— Stuart Buchanan

Edinburgh Festivals Ideas Challenge

The first web site I ever worked on was back in 1995, when I produced the first site for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. As the largest arts festival in the world, back then it had a modest 1,200 shows running over three weeks (now considerably more). The collateral was a 160 page brochure, with every show listed in alphabetical order. Listing in this way was seen as being extremely democratic for a Fringe festival, however it was essentially useless for the general public. Thus, the idea of creating a searchable online index, additionally categorised by type and by date, seemed like the obvious way to go.

I pulled in a student developer from Edinburgh University called Evan, and paid him the sum of 750 Pounds – for something that would most likely cost tens of thousands today. In addition to having the full index online, we also decided to allow Fringe audiences to rate and comment on shows, to help other people decide what to see. We thought this was absolutely normal and the right thing to do – apparently, in 1995, it was quite ahead of its time. Sadly I lost touch with Evan after I left Edinburgh – I hope he’s rich and successful, he deserves to be.

Having lived and breathed the Festival for five years, I naturally have an affinity for the place and I keep a close eye on their online activity. A couple of years ago, the collective group of Festivals (twelve of them at last count) came together to set up the Edinburgh Festivals Innovations Lab – a project with the bold aim of bringing Festivals, audiences and partners together to “improve the world’s festival city”, largely through online or technological initiatives. I encourage you to visit festivalslab.com for a regular update on all of the inspiring activity that seem to be endlessly flowing from the hive mind of the Lab.

A current project – and one that we would do well to borrow / steal – is the Edinburgh Festivals Ideas Challenge. It’s a simple (and thus highly effective) way of crowdsourcing and rating ideas for future innovations from audiences and local residents. Once added to the site, ideas are voted upon, with a prize for the Most Popular Idea as voted by the public, and a second prize for the Judges’ favourite. So far, the top ideas include a ‘top up’ swipe card instead of paper tickets, an app allowing you to browse and book based on your location and – one of my favourites – “give local residents a 50% reduction” (yes!). Follow the evolving story, and throw in your two pence worth, at ideas.edinburghfestivals.co.uk. The closing date is fast approaching, ending October 31.

And if you know of Evan’s whereabouts, do say ‘hello’ for me. I probably owe him a pint (or three).

img: via festbuzz