Kiwifoo is an “unconference” inspired by the orignal Foocamp in Sebastapol California. That means everyone participates and no-one knows what will end up on the schedule ’til you get there. There is no “audience” at an unconference (in this way it’s a bit similar to the SCA event I went to last weekend, but it’s the future, not the past that happens at a Foocamp). It’s also free, by virtue of the many sponsors, this year including Google (as always), Vodafone and Telecom (logos rarely seen on the same T-shirt!), InternetNZ, Catalyst, Silverstripe, Throng, Project X, Shift, and SMC NZ. [nb: will come back and add links later]. By necessity, it is invite only, but the good news is that Nat is now talking about running more than one a year, so there will be more chances to get invited. Alternatively, buy a ticket to Webstock, where many of the same people are going – the timing of Kiwifoo this year chosen carefully so they could invite the speakers Webstock paid to fly into the country! We didn’t get all of them at Foo, but those we did were *great* to have along.

The only bad thing about Kiwifoo is that no matter how much you do, you end up missing out on a lot more – there are 4-6 simultaneous session streams, and often you are torn between 2-3 of them or simply spending more time with someone new and interesting that you just met.

This year I attended some really enjoyable sessions on various diverse topics, including the Future of News, a session led by the formidable Julie Starr, who mostly managed to keep a lid on all the unruly journos in the room (not looking at anyone in particular). I was interested to hear that the pay rates at our major dailies are sufficiently low that most senior NZ print journalists are now independent – which doesn’t really surprise me.

On the other hand I was irritated I didn’t get to any of the economy/finance/banking sessions, which would have been really good since we had Rod Oram and Bernard Hickey at the conference, and if anyone should have a few clues on how well NZ is doing or going to do in the economic maelstrom of 2009, it’s those two. I did get to see them in action on the chosen saturday night debate topic of “Is New Zealand fucked?” (Rod: No! – Bernard: Yes!).

There were many folks I wanted to meet but didn’t, perhaps because a little more planning and a little less serendipity might have been required on my part, but the conversations I did have were superb.

eg (1) A chat with Ben Goodger over breakfast, (yes, that Ben Goodger), who told me some history of the Google Chrome project. One thing that surprised me was that they managed to keep such a major project under wraps until it was released. “We like surprises” was his comment on that one. Earlier on there was a valuable session co-hosted by Ben and Roc on the future of Browsers, which I intend to make a separate blog post about, adding some of my own thoughts with respect to user-scripting and other factors.

eg (2) Really enjoyed sharing a dram (or three) with Russell Brown and various other appreciators of fine scotch whisky. Russel had a very nice Springbank 15yo which didn’t last long, and I’d brought along a bottle of The Glenrothes Special Reserve, which was definitely my Whisky “find” of 2008, and folks agreed it was a very fine drop. It was sourced from the most excellent Whisky Galore, which has an excellent catalogue of whisky online for mail order purposes [and my birthday is October 2nd in case you were wondering :-)].

Most of the Public Address bloggers were there (at Foo, not necessarily the whisky table) including Emma Hart who just happens to be the partner of Interclue Senior Developer Karl Dearden, who was also there and having a great time.

Many folks asked how Interclue was going, and were impressed to hear that we’d racked up over a million downloads in the last year. Tim Norton was a bit shocked that he hadn’t heard how well we were doing, but I hadn’t exactly publicized that fact, partly because our download stats on AMO have been broken (alternatively reporting 0 downloads and over two million) and our internal stats are a bit off as well (but I roughly know by how much, and we’re almost certainly over a million at this point).

One thing I really should have done was type up a list of people I wanted to meet and things I wanted to see before I got there – it’s far too easy to miss rare opportunities, such as the chance to see a self-replicating machine in action, otherwise. I think the best idea would be to write down 20-50 and hope to achieve at least half, while allowing for as many serendipitous conversations and discoveries as possible.

I’ll blog more about Kiwifoo tomorrow! If you want to find out what other people thought, search for “kiwifoo” on twitter.

