onionbagblog

It all started with a throwaway remark to @LloydDavis last Friday at The ICA cafe:

“Why don’t you take Tuttle South of the river to @BrockwellLido?”

It was said in jest, and with some amount of smug, self-interest. But as Tuttle continues to find a new permanent home, there is some justification for staging a weekly geeky meet up South of the river at everyone’s favourite cafe by the water.

I’m in no way suggesting that Tuttle should set up shop permanently by the waters of Lake Brockwell. The group is far too big for both the space, and the location. Any central Tuttle gathering needs to remain just that. Slipping out of the office for a cappuccino at the ICA on a Friday can be excused; trekking down to deepest South London and aresing about by the lido, probably wouldn’t go down too well with the boss.

But I do think that South London could support a weekly social media offline discussion. Transition Town Brixton has used the online tools to help roll out the Brixton £; the mighty Urban75 and its ever growing community is based South of the river, as are some of the best bloggers in the capital.

All of this is just thinking out aloud. Tuttle seems to just happen, but I appreciate that @LloydDavis has more or less it made it a full time going concern. Preparation behind the scenes is immense to facilitate the weekly conversation.

But if enough people are thinking along similar lines to me, then maybe we should make a move?

A few obvious questions need to be answered before Brockwell Lido Tuttle comes into being:

Would we be welcome? Um - best ask @theLidoCafe.

When should Lido Tuttle take place? Weekly? Monthly?

Would the @theLidoCafe WIFI support the demand? Haven’t pushed it to full capacity yet.

Would there be sufficient interest South of the river? Seek and you shall find. You can only criticise someone who has actually tried something.

Would the South London public transport network support the venue? Probably not. The Lido is a pain to get to via public transport. We’d be looking at walking or cycling, which would definitely limit the reach of the Tuttle crowd.

I think I’ll wait and see what direction, both geographically, and in terms of group dynamics, that the Tuttle crowd decides upon over the next week or so. I’m personally in favour of a North / South / East / West gathering, either in rotation, or as stand-alone sessions. A coming together of the clan, once a month, would also help this to work.

The South will rise - and drink coffee, and talk about online and offline networking, and enjoy the view form the lovely lido cafe - again…

Ah, and so I make it to the lovely #tuttle for the first time since the summer months, and whaddya know - coffee and social media just off The Mall is no more. Sort of…

Friday was the final Tuttle Club at The ICA. As all round Tuttle-r, and rather nice fella @LloydDavis explained: there has been a “monumental admin cock up,” with the bookings for The ICA cafe.

And so Tuttle is temporarily homeless. I think this suits the rather loose structure of the social gathering perfectly. I’ve found Tuttle a space where I can go as and when, speak to whom I want, and with no rigid structure that is often imposed on similar online / offline events. Plus it’s not very often that you get to drink coffee in the same room as @bobbyllew, a recent Tuttle convert.

Smeg!

I spent most of Friday morning having a fascinating chat with @solobasssteve. Steve is a musician who understands that his art is worth far more the sum of simply making music.

He has an intriguing (and possibly plausible) theory that the music industry is just a blip within the epoch of making music. Music has always existed; it’s just been that within the past one hundred years or so that an industry has been created to market this music.

The digital revolution (and make no mistake, it is a revolution) is simply the next phase for musicians to create, collaborate and share their work. The King is Dead, long live the Digital King (although I did take some issue with Steve’s assertion that Rod Stewart was a God for a short period in the ’70s.)

It’s these kind of random chats that Tuttle facilitates. The other option for my half term Friday morning was to get to hack my way around some php code alone at home. After a late night of launching profanities at my Mac, I think man and machine were both in need of a break.

Back to the day job(s) next week. I know precisely where I’ll be at 10:30 on Friday morning - podcasting a school assembly.

As for Tuttle? The collective creative minds within the group will come up with a solution. See you wherever, hopefully during the Christmas holidays.

Another free (ish) Friday morning, another #tuttle. I’ll find all this offline social media friendliness a hard habit to break, once term time starts again come September.

I took the strategic decision to arrive at The ICA early. Past performances have seen me stroll in midway through the weekly Tuttle meet ups, finding the many conversations in full flow, making it tricky to find an entry point.

Good decision on Friday. Tuttle early doors proved to be almost an ambient experience. The gentle tapping of MacBooks was only punctuated with the ringing of an iPhone. The whole room then reaches for their respective pockets, which is rather amusing to watch.

There wasn’t really anything specific on the agenda for me this week. I’ve had quite a decent run with various online projects of late. I was more interested in a cup of coffee and a catch up.

@funkturm arrived (slightly) fashionably late, flashing about his compact and a recent photograph of some bonkers multi-coloured Moulton he captured parked up outside the ICA.

