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?
Related articles- 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)
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.
Related articles
- 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)
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
recent days at the ark | archives?
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help build the ark is the homebase site of the 365 livingark project. an offgrid landark in the heart of the national forest exploring power production from solar and wind energy captured with social media tools on a daily basis for a complete year.
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take me back to the top. iz lazy to scroll.