There are about 250 or so people expected this year at Canterbury Faire. In the US they have much larger events. Here’s a clip from one of their major wars:

SCA Combat is a bit of a weird sport. It runs on an honour system, whereby when you get hit you have to figure out whether the blow was good enough to kill you or take a limb out of comission. In practice this leads to a lot of talk around “calibration”. In an ideal everyone would “take blows” more or less the same, in practice some folks need a bit more convincing before they’ll fall over. Egregious “rhinohiding” will get you a stern talking to from the Chivalry. The only significant rank in SCA Combat is “Knight”, who are the folks who have shown sufficient Honour and Prowess to be asked to join the Chivalry. I’m hopeful some time in the future I’ll spend enough time practicing that I might get up to Knighthood level. It’s certainly good exercise, so that’s one good reason to do more of it – tho I’ll need to upgrade my armour a bit I feel, based on the bruise I got last week.

If you think you might be interested in the SCA, it’s a worldwide (tho mostly US based) association, there’s probably a group near you, and they’re always welcoming to new people who want to get out and have fun in a medieval type fashion.

“The logical and analytical type. They are espescially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagining far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.”

Most of that applies to me as well as my blog. Especially the “…finding subtle connections between things and imagining far-reaching implications” bit. I seem to be doing that all the time, and I really need to get myself into a position where it works to my advantage, rather than against it. The problem at the moment is that every new idea or insight is just another distraction keeping me from doing all the things people are expecting me to do (or, depending on the time of day, getting to sleep that night).

The initials INTP refer to Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving, and INTP is one of the 16 Meyer Briggs Type Identifiers (MBTI).

The last time I seriously looked into MBTI, maybe 4-5 years ago, I thought I was borderline INTP/INTJ. But after recently spotting Typealyzer (via Stowe), I started digging into MBTI again, and now it seems to me I’m well to the Percieving side of the INTJ/INTP divide. (eg, one classic INTP trait is to ignore the humongous to-do list and focus on understanding whatever currently has their attention, which in this case, is MBTI theory)

The Judging type, apparently, like to come to conclusions and move on, while the Perceiving type tend to suspend decisions until they have more information. If you could see my web-history and todo list, I’m sure you’d agree I’m a very P-type thinker.

Fortunately, Karl is very much on the J side of the spectrum, or Interclue never would have had a prayer. And perhaps with a little more self-knowledge and self-awareness I’ll be able to get more done in 2009.

Has anyone else tried Typealyzer? Did your blog’s personality match your own personality?

Oh, and Happy New Year everyone! May it bring great reward to us all, despite the, er, ominous signs and portents.

To quote from “Looking at type: The Fundamentals” Martin, C. (1997), I have some resonance with just about every part of this INTP description, but particularly those parts that I’ve emphasized.

For INTPs the driving force in their lives is to understand whatever phenomenon is the focus of their attention. They want to make sense of the world as a concept and they often enjoy opportunities to be creative.

INTPs are logical, analytical, and detached in their approach to the world; they naturally question and critique ideas and events as they strive for understanding. INTPs usually have little need to control the outer world, or to bring order to it, and they often appear very flexible and adaptable in their lifestyle. Logic and analysis are paramount for INTPs. They have a drive to analyze, to understand, and to make sense of ideas and events; things simply must make sense, and they should.

In fact, their internal juggling of ideas almost has a life of its own. INTPs think naturally in terms of cause and effect and logi­cal consequences. They look for the underly­ing principles that explain the nature of the world or for the principles that capture the essence of their area of interest; INTPs enjoy solving complex problems. INTPs are naturally skeptical and critical. They question, question, and question some more. As a result, they may appear to others to be challenging, though they do not intend to criticize others. Because they value precision, INTPs are simply looking for logical inconsistencies in writing, speech, thought, and ideas. Exactness in definitions is of great importance to them, and without restraint they may engage in unnecessary hairsplitting.

INTPs may also have dramatic powers of concentration, and in using these they may develop an amazingly deep and complex understanding of some area(s) of interest. In fact, they may become so involved in the inner world and in their subject of interest that they may forget about the passage of time.

Intuition orients the INTP’s thinking to the future, and to the abstract and symbolic, but intuition is always subordinate to the need to analyze and understand ideas and events. New ideas and new ways of doing things fascinate INTPs. In fact, they are infinitely curious: about ideas, books, systems of thought, computers, or any other current area of interest. They may use their logic and intuition to develop new and highly intricate systems of thought, and thus they can be brilliant and innovative thinkers. INTPs are organizers in the world of abstract ideas; they view things systemically and creatively. They want the freedom to pursue their ideas in their own way, and thus they seek variety and independence in their lives. INTPs may have scientific, theoretical, or artistic interests, and can be found in com­puter, physical, or social sciences. They may be teachers, researchers, or thinkers in any field in which abstract and complex thought is required, as in philosophy. For INTPs, experience provides data, and the data is then analyzed for its fit into the complex mental models that they have been developing, possibly over a lifetime. The model is often more important than the experience itself, and INTPs are usually more interested in understanding and solving abstract problems than in the actual application of their ideas. They need to find a career where a deep and intensive understanding of some subject is important.

