If you are running a website that features comments, a forum or any user generated content then you should know about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Today, Reddit, Wikipedia and thousands of other websites have turned off in a worldwide protest against two proposed American laws that could change the online economy forever.

The arguments concern two pieces of legislation. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a attempt to deal with the growth in online piracy and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) relates to digital copyright. Both pieces of legislation have been designed to tackle piracy such as downloading illegal copies of films hosted in countries with little or no copyright laws.

Under the new Acts, downloading or streaming copyrighted material without the owners permission could be punishable by up to five years in jail. Quite reasonable, you might think? However, the punishments also extend to any website that is "enabling or facilitating piracy". This could be interpreted in such a way that a whole website could be shut down for one link to a suspected illegal site. User generated content added to websites would also be covered by the bills, making the owners of a website legally responsible for all the content of the site, even though it may be added by others.

Until very recently, the Bills also recommended technical changes which could instantly block websites that are the subject of a court order. This would effectively give the FBI a key to controlling the Internet much like the great censorship firewall of China. However after grumblings from the White House, Paul Brigner from the Motion Picture Association of America has conceded that "domain name filtering is really off the table".

Away from the censorship arguments, it's unlikely that many small business websites will find themselves at the wrong end of the proposed new bills. However, big Internet businesses could be forced to change the way they operate to guard against illegal user generated content being maliciously added to their sites and then reported. This could have a knock on effect on many of the services we take for granted online and in particular sites like Wikipedia which is perhaps why we see them at the centre of the current argument.

In my opinion, both SOPA and PIPA are good examples of well intentioned legislation that runs into problems by being both badly written and too broad in scope. Although it seems unlikely that the bills will pass in their current form, the ongoing war of words will no doubt continue. On one side you have the content holders, newspapers, hollywood and record companies who (generally speaking) haven't done very well out of the wild west of the Internet. On the other side you have Silicon Valley and companies like Google who may not support copyright theft but don't exactly make it hard for people to find illegal copies of media online (and in the case of Google is happy to sell advertising space next to links to illegal movie sites).

As for Artsgraphica, we support the Internet of the little man, the business owner and the entrepreneur. We believe that the online space should be a free marketplace where all good ideas have their chance to thrive. We don't support piracy but we also don't believe that SOPA/PIPA is the right approach to combat it. Hopefully, if today's campaign makes enough noise, the US Senate and House of Representatives will agree with us.

Grimsby Institute is hosting a series of workshops and seminars designed for students and young people considering careers in the creative and media sectors. Running from the 23rd to 27th January 2012 the events will showcase the local media sector as well as providing value insights and advice for the next generation.

Marking the tenth anniversary of the Creative and Media Industry week, the events are hosted by Grimsby Institute's Creative Arts faculty. This year's keynote speakers include Quentin Cooper, science journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Material World; comedy artist and entertainer, Graham Fellows aka John Shuttleworth and Adam Powell, a music video director. Other guests include speakers from all areas of the media and arts world including games, art & design, journalism, writing, photography, performance and television

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e-factor is a social enterprise based in North East Lincolnshire dedicated to helping local businesses start, survive, grow and develop. They launched a new website just before christmas and are now running a series of social media workshops that are free for businesses in North East Lincolnshire.

The courses are aimed at giving startup businesses the skills and confidence they need to get going with social media including classes on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The dates announced so far include:

Monday 16th January, 09.30 to 12:30
Facebook for Business

Wedsnesday 25th January, 09.30 to 12:30
Facebook for Beginners

Wedsnesday 25th January, 13.30 to 16:30
Advanced Facebook

Friday 27th January, 09.30 to 12:30
Twitter for Business

Monday 30th January, 09.30 to 12:30
Facebook for Business

For more information, please contact e-factor on 0800 952 0181

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I was invited to join Lincoln University's school of computer science industrial liasion committee at the end of last year and attended my first meeting today. The committee includes representatives from companies such as Siemens, Crytek and Rockstar so it was a great opportunity to represent Artsgraphica at the meeting

Education plays a vital role in the digital economy and it was great to see so many local companies getting involved in both shaping the future curriculum and helping students become better prepared for the world of work.

Thanks must go to John Lewark and the team at Lincoln University for getting involved with the local digital industry in such a positive way

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Much has been written in the popular press recently about the need to get Britain making things again. Design, manufacturing and engineering are vital to the growth of a new style economy that (without getting all political) can help address balance of trade. However, I think we shouldn't overlook the value of the digital economy and in particular how programming should be encouraged alongside traditional manufacturing.

