#FindBritain - what, where and why?

Introduction

Is Britain broken? FindBritain will find out the truth.

FindBritain could be seen as a modern-day domesday book. FindBritain is a comprehensive, detailed, media-rich and relevant snapshot of Great Britain today. FindBritain is an attempt to seek out and record Great Britain as it is in 2010.

It will look carefully at the country and record what is found. FindBritain will reveal Britain to be viewed and examined by all. It will promote thought and reflection, it will also spurn action and change. The content generated ‘officially’ will be added to by anyone motivated and able to join in.

FindBritain uses the media of sound, photography, video, art, text and music to record whatever is found in Britain. FindBritain uses the power of social media to gain exposure, involvement, engagement and revenue to further the project’s aims.

This white paper explains what FindBritain is, how it works and how it will be developed and sustained. It examines the aims of the project, it proposes the likely results of the activities and sets out the future direction of FindBritain.

The thinking and the mechanics of delivering the project are presented here. A blueprint has been provided for the establishment and progression of FindBritain as a sustainable, profitable and long running project.

FindBritain explained

Introduction

Is Britain broken? FindBritain will find out the truth.

FindBritain could be seen as a modern-day domesday book. FindBritain is a comprehensive, detailed, media-rich and relevant snapshot of Great Britain today. FindBritain is an attempt to seek out and record Great Britain as it is in 2010.

Why FindBritain

Britain is broken they say. But is this true? Is Britain genuinely broken or is it a thriving and proud land full of beauty and wonder? FindBritain intends to find out the truth about our country.

FindBritain has been established to produce a detailed snapshot of Great Britain in the 2010s. FindBritain will prompt a re-examination of the nation by the nation. This will take place at a time when Britain has widely been reported as being ‘broken’. FindBritain must examine and record the country in detail, positive and negative, and must become an agent for positive change. To achieve change by utilising the inherent strengths of British society, without the negative that will inevitably be found and recorded simply strengthening the argument that Britain is broken, is a very real challenge.

FindBritain will take a long look at the country and turn it inside-out for examination and comment.

FindBritain will show Great Britain in all its variety both to those that live here and to those that don’t.

FindBritain will encourage a sense of pride and community in Britain and help show the sheer depth of British character.

Recording, collating and distributing FindBritain.

Content will be gathered using methods that suit those doing the gathering and the subject they are attempting to record. The common destination for all content is the Internet, suitably tagged as FindBritain content so it can be easily found. Content should be suitable for digitising. Photography can digitise almost anything, from flat artwork to pottery. Much of the content will be sourced using digital devices such as cameras, mobile phones and video cameras.

FindBritain in action

Glenn Le Santo will travel the country with a variety of content gathering tools and record Britain. He will comment on what he finds, attempt to make sense of it and make it available for others to explore. This is FindBritain in action. Recording via various media what you see and hear around you. Interviews, landscapes, news articles, accents - there are so many different things to record to help us FindBritain.

FindBritain is not a project for a single person. It uses everyone who can and will record something about Britain in some way and make it available. It is inclusive, social and collaborative. It utilises the power of a mass of connected people who are inspired to collect and contribute by a common cause.

Social media and FindBritain

Social media and FindBritain go together well. Social media provides ready made tools that fit the FindBritain project perfectly. Twitter helps to raise awareness, gather and publish information and is a great way to drive collaboration, engagement and participation.

Engagement and participation are keywords in social media. They are vital to the way in which social media operates and are the route to including ordinary people - real people - in a project like FindBritain which will thrive on their involvement.

Mobile and FindBritain

Much of the work done to record Britain will utilise a mobile phone. The smart phone is literally a palm-sized recording studio. The possibilities of recording sound, text, photo and video are such that one phone really can be all you need to gather great content.

Mobile FindBritain App

Developing a FindBritain phone app capable of operating on a wide range of popular mobile platforms has been identified as a priority.

A FindBritain app has many obvious practical functions but could also facilitate many revenue streams.

Search

FindBritain will use this to drive content generation with and through social networks of all kinds. FindBritain will gain exposure for the project and the content it produces via social networks. It is an ideal match for social networks as it provides an ideal opportunity to engage with people as they discover content, browse content and discuss the project.

By effective utilisation of the social media chain FindBritain will seed itself in search engines. This process will be enhanced by the quantity of data produced and the consistency of tagging. Finding FindBritain content won’t be difficult. A variety of methods will bring the desired results and, as the content builds in quantity, detailed searching will bring more relevance. Local searches will be enhanced by the growth and depth of the FindBritain content.

Finding revenue

FindBritain has a mix of ‘traditional’ and innovative revenue streams in place. The potential for turning the idea and the activity it generates into revenue is very real. The project is so all-encompassing that the realistic opportunities for partnership, sponsorship, advertising, engagements and other revenue ideas are almost endless.

Conclusion

FindBritain will record Britain as it is today. It may proved to be a historic project and become part of the rich history of the British Isles. It may even encourage positive change and a new sense of identity for Britain.