In Part 3 of our 'Where it all began' series we go back to 2006 (and a little further) to unearth the urban informatics agenda, with one of the research sectors greatest contributors to smart cities, Professor Marcus Foth from the Queensland University of Technology Design Lab. In this discussion we talk about the 'connective tissue' between technology, people and place, and how the complexities and opportunities of this convergence have changed over the years, and what it means to 'be digital' in the public realm today, with the proliferation of sensing and data gathering.