The first Celebration 2.0 event, Murder on the Flat Track Express, the roller derby in Sheffield, was a great success, and, true to the spirit of the endeavour, a lot of fun to be involved in. I’ll write it up properly when I get the chance, but, in the meantime, you can relive the action here http://bambuser.com/channel/johnpopham.
The next event is on Saturday (4th February), and it’s LocalGovCamp North West, an unconference for local government people interested in innovation and progress, see here for more details.
Now, one or two people have questioned why I am including this event in the Celebration 2.0 Programme. They argue that (a) it’s not a particularly celebratory event, and (b) that a lot of the people there will be quite technically knowledgeable in any case.
To the second point, my answer is that Celebration 2.0 is offering me lots of technical challenges. My aim at the end of the project is to have a tool-kit that I can hand on to anyone who wants to celebrate an event with technology. In order for that tool-kit to be as easy to use as possible, I need to test out different ways of working, different tools, and different equipment. LocalGovCamp NW will be an ideal opportunity to test out some things, and there will be some technically knowledgeable people on hand to help out, as well as a willing audience of remote participants able to give feedback.
So, the technical challenge I am setting myself on Saturday is to live stream all the breakout sessions simultaneously. There won’t be enough bandwidth to do simultaneous video streams, so my plan is to live video stream the “plenary” sessions, and live audio stream the breakouts. The nature of unconferences is that no one really knows what will happen there, but I’ve set up systems to cope with 4 simultaneous audio streams, and I’m crossing my fingers that it all works. The main page to access the video stream is at http://celebration20.net, and, on the right-hand side of that page, you’ll find a link to a secondary page hosting 4 audio streams.
As for whether LocalGovCamp NW is a celebratory event; I would argue that it is. Most of these kind of events I have been to are indeed celebrations of the work many people are doing, often “under the radar” to bring their organisations into the 21st Century. And, an important point I have been keen to stress in a number of fora, is that I firmly believe that a happy workforce is a more productive one. Thus, I am keen to use Celebration 2.0 to promote the idea that people should be having more fun at work. People spend a lot of their waking hours in the workplace, so it shouldn’t be a chore. How can we make jobs more fun to do?
Looking forward to seeing you at LocalGovCamp NW, whether you are there in Preston in person, or you are watching and listening online.
I think its a great idea, and I think government folk giving up their free Saturdays is certainly a cause for celebration as it proves their commitment to their work and the people they serve.
Do you want me to bring my wibe or will we just be fighting for the same cell? I can borrow an ipod touch too if you have a spare tripod?
Thanks Chris. It would be good to bring your WiBE, as there may be issues with using the venue’s connection. I will have mine, but can’t let anyone else access it as I will need all the bandwidth. The more equipment we have, all the better!
okydoky. lets hope it gets a good signal, have you sussed it out? is there anyone in preston could test for three 3g in the area?
Looks pretty good here http://twitpic.com/8es6st
never believe them. local knowledge is what counts. remember lancaster? nothing in the conference hall due to soundproofing.
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