October-November projects and ideas

[leila johnston]

Friends,

Feels like it's been a while since I sent one of these out.

LAST MONTH

I've been down south a lot.

My "Hack Circus: time travel live" event happened as planned, on October 6th. It was wonderful. Sold out in the end, and the talks and performances were all fantastic fun. Have a look at hackcircus.com and youtube.com/hackcircus. Yes, we filmed everything. There will be another one, probably in SHEFFIELD, probably in the New Year. New theme, new venue, probably some of the same speakers. Subscribe to tinyletter.com/hackcircus for specifically HC-related news.

I spoke at Ada Lovelace Day live on the 15th of October. I talked about the reasons women (and people) are already into technology, so far as I can tell. Here's the transcript: http://finalbullet.com/2013/10/16/ada-lovelace-day-2013-my-talk/. It was also really good fun, and a novelty to talk to a mainly-female, mainly-geeky crowd.

Then I went down to Brighton to speak about the Millennium and the problems that time capsules are symptomatic of, at a 'heritage' themed TEDx in the beautiful Corn Exchange on the 25th. Here's the transcript of that talk. While in Brighton I mobbed with several different gangs of Brighton pals, including the brilliant Lighthouse guys, some of whom I've never actually met in real life before. If you find yourself down there, I recommend going while the current exhibition is on.

At some point in the middle of all this, Roo and I made a new Shift Run Stop, with Lee manning the Hallowe'en snacks, and samples of time travel-related audio from Hack Circus talks. Oh here it is, look, I knew it was around here somewhere: http://shiftrunstop.co.uk/2013/10/24/episode-70-halloween-and-hack-circus/

I caught up with an awful lot of people this month in London, Brighton and Sheffield, including people I've known for years through work or social circles, people I have only known and admired through following them online, and even family (my brother is going to start a new podcast about interesting stuff happening in the North of England, and interviewed me for it yesterday). There have been coffees and parties and scary empty pubs and beer gardens in the dark. Possibly my most sociable month ever. Maybe this is the new me. I mean, you know, the *new*, new me. I mean it this time. Time.

THIS MONTH 

I am putting the finishing touches to the first, time travel-themed Hack Circus magazine and work is underway on the website. You will be able to BUY THE MAGAZINE AS A PDF BEFORE IT'S OUT AS A PAPER THING. (It will be a beautiful object, though, so perhaps you'd rather just wait, or pre-subscribe.)

I am speaking on a panel at the RCA on Monday (Nov 4th). It's called "Mapping the Future" and will be moderated by my old pal Bill Thompson. Yeah, I didn't tell them I was a 'hacker'... but people seem to like that word, don't they.

I'm doing my Terminator talk at an event called Nerd Nite London on the 20th. Come, it's for the charities.

I'm also trying to pick up a bit of paid work this month, though it's not currently clear to me when I'll get a chance to do any. I think this is the end of the free talks for a while, and December will be all about working on Minotaur the Musical, publishing the first issue of HC magazine, organising the next Hack Circus event, and promoting our new (still not out but will be soon) book The Inner Head.

I know it's dark outside, but we must shine on. Call me.

I mean, text me.

(One step at a time.)

Leila xxx

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finalbullet.com