Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

Julian has been LiveMindMapping instead of liveblogging, and he’s doing a pretty good job of it. Here’s a link to the topics he’s encountered so far during the BarCamp.

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

I’m in Wellington for BarCampWellington, focused on Government 2.0 in New Zealand. There have been some really fascinating discussions and presentations, with many different viewpoints being expressed.

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.

About 40 of us have gathered in the CII Building for BarCampChristchurch so far and more are expected later. I was surprised how many folks turned up on time. Steven made the nametags, Nic and Terry set up the Wifi, and it’s all going rather well.

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.

In the universe I co-inhabit “Mashup” means “Create a new user experience by combining 2 or more websites and/or webservices”. But of course, Web 2.0 stole that word from the music world, where “mashup” means “Create a new auditory experience by combining 2 or more songs and/or samples.”

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 spent the weekend inside or outside various neo-gothic landmark buildings in Christchurch with 150 other brave medieval re-enactors from around Australasia, all wearing the warmest woolen garb in our pre-17th Century wardrobe, and gosh did we need it at times. The event was the coronation of a new King and Queen or Lochac.

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.