Sue Beckingham’s talk on Using Social Media to create a Personal Learning Network provided some great insight on the tools available and how to use them to best effect. I’m definitely going to be looking at the use of Posterous and WordPress to create private blogs for personal use.

Sue mentioned The Conversation Prism which is not only a beautiful data visualisation but a great way to find new tools and services.

Sue also included The Geosocial Universe showing the amount of mobile devices and the number of users on popular services.

Sylwiva Presley joined the event via Skype from Oxford to discuss the issues around children having access to Facebook. With some very interesting statistics she raised concerns over our attitudes to how children behave online:

In the US:

• Of the 20 million minors actively on Facebook last year, 7.5 million (one third) were younger than 13 and not supposed to be using the site.
• More than 5 million were under 10 using their accounts unsupervised
• One million children were harassed, threatened or otherwise bullied on the site

Sylwia also recommend a TED talk by Adora Svitak on how adults can learn from children.

Lunch break was good fun with everyone getting to grips with the tamales from Rico Mexican Kitchen. The sun shone and we all got some fresh air.

Mark Spofforth from Lovefre.sh gave a very personal account of the story behind Lovefresh. A demo of the apps gave everyone a taste for finding more local produce. Discussion around the use of the word checkin was interesting as they are using it in a different way. Also interesting to hear their struggle with web standards on mobiles for using features like the camera and microphone.

Very interesting talk on Digital Inclusion by Matthew, discussed the DAIN project and their new venture Das4Life. Some great work going on to help those without skills, knowledge or access to technology. Interesting to hear stories of 70 year olds getting to grips with digital cameras. Concerning that some choose to exclude themselves and almost end up opting out, but why should they have to adapt?

The day was rounded off with a stunning performance from Linda Harrison. She’s pretty much everywhere on the internet so find her on Youtube, iTunes and Bambuser.

See all Instagram photo’s from the event thanks to Instagreat.

And damnit, still didn’t go to see the Fibrecamp studio.

Updated (22 May 2011) :

Photos on Flickr from Paul Mellors

Unexhaustive list of MCN4 attendees on Twitter

I’ll be there all day. Come say hello. I’m @mawawa (don’t ask me why, I don’t have a good answer!)

If you can’t make it to the event, follow me @mawawa and #mcn4 on Twitter. And there will probably be a followup blog here afterwards.

(And I’m not just doing this for a #freelunch)

This is a problem so cruel for the festival that the irony is overwhelming. The festival has been created to celebrate the industry, to applaud the creative geniuses behind games loved by millions, to help us appreciate gaming as an artform, to better understand its place in our culture and to discuss its social impact. But the very industry that it is celebrating doesn’t get it! The videogames industry, which loathes itself so much that it insists on being called the interactive entertainment industry, has missed the point completely.

Ian Simons was almost calling out that without the support of the videogames industry, there isn’t much of a festival and that the festival or the industry needs to bend to meet in the middle.

I’d say take a year off from pleasing a blinkered industry. Maybe better to ignore than include, that will guarantee that they’ll be begging to be involved. Next year, make it about the rich history of videogames. Some suggested talk titles would be:

• Jeff Minter: The Man, The Legend, The Llamas
• Angry Birds: The Flicking Phenomenon
• Codemasters Retrospective
• Outrun: The Game That Changed Soundtracks
• Bedroom Coding: Then and Now
• A screening of The King of Kong, and other classic videogame films
• The Book of the Game: How Players Guide are written

I loved the videogames festival and I think that it definitely has its place. There is such a wealth of games, fans and history that even without industry support or input it can continue its greatness.

• Live Music at Jam Cafe on Good Friday
• Short films at Nottingham Contemporary on Good Friday and Saturday nights. Music from Ed Lamps on Saturday. Rest of the weekend look around Star City before it finishes. Local real ale on sale in cafe.
• Afternoon Tea at The Walk
• Another ride on the Wheel of Nottingham
• Go on the Ghost Walk on Saturday night
• Watch A Single Man at The Screen Room
• See the new Robin Hood Exhibition at Nottingham Castle
• Peter Andre at the Royal Centre on Sunday
• Get some comedy at the Just The Tonic – Easter Sunday Bank Holiday Special
• Watch Notts Forest play Cardiff City on Monday at the ground or in The Approach

This post is experimental paid content. Please pay $1 via Twitpay if useful.

Volunteer meetups are currently taking place with much more help than last time, thanks all! With the venue agreed it is now the interesting part of finding sponsorship, getting raffle prizes and choosing bands.

To find out more about Nottingham Twestival , check the blog and follow @nottstwestival.

The post covers the benefits of being involved with Twestival to raise your profile, raise some money and all round raise your spirits.

I’m very pleased that Darren agreed to take Twestival to a wider audience.

Short URL: http://www.martinwright.tv/u/10