indieLove links, June 17th 2013
Here’s a roundup of a few things that have caught my eye over the last couple weeks.
The Bristol Pound is just the tip of the iceberg
As John Rogers demonstrates in this piece the Guardian, the Bristol or Brixton pound are just two examples of what local currencies can achieve. The impact that local currencies and related ideas are having on both community and tourism is getting attention on a European scale. Indeed, the article introduces projects from Nantes to the Austrian village of Langenegg, and that the European Union fund a project called Community Currencies in Action, which “is now helping the public sector to understand the purpose and function of local currencies through a series of pilot projects.”
The Chat Diary
If like me, you partake in a number of chats on twitter, then this brilliant resource by Mark Shaw will tell you what’s happening and when! Follow on twitter @thechatdiary.
….Oh and if you want to analyse the effectiveness of your twitter chats, use OneQube (thanking Mark Shaw for this recommendation via CraftySkills too!!)
Retail Ready People
A volunteering and skills development programme for young people 16-25 interested in retail and business. Started in Brighton and Enfield and now moving onto Rochdale and Leeds, this inspiring programme is about the future of the high street. As Dan Thompson‘s says in a recent piece in The Independent, “Retail Ready People is all about trying, testing and prototyping. That practical research by young people is laying the foundations for a new high street, one that goes beyond chain store retail and provides new forms of social and community activities.”
Two great blog pieces from Kindred HQ ….
Is it time for freelancers to have more rights?
There are some great points in this piece from the folk at Kindred HQ. With more and more of us becoming freelancers, the ‘establishment’ (as they call it) have yet to put in place a number of changes in legislation and work rights that can support us when certain situations do not play out. The support structures, in particular in the realm of financial security (getting paid), is not there.
Peer to peer funding for indies
A very useful overview of the upward trajectory in the peer to peer funding marketplace focussing on the likes of Zopa, Funding Circle and Ratesetter. I think Alex Butler makes a really good point that this kind of model could work for getting freelancers’ ideas off the ground, provided one can articulate the business and investment proposition of the idea!
Find Pop-Up Space For Your Idea with Appear Here
With the continued growth of popup spaces around the UK, Appear Here is described an “online marketplace to list, discover, and book short-term retail spaces around the UK.” Appear Here is currently in London, Bath, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh. Like them on facebook and follow them on twitter.
New Neighbourhood Crowdfunding Platform: Changify
Established by Design for Social Change (D4SC), Changify is a new neighbourhood funding platform. Changify is a new service for the public to initiate and support local and community change projects directly from their mobile phones, and seek backing from brands, councils, local businesses and other supporters. It’s an exciting platform that engages with all members of the public to submit their ideas for approval with an outline post and video.
The price of espresso in London
A really interesting piece by Square Mile‘s James Hoffmann about the relative cost of espresso across the London. Always one for an intriguing anecdote on coffee, James asks “Does the pricing itself mean anything? Is it expensive? Is it cheap? I can’t really comment. All I would say is that if I were planning to open a shop, and focused on serving high quality drinks, I’d know with some confidence that the market can bear at least £2.00 quite comfortably.” For a lot of coffee shops centrally located in other major UK cities, I would say it’s quite similar. What do you think?
