number of tools including Twitter. Given the increasing popularity of Twitter, I’m just wondering how long its going to be before the recruitment community uses something like this to overlay the number of available jobs in particular regions for a company, and what employees feel about the particular company…

Yahoo! NewsGlobe (http://next.yahoo.net/download/newsglobe)

For global news junkies amongst you, last year Yahoo! released a tool that allows you to visualise real-time news releases around the world. Each story has a snapshot and a pinpoint on its particular location in a 3d rendition of the globe. You can download this to your desktop, or place it as a widget and use it for your own purposes. Its harmless fun, but my level of need for news isn’t THAT pressing. Perhaps it’s more your bag? An alternative (customisable) version of this can be seen at MappedUp (http://www.mappedup.com/)

Bibina (http://www.bibina.com/)

“Mi nombre es Isabel, soy disenadora actualmente me dedico al diseno web y vivo en Barcleona. Si quieres ponerte en contaco conmigo mi email es bibina@bibina.com” roughly translates as “my name is Isabel and I’m currently a web designer working in Barcelona. If you would like to get in contact, my email is bibina@bibina.com” Simple stuff, nicely done. What more can I say?