´óÏó´«Ã½ Backstage to close
As has been discussed recently in the press and various channels online, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has taken the decision to close in December 2010. Given the this no doubt comes as little surprise to most. However, I thought I’d take the opportunity to explain why this decision was made and what it means for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ as an open innovator in the future.
´óÏó´«Ã½ Backstage has been . I am very proud to have worked with the team on numerous projects. It was the forerunner to many other emerging, successful initiatives and has made a valuable contribution in driving the ´óÏó´«Ã½ towards genuine open innovation. In many ways it has been very much of its time.
Hackday 2007. The Banana Labs team gather around a darkened desk to mash up yet another prototype using ´óÏó´«Ã½ data.
Following the official launch of Backstage in 2005 the project has consistently delivered groundbreaking prototypes using ´óÏó´«Ã½ data. Personally, the stories of Hackday 2007 at Ally Pally where remains one of the numerous high points. ÌýOn that remarkable day the creative energies of the developer community prevailed, sheltering under umbrellas at times, with many people working through the night to build outstanding prototypes over the course of the weekend. Lord Reith would have approved of Backstage and its community on that day and many others.
Looking forward, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Future Media will shortly launch a more comprehensive repository of data feeds, development tools and APIs which will supersede the current Backstage collection. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is in early discussions with a number of the other UK developer communities about aspirations to create a larger network of independent developers that will absorb and support the current ´óÏó´«Ã½ Backstage community.
As many of you know Ian Forrester, the producer of Backstage, fell seriously ill in May of this year. The plan for last ten months was always to implement a systematic winding down of Backstage in early summer but Ian’s illness precluded this. Now that Ian is once again able to take up his role within ´óÏó´«Ã½ R&D it feels like the right time to retire Backstage and allow Ian to concentrate on new projects. Innovation and Innovators don’t stand still and with the Backstage model it’s time to move on.
ÌýOver the remaining months, we will be using the Backstage blog to celebrate the achievements of the project. We’ll be sharing some articles written by , commissioned earlier this year to produce a retrospective piece on the initiative. We will discuss in more detail the aspirations around the growth of a richer developer community in UK and Europe, explore the legacy of the project and its place in UK developer history and also share some details on some of the newer projects that the team have been working on.Ìý
Mashed 2008. Jemima Kiss of the Guardian interviews, and Flip films, Ewan Spence on his Social Flight Simulator.
Huge credit and recognition needs to go out to so many people involved since the germ of the idea that became was conceived in 2004. In particular I’d like to give thanks to the following people for their efforts: James Boardwell, Ben Metcalfe, Matt Locke, Tom Loosemore, Jem Stone, Ian Forrester, Matthew Cashmore, Rain Ashford and Ant Miller.
Finally, and most importantly, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ recognises that the success of Backstage is down to the whole community of developers, designers, contributors (and even critics) built around the project - a community who pushed it far beyond its original concept.
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ wants to support the community that is ´óÏó´«Ã½ Backstage and we’d really welcome ideas on how to extract as much learning from the project as possible as well as your thoughts on what its spiritual successor should tackle next. I want to say personally that ´óÏó´«Ã½ R&D is committed to retaining the team who have worked tirelessly on Backstage and I am looking forward to working with them on applying the Backstage philosophy to the new challenges faced by ´óÏó´«Ã½.Ìý
Cheers and hope to see you in the next incarnation.
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