INTPs are often nontraditional. Their questioning attitude and need for autonomy may even lead to their being or appearing iconoclastic. They do, however, value intelli­gence and prize competence. INTPs give respect to others based on others’ perceived competence and depth of understanding rather than on the basis of position or external trappings of power. This is a natural exten­sion of their strong valuing of autonomy. They are usually tolerant and adaptable and give other people wide leeway of behavior, feeling little need to control others. However, when the INTP’s principles (which may not be immediately apparent) are violated, he or she can be seen as very firm, even stubborn. INTPs are usually more interested in ideas and concepts than in people, though people may certainly be the subject of their acute thinking and analysis. A consequence of this detached and analytical orientation is that INTPs may miss interpersonal nuances, not appreciate the need for social niceties, and end up in hot water as a result. They can appear reserved and impersonal; though they do usually enjoy discussions with other people who share their own keen interest in ideas. Additionally, INTPs may be insensitive to the emotional needs of others and others may see them as aloof or unapproachable. At worst they may be or appear to be arrogant and critical.

Without development of their extraverted intuition, INTPs may remain aloof and incomprehensible, unable to work out or apply their ideas in the outside world. Devel­opment of their intuition will also help them take in information that can be processed using their logical thinking. Without that development, INTPs may become entangled in the inner world of logical thoughts and systems, and become too distant from the outer world of people and action. As a result, they may become certain of the truth of their logic, but be unwilling to check whether their “truths” apply to what is really happening in the world outside of their own minds. By attending only to what is logical, INTPs may also forget to attend to what is important to them as people. They may at times be weak on follow-through and self-direction, and they may even forget to attend to the details of everyday life.

Appropriate development of sensing and feeling will help them avoid these traps as well as help them give greater attention to interpersonal issues. Under stress, INTPs may feel over­whelmed and misunderstood. However, because they are so adaptable they may remain in a situation rather than leave it or negotiate a change. They may also feel con­fused when people in general or significant others don’t behave “logically.” INTPs need to understand that relationships have a logic of their own that the INTP may neglect to register as valid or important. Under great stress, and in contrast to their usual calm cool style, they may erupt with out-of-proportion expressions of emotion, particularly in response to relationship stresses.

Only one problem. The USA doesn’t have $700b. What it has is outstanding IOUs for ~$10.5t, and the credibility to borrow another ~$1t without anyone really thinking too hard about it.*

But if their entire investment banking sector and half their retail banking sector collapses through undercapitalization/overleveraging as a result of ratings downgrades due to the collapse of their credit default swap counterparties in a great big game of financial dominoes, that credibility might end up somewhat…strained.

As it turns out, the ~$70t CDS game is a global phenomena, so the collapse of American banks has the potential to indirectly cause the collapse of many other banks around the world, and since, quite frankly, I quite like being able to buy books from Amazon and cheap Chinese-made electronic gadgets (and on a more serious note, global economic depressions kill people, m’kay?), I’m really hoping the US Congress has it’s shit together this week.

On the other hand I tend to agree with Paul that it would be good if the US Taxpayers got some upside from bailing out their wayward Ibankers, although I fear that they really might not have enough time to work out the details. Perhaps a convertible bridge loan facility with similar conditions to the AIG bailout might be a suitable alternative to simply overpaying for distressed MBS to help the banks meet their Basel II obligations and hoping no-one complains too much about it.

* They’d better not think too hard about it, or they might remember the US Govt is currently on the hook for ~ $50t worth of unfunded Medicare & Social Security Obligations, and then start talking about a ratings downgrade on US Sovereign Debt, and frankly I’m not quite sure what happens after that.

Disclaimer: IANAB. No need to take any of this stuff seriously. I’m sure they’ll work it all out. But, you’d have to agree, interesting times.

