Geo-writing: ‘A Boat called Calamity’

This year as a part of the Brighton Digital Festival I was pestered encouraged to participate in the Geo-writing project.

Geo-Writing invited you to grab writing prompts based on your location, wherever you were in the world! Centred around Brighton – where there were a higher intensity of prompts – but then rippling outwards, the prompts based on your location could be worked on straight away or emailed to yourself to work on at leisure. Authors used these prompts to write a fragment of a story, and submit to become part of a multi-authored ill-fitting story patchwork created during the Brighton Digital Festival. Sometimes, the same prompt was twisted through various viewpoints, other times characters and motifs featured in more than one tale.

My entry is written in the style of an Argus story and inspired by a prompt I found near West Pier: “A speedboat named Calamity crunches out on the pebbles.” The story also works as a loose prequel to these six Geo-writing stories by Clarissa about a Kemptown overrun by zombies known as ‘Blighters’.

West Pier

“Two taken to hospital after speedboat runs ashore”

The Argus, Monday 1 September 2014

TWO MEN have been taken to hospital after their speedboat ran ashore on the beach in front of the West Pier.

Emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 5am by Brenda Cobb, 48, who witnessed the incident. Mrs Cobb said that the boat appeared to be out of control as it ran onto the shore at high speed.

“When I went down to help I thought they were both dead at first. They weren’t moving and looked like they’d been out there a while” said Mrs Cobb. “So I called an ambulance. I didn’t think I could possibly help them.”

While it is unknown what caused the accident, it is possible that the occupants were in difficulty before they ran ashore. Mrs Cobb said that they looked unwell, but wasn’t sure if they were sick or simply injured and confused.

She said: “One of the blighters bit me! While I was on the phone I heard one of them moving about so I went over to to tell him that help was on the way. He just looked at me funny for a moment, then suddenly lunged forward and bit me on the arm. He broke the skin, but it’s fine. It gave me quite a shock though.”

The men have not yet been identified. The Argus has discovered that their vessel, an Oceanmaster 660 named ‘Calamity’, is not currently on the UK Ship Register.

Both men were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

More as we know it.

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Brighton Digital Festival

All next month will be my first Brighton Digital Festival. Today I’ve been looking through all of the events, and wow is there ever a lot happening! I created a list of the ones that interested me the most and I’m blogging it here because why not?

Brighton Digital Festival

Events that span much of the month are listed first, followed by events that take place over just one or two days. Some of these overlap, but I’m going to try and attend and get involved as much as I can this year. If by chance you’re reading this plan to go along to one of these too, say hi!

Ongoing / multiple day events

Mind of the City

  • 1–30 Sept, 3:38pm
  • Place TBC (possibly multiple locations)
  • A data visualisation tracking all the social media across the city, exhibited in public spaces.
  • @imaginebrighton #ImBrighton
  • http://imaginebrighton.com/

The New Digital Archaeologists

  • 2–9 Sept 10am–5.30pm (weekends 11am–6pm)
  • Brighton Media Centre, 15–17 Middle Street BN1 1AL
  • Visitors are invited to explore new/alternative approaches to handling our own digital remains and experience the work of a future Digital Archaeologist.

Newstweek

Newstweek

  • 3–28 Sept, everyday, 11am–6pm
  • Lighthouse, 28 Kensington Street BN2 9SF
  • An installation that invites visitors to set their own news agendas. Hidden within an innocuous plug socket is a device that acts as a virtual router, allowing users to access and edit national news websites being viewed through the local WiFi network. For the duration of the festival, Lighthouse’s gallery space will be transformed into a ‘News Fixing Bureau’ where visitors can surreptitiously satirise, spin or subvert the news being read by those nearby.
  • http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/newstweek-fact-fixing-bureau

The New Sublime

  • 6, 7, 10–14, 17–21, 24–27 Sept (Wed-Sat) 11am–5pm
  • Phoenix Brighton, 10 – 14 Waterloo Pl. BN2 9NB
  • An exhibition and series of discussions exploring the new ways in which artists who use digital technology are engaging with the viewer’s attention. This is a thorny subject because technology catches our attention in a particular way. When viewing this kind of work we may be initially fascinated and involved, but eventually slightly bored. This may describe our relationship to technology in general.
  • http://www.phoenixbrighton.org/

Remix the Museum

  • 9–28 Sept at Brighton Museum & Gallery
  • 10am–5pm, closed Mondays
  • The Brighton Youth Film Festival teams up with animator Dave Packer and a team of young creators as they present a visual remix of the museum’s collections.

Six Stories

  • 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28 Sept, 9:30am–4:30pm
  • St John’s Centre and Cafe, Palmeira Square, Hove BN3 2FL
  • A video installation presenting older people talking about their memories and thoughts on life and death.

Project: OggBots!

  • 20, 21, 27 Sept 2014
  • Various start times/locations
  • A huge city wide treasure hunt to solve the mystery of the alien, ‘OggBots’.
  • @makerclubuk #oggbothunt

Geo-Writing

  • All month, 24/7

    Become part of the communal writing event, with characters and events criss-crossing across the city, multiply described in a jarring, storytelling mosaic.

  • @geowriting #geowriting
  • http://www.geo-writing.com/

One-off events →