Daniel’s Blog

Well I’ve released details of the Bristol Knowledge Unconference 2009.

Our main website is: Bristol Knowledge Unconference 2009 : https://www.craftivism.net/wiki/UnCraftivism/Bristol_Knowledge_Unconference_2009

It will take place in the Arnolfini Arts Centre in Bristol on the 12th and 13th December 2009 as part of the “unCraftivism” satellite event which is part of the Craftivism exhibition. unCraftivism is about merging technology and art, and Bristol Knowledge Unconference will be one stream of working during that weekend, other events during the weekend will be done in collaboration with Dorkbot Bristol and the Bristol Robotics Lab.

The Knowledge Unconference will be similar to what it was last year, it’ll be all about Knowledge - although we’re slightly more focused this time and have a subtitle: “The Art of Knowledge”, and will experiment with the mixture of art and science that is knowledge. Last year we were lucky to have over 50 people turn up from diverse areas of expertise such as: Knowledge Management, New Media, Semantic Web, Business, Chemistry and Psychology… and we hope to continue to have a diverse mixture of people to take on the subject of knowledge, with a twist of art.

I hope that you will be able to join us, as this will be a really exciting event.

Feel free to get in touch any time if you have any queries:

Daniel Lewis
* UK Telephone: 07834355516
* International Telephone: +447834355516
* Email and Jabber: danieljohnlewis [at] gmail [dot] com
* Bristol Knowledge Unconference 2009 website: https://www.craftivism.net/wiki/UnCraftivism/Bristol_Knowledge_Unconference_2009
* Twitter: @danieljohnlewis
* Skype: daniel.lewis

Just a Reminder.

If you haven’t signed up and want to come then please click the “Sign-up-now” link at the bottom of: https://knowledgeunconference.eventwax.com/bristol-knowledge-unconference

Recent email:

Here’s the recent email that I sent out to those on the attendee list:

- Reminder Section -

We are just sending you a reminder that this Friday, the 5th September 2008, the Bristol Knowledge Unconference will be running between 2pm and 6pm at eOffice Bristol on Wine Street in Bristol City Centre. Remember, it’s completely free to attend, we aren’t going to ask for any money.

More details about what, where and when are available on the website: https://knowledgeunconference.eventwax.com/bristol-knowledge-unconference

- Good News Section -

—- Tea, Coffee and Water —-

As some of you know, we were having problems finding tea and coffee machines. Luckily, eOffice have been very kind enough to offer them to us (with water) for free along with the conference room. So that problem has now been resolved.

If you wish to bring snacks in then you are very much free to do so as we won’t be providing snacks this time (maybe next time).

—- Preset slots are now set! —-

When organising the event I decided that we needed to have two definite preset slots in order to kick off the event… these slots shouldn’t be seen as “keynotes”, it is purely to get into the spirit of the event and they will be identical in structure to the four “set-on-the-day” slots.

I am pleased to announce that we’ve got the two preset slots set:
* 1st Preset Talk: “OpenShakespeare and Milton” by Iain Emsley of the eScience department at STFC
* 2nd Preset Talk: “The Fragmentation of Knowledge in the Brain” by Derek Smith, a Senior Lecturer in Informatics and Cognitive Science at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

Both preset slots are about different aspects of knowledge storage, the first is a computational aspect and the second is a biological aspect. So it’ll definitely be rather interesting!

—- “Set-on-the-day” slots —

We have four “set-on-the-day” slots available, which means that on the day we turn up and those who can do a 15 minute presentation, will then put their name on a card and unless we’ve got just four (or less) people on cards we’ll take a vote for the presentations that we wish to hear. Any presentations not done will be placed on the list for the next Bristol Knowledge Unconference.

So if you’re happy quickly zipping up a 15 minute presentation about something related to knowledge then please do, it can be techie or scientific or even business related. Just remember that the target audience is a mixture of technologies, scientists, new media specialists and business-oriented people.

Just a reminder, the structure of all talks throughout the day is:
* 15 minute standard presentation
* 5 minute table talk, where people talk at their tables about the subject matter at hand, this tends to generate some more interesting ideas for the….
* 10 minute questions and comments time, in which the presenter gets quizzed

—- Posters —-

I have been asked by someone to put up a poster because they won’t be able to attend this time. If you fancy bringing along a poster to put up promoting your product, service or even job vacancies then please do.

—- Other bits —-

* At the last count we have 60 people on the attendee list, and from all kinds of aspects of knowledge - which is wonderful!
* At the venue there will be: projector, wifi, seats, tables. I will also be bringing two laptops: MacBook (with Mac OS X 10.5, including Firefox 3, Keynote, OpenOffice and Adobe Reader) and a Toshiba Qosmio 17inch Laptop (with Windows Vista Ultimate, including Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 7, OpenOffice and Adobe Reader). Feel free to bring your own laptop and/or other mobile devices.
* If you don’t want to present then that’s absolutely fine, there is no pressure. If you do want to present and don’t get the chance, then there will be more Bristol Knowledge Unconferences in the future, in which you’ll be able to present at.
* Remember: the event is going to be quite sociable, fun and a great place to learn in an informal atmosphere.
* Bring a digital camera along if you can, take some photos and then upload them to your favourite photo sharing site. If you can take movies too then that’s awesome.
* If you have a blog then please do review the event once it’s finished if you can. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated and will go into making the next one even better.

