save the date - 12th of March

if there was ever a time to watch me do something mad but cool and pushing forward in social media space with the eco, optimized edge i have been pushing forward on it would from the 12th of march.

on that day, i'll take delivery of the smart fourtwo electric car for seven days as a trial in the hope that i can maybe raise some money to actually rent the vehicle and yet also at the same time, promotion, connect, network with and interview people while i'm driving around.  the plan is simple really.  i'm going to be spending my digital time mobile, out on the road for as many hours per day as i can testing out how well this electric car performs over the course of a week.

these are the things i'm pretty sure will be happening.. ..

streamed live
probably two, but maybe one.  i can definately do one on a stand in the car looking ahead with audio from in the car.  it could be two and at a total push it could be three.  but i have the connectivity, the knowledge and the technology to make it happen.

i'll be using the cradlepoint mbr1400 for the first time and this badboy can have lots of usb dongles in to serve me up internet for me to stream with.

raising awareness of installation of charge points
let's cut out the crap here, ideally i would love to be an advocate for raising awareness for businesses getting access to the funding help to put charging points around the east midlands for electric cars.  if there was ever a perfect fit for a project it is this one.

i need transport, eco as much as possible and i have a certain trip that i need to make three times a week at an awkward time (so no lifts or carsharing) and it involves an eco project at the other end.  it's perfect.

i want this project to happen so i'm going to do what i can to see how many people we can get to download the pdf document and take up a conversation about providing a charging point for an electric car driver in and around the midlands.

testing 3g multi point internet with the cradlepoint mbr1400
i've been lucky to be blessed with the best sponsors, like really.  they are awesome.  it will be the first time out with the mbr1400 and i'm not even sure i can get it running in the car without some kind of converter block but i'll work it out.  i'm pretty sure i can run a 4 way lead from the lighter socket and the draw for charging the phones and the router are fairly low.  we will certainly see how much power it will use from the onboard batteries and if that cause a great problem or not.

a custom website with videos and sponsors
i've not got long.  thankfully the website can be relatively lightweight will just being embeds and little blocks of refreshing content that i can include.  i've been secretly pulling together assets for the future streaming project anyway so i'm not starting from zero here.  i have a rough idea of the look of the site for the camera stream part.  it will require sketching out from inside my head thou and i need to move on that asap.

kickstarter (or other) fundraising over the course of the week
this will take the longest part to do and i'm not even sure if i'll have time to push, get accepted and have all the things in the right place, i will for the ulule one because that's nearly ready to go for the .tv student wordpress ten site project (yes, another part of the overall puzzle for social media deployment in nottingham but i'm going to push here.

i'm going to run two kickstarters for the ark project to see if we can raise awareness to getting funding for that and also another for funding for the car for the year.  if we can get at least the car funding for the year for the streaming project that will give us something to barter with for finding the five companies for finding the £5k from each.

surely, after this they will see the value of realtime social exposure - again, i need your help guys.  so spread the word, eco magazines, editors, social gurus, video people, streaming people.  dads that have daughters and must understand my pain of only seeing my daughter once a week.  ok, that was deep but it's true.

getting to see my daughter three times that week
at the moment, when finances allow i get to see my daughter who lives about forty minutes away once a week on a saturday.  it's never enough and i need my baby.  i love her dearly and these are formlative years.

i'm putting everything into this as those that have followed my blog over the last year will know.  having this trial will allow me to go and pick up ella three times or more over the course of the week.  i may even stay overnight locally to her and drop her into school in the morning to see how that runs like.

a 'where has phil been' tracking block
this might happen, all depends on if i can meet with my coder guy next week (that's you dave) and we can pull something together, we have the code we just need to build it out on the site and make a cool little icon for the smart car.  i'm sure someone has one.

yeah, that's quite an extensive list but i'm pretty sure i can get them things going.  i've got a tight timeframe from today until the 9th of march to make this happen and i have a lots of things happening before and after (TEDxNottingham anyone?!?) so this is tight.  i feel like this is another year for pushing the social media boundary of just what is possible these days.

the feels like a test bed to explore the idea of electric transport between nottingham and the ark and to test out the notion of charging and blogging for three hours while i wait for this car to charge (unless i go to a fast charger and then it's only thirty minutes) - it's going to be an interesting ride and test/trial and i'm super excited about the opportunity to make it happen.

the cosmos is just aligning for me on things at the moment.

i'm super thankful.  i need your social help thou team.  will you help?

