Yesterday, Crowd attended a brainstorm regarding the launch of Guernsey’s Digital Greenhouse project – a Commerce & Employment initiative to develop digital skills on the island and grow the island’s digital community.
A physical space would be great; but space isn’t everything…
There’s no doubt that a coworking space like the planned Digital Greenhouse is a great idea – it’ll allow members of the community access to a centralised place to meet, work together, and solve problems. People are the reason the Digital Greenhouse will work, so the key question before development should be ‘can we ensure people will use it?’ – The environment has to feel right.*
*It should be big enough for a community – but not so big there’s no buzz…
The focus of the space is for it to be an area where people feel welcomed and involved. Coworking should be at the heart of the project, so the Greenhouse doesn’t feel segregated by activity (i.e. one space for developers, a different space for designers). It should feel as open as possible; a smaller bustling space is much more appealing than a bigger, half-empty one. By offering varied and exciting opportunities for younger generations, we can keep them engaged with the local digital community and provide a reason to stay or come back after university.
It shouldn’t feel threatening.
Another foundation of the Greenhouse is mentorship. It was mentioned that the area could host a coding academy to help all ages learn to code. This ‘all ages, any skills’ notion should be accepted and be embraced across the entire Greenhouse project – a space that encourages learning and development; and not feel elitist and threatening. Anybody should be able to feel that they can simply walk in and chat to a friendly face about what they want to learn.
It’s not just about development.
“Coding is the must-have job skill of the future” according to Mashable. But coding is, of course, more than just development. Digital products aren’t created without designers, artists, strategists and usability experts too. The Greenhouse has to feel like a home to all of these people and more.
Activity shouldn’t have to feel contained within 4 walls.
Great work is only great if people see it. The Greenhouse should be as active digitally as it is in the real environment – an open forum – which has the added benefit of showcasing the work being produced from the Greenhouse. Keeping discussion and development open and conversational ensures great ideas get mentioned and noted.
The Greenhouse is a directory too…
The space is, again, driven by the people within it. People who are passionate about their hobbies or their industry. By treating the Greenhouse as a directory of people ready to work together or offer support, it could be a great way to develop personally and as businesses. Creating business cycles – where relationships are built and businesses provide for one another.
Sell it to the rest of us.
To get people on board with projects like the Digital Greenhouse, the general public also need to know about what benefits it can bring to the island. Give a layman’s term description of what ‘Digital Greenhouse’ means and what it will offer islanders. “How does it benefit all sectors on the island? What affect will it have on the economy?” – these are all questions which will need to be answered openly.
Work pan-island.
Digital Jersey’s great new hub is a perfect example of an environment that works. This doesn’t mean we should simply duplicate it – but learn from its development, figure out what would work in Guernsey, and build upon it. Being that close to another hub also presents great opportunities to work together – like ‘hackathons’ held over Skype and pan-island projects or challenges.
Form relationships globally.
Digital never stands still. With digital hubs cropping up across the world – London… Australia… Nigeria – it makes sense to join them. Learning and working together with people across the world provides unique and exciting opportunities to develop skills and form meaningful global relationships. It’s not guaranteed to bring in business opportunities – but it’s a brilliant, organic marketing tool that could really push the digital sector in Guernsey. 
Make things open, it makes things better.
It’s been great that discussions like yesterday’s brainstorm have taken place before any development begins. It’s a public project, for the public – so of course the public should be involved. If we can continue to develop the Greenhouse project in an open and honest manner, where everybody can be listened to, responded to, and kept involved, we can ensure that the space becomes something everybody feels a part of.
It was great to be a part of the discussion and we look forward to the development of Guernsey’s Digital Greenhouse. Join the discussion on Twitter using #DigitalGreenhouse