Bristol shows how to collaborate to compete

What strikes me about Connecting Bristol is not so much the content - probably of limited interest to those outside the City - but the fact that it is there at all. The blog is being run in conjunction with Bristol's bid to win the UK Government's Digital Challenge, under which 10 finalists, led by local councils, are competing for several million pounds worth of Government funding, matched by private investors.
In one sense it is a pretty obvious idea to have a blog ... the aim of the challenge is to improve public services, promote inclusion of those not so far benefiting from social media and other technologies, and share experience.
However, as far as I can see none of the other competitors - except Manchester - has anything interactive. One has a a page with a form saying fill this in if you are interested .... Maybe they don't want to give away their best ideas.
Bristol, on the other hand, is not only reporting what it is doing towards its bid, but is also opening the blog up to non-council people who want to contribute. It's part of the bottom-up approach explained in a recent interview with Bristol e-democracy project manager Carol Hayward and in line with other projects.
I met up with Clare Reddington and some of the other bloggers yesterday when they ran a skills exchange to introduce new contributors, share ideas on how to work together well, learn from other bloggers ... and of course, socialise. Stephen Hilton, Kevin O'Malley and Steve Parry were there from the Digital Challenge team chipping in with everyone else. They do have the advantage of an excellent venue in the Watershed Media Centre which has free wifi, great bars, cafes, cinemas and so on ... plus committed staff to help drive the blogging forward. Sometimes out-of-London seems particularly attractive.
I know there are lots of other collaborations between councils and other local interests - as I reported from Newham the other day. But it is particularly interesting to see in the context of a national competition, and blogged.
The ten finalists have said they are all collaborating so there is no one "winner" - but actions speak louder etc.
I'll be back in Bristol next week with Drew Mackie helping run a Digital Challenge game, funded by the central challenge team to help further involve local interests. Invitation here.
Then in the New Year we'll be running a workshop In Manchester with Dave Carter of the Manchester Digital Development Agency, and Gary Copitch of the Manchester Community Information Network who both have enviable track records in community tech.
Hmm - checking into their blog I find they are being pretty open about developments too. I've no doubt I'll find wonderful things happening in Manchester when I visit. That's the great thing about this social technology - you meet such interest people.