Geek session

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CountCulture

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Apr 9, 2010, 5:00:33 AM4/9/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
If there are any more techie minded hyperlocal types, would be
interesting to have a session about tools we can build to help the non-
techies use open local data, and solve other probs.

Would also like to hear from people about how they'd like to see the
OpenlyLocal Hyperlocal Directory develop..
Chris

clarewhite

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Apr 11, 2010, 1:31:07 PM4/11/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
I'd love to come along to a geek session. I've spent a lot of time
hanging around the fringes of forums, reading books and even watching
developers talk to each other, so I understand a lot of the language,
but there is a great big gap between knowing the words and knowing how
to get started. I don't know if it's possible in a short session, but
I'd love to see a behind-the-scenes taster of a really small bit of
API development, or how you've built some of your snazzy Openly Local
tools, or even how to get beyond the first few steps in Ruby on Rails
- I did the sort of magical thing in Heroku of making a really simple
database and some forms, but how do you get from there to the things
people were knocking out in a few minutes while they were watching the
Digital Economy Bill stuff this week?

I don't think we'll learn it all in an unconference session, but it
all helps if you get that magical moment when someone emails you and
says 'I'm a computer programmer looking for something to do, what
would you suggest?'

Clare

Philip John

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Apr 13, 2010, 12:44:59 PM4/13/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
I'm always wary of doing anything that teaches non-techies to do techy
stuff. My view on it is that they shouldn't need to, they should have
the tools available to them to do it without such a big learning
curve. I'm refer to Will's delight at running a site for years without
ever understanding HTML. That's the way it should be.

So this session, IMO, should be about the geeks seeing how they can
develop techy solutions to solve hyperlocal problems. Obviously with
the input from non-techy hyperlocal site owners who have problems they
need solving.

That said, if the demand is there, it does no harm!

Marilyn Browne

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Apr 13, 2010, 1:01:01 PM4/13/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
My past experiences lead me to say that I hope that the techies are well informed by the non-techies about what is required before dashing off and building something that is too techy and unusable.

With apologies to those not guilty of this.

Mari

>>> Philip John <phil....@gmail.com> 13/04/2010 17:44 >>>

Getgod

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Apr 13, 2010, 6:28:37 PM4/13/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
Love Philip's suggestion of a 'Geek innovation session' where the
techies talk to non-techie hyperlocal types (just like me!) about
technical solutions for problems they face. Kind of like a *very*
mini Social Innovation Camp brainstorm session for ideas? (http://
www.sicamp.org/)

I'll think on what things I'd like a simple tool for! Like local pets,
lost and founds, dog poop and the like...

Cheers, Nicky.

On 13 Apr, 18:01, "Marilyn Browne" <marilyn.bro...@kirklees.gov.uk>
wrote:


> My past experiences lead me to say that I hope that the techies are well informed by the non-techies about what is required before dashing off and building something that is too techy and unusable.
>
> With apologies to those not guilty of this.
>
> Mari
>

> >>> Philip John <phil.pe...@gmail.com> 13/04/2010 17:44 >>>

Getgod

unread,
Apr 13, 2010, 6:43:45 PM4/13/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
Hi just tried to reply to this but it seemed to go missing, so sorry
if you get it twice! Just to second Philip's call for a session where
geeks chat to non-techie hyperlocals like me to throw around ideas for
technical solutions for their issues, like a *very* mini Social
Innovation Camp! http://www.sicamp.org/

I'll think on what topics I'd like to see tools for, like local pets,
lost and founds, dog poop....

Cheers, Nicky

On 13 Apr, 18:01, "Marilyn Browne" <marilyn.bro...@kirklees.gov.uk>
wrote:

> My past experiences lead me to say that I hope that the techies are well informed by the non-techies about what is required before dashing off and building something that is too techy and unusable.
>
> With apologies to those not guilty of this.
>
> Mari
>

> >>> Philip John <phil.pe...@gmail.com> 13/04/2010 17:44 >>>

clarewhite

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Apr 15, 2010, 6:38:22 AM4/15/10
to TAL Unconference April 2010
Get started with just a few lines of javascript, it says... could
anyone give a little introduction to http://dev.twitter.com?
Sounds as if the location based and search stuff could be really
useful for creating hyperlocal additions to sites, especially as use
grows. Maybe there are already apps out there that we could use or
adapt?

Clare

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