- Contact Section -

As usual, if you have any questions or comments then please do let me know either by email, skype or phone.

- Finally -

I’ll see you there!

Daniel

Greenbelt 2008

Greenbelt festival 2008 was really fantastically good! Michael Franti & Spearhead are an awesome band, as are Aradhna. Plus my church (Foundation Bristol) did a fantastic service where they told the story about the Tower of Babel using some funky music and interesting visuals (it was quite “New Media” style and “Emerging“) (“To Confuse is to Liberate!”). I actually feel more enlightened after the whole weekend, and Beki and I have booked our tickets for Greenbelt 2009 and are even thinking about running our own event!

At the event I bought a didgeridoo and a Peruvian Ocarina. I also learnt how to sing Taize, Iona and Gregorian Chants and Songs.

Linked Data SemanticBible

Development of the Linked Data version of the SemanticBible is going well, and a big thank you to Sean Boisen of semanticbible.com for assisting us with various things. I’ll be working on hooking the ontologies in with various other ontologies around the Linked Data Cloud.

Fishes

It seems like two of my oranda fish are “getting it on”… having lots of little baby fish is going to be quite scary. Not sure what I’ll do with them!

Hospital

I went to hospital this morning for my Dilated Cardiomyopathy (for the first time in Bristol), they took 7 tubes of blood out of me, gave me an ECG. They are also going to book me in for an Echocardiogram appointment and potentially a treadmill, they will also be sending me a week-long heart monitor device. Also, rather unfortunately, I’ve got to double up on my Bisoprolol (a beta-blocker) which means that I’m going to probably experience some periods of fatigue while I get used to the new dosage

Bristol Knowledge Unconference

Bristol Knowledge Unconference organisation is going really really well. I sent out a few emails to people on the registration list this morning, letting them know a bit more about the style and organisation of the event. And I’m formally publicising the following event structure:

All times are pm:-

• 2:00 - 2:15 : Arrival & Whiteboard Scribbling (for the set-on-the-day talks)
• 2:15 - 2:20 : Introduction to the event
• 2:20 - 2:50 : 1st Preset Talk
• 2:50 – 2:55 : Setup
• 2:55 - 3:25 : 2nd Preset Talk
• 3:25 – 3:35 : Break & Whiteboard Scribbling (for the set-on-the-day talks)
• 3:35 - 4:05 : 1st set-on-the-day Talk
• 4:05 – 5:05 : Setup
• 4:05 - 4:35 : 2nd set-on-the-day Talk
• 4:35 – 4:45 : Break
• 4:45 - 5:15 : 3rd set-on-the-day Talk
• 5:15 – 5:20 : Setup
• 5:20 - 5:50 : 4th set-on-the-day Talk
• 5:50 – 6:00 : Clearup
• 6:00 onwards food & drink at the nearby restaurants/pubs

It looks like one of our preset slots might be fixed, so if you’d like to do a preset slot and insure that you have a presentation slot then please do email me.

University

I’ll be starting my masters at the end of September, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m in conversations with a company who is willing to fund my masters project as part of a larger project (sorry, I can’t say more than that).

It upsets me greatly that I have to provide you with this news. Pete and I have had to cancel the BarCampOxford because of bad luck, we were so close to getting organisation completely done. Here is the message that Pete is passing on to every one:

Hiya.
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the cancellation of Barcamp Oxford on September 20-21. Here’s why:

i) the primary sponsor, who we were in the final stages of negotiation with (and who were ready to pay for 90% of everything), have ceased trading and brought the administrators in. Having talked with the administrators, there is no money. For anything. Evidently the company in question were VC-funded and blew too much money without keeping track.
ii) the secondary sponsor, who were initially willing to be a primary sponsor until they had marketing cutbacks, have had further marketing cutbacks and are now unable to assist with the current economic climate.

These are the two main reasons. A third reason was restrictions of internet access at the venue itself, not a deal breaker by any stretch, but the absence of wireless and an understandably well-controlled IT policy at the college itself was too big a mountain to climb with the other factors.

So, Barcamp Oxford in its current form is off, and I am hereby passing the baton to anyone who wants to take it and run with it. I am shortly to start discussions of a similar camp-style event in Abingdon (down the road, OX14), and if anything comes of that, I will communicate to you accordingly.

For anyone who is planning a camp-style event in Oxford, you have my best wishes - I am more than happy to share experiences if you want some tips. I can say that the venue, Manor Road, were by far the nicest, most co-operative people I’ve dealt with at Oxford venues, and the sponsors, until they went quiet, were very progressive thinking and very open to ideas.

With that, I wish you a good week.

best;

Pete
(Organiser)

If you’re still interested in attending a BarCamp or Unconference then these events are running from September until the end of the year (2008):

• Bristol Knowledge Unconference
• BathCamp
• BarCampLondon5
• SocialMediaCampLondon
• Be2Camp (London)

Pete and I announced the date and location for BarCampOxford :-

• Location: Manor Road Building (part of the University of Oxford)
• Date: 20th and 21st September 2008

More information will appear on the BarCampOxford wiki page.

Note: We are still looking for sponsors, so please do get in contact with us.

Thank you,

Daniel