Hacking and Hacktivism

Whilst at the Open University yesterday I met with Tim Jordan. As well as working in the faculty of Social Sciences at the Open Univiersity in Milton Keynes, he is also the author of the book ‘Hacking’.

You can buy Tim Jordan’s Book here and i guess if you are really good you can get Amazon to send it you for free..

There are more videos like this on: http://www.open.ac.uk/platform/

Gumballing the Twestival

It was about a week ago i tweeted how It would be nice it would be able to go to more than one Twestival.. There were so many events on the one night across the UK with so many great people attending i felt like i was missing out on some great meet ups.

Seconds later I got a phone call from @Philcampbell saying.. “Lets do it.. Lets go to them all.” Phil is always on the look out for a mission that exists on the edges of possibility and we figured that to do the whole of the country in one day would only be possible in a helicopter. Fun but not the most Eco friendly choice..

It was only moments later after Phil dropped a tweet into the ether that we had a driver. Dave @magiprint very kindly offered his time and the use of his Renault Grand Scenic. Another couple of tweets later and we had videographer @barnstormed on board. The next couple of days I had a mission in spain for @thirstforwine and Phil’s fingers continued to carve the project from his keyboard. Dave Goodchild, @buddhamagnet, was soon on board and started coding to assist GPS and mapping functionality into a Rezpondr page for it to become www.4CharityMate.com.

Over the next few days the ideas formed into a reality.. Phil put his money raising skills learnt at Podcamp UK 2007 into action and sponsorship started coming in. People like @sleepydog @thirstforwine, Nokia were all keen to help. Check our videos to see all the amazing van sponsors.

And now we are here. I am writing this in the Malmaison Hotel as the sun is rising over the Tyne. In a couple of hours we will be driving south taking in as many of the UK Twestivals as we can along the way, finally ending up in London later tonight.

The sole purpose of this mission is to raise money for Charity: Water. Please take time to go to www.4CharityMate.com and on the right hand side you will see a box where you can tweet your donation.. this is the Twitterati’s chance to really make a difference to peoples lives.. What ever you use twitter for this year please take a moment to use it for the power of good and enable people less fortunate than ourselves to get access to clean drinking water.

Dinastia Vivanco – A temple to wine

Last week I suddenly found myself on a plane to Spain. With the assistance of wine expert Robert McIntosh (@thirstforwine) we took a trip to the Region of Rioja to learn more about one of the Twestival sponsors, Dinastia Vivanco.

I was asked to video blog their wine culture museum and vineyard. I have been to museums before.. But nothing could have prepared me for this.

I ended up shooting loads of stuff on my always handy Kodak Zi6.. Probably too much stuff. you will no doubt see clips cropping up all over my feeds. I was walking around saying “wow..wow.. amazing..wow..” I even started to annoy myself in my amazement.

I have decided that the Dinastia Vivanco wine culture museum is the one and only temple to wine. The attention to detail and it’s incredible collection is second to none. Having been collected and built over generations it is house in a partly subterranean setting any Bond Movie director would kill to get access to.

I am sure that even at 29 minutes.. this video only scrapes the surface and if you get even a twitch of curiosity, go visit yourself. If you are not amazed at the treasures, the history, even their winery. I will pay for your trip and buy you a bottle of their finest wine.* And they are pretty damn fine.

Dinastia Vivanco will be sponsoring the wine at the London Twestival which with your help will be raising money for Charity: Water Please give generously.

Keep your eyes open for more clips from spain.. There are loads of little ditty’s between here and 12seconds, and Phreadz etc..

Or just follow at Twitter.com/Documentally

This video is also available on Blip.TV,  Vimeo and Myspace

*Offer subject to an assesment of your sanity. (And me winning the lottery.. just in case)

My Gran is on Twitter

My Grandmother is on twitter. Not in the conventional sense.. kicking back with a Macbook Pro, tweetdeck running on a separate screen.

No, my Nonna only really geeks out on her sewing machine. It’s the only tech she can really operate with confidence. With everything else it’s “Computer says no..” She can’t really operate the home phone if she has to use more than one button. Yet through me.. whenever I’m visiting and occasionally over the phone, She tweets.

It started during the inauguration of Obama. I twitter-quoted a couple of her comments as we were watching the TV and someone said.. “your Gran needs her own account.”

Why not I thought. She is always saying what she thinks and I wish people were sometimes there to hear it. Then there are the times She gives me tidbits of her past that I’m desperate to remember but never write down. Twitter would be perfect for these times.. Not only to live blog her thoughts and past when I’m visiting, but also to give her that window to the world.

She is now answering questions and asking me about the people behind the avatars. She doesn’t know what an avatar is, and I know the technology baffles her. It just makes me happy that as She is engaged in this new adventure, she forgets she is an 85 year old lady living alone, waiting to die.

When she lost her daughter, my Mother, last year I noticed a rapid decline in her will to do anything. She blamed herself, God, anything for the hand she felt she was dealt, forgetting all that was good about her life, her family. She started to give up.

Occasionally this now changes. When her failing mind reminds her, she will still ask me if ‘those people on the computer’ have asked her any questions. I get my laptop out and we sit there going through her replies. She is now even keeping her answers short and concise watching me as I type them in.. Aware that 140 characters is not long enough for a life story. Especially a life as crazy as hers has been. And she forgets all she is sad about. It’s as if I have suddenly invited a hundred people into her home and she is momentarily worried she does not have enough biscuits to go round.

One moment she is lost in a YouTube video showing her a place she has not seen for 60 years.. The next I’m explaining why these people she has never met are so interested in her life. And she smiles.

Twitter is becoming a micro diary of facts and figures, memories and moments in a woman’s life that I have known all of mine. Yet much of what she is talking about I have never heard. My Granddad was the story teller. My Nonna his obedient wife, helper and eventually nurse.

Now it’s her stories.. and they tell me of a strong independent lady who has experienced far more than I could ever have imagined.

She may not update regularly, but when she does, her straining short term memory takes a break as we smile our way through tales of times gone by, adventures and a childhood still fresh in her mind.

These are my favorite times with my Grandmother. Thank You to all those who have engaged with her. you make an Old lady, and her grandson, very happy.

My Gran is @Granumentally

I am @Documentally

I made this video back in may 2007 to send to my Brother @DannyPayne

UPDATE: Here is a segment with me and my Gran on the CBC programme ‘Spark’

Thirst For Rioja

I’m in Spain! In Rioja to be precise..

We landed here last night for a quick in-out social media commando mission to visit the Dinastia Vivanco winery and it’s wine culture museum.

I have never really explored this region and so far i am mightily impressed. I am here with Rob McIntosh (@thirstforwine) and he has explained out basic goals on his blog here.. http://thirstforrioja.co.uk/.

In a nut.. Dinastia Vivanco will be sponsoring the wine at the London Twestival, so we thought a quick media gathering mission out here to the Rioja region would be the best way to share the Dinastia Vivanco story with those soon to be enjoying their wines. Instead of every glass of wine glass or coaster plastered with ad’s, we figured creating a conversation around the wine prior to the event coupled with a steady trickle of wine related content (and you know how much i enjoy wine) could allow the Twestival event to concentrate or the important matter of the night.. raising money for Charity: Water

If i can be so bold as to quote myself off Robs site..

“Using social media to highlight a sponsors product in this way, enables the focus at the actual event (in this case Twestival) to be about the charity or cause that everybody is rallying around. By creating content around Dinastia Vivanco’s wine, Twestival goers can know it is Dinastia Vivanco who is supplying the London event with quality wine without the need for on-the-night plugging and publicity. The night should remain primarily about raising money for Charity:Water http://www.charitywater.org/ “

Last night I was taken round the narrow tapas laden streets of Logroño and was fascinated by Rob’s wine and food knowledge. The food and drink culture here is second to none and I really hope to return here with others and share this Epicurian lifestyle.

Here is a couple of videos i compressed to the max and rushed out after much wine last night but today is when the work really starts..