• North East has most electric car charging points (bbc.co.uk)
• Network of electric car charging points will link major cities (telegraph.co.uk)
• Electric-Car Buyers: Free Home Charging Stations Offered By ChargePoint (greencarreports.com)
• Electric cars step up a gear for 2012 (bfreenews.com)
• Vancouver to expand electric car charging stations (canada.com)
• Rinspeed Dock+Go provides bolt-on solutions for small electric cars (InnovationToronto.com)
• Green light for electric car project to expand (scotsman.com)
• Revealed: There are more charging points than electric cars in UK as sales slump (tarpon.wordpress.com)

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

i was super excited to be asked to go on the local BBC Nottingham Radio again yesterday to talk about the ark project that i'm trying to get funded in the heart of the national forest at conkers.

it's been an idea that has florished into different stages as my need and obsession for this project has intensified. 

we recorded a show about all the reason for, why and what about the ark project and i think this makes it a little clearer for sponsors and investors to see the potential reach of this project.

i'll be sending this out on this months newsletter as we reposition once again to look for funding to make this project happen.

don't get me wrong here this has been a battle so far to make this happen. trying to get sponsoring for a project so abstract as this has been difficult especially in the economic climate we are in but the opportunity i am means this the way forward for me to and to leave something of substance for ella.

i want her to know that dad tried to do his bit to help her understand the world around her better, that she would be able to understand better where food came from and how we made it - to be respectful of how to use the technology and yet still be respectful of our local environment. 

being a brand advocate and blogger that was lucky to have been sponsored and flow to a variety of events across the world has made me see the world in a different light and made me look at resources (and often the lack of them) with more respect. 

as much as i can teach my daughter about technology and how to use this to mould her talents in and around the world i believe that the reflection time required to live in that digital world comes from understanding the place we are - where we sleep, the place we move within and our local surroundings.

only when we truly connect with the local environment and the people it contains do we start to understand ourselves and our own actions are reflected back.

taking time to reflect for me after this many years of living digital are something i'm looking forward to and after this years project is over i'll be looking to purchase my own eco dwelling and live of the land and learn how to optimize on what i have. 

i was asked in the show if i was nervous or worried about the project but as i said in the interview.  i'm just super excited but i really want to get started - ella is at the perfect age right now to really understand this and take it onboard.

i think as a social media it really will be my signature moment to bring together all that i have learned and work with the low conenctivity and low power options that will only be available to me.

• First tenant at Nottingham CleanTech Centre gives companies unique social media gateway (fibrecamp.tv)
• EvoEnergy Sponsors Nottingham GreenWeeks (evoenergy.co.uk)
• How to Get Useful Business Information Out of Twitter: Hashtags for Social Media Research (uber.la)
• Nottingham TV - let's get started! (timgarrattnottingham.co.uk)
• #SocialMedia The Route To Your Next Gig [INFOGRAPHIC] (anisesmithmarketing.com)

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

looks nice right? - that's the smart ebike.

we just tried to take a ride out to conkers this morning to have a chat with the guys about how far along any sponsorship monies are coming seeing as we have hit january and the new finacial year for a large sector of companies that are doing their budgets and spending for the year.  we are looking for £25k to build a zero carbon emissions eco ark in the heart of the national forest as a year long project that will be a pilot project for a much bigger eco site on the grounds.

today was mildly frustrating in that we took one of the major road routes to get to conkers, a road that leads up to the m1 and then we run down part of the outside lane of the m1 to get another another duel carriageway.  we had other routes we could take but we decided against it today.  it did really highlight the whole transport equation of this project and bring home about how packed the roads are.

i'm looking at a hybrid solution of public transport, bus routes and electric bikes.  i'm pretty sure that i don't really want to go back into the world of owning a car again and the added hassle it brings especially when you consider my awkward timing when i want to leave nottingham at midday/2pm to drive an hour to pick up my daughter from school.  i cannot really carshare either because i need to know i'll get the lift to be able to say for definiate that i'll be at the school to collect her on the days i have her.