Marek is talking about OpenID now and whether every Kiwi should have one. He’s been working on his own OpenID Provider recently. Fascinating.

Currently sitting in a presentation from Julian Carver, one of the Christchurch based attendees who’s well known in Wellington from his consulting work on Knowledge Management. He’s discussing the imporance of interop between the various agencies charged with protecting and enhancing the environment in New Zealand. This is the sort of thing going on behind the scenes which really makes a difference, but a lot of people will never hear about. Here’s an interesting site he pointed us to where the public can interract with the agencies relevant to this.

The last week was a bit of a whirlwind as I tried to tie together my thoughts about how Web 2.0 could enhance the policy process, on top of getting various things done for Interclue, and wanting to write more about the great time we had at BarCampChristchurch last week. Since getting here I’ve been having some fascinating conversations around this, particularly with Jayne, who has a wealth of experience in the New Zealand policy process from her pre-entreprenurial days. We’re going to be talking about it in a session later on in the day.

Tim offered me use of his flat but I ended up staying with Jayne and Glynn because Marek is staying there as well and we’re all going to Barcamp. They have a really nice place, with excellent connectivity.

I’ll be in Wellington till Tuesday night, if anyone wants to meet up, please get in touch.

I failed to get my talk on Browser Addons into shape. I brainstormed a hundred things I wanted to talk about and didn’t manage to get it down into a presentable set of slides. I talked more about Web 2.0 again instead.

Everyone else has given a great info packed half hour. Loving it.

We need more beer. Anyone bringing beer would win much kudos.

Marek is Liveblogging. Ben too.

So I thought I’d mention that one of my favorite bands, Salmonella Dub, has a remix contest going to help promote their new album, “Heal Me”. The idea is that you take their samples and recombine them with some of your own to create a new bit of music. This sort of thing is exceptionally common in the age of digital production, and sometimes bands release albums constructed entirely of remixes/mashups of their music made by other people. Eg, the amazing “Outside the Dub Plates” or “Halfway between Ape and Angel” – remixes of iconic albums by Salmonella Dub and Pitch Black.

I first heard Salmonella Dub live at a Kaikoura Roots festival, and frankly, they were incredible. Andrew Pennman then actually moved to Kaikoura and the latest album was mixed there in his new studio. My parents live in Kaikoura and Andrew is now friendly with my Dad, who among other things makes these awesome ceramic art speakers that I’ll blog about again once he finally gets them into regular production.

Kaikoura Roots was also my first live experience of Shapeshifter, and Pitch Black. I saw Pitch Black the other week and they haven’t lost their touch. Shapeshifter are performing in Christchurch this Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s the first single from “Heal Me” which is not the track subject to the competition.

Check out some more Salmonella Dub Videos.

BTW If you haven’t heard any Salmonella Dub before, the album you simply have to buy is Inside the Dub Plates. If you don’t like it you might want to think about getting your hearing checked out.

(will come back to this and add more links…)

I belong to a worldwide group known as the “Society for Creative Anachronism“, which has something like 100,000 people involved globally. It’s the largest reenactment society in the world, probably because it’s very non-specific and inclusive – any attempt at pre-17th century costume is ok. Some people take it very seriously and dedicate a significant portion of any given week to going along to weekly meetings to discuss the finer points of 16th Century German Frocks, 14th century English turnshoe construction, or whatever currently interests them. Or, like me, some folks just turn up to a few events a year to catch up with everyone and try to forget about the real world for a bit.

There was a “Queens Champion” tournament on Sunday. As martial arts go, SCA combat is probably about the world’s most inconsistent, and yet somehow it all works out and has become quite popular. It’s all based on an honour system – you get walloped with a bit of rattan cane that somehow slipped past your defenses, and you have to figure out if, had that been a real weapon (sword, mace, spear, whatever), whether it would have maimed or killed you. If you lose a leg, you drop to your knees and keep on fighting. Loose an arm and you typically stop the action briefly to put the now useless limb behind your back, and in a tournament your opponent will give you time to change to your other hand if you just lost your swordarm.

The inconsistency comes because everyone has a slightly different idea of how hard is hard enough, is wearing differently constructed armour, using weapons of different sizes, shapes, and weight, and has a different repertoire of offensive and defensive technique – as opposed to most martial arts where the equipment is standardised, there are masters who teach novices the same set of techniques all around the world. In this shot, I’m the one in the foreground.