Beauty Goes Google, Social Networking and Innovation

Since the inception of Beauty In The Universe we have relied heavily on technology to distribute knowledge and information. Our philosophy is that knowledge and information should be free and we work with that in mind. We are currently undertaking a revamp of our website which will see it upgraded with better functionality and a more clean and slick look, and hopefully our blogs will be adapted to look the same. I am not a web designer but I do have some skills in that area, although regrettably I do not really have the time to learn advanced things like PHP and server scripting to be able to build complex web infrastructure as I would like to. Fortunately there is no longer any need to do so as I have had assistance on this from several fronts. Firstly, a friend of mine in California has very kindly donated her time and abilities to build the new website we need. I will give her the appropriate shout-out when the work is done, and only if she wants me to of course.

Secondly, we have invested in Google data services. We have used Google from the beginning, but now we have invested the tiny sum of £33 per user for Erica and I to upgrade to their full application service. I won't go in to too much detail, but for anyone starting a new business or looking to move in to any kind of independent service with a web-based element I cannot recommend this highly enough. Beauty In The Universe now has a full IT service and it has cost less than £100 to do it. I would also recommend a Google venture with British business innovators called Getting British Business Online. This is a service that will give you a free .co.uk domain name and web templates to get your business online in a couple of hours. It's free and you'd be foolish not to do it. Google is, at the moment, the cheapest (almost free) way to deploy business applications and web presence for your business. It already integrates perfectly with Android phones to ensure you're always connected, so when the inevitable Google Chrome operating system netbooks start appearing Google will be able to give businesses powerful tools to manage their daily affairs.

We are also stepping up out efforts to reach people in new and innovating ways. Erica and I have provisionally made arrangements to fly to Yellowknife in Canada to see the Aurora Borealis first hand. That is something we want the world to experience with us and so we want to find new ways to get information out there. You can already find us on Twitter here and we are pushing 300 fans on our Facebook page. We are going to start producing video material that stands alone, outside of the classroom. Currently the videos we produce are for teaching purposes, and so they only make sense in the classroom environment. That will change this year as we step up our involvement with YouTube and Vimeo.

We will also step up our networking via media services such as Spotify. I am a big fan of Spotify and have been a music lover and musician for many years. At Beauty In The Universe we do not believe in staff sitting in grey offices, working to death in silence. We are seeking to create an environment and culture that fosters creativity, innovation, and inspiration and working at Beauty will always be a family-friendly, children-friendly, stimulating and enjoyable experience. Music is always playing, energy is always present and ideas are always flowing. Spotify is just one way we can reach people and music is a unique thing that says so much about a person. I for one have an outrageously eclectic collection that, if I continue accumulating new music as I have previously, will be measured in terabytes. There is, in my music collection, something everyone loves and by the same token, something everyone hates.

Beauty In The Universe always looks for new ideas and methods. Where we come from in Burnley industry is stagnant and the town, from an academic point of view, needs the proverbial rocket up the backside as education here is poor. Beauty is a response to that and in October 2009 we ignited the engines. In seven months we have secured funding for this company to survive at least one year. That much is now guaranteed. We have put in several bids for funding to do things that are what most people would describe as, frankly, audacious to the point of being outrageous. Do you think we care? No. We are going to educate this town out of recession. One of our great motivating factors is a report produced by Centre for Cities, a government think tank that predicted Burnley will be last out of recession due to poor education and limited business innovation. We at Beauty are fed up of reports like that. Whenever anyone wants to say anything bad about the UK they mention Burnley. We are not only motivated to change that, but to ram those words down the throat of whomever predicted it. Mark my words Centre for Cities, you should have made your words a lot sweeter than that because you're going to be eating them soon enough.

The reality of our situation may well be economic recession for now, but we will find a way. Burnley lacks a lot of what we have to offer. I don't know any other organisation in Burnley that writes a blog, for example. At Beauty everyone does and everyone will. There are few organisations in Burnley genuinely dedicated to innovation and knowledge. Further inspiration comes to us through that though, because the best way to do things is always the new and innovative way. The rest of the country can stick to its knitting if it likes. I am sure that there will be challenges and setbacks along the way, but if there is one thing that being resilient and stubborn has taught me, it's that Burnley will flourish if Beauty In The Universe and others like us stick to our guns and raises a standard for knowledge and innovation. I don't know where the next big innovation is coming from, but I do know that its someone I see in school right now. I don't know what that person will do, but I do know that she or he will do it because of what we teach them. Things are tough right now for many people. Economic times are hard, there is a generation of 18-24 year olds who are seemingly on the employment scrap heap, and Centre for Cities has turned to it's favourite whipping boy, Burnley. As I said, I don't have the new answers, I just have the current ones. Let the children build the future by investing in their present.

What is Beauty In The Universe's message to Burnley? Dig in now and ride the storm. Keep the faith in knowledge and education. When they think you're finished then your finest hour is just around the corner.