#c4dibeta

It's Big Data Week this week, with a wide range of data-related events taking place in cities around the world.

My wife is travelling this week, so I'm staying close to home. Luckily, the excellent C4DI just down the road in Hull is hosting two events and I can make one of them...

When not travelling for clients or events, I work from home. I'm based in a small town in East Yorkshire, about 200 miles north of London. We have great fibre broadband, that's amongst the fastest in the UK, and I'm pretty well set up with coffee machines and big desks, and bigger speakers, and all the things you 'need' to work productively.

But - just sometimes - there's value in getting out of the house, in being around other people doing similar things.

London, San Francisco, Leeds, and other bigger cities with thriving tech/media sectors have had co-working-type spaces for a while, and I've used many of them.

And now that idea has reached East Yorkshire. C4DI beta opened its doors in Hull this morning, and on first impressions it's an amazing space.

The same fast fibre that serves Beverley has been laid in to the C4DI building. The magic coffee pot appears to never empty. The views of the River Humber, the River Hull, and the Deep (the world's only submarium, we're told) are more interesting than my back garden.

And - most importantly - there's a real sense that a community is being built here. Ideas to spark, challenges to share, new opportunities to uncover.

It's going to be great, and the team behind it should be very proud.