Commissioning The Future Lab – 21st-25th March 2012 Manchester, UK

The first Commissioning The Future Lab is to be held in Manchester, UK from 21st-25thMarch. Open to 24 European and UK broadcasters and funders from TV, film and online departments, Commissioning The Future is a unique, five-day intensive training event specifically designed to provide fund managers, commissioners and broadcasters with the confidence and skills to commission and executive produce across multiple platforms.

The lab, to be run by Heather Croall (Director Sheffield Doc/Fest), Mark Akin (Producer Crossover Labs) and Donata von Perfall (Director Documentary Campus) will provide clarity in an over-complicated media environment by using simple building blocks, methods and tools to provide a profound understanding of what works online, and how to maximise audiences by understanding how they behave.

Follow-up labs are planned for April and May. Details to be announced. (Photo by PhillipC CC BY 2.0)

Greenlit: Hippo: Wild Feast Live, Channel 4

Hippo: Wild Feast Live (1 x 90′ + live streaming online) – A multiplatform event that reveals what happens to a hippo after death. The hippo carcass in question is located in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley by a section of the Luangwa river frequented by a range of predators and scavengers including leopards, lions, Nile crocodiles, [...]

Historical Facebook

Ever wonder what the world would have been like if Facebook had been around hundreds of years ago? Me neither. But someone obviously has. Check out updates from God, Abraham Lincoln and the Titanic here.

Open Stories – iReporters

CNN has launched an online new reporting platform, Open Stories that crowdsources reporting from both professional and citizen reporters. The project aims to tell important stories from a range of viewpoints, using video, photos and comments. Public contributions are vetted and displayed on a timeline alongside reports from professional journalists. Read more on Springwise.

Shopping for Men

French dating site DealduJour puts a new twist on online shopping – you can bid for men. For one day only a man will appear in a video and interested women are given a limited amount of time to express their interest. Read more on PSFK

Hackney Hear

Hackney Hear is a GPS-enabled app for the iPhone an Android that will allow visitors to the 2012 London Olympics explore the boroughs around the stadium. As you walk, your location will trigger interviews with famous people from the area, such as Lord Alan Sugar or writer Iain Sinclair. The app will be free and [...]

Digital Map of Manchester

The tourist honchos in Manchester have put together a map of online activity in the city,  including blogs and websites for tourist attractions, local interest groups and businesses. Explore digital Manchester here.  

Tweeting Animals You Should Follow

Are you on Twitter? Obviously you should be following @tvmole on there but there are a number of (funnier, if less useful in an industry intelligence context) other animals you should also be following for those moments when you need a little light relief. Top tweeters include (feel free to add your own suggestions below): [...]

Putting Social Media to Work

Fresh Networks has put together a series of ways that people have used social media to find themselves a job, including this interactive video CV by Graeme Anthony. Applying for a job just got scarier.

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle

In 1911, 146 mostly young Jewish and Italian women were killed in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in NYC, in what was then the worst workplace disaster in the history of America. Most of the victims were trapped behind a locked exit, in what was supposed to be a modern fireproof building, but [...]