Whoops.

@cabbiescapital also came along, and judging by his constant iPhone updates, had his mind half on Tuttle, half up at Headingley.

Good man.

We were soon introduced to the lovely miss audioboo, which made my short cycle into town worthwhile. I’ve long been a flag waver for all things audioboo, and was keen to express my enthusiasm, and to find out what’s around the corner from bestbefore.tv. With the 3GS supporting video, it doesn’t take a genius to second-guess.

The theme for Tuttle today seemed to be @audioboo party hangovers. The dark eyes and coffee addiction was a sure sign of attendance at the party the night previous.

I think I was slightly over-excitable with mss boo, keen to put across how a FREE app has totally changed the way I work within various schools. But the ease of producing, publishing and distributing a podcast via audioboo, is a game changer, make no mistake.

The conversation then turned towards @cabbiescapital, who is keen to also embrace audioboo. mss boo came up with the brilliant idea of a Google maps mash up, locating his movements each day with cross-referenced audio. It’s this exchange of ideas that makes Tuttle attendance so useful and rewarding.

The morning was then a mix of more coffee and more work, as I ducked in and out of the room with scheduled commitments at various times. Out of interest I ran a quick speed check on the ICA WIFI - a whopping 10megs, which had to be worth the price of my cappuccino alone.

An all too brief conversation with @JimAnning followed, exchanging ideas about the use of technology within education and how a bottom up approach is so badly needed.

And then I was all Tuttled out. I made my exit, only to end up with a further fifteen-minute conversation in the ICA car park, all about consumer power and the possibility of making money via feedback. In truth, I think my moneyman was more interested in my bonkers multi-coloured Moulton.

I think I’ve worked out how to get the most out of Tuttle. You just need to attend, and attend frequently. Unfortunately my term time commitments at Somewhere *else* In SE17 restrict me, but I’ve got another four weeks or so free at least.

Same again seven days time.

Another Friday morning, another regular Tuttle Club meet up, give or take the odd three-month lapse in my coffee and carrot cake with London’s social media hub.

Whoops.

I’ve missed out on Tuttle for some time now. Just as one Friday freelance project came to an end, another time specific one started. Tuttle is a very loose, free form type of club. The one rule is that Tuttle meets every Friday. But even a freelancer has to earn.

And so with a rare window in my weekly routine, I cycled off to the ICA on Friday morning for a coffee and a catch up with the lovely folk of Tuttle. Although not exactly a regular, it was as though I had never been away.

Despite all your fancy social media tools enabling greater cooperation amongst the crowd, you still can’t control the English weather. Mid-July, and Tuttle for this week had been deemed an outdoor, al fresco event, held just down The Mall at St James’s Park.

Having rendezvoused with @darryl1974 and @funkturm, the rain chose to descend upon central London. We spent the best part of five minutes trying to decide if a bunch of German teenage backpackers were the new, zestful face of Tuttle. Turns out they were just as lost (and wet) as we were.

No worries - when in doubt, descend on the familiar ground of the ICA. Tuttle was in full flow, and within minutes I was talking with a complete stranger about the potential crossover within the fields of psychoanalytic study and technology. That’s not normally a conversation you have down the Dog ‘n Duck on a Friday night.

I needed the offline inspiration for a particularly painful online project that I am currently having some problems with. Working remotely has great benefits, but isolation is not one of them. Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective, a friendly chat and some inspiration with where to go with the project next. Thankfully I found that renewed vigour within the ICA on Friday morning.

I didn’t get to do the meet ‘n greet with a great deal of other Tuttlers. The rain had slightly dampened my mood, and I was feeling slightly *shhh* unsocial at a social media meet up.

But Tuttle is what you make of it. In many ways it is like the underground parties I occasionally attended in the mid ’90s; you pull up to a complete stranger, ask them what their online ID is and then take it form there. Thankfully the ketamine wasn’t in action at the ICA.

Other chats followed, with a new pal who seems to balance marketing with development. He can roll out systems, and then market them himself. Perfect sense.

With work calling later in the afternoon, I made my Tuttle exit shortly after lunch, feeling better for having made a slight effort, although weary that I wasn’t exactly on fighting form.

There was quite a buzz within the ICA, and the most in demand person is always mien host, the lovely Mr Tuttle. I was therefore pleased to find the most social, social media man in London, taking some time out for himself on the steps leading down to The Mall as I departed.

He seemed justifiably pleased that another successful morning of Tuttle was coming towards an end. Enabling individuals to share their work and ideas together must be a very rewarding experience. I’ll try not to leave it three months again before I’m next Tuttled over.