The document discusses four key ingredients for developing a digital city: 1) A desire for citizens to talk about things in the city, 2) A strong social culture where citizens interact, 3) Open access to city data, and 4) Issues for citizens to advocate for or against. It argues that combining a citizens' cognitive surplus and freely available public data through various online and offline social platforms can create new economic opportunities and an engaged digital workforce that shapes the future of the city from the bottom up. Realizing this vision will likely involve tensions between various stakeholders, but this messy process is an important part of cultivating an innovative digital culture.

1. The Wisdom of Crowds: Developing Digital Cities Dave Harte Birmingham City University Digital Birmingham [email_address] http://daveharte.com @daveharte

3. Birmingham Second Life Island

6. Making Birmingham a digital city for everyone.

7. Digital Cities - some ingredients First, some theory Ingredient 1: A desire to talk about things Ingredient 2: A social culture Ingredient 3: Data Policy Matters Ingredient 4: Some ‘big stuff’ to get angry about

8. Some theory: We know nothing about the future of technology http://davidszondy.com/future/futurepast.htm McLuhan: Users shape technology use

9. Future users: Here’s what 4 year olds know - a screen that ships without a mouse ships broken Clay Shirky

10. Clay Shirky Cognitive Surplus “ Desperate Housewives essentially functioned as a kind of cognitive heat sink, dissipating thinking that might otherwise have built up and caused society to overheat”

11. Clay Shirky – Cognitive Surplus “ Someone working alone, with really cheap tools, has a reasonable hope of carving out enough of the cognitive surplus, enough of the desire to participate , enough of the collective goodwill of the citizens, to create a resource you couldn't have imagined existing even five years ago .”

13. Some theory Let’s not predict technology use Users are a resource Little bits of time to create amazing things

14. Ingredient 1 A DESIRE TO TALK ABOUT THINGS

18. Ingredient 2 A SOCIAL CULTURE

19. WXWM - impromptu, self-organising

20. Social Media Surgeries

21. http://bevocal.org.uk

22. BeVocal gives gentle introductions to using data in new ways Aimed at enhancing understanding of new ways to use internet tools

23. Ingredient 3 DATA

24. Timely Information “ RAW DATA NOW”

26. My raw data

31. Hacking the City Timely Information for Citizens Pilot project ‘Birmingham Open City’ National & International profile for local stuff

32. Some Policy - UK Creative Britain We’re better than anyone else, well done. Ofcom Public Service Broadcasting review People value quality. Quality public broadcasting can be online. Power of Information Public sector meets active citizenship Push to free up data

33. The Policy Context Digital Britain Let’s get the pipes in place Policy recognising shift: that’s helpful

34. Digital Inclusion matters “ Increased awareness would lead to more people engaging in digital participation. Building awareness of what it is possible to do quickly and easily online could encourage greater participation.” (Ofcom Citizen Participation research)

35. Ingredient 4 SOME ‘BIG STUFF’ TO GET ANGRY ABOUT

38. HACKING THE CITY

39. A digital opportunity: Cognitive surplus + Raw Data = new and exciting area of the digital economy It’s a business opportunity

40. But, there’s going to be a fight Commerce Economic Development Professionals High margins Professional Pride Corporate culture Networking culture Charity Cultural Development Amateur Free Civic Pride Grassroots culture Social Culture

41. A new digital workforce In small companies In public sector In bedrooms Networked Showing off

42. Creating the conditions for a Digital City It is all about the crowd (users, workers, brokers) pic: peteashton

43. Creating the conditions for a Digital City In-fighting, bickering - it’s all good fun pic: peteashton

44. Summary Ingredient 1: A desire to talk about things Ingredient 2: A social culture Ingredient 3: Data Ingredient 4: Some ‘big stuff’ to get angry about = a messy, exciting digital city

45. Thank you