Manchester Digital to proposition Government following election

Ahead of the election, the group of 30 people heard questions raised and listened to comments about what was needed for the future, including a need for ‘more ambition in planning for the future,’ and a debate about the relationship between Manchester Digital and new groups which have been formed such as Social Media Café.

Those elected were new members Nick Rhind from CTI, Philip Jeffs from Fudge, Tim Dobson from DMC and Rajesh Joshi alongside previous members Mike Ryan from Idaho, Nina Mack from Worship Digital, MD Shaun Fensom, David Edmundson-Bird from MMU, Richard Hudson from Vanilla Storm, Tony Foggett from Code Computerlove, Dave Carter from MDDA and Raj Mahapatra from Legal 2.0.

Phil Jeffs, technical director for Fudge, made this statement as he looked to be elected to the council; “Manchester’s digital community has never been stronger, largely due to independent groups which have taken the lead in holding together this community and delivering value to its members. Unfortunately, Manchester Digital is absent from this. A lack of credibility and engagement has damaged Manchester Digital’s reputation. The council should be made up of people like myself, who are active in the community as well as the industry. It should know how to engage with its audience and provide something valuable. This will only happen if the individuals on the council are able to speak to the community as peers.”

A conversation was also had over Fensom’s proposed ‘Memo to the Government’, which issues proposals for the development of the UK’s digital industry and will be sent to the newly formed Government.

This will be done as part of One Digital, formed alongside Bristol Media and South East New Media network in order that their views will be heard.

The Memo contained the following proposals;

• Create a realistic copyright environment for digital content that encourages innovation and is fit for the digital age. That means changing or repealing the copyright provisions in the Digital Economy Act.

• Open up government and public sector data to encourage innovation. Give UK digital business a head start in the development of new applications and services while creating a more open and transparent society.

• Work to create a truly open digital infrastructure. Catch up with other countries by building new all-fibre and wireless open access networks and open digital hubs. This will create opportunities for infrastructure, technical and content businesses.

The council agreed that a fourth item about education and skills should be added calling on the Government to change education and skills policy to favour digital skills, which means bridging the gap between traditional ICT and media skills policies.