it's an awkward equation but one that i was expecting, all of this project is about optimizing and losing access to things that normally we take for granted and are indeed a luxury.  what we want, what we have and how that equals stress for someone that wants to live a lot more sustainable than i actually do now.  it's been a real battle mentally about the car license too, having to have a residential address rather than a commerical address.  i don't live anywhere i'm between addresses -- it appears in the uk if you don't live anywhere you simply cannot have a car.  it's a bit of a grey area and one that has caused me pain over the last few weeks as i've tried to lift the restrictions i have on my paypal access card.

right, back at it.  lots of contacting and chasing up to be done!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

a little smart car, something really cheap to run (after insurance, mot and your first born that you have to rent out of course) that would get me over to see ella midweek and at weekends until our future ark project starts.

i'm very keen to start the new year with some transport in the knowledge that i can get over to see my bella whenever i want. i really do not want a car but the ark and ellas location requires it.

with ella being five next year i've very keen to get her learning some new hobbies that she can get into - languages, dancing or suchlike, something to focus that untapped energy she has for life.

camper van idea kinda came and went, they do not really see what i want to do i guess and instead want me to go on a TEN year hire purchase of a transporter that would be over £300 a month. i don't want that.

all i want is to find someone that sees my commitment to do a good job and deliver on it -- i'm determined not to go into some mindless corporate suck up job again 'just to make money' to get me things.

i want to feel that i'm giving and creating value in the work that i do, right now i feel that way with the studio and the connections i've made over the last year have been fantastic.

do send all your positive vibes over this way for me to make the progress on the transport. i'm going back into chanting and gym this week with gusto.

create the change you want to see!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

life seems to go incredibly slow when your waiting on sponsorship and responses. i work same day, at least a response or a realistic timeframe.

we have been waiting on a response about the ark project for over six weeks regarding funding and it just seems to drag -- the start of the project was supposed to be january, i've lost a lot of faith in us raising sponsoring from this sponsor that has a financial year start of january 2012.

after many conversations it seems that an ark build will probably take EIGHT weeks to plan and build which puts things at march and the olympic games will start a few months after that totally overshadowing any real promotion to get people looking on the project early.

the other area of issue was transportation, how do we go about getting something arranged there, we looked at leasing but these are often for longer periods we need and the pricing is still out of our current reach as we build up fibrecamp and the advocacy clients we want to work with.

we are finding happy mediums between all the annoyance however in merging the two problems together to give another short term 'moving home' solution.

after having a conversation about shiny shiny and new i started to look differently at the transport situation moving towards the old t2 volkswagon transporter as a half way house of a mobile style home and yet some wheels to be able to drive and get ella.

to be able to spend time in the heart of the national forest itself, on location taking in that space while sponsors and that side of the process irons out, it would be still moving in the general direction.

i've lost a lot of energy concerned about how this could happen and now it just comes down to time that i do not have so i have to move towards that middle ground, finding a way to increase cashflow and work that fits around my current lifestyle and yet gives me a resolution to my housing and spending more time with my ella who will be FIVE next year.

i'm certain if i just buckle down i can afford the transporter and the ark itself outright with the right effort and project presenting itself -- how do i do that?

i work my butt off, build up the fibrecamp content and output and get clients that value what we do from showing our level of commitment to the projects we already do.

i cannot sit around waiting for things to happen, sometimes you just have to reposition the mole hill.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

i'm actually quite annoyed in some ways that the ark never came about in june time, i really wanted to move in then.  get used to the weather and spend six months getting settled, planting crops and learning bushcraft skills and probably failing miserably first time around.  that was the original plan.

the new plan actually kinda makes a lot more sense and i'm sure you really interested in why the ark never happened in june so let's just take this blog post as a bit of a catchup about what's been happening.

firstly the good news is that the ark project HAS been funded, all i can say right now is that it's a house builder that is involved and it's in a partnership with the national forest and the awesome team that this has happened at all - that's not to mention the effort that chris and mike from the management company have all put in.

secondly without the support of peter and kristina from livingARK we would have never managed to get the help regards building our ark this far if they had not seen the vision of the project from a social media standpoint.

it feels good to be working on a project that from all angles has a fully supportive team and everyone gets a slice of the project pie - the national forest get daily social media exposure and livingARK not only get to see another ark out in the wild but they get the coverage and interest from myself talking about it - great promotion and pr on a day to day basis.

the original understand i had in june was that we had a pocket of money secured and that we were adding to that with a bigger amount of someone that had been on the 'backburner' for sometime. that actually never happened, in some ways it was probably meant to be - after all, fibrecamp suddenly started to take off in nottingham and we are actively being used for conferences and streaming events as well as training how to use these new cloud tools.

so, let's talk about logistics, or more to the point what the next 3/6 month window looks like in terms of ordering, parts, construction and projects that are going to 'hit the ground' running before ideally the opening of the ark in the last week of february (first week of march at a push - sxsw starts that week and we HAVE to be ready for the potential of a project there) three months before the olympics are meant to be kicking off in the uk.

i'm super committed to getting myself transport sorted to be able to visit the national forest at least once a week so i can keep up with progress with chris and mike about the actual money side, i'm hoping that between themselves and livingarks that the parts can be ordered as soon as possible.

i've been working (indirectly) on how i expect the plan for the ark to look like in terms of cutting back a line of sight and video cameras to stream the current patch of land where the ark is going to be situated.  weirdly last week i met with a gentleman who i'll be seeing next week to talk satellite trucks with.

keen to get a satellite uplink to the march 2012 sxsw conference pushed to multiple monitors in the hallways for the length of sxsw interactive (i'll not make it this year - would have been my fifth year) i wanted to blur the lines and transmit using streaming technology a feed from the heart of the national forest into austin, texas to maybe inspire conversation about travel, home and technology with a side order of green and enviromental issues - helping to  bring the second sxsw eco conference into the limelight six months after the usual conference.

it was great to meet up with so many passionate non profits at sxsw eco and some real out of the box thinkers who are using 3d printers to build solid products to bolt on to new services in austin, that kind of thinking and creativity should be invested in.  those people do not come along everyday - i'm hoping that the connections i made at the very first sxsw eco will be ones i can call on as i'm building out the projects of the ark over the course of the year.

i might not be in, but it's coming - and for me and ellas quality time and her learning about living off the grid but in the cloud(s) that really fills me with a stack of happiness that nothing else can replace.

if your not subscribed to the project yet or this is the first time you have read a blog post please do sign up to our mailchimp list or download the pdf document which goes into depth about how our project will unfold over the course of the year.

we need your community voice! - are you a green/sustainable word of mouth company who can help field questions from a large internet community who has lots of questions to ask? - we need you, badly.  in return you will get the exposure of working with such a signature social media project.

also if you are a brand new eco company that is doing something amazing in the space with low powered devices, solar, wind power or waste management please do get in touch - we are very keen to have fortnightly testing session of new devices.  we are your eco in the middle of nowhere test bed!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

quicklink | help phil get to sxsw eco

thought it might be a good idea to pull all these videos together into a playlist as ian dearman adds the new colour graded and edited clips.  the job was a paid job for ian because i wanted that extra bit of quality for these catchups and we are working on an arrangement so we can work together weekly to pull together what's been happening in and around the ark project.

i'm in full tilt mode right now to get content, video and clips up on our websites and to get these css/design issues sorted ahead of time so i do not have a full on panic when i actually get the green light that we can order the parts and start the actual build.  damn this is exciting stuff!

keep em peeled! - if you can donate you would be helping not only get me to sxsw eco to network with some of the big eco players in the world but also the £500/£1000 perks (we only need to raise about £950 ish now) are actually to do with the ark itself.  check them out - your name actually burnt onto a panel somewhere on the ark project.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

quicklink | donate here

last week really lit a fire underneath me.  then sxsweco said we had won a grant for a ticket (saving us $800) and so now i'm in full on 'enable us' mode to get us out to austin, texas to the very first sxsw eco conference in october.  we have a tight schedule for sponsoring so we have a lot of work to do in the next seven days to make this a reality.  we are doing an outreach to as many people as possible in the hope that people will help us make this happen.

i was in two minds about actually flying to an eco conference but after a reality check with a bunch of people the fact is once the ark is built chances are for a year i'll not be flying anywhere as i'll be committed to the project.  sxsw eco might be the last southby until after the project.  i'll be insanely jealous of people going in march but you know in the grand scheme of things this project is so much more than a week away at a conference.  it's huge.  it has massive potential.

i just hope people can see the potential of what the year in the heart of the national forest will bring from me and my daughter as we discover and encounter the many different nuances of the 'off the grid' life - after this i'm never going back to bricks and mortar.  this is it, the blueprint and starting point for my future life of living in a more sustainable way.  for once in my life i'm gonna be committed to something and discover a new side of me that needs to be kept alive by living not existing and in the process preparing my daughter for a different future world that she may live in her lifetime.

possibly when i'm not here.  this is a memory archive too, a year when we spent time together in the ark, a media archive to look back on and discover what daddy and daughter did and for me to prepare her with her own ark that she can live in or sell or just reflect on the time when she was. ..

. . off the grid, but in the clouds.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

seriously, these are awesome.

i've only ever seen one in nottingham in st peters square around the corner from macdonalds heading towards old market square.  i'm impressed that the machine can make enough power to actually do the compression part actually but it got me thinking about maybe start making contact with some similar companies.  i think having a routine at the ark for all the things we do would be great for making content if not daily - weekly.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

feasibility-report-livingark.pdf Download this file

we got this great report yesterday morning from gerry and i'm managed to convert it into a pdf document for you all to view and share in.  i'm yet to fully read it in absolute detail but the elements that i did read make me glad that we have rangers onside and assisting us in this way.

without gerrys input the project would have stalled at many stages and we are very keen to get the wood cut and the process rolling.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Deadly 60 is a BBC wildlife programme where they travel around the world introducing the audience to the world's deadlist animals! I've only seen it once but it's pretty good, all the kids love it!

You'll see some footage online if you youtube it. Basically they're doing a British road tour, stopping off at locations around the country so that the audience has a chance to see the presenters etc. We were lucky enough to be chosen as one of the locations! They're gonna set up marquees and bring in snakes, spiders, scorpions, birds of prey etc and do scheduled shows throughout the day. Should be a blast, you'll defo have to try and get over for it! Will keep you updated...

For now I can tell you that it is 100% and is on Sunday 16th of October, the producers are expecting up to 15,000 visitors @ Conkers that day!!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

See the full gallery on Posterous

massive sales at the moment on different tents with massive amounts slashed off all tents. i'm not sure what i'm looking at regarding tents but i know i'd bag a bargain regardless as some of the tents were selling for as low as around twenty pounds! - a useful background before the ark arrives.

also sparked my interest in heaters, food cookers and super light sleeping bags. i really need to sort out all my clothes and technology into a few bags that i can get together in a quick timeframe. i really need a job of any kind to start building up supplies now.

do you have work for me to do? - do check out my http://fibreca.mp site for video work for your website. still looking for sponsors to once we do get started in the ark so do download the pdf document on this website to get more information.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

so i wanted to get this out onto the ark site to pump up the content and get me in the mood to do some writing today before the charity comes in at three o'clock.  i have found that when i visualize and go through the experience of what something looks like as a task you start to train your inner self to take action.

my plan for getting over to the ark consists of transport, it's about thirty to forty minutes away from nottingham and will require most probably a car to get over there.  i've not driven in over a year or so and so having that additional costings back into an already non livable life are quite scary to consider.  not only am i having to find work that will cater for the project, adaption to this life for the next year but transport over to the ark.  i like a challenge right?

the nursery and school runs plan
currently i have my daughter normally on the weekend.  this is never enough and i miss seeing her.  part of the reason behind the choice to have the ark more over derbyshire way was because it near to her and also because the pr department at the nottingham university made it uncomfortable for a team i love there to make things happen (rule here, always have a backup because you will always meet mr or missus douchebag) - in hindsight having the ark rolled over in the early morning by twenty students who trianglated my gps media enclosures to the location of the ark while me and my daughter are inside is not my idea of fun.  sorry, back to the nursery/school thing.

my plan is to have ella tues, thursday and either friday or saturday - three days a week and pick her directly up from the nursery or school (september) and take her back to the ark with me so we can spend quality afternoon, evening and morning time together before i either drop her back the next day to mum or her mother while she is at work.  either way, i can do most of the things i want to do at the ark - write, plan, make structure and ultimately learn and spend quality time together onsite learning bushcraft skills and exposing ella to nature in an epic way.

but the car is hardly sustainable right?
agreed.  i've managed quite ok with walking and biking over the last year or so and it has been brilliant, i've totally loved it in fact apart from the days when i have to carry ella a few mile but it kept me a level of fitness that ultimately was a constant reminder to do more (ie. helpful) - driving over and back and around moira, swadlincote seems crazy in the grand scheme of things but getting the train to burton station (like i do now) and then trying to get to the ark relying on other people while with your child is a no no - i did try to speak to nissan leaf but they were more interested in doing a project with an a-lister than someone in social media actually trying to transition from a life of geekery and flying around making media to someone that could 'do all the elements' of recording, editing, discussion and at the same time document and show the interactions of this lifestyle with his daughter.

getting everything wired up
which got me thinking about value, discussion and end to end of this project.  explaining how all the elements fit together with the studio space that was rented on a budget, winning the seedups money to develop a mobile social media command centre and how that looks in a fixed and mobile position. documenting and discussion in a mobile environment in my 'dead time' driving those forty minute between nottingham and the ark - describing my day and what i've worked on, when i have slow days and that human nagging feeling when we should be doing more or discussing what had an impact on me and why - taking the conversation and amplifying it on that short term commute.  building an incar streaming solution is something i've always wanted to do anyway with the march of this extra layer of digital information we now push out from our social networks.  explaining and documenting what a world like that looks like and ask - is that what we really want to be doing?

so, that's most of the brain spilling for the moment. i think i need a cup of coffee and a low fat cake.  not that i normally buy low fat cakes but they were reduced to 26p and i had that.  they should have been £1.04 - you get six but to be honest you need three to equal the one full fat ones.

at least, that's what i keep telling myself.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

it's been a long time in the making.

a couple of meetings, the uncertain location and how we could get sponsoring for it.  a failed indigogo campaign that i had messed up due to some double opt in errors on my behalf with mailchimp, a month of daily videos in december 2010 - all these things happened but the passion to make it happen remained.

recently we had confirmation that the national forest charitable trust had confirmed the first £6000 of sponsoring for the ark and that the bigger amount was due to be signed off but had hit some red tape and just needed time to get going, sitting waiting for the go light can be the most stressful time after such a long time of waiting for it to happen.  

the timing is way of our expectations - we ideally wanted to be in the ark around june/july but that month came and went and now we are in august and i'm just hoping for the extra money to drop and the parts ordered.  to build the ark it will probably take about 3-4 weeks of rangers, builders putting together structure before i can move in.

MVI_0200.MOV Watch on Posterous

i'm been working very hard on the site, newsletter and various video update features so that we have a constant social media piece everyday of what it will be like to live, work and develop ideas on site.  i'm also got to deal with getting transportation together, after a few years of not driving from lack of funds the mission more than every is to get mobile.  my daughter starts school in september and i want to be the dad that picks her up from the school gates.

the ark will be such a wonderful adventure for both myself and ella and all the parents with children tuning in to see us engaging with each other on a day to day basis with all the bushcraft and green projects we have over the year.

i've just installed a new video 'questions and answers' application called vyou on the 'ask' page and if you would like to ask me any questions ahead of moving into the ark just go for it.  i'll do my best to reply and we hope to be able to record videos on site via a laptop.  we will also use a fantastic service called keek when they have the mobile application to record responses ready to go.

i'm still searching for a 'green' word of mouth company to interface between me and the ark to deal with crowd curration of comments and feedback and to discover green tech companies that want me to utilize their equipment onsite for the year.

we have put together a pdf document outlining the social media return and social capital they can expect to receive as being part of the project and will have the ability to have their logo, url and weekly catchup show about how things are going with their product.

some of the features you can expect to see rolled out in the next month are. .

geo location content map
utilizing bambuser, instagram and audioboo (video, pictures and audio) we will be collecting pieces of media on a google map across the site all year round and we aim to do at least one (will probably be a lot more each day) of each as we wander around the site, tidying up and of course documenting wildlife across the site.  we have so many tiny projects that i want to get off the ground with gerry the ranger too.

tutorials of how to follow along
we understand that you are very busy people but still would like access to the content at a touch of a button.  we are planning a simply way for people with tablets, iphones and ipods to be able to view the content coming out of the project and hope to support other devices as the years go on.  we will post some video tutorials of how you can subscribe to all the content so we push the media to your devices.  neat huh?

the 3x3 coming to the ark site
currently we are building a simple grid system for each site that will show you the latest content that has been made onsite at the ark project, we will be rolling this out onto this ark site and will include a roundup of the latest activity.  remember you can sign up for monthly newsletters too over on the buildtheark website too.  just add your email!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

those that know about the project know it has been a hard road to decide on a number of factors about the ark project - location, infrastructure and story. we recently had a meeting with the board of directors for the location site and everyone seems very happy for it to go ahead and we are totally thrilled.

we have a meeting next to do a presentation about the ark but we have the space to build out our vision of the digital space.

we are actively back into looking for funding of £5000 for the year (we need five of them to make up the £25k - but remember that a sponsor gets a 365 year round project that they are connected too as you develop your own social media) to purchase at cost a gardenARK which i will frequent over the course of a year documenting the experience via video, pictures, textual and audio.

one pocket of money is being discussed already and we feel with a proper developed campaign we can find the rest. do sign up to the newsletter to hear more about this existing year round social media signature piece of eco goodness.  oh, and so you know the ark is not mine to keep - it will stay as a legacy on site at the nationa forest after the project has been completed.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

at the moment we are in very light back and forth with nissan about the nissan leaf.  a 100% electric car.  the fact that the car is electric really does hit home exactly the reason why we want to work with nissan on the ark project.  the potential crossover of showing what a greener, eco life could be like for the next year and documenting it with social media on a day to day basis with a permanent video stream - i've recorded a video below to explain my idea in the hope that nissan see it and can work something out so we can put this together.

your feedback is most welcomed.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

it's been a bit nuts to juggle jobs between fibrecamp development and raising the funds for the ark.

i do not feel like just spamming my twitter feeds with donate, donate, donate - i'd rather go a more structured approach to getting the message out but last week was a dead stop. it was only until yesterday when my business coach kicked my arse when i work up to what i should be doing.

so to give you a rough idea to what is happening at the moment. ..

-- nissan

i'm chasing nissan via twitter/facebook in the hope we can either have a chat about the potential of them stepping in as a sponsor either to the project or product - having a LEAF 100% electric car even just for three months as part of the project (even from now) would be a massive boost to the project - to raise awareness for both the car and project. i'd install some of the cradlepoint wireless routers in the car so we can stream anytime we are in it. also, can you imagine how good the sound would be without any car noise?

-- nottingham media relations

i'm still waiting back on the draft of this that will be going on the website, i need to chase this after this blog post. this had me hanging for a few days. my coach picked up that i was waiting on things instead of just cracking on. waiting on validation from the university before approaching other media sources and outlets. my tip of the week, just go for it and if you know the validators are coming then pass them on when you have them.

-- 100+ contact in a week

i've set myself quite the goal to contact at least 100 email address (people, local bodies, companies) over the course of the next seven days before i meet with my business coach again next thursday. nothing more to say really. storing all the email addresses in my task list manager.

-- other tasks on the list to do.

get in touch with as many of the top green blogs around the web as possible, linked to the email addresses of the 100 people to contact, re-engage with transition towns and expect a decent contact at EON and see if i can get back in front of stephen barker and the communication team at the local nottingham council.

-- bbc nottingham or other radio coverage

we have been recording a show called 'thepresenters' which is a behind the scenes show about radio presenters with hannah patterson (http://hannah.fibreca.mp) and some of the presenters she knows. plan to get on the radio to tell people about the ark.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

ask any daddy, they will tell you the same. you will do just about anything for your kids. if your kind of dad like i am you want to do the right thing, prepare your kid(s) for their future.

more than anything i want my daughter to be as well informed about life and how to deal with it so she can minimise any potential pain if i'm not around to help her through it.

i've always been quite a misery guts when it comes life and death. mainly because i feel like i've already done a ton of stuff in my life already - ella was literally a blessing that came along at the right time. she's the life-force that keeps mine going in this plain i'm certain.

the ark project really needs a serious business injection in terms of sponsors. i've got a lot of recording of videos this week as i get in touch with a bunch of 'green' blogs to get some movement and awareness.

got asked about 'food' yesterday because of the lack of the abillity to keep a fridge/freezer. although i had thought about food i have not really made any inroads to that - i need to find some one that can advise on bushcraft skills. i've always wanted to do that anyway - sounds like something a bloke should have the talent to do. ;)

i think i'm also going to have to start hanging around the meat/food markets in and around nottingham to see if we can work something out about foods that have to go 'out that day' - i know for a fact that there is a lot of waste in food production and selling.

have you noticed how i blog in the third person to remind me to do stuff? - if i forget then people who read the blog post remind me and i'm off again - doing what i was thinking about. ;)

i can see the ark in my near future - gotta get some business sponsoring coming in this coming week. you can find ark information over on http://helpbuildtheark.com and the donate/sponsoring button is in the sidebar to the right of the main blog.

have a cracking week. i'm just passing by beeston on the train and will be arriving into nottingham in about five minutes. my dead time today all done and three blog posts done from the train. mobility rocks!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

five million people on the housing waiting list in the uk they say on the news this morning. i'm homeless but i've not applied for housing. i'm lucky to be able to coach surf between friends but it cannot carry on forever.

so yes, last night i was dreaming about the ark. i had an exchanged between kristina of livingarks about some 3d plans, dimensions and talking about the location on the campus of where the ark would be.

i got a bit worried that the project would be seen simply as a visitors centre. while i agree it's great for it to be a visitors centre as well it's a lot more than that because it covers a lot more areas - the eco, the stability of housing and the ability for me to talk about it on a daily basis using social media tools - audio, textual and visual.

also in the email was mentioned about the sources of revenue to fund the ark. while i understand these need to be found to actually build the dwelling but for a moment i felt uneasy about those wanting to get involved in actually building it.

i'm sure we will work out. i'm looking at videos to each of my existing sponsors of fibrecamp this week and then sending them to people i know in the tech scene to see if we can raise awareness to bring forward the green tech companies.

we only need a £5k sponsorship from five companies to make this happen and i'm still going to be chasing crowdsourcing payments over on indigogo - i've put $20k on there. we are going to expand the date on that really soon actually.

i did not want to spam the hell out of it everyday - i think making a good video and creating conversation around it giving people updates is the key for people to donate and be involved - a few big blogs exposure and it should snowball.

i feel a little let down by some social media mavens for not at least giving me a nudge with this but i guess people have their reasons.

so, progress. i've just started to talk to nissan and the LEAF project about their 100% electric car and maybe involving that or at least some kind of donation to the project.

lots of chasing this coming week as we get back into the ark project after our two week calm down period after all the december videos. .

remember you can still donate right up to the end of march to the project - http://me.dm/link/gogo - the button on the right hand side.

we are looking to do a big push in austin, texas at southby (sxsw) and hope to meet as many green companies as possible. it's really key to get as many of those companies onboard as possible.

lots to do. i'll find a way to make this all happen.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

the good news is. kristina is back!

in a bit of a panic mode month for me having contact with kristina not being around and i was left wondering what was going on with the ark project.

my biggest concern was that we had made plans to document the ark as a interview video and source two models of the ark - one for the fibrecamp studios and one for antenna so that people could get used to the idea of the ark space.

what made it even more disjointed is that in december i had to head out to boston to see wistia about video embed, hosting and all things hosting for the project this year - feels weird to say this year.

emails have been going back and forth behind the scenes regarding the actual location of the ark for the project. i'm planning to talk to the team so we can go and film at the location so we can get a really good feel for the space.

i'm currently chasing sponsoring from a variety of places including the nissan LEAF project which is a 100% electric car properly launching in 2011/2 in the uk with production already started in north america - have the electric car as part of the ark project would be fantastic. i do hope they step up to the plate.

Kristina is finally forwarding us the details about the dimensions for the ark so we can create a life-size version in second life - excited to see what that looks like. we can make internal modifications ahead of time.

so that's the update really. things are happening, slowly right now - pace will pick up next week.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »