Barcamp and Hackfest wiki pages - keep the momentum going

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Mike Riversdale

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Aug 28, 2009, 10:53:21 PM8/28/09
to NZ Open Govt Data Barcamp and Hackfest

David_Earle

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Aug 29, 2009, 9:21:29 PM8/29/09
to NZ Open Govt Data Barcamp and Hackfest
I have done a bit of behind the scenes volunteering and put the
sessions as recorded in the Google calendar onto the page.

The afternoon got changed around as it happened - so those who ran or
attended sessions will need to tidy that up.

Please add your notes, discussions, thoughts, photos, tweets, blog
links, whatever onto each session page - so we can have a record, keep
the debates going and have something to show the sponsors as well.

I have added a couple of informal evaluation ideas at the end for
those wanting to make more general responses.


On Aug 29, 2:53 pm, Mike Riversdale
<mike.riversd...@miramarmike.co.nz> wrote:
> http://wiki.open.org.nz/Barcamp_and_Hackfest

Mark Harris

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Aug 30, 2009, 3:16:00 AM8/30/09
to nzopengo...@googlegroups.com
David_Earle wrote:
> I have done a bit of behind the scenes volunteering and put the
> sessions as recorded in the Google calendar onto the page.
>
> The afternoon got changed around as it happened - so those who ran or
> attended sessions will need to tidy that up.
>
> Please add your notes, discussions, thoughts, photos, tweets, blog
> links, whatever onto each session page - so we can have a record, keep
> the debates going and have something to show the sponsors as well.
>
> I have added a couple of informal evaluation ideas at the end for
> those wanting to make more general responses.
>

Brilliant. Thanks, David. I encourage everyone to add their thoughts -
I'd like to produce a more formal document from the wiki entries that we
can wave at people in meatspace and persuade them or the value of what
we're doing.

It's been an awesome 2 days, and the fun doesn't stop here. We developed
some ideas into projects initiated the processes for some of those and
even got some code written. This was the biggest BarCamp so far in NZ
(and I suspect that 160 is about the maximum size you'd want to got to
for logistics purposes, but I'm willing to watch someone try for more
;-), and the first time a HackFest has been joined to one, but not the
last as each day made the other better. A great combination!

My thanks to the intrepid souls who helped organize the event. In no
particular order - Mike Riversdale, Courtney Johnston, Rebecca Cox, Jo
Eaton, Rainer Spittel, Nicole Tiefensee, Rowan Smith, Natasha Hall, Jane
Harris, Laurence Millar, Colin Jackson, Rumi Shivaz and Daniel Spector,
and huge special thanks to Kelly Buehler for superb project management
skills (technically known as "ball-juggling") and stepping forward to
make sure that not only things happened, but the *right* things happened
at the *right* time. Wednesday evenings are going to be a little empty
without the Trax meetings ;-)

My thanks also to the Sponsors who stepped forward and enabled us to put
on such a fab weekend - National Library, WaveAdept, Julie Starr,
SilverStripe, boost New Media Microsoft, Rumi Shivaz, DIA Government
Technology Services, NZCS, LINZ, Seradigm, 3Months.com, Michael Witbrock
(Cycorp & nz.com), InternetNZ, CatalystIT, Dragonfly, GOVIS and Squizz.net.

Finally, thanks go to all who participated by showing up and talking and
listening and thinking. I've yet to hear a negative comment about either
day (as long as we don't talk about my *outstanding* network skillz this
morning </sarcasm>) - if you've got a problem you want to raise, email
me privately and we'll talk about it, or a suggestion to make, then
email the list. One suggestion (from Vince Friday) is to supply a server
at the Hackfest with the standard dev packages on it which would resolve
a lot of the connectivity and setup issues. Brilliantly simple - wish
I'd thought of it. Next time.

To the future: this is not the end, this is not even the beginning of
the end - this is the beginning of the beginning. The projects will go
on. We've made contact with people around the country who want to make
things happen, but there are many more yet to be included. BarCamp is
not a corporation - it's a way of life. If you want to run one, you
don't need a licence - just energy and a will to make stuff happen.

On a less event-driven path, there is stuff happening and talk occurring
daily and the best place to find out about it is the OpenGovt Ninja list
that was started a few moths ago and was one of the catalysts for the
barcamp - http://groups.opengovt.org.nz/groups/ninja-talk - check it
out, join up and add to the conversations. You don't have to be a coder
to help in moving government into the Open Age - citizens have a special
part to play in defining the needs that have to be fulfilled.

So remember: Transparency is the New Black - let's get out there and
make it real.

Yours sleepily,

Mark Harris
@nzlemming
BarCamp Wrangler.

Mike Riversdale

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Aug 30, 2009, 6:17:42 PM8/30/09
to nzopengo...@googlegroups.com
A perfect summary of the weekend, thanks Mark

Cheers, Mike Riversdale

tel: +64 (0)21-169 1359
Skype: mike.riversdale
email: mike.ri...@miramarmike.co.nz
web: http://www.miramarmike.co.nz
---------
MiramarMike.co.nz - Connecting people to people via information

holloway

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Aug 31, 2009, 11:14:55 PM8/31/09
to nzopengo...@googlegroups.com
Just posted my notes here...

http://wiki.open.org.nz/Doc_and_PDF_to_HTML

-
Matthew Holloway

David_Earle

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Sep 3, 2009, 5:52:11 PM9/3/09
to NZ Open Govt Data Barcamp and Hackfest
This is starting to look really good - and I have pointed a few people
to it as a place to find out what went on.

It would be really great if over the next few days, everyone who
attended (not just presenters) spent about 20 minutes to do at least
one of the following:
- add notes of a session (even if it is just turning your tweets into
fuller notes)
- edit / tidy-up / comment on existing notes
- add relevant links to a session

and if you are like me, your best ideas arrive five days after the
event. So if you have had a great insight or even just an 'oh yeah'
moment - add it to the appropriate session, with a heading such as
"ideas that came up later" or "further thoughts."

PS tweeting isn't enough - I can't even access twitter.com/search in
my workplace.

Mike Riversdale

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Sep 3, 2009, 6:21:43 PM9/3/09
to nzopengo...@googlegroups.com
I totally agree, sharing the ideas that came from the Barcamp/Hackfest would be awesome.

Eiher post to this discussion group OR (even better) leave it on the official Wiki page: http://wiki.open.org.nz/Barcamp_and_Hackfest

Cheers, Mike Riversdale

tel: +64 (0)21-169 1359
Skype: mike.riversdale
email: mike.ri...@miramarmike.co.nz
web: http://www.miramarmike.co.nz
---------
MiramarMike.co.nz - Connecting people to people via information


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