I was lucky to get involved in programming at a very young age and through my Dad I got access to a Commodore PET, VIC-20 and other early computers. Like many kids of this time, I tirelessly typed in lines of computer code copied from magazines, learning programming skills that would later shape my professional career.

25 years later, the computer landscape has changed beyond all recognition. The games console has replaced the Amiga, Spectrum ZX and Commodore that my generation used to learn programming. The ICT curriculum emphases lessons in Word and Excel rather than computing fundamentals so perhaps its no surprise that programming is increasingly seen as a 'magic dark art'. This should not be the case.

Programming might not be for everybody but we should encourage it, just as we should encourage kids to get involved in manufacturing and engineering. So, I'm going to do my best in 2012 to support getting more people programming and pass on some of my skills to the next generation.

Learning programming can be magic and if you want to get started then check out www.codeyear.com to get a new interactive programming lesson sent to you each week.

Update: Education Secretary, Michael Gove announces that School ICT to be replaced by new core Computer Science programme. BBC, 11th January 2012

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In this second post of our 'one to watch' series I would tip the ASOS Marketplace as a key place for niche fashion retailers to grow online in what could be a difficult 2012 season. ASOS is the UK's largest independent online fashion retailer with a revenue of £340m and a staggering 13.6m million users a month. The Marketplace allows brands, boutiques and fashionista's to create their own online stores and tap into the growing 16-25 online fashion market.

According to ASOS 80% of users are currently using the Marketplace to resell their own clothes but it's staggering 690% growth rate last year means thats its not going to be long before we see a surge in interest from businesses. The ASOS Marketplace seems priced to compete with Amazon's Marketplace product, with businesses paying a £50 per month subscription on top of a 15% selling fee.

The Marketplace has a blog like feel and its social media features and regular editor's picks give it's users the feel that they are 'one step ahead' on the fashion community. I feel that this site does well in developing a shopping experience that although it won't be for everybody will appeal to young fashion savvi consumers.

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Pinterest is a rapidly growing social network that we predict should be one to watch in 2012. Put simply, Pinterest is a social bookmarking tool that allows people to share (pin) images found across the Web and share them with other people in categories (boards). The system is very easy to use and the elegant visual interface is strangely addictive.

Like other social networks, you can follow other users, share their content and contribute in the form of comments.

People are starting to use Pinterest to find ideas and inspiration. If you are redecorating a room, planning a wedding or looking for an extra special birthday gift, Pinterest has lots of oddball or innovative ideas. In short, Pinterest can be used to influence buying decisions. So if your in the right marketplace, you can use Pinterest to promote your products as well as to stay on top of the latest trends. Here are some ideas for some boards to get you started:

• Artists / Photography Portfolios
• Recipes or Menus
• Gift or Wish Lists
• Online Catalogues
• Event Photographs
• Coupons
• QR Codes

Have a look at www.pinterest.com

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Lincolnshire County Council is launching a new project in 2012 with the aim of supporting Digital Businesses in the County. The Digital Business Clusters Project will run a number of free network meetings, seminars, conferences and activities between January 2012 and September 2013 with the aims of:

• Creating opportunities for businesses to engage and identify potential collaboration partners
• Providing fully funded business support for participating businesses
• Identifying local business opportunities for participating companies
• Making non-digital businesses aware of the products and services the Lincolnshire digital sector provides
• Presenting opportunities for members to exhibit digital products and services
• Introducing participating business to potential supply chain opportunities
• Building the case for a faster and more inclusive broadband network in Lincolnshire
• Providing a series of informative networking events and seminars with guest speakers

The first event will take place at 6.30pm on Tuesday 24th January at Oak House, Lincoln.

For more information, please register your business with the project

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We are delighted to introduce the brand new website for Oaklands Grange Park Homes, specialists in the management and development of Park Homes Estates. Their work in the refurbishment and sale of Park Homes is well known.

The website offers valuable information to those looking to buy with a concentration on usability and accessibility to its users.

Visit www.oaklandsgrangeparkhomes.com

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Curtis of Lincoln has been providing the finest in Lincolnshire produce for over 200 years and the team at Artsgraphica were delighted to be chosen to design their new eCommerce website.

The project has started with a new mini-site launched for the Lincoln Christmas Market which takes place this week. More to follow in the coming weeks.

Visit www.curtisoflincoln.co.uk

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