Social Networking on the Road to Damascus

Greetings from BarCamp Canberra 2011 in in Canberra, where the "lightening" five minute talks end the day. One of interest was Tim Conway who says he is giving a talk on Social Networking in Damascus is a few weeks time. He requested input to his twitter address @conwaytb

Tweeting for Your Country

Greetings from BarCamp Canberra 2011 in in Canberra, where John Sheridan, First Assistant Secretary, Austrlaian Government Information Management Office is talking about how he uses social networking in Government (AGIMO are sponsoring the event). After giving good advice on what to say (and not say) and how to use it generally (there is a "AGIMO Government 2.0 Primer"), he went on to mention "Yammer" for internal discussion. He also mentioned the value of helping people use social networking.

Designing for Dialogue: buidings and online

Greetings from BarCamp Canberra 2011 in in Canberra, where Pia Waugh and myself just talked on "Designing for Dialogue". My notes are in "Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and on-line systems for people to talk, learn and make decisions together". I argued that the same buildings discussion and on-line systems used for education can also be used for wider public discussions. Pia talked about recent developments with public consultation for government.

Make Hack Void in Canberra

Greetings from BarCamp Canberra 2011 in in Canberra, where we just had a presentation on Make Hack Void. This is a non profitCanberra based group which does hacking in the more traditional sese of the word. That is they make gadgets, mostly computer controlled, out of old bits and pieces. The group has a shed at Downer to work in and a set of tools (plus strict safety rules):

Our space (Map) is a community workshop in Downer where members can come to work on their projects, get access to tools and expertise, and meet like-minded people. We have membership options including associate & student membership rates, and casual membership rates.

We also hold Maker Meetups on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of each month where anyone at all can chat, show and tell, get help or advice, and talk about their projects. You don't have to be a member to come to a Meetup.

Our group includes people with extremely diverse interests. Fibreglass moulds to FPGA electronics, Arduinos to DIY pizza ovens. Plus lots more. We're all interested in making things, hacking on projects, and we're not afraid of voiding warