Sheffield blog

Who’s new?

Back in June I did a round-up of how Sheffield people and organisations are using the micro-blogging site Twitter, which became the basis for the Sheffield Twitter users page.

I’ve had another look to see who or what else from the city has popped up in Twitter. Some of these accounts seem a bit stagnant, but then you never know when they might spring back into life…

radio2XS (Sheffield-based online radio station, set up by Jeff Cooper, formerly of Hallam FM)
http://twitter.com/radio2xs

RPG photography (award-winning Sheffield photographer; this may be a personal Twitter account)
http://twitter.com/arepeejee

Studio dust (a small, creative studio specialising in design; also on Flickr)
http://twitter.com/dustcollective

UK logo design (the design studio of Taylors graphic design, offering logo, web and print design)
http://twitter.com/designforum

Joining more dots (a Twitter account in its infancy; the website says that this company ‘looks to imaginative ways to use digital media and web services to enhance communication and collaboration, in business, education and health care’)
http://twitter.com/joiningmoredots

Plain advice (boutique marketing agency; looks quite new – the impression I get is that digital marketing is not their background)
http://twitter.com/chrisbell

Learning, teaching and assessment in higher education (again, looks like a personal Twitter account, however the accompanying blog features and interviews about innovation in learning and teaching from Hallam university)
http://twitter.com/amiddlet50

Transports Exceptionnels start their tour in the Sheffield sunshine

Over the last couple of days the freshly-revamped Devonshire Green has played host to a dancing mechanical digger with accompanying dance partner.

Hanging on: Phillipe Priasso

I joined a packed crowd this afternoon to watch the choreographed routine unfold between French dancer Phillipe Priasso and his mechanical digger, to the background sound of opera singing.

I have no knowledge or real appreciation of dance, except when I am forced to watch Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday night, and although sceptical beforehand, I was quite impressed by the end.

The show lasted about 20 minutes, during which we saw the relationship between one man and his digger unfold, each mimicking the other and the digger taking on a life of its own, reminiscent of an animal or dinosaur.

I don’t know whether it was Danceworks or the council that took the lead in organising this, but it was good to see this kind of event in Sheffield, especially one being used to help showcase a regenerated site in town.

Transports Exceptionnels on Devonshire Green

Here is a video of a similar performance on the South Bank in London last year:

The magazine is dead; long live sandmanmagazine.co.uk

Sandman is a bit of an institution in Sheffield music circles. For over six years it has been providing music fans in the city with reviews, features and listings about hundreds of bands and artists – and most importantly, the inclination to go and see them live.

Its influence shouldn’t be underestimated: many people agree that the fact that we have seen a major resurgence in the Sheffield music scene within Sandman’s lifetime is no coincidence.

However, as a free paper magazine, Sandman is coming to an end. The editorial in the current, final issue explains that they have thrown off the shackles of expensive print, with all its limitations, in favour of concentrating on revamping their website, sandmanmagazine.co.uk.

I’ll miss the aesthetic quality of the paper edition and not being able to read it on the bus (unless of course I now upgrade my mobile handset) but overall I think they have done the right thing. As well as offering an almost infinite amount of space for more depth and breadth, being on the web offers far more potential for immediacy, interactivity and rich-media content, which for a music offering is surely key.

At the moment, the site does seem to have quite a basic, web 1.0 feel about it, but hopefully with all energies being channelled into the digital version of Sandman, this will improve.

Stay healthy and be carbon-friendly too

The Sheffield version of an urban-routefinder/walking website has just launched, giving information for pedestrians wanting to find out the best way to walk between any two points in the city.

walkit.com plots the path between the two locations you specify and gives the profile, distance, time, calorie-burn and the carbon emissions saved by walking instead of using a vehicle. You can also choose a less-busy route.

Apparently it works best within a 5km radius of the city centre, as that’s where the creators put the most effort into adding pedestrian-specific pathways, for example through parks or along river walkways. You can use street names or post codes on the site and most points of interest should be recognised.

Google maps has a similar service, although it takes a bit longer to bring up your route. The advantage of the Google version is that once it has suggested a route, you can then drag it to modify it. At the moment, you can do this on walkit.com but only in a more basic way by specifying a ‘via’ location when you search.

The walkit.com route profile illustration is quite good, as it helps you work out the hills involved in your journey; it turns out that my route back home from work involves a climb of 100m. For comparison, I tested this route in both and they came out within 2 minutes of each other – 37 minutes for walkit.com and 39 minutes for Google maps.

So which would I use? For calculating walking routes, I’d go for walkit.com, as it is easier to get the information you need quickly, and in general I’d be more inclined to support a smaller company over Google.

A South Yorkshire landscape

A work of art caught my eye the other day, a piece called SoYoScape (2006) by the world-renowned Sheffield design agency, The Designers Republic.

This (digital?) illustration contrasts night-time splashes of neon colour and defining Sheffield architectural landmarks against a backdrop of the seven hills and a jet-black sky.

One of the few online references I could find to it was on the University of Sheffield School of Architecture’s website. It seems that this piece played a central role in a recent exhibition to celebrate the school’s centenary:

‘SoYoScape’ by Sheffield-based The Designers Republic combines the mundane and everyday with the iconic and produces a condensed and vibrant image of Sheffield as it presents itself at the beginning of the 21st century.

If you look closely you’ll be able to pick out plenty of recognisable elements from the city’s landscape (click the image for a slightly larger version)…

SoYoScape (2006) by The Designers Republic

It is back and looks set to keep growing – but could do with a better website

The annual comedy festival returns next month, and it could be final one to be located solely in Sheffield. From 2009, the organisers have plans to expand it into Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster, which should further raise the profile of the festival in future years.

When it comes to comedy, I’m quite picky over what I enjoy, and even more picky over who I would go to see live. However, I’m looking forward to Grin up north, so decided to ask my friend – a writer for BBC Radio 4 and BBC3 and who has just returned from Edinburgh – what he recommends this year.

So, apart from the people you have probably heard of (Jimmy Carr and Dylan Moran), his picks include:

• Jason Cook (The Lescar, Saturday 11 October) – hilarious and really moving
• Rhod Gilbert (Memorial Hall, Sunday 12 October) – surprising that he didn’t win the main prize at Edinburgh this year
• Rich Hall (Memorial Hall, Monday 13 October) – an all-time favourite
• Tim Minchin (Memorial Hall, Wednesday 15 October) – one of the best shows in Edinburgh this year; a properly-done musical comedy
• Plus Mark Steel (Memorial Hall, Wednesday 1 October) and Comedy Store Players (Oval Hall, Thursday 2 October) would be well worth seeing

Or for another person’s recommendations, you can read a Sheffield student’s picks in their (new) blog.

The Grin up north festival brochure, bundled with a recent Sheffield Telegraph, is a good guide to who is appearing, but the website needs a bit more attention. Several of the shows from last year are still promoted on there (the text links need updating on the homepage), the website browser bar title still shows 2007 (getting this right essential for good search engine optimisation) and nowhere is an at-a-glace list of all performers. And can you not book tickets online?

When comparing this to the website for the upcoming Off the Shelf reading and writing festival, I soon realised that this also wasn’t much better. Likewise, there doesn’t seem to be a basic list of all events and the only way to view what is on is by downloading a pdf of the festival brochure – again, not at all search engine or user-friendly. By all means offer a pdf download, but surely the festival listings should be on the site as a minimum?

I really want these festivals to succeed as they are an important part of the cultural life of the city, but instead of being exploited as a key marketing tool, it appears that the internet basics are not being done well at all.

The city’s skyline is set for more change

It has been reported today that the Velocity Tower development near the bottom of the Moor has been given the go-ahead to rise to 31 storeys, making it Sheffield’s tallest building.

As I said in a previous post, I welcome a building that will make the city’s skyline a bit more distinctive. It may not be a work of art, but for me it is a sign that the city is quite literally on the up.

A major broadcaster is recruiting a Sheffield-based digital commissioning manager with £50m to spend

Channel 4 recently launched 4 Innovations for the Public (4IP), which aims to help define how public service digital media evolves over the next few years.

An investment of £50 million will spearhead a wave of digital innovation by supporting regional digital projects that help deliver Channel 4′s public service remit in an original way.

What has this got to do with Sheffield? Well, to help identify these projects across the country, a group of regional commissioning managers are being recruited – and it seems that one of these will be based in Sheffield, tapping into local digital innovation and giving it a platform under the umbrella of 4IP.

This can only be good news for Sheffield’s digital and creative industries, and with the first phase of the digital campus due to open this Autumn, the timing couldn’t be better.

Keep Sheffield Midland station open access for all

The debate about East Midlands Trains (EMT) and their plan to block public access through the station rumbles on.

It seems ridiculous to me that they should consider this proposal considering that it is a key pedestrian route into the city centre from the Park Hill side. Not to mention the fact that it would also stop all Sheffielders greeting people all trains on the platform.

If you haven’t already, then it may help to sign this petition and give your view.

Image by pauldcocker and used under Creative Commons license

A plug for the one-day festival and Nat’s debut single

I previously wrote about Sheffield band Monkey Swallows the Universe disbanding and singer Nat Johnson going solo.

Since the split, Nat has been playing on her own at various acoustic nights but now has announced her first full band show at the Carling Academy. It will take place on Saturday 27 September to tie in with the release of her debut single Dirty Rotten Soul on Sheffield independent label Thee SPC. The video to the song was filmed at various locations in and around the city:

The gig at the Academy is going to be an all-day event, with nine other bands appearing throughout the afternoon and evening, including David Thomas Broughton, I Concur, The Kabeedies, Champion Kickboxer, Smokers Die Younger, The Yell, Urgent Talk, Mayor McCa, Rory McVicar, Laura Groves, Stereo Horizo and The Bon Bon Club.

Nat’s acoustic shows, which you can see a taster of below, have so far been a treat so it will be great to see her playing with a full band. And ten bands for ten quid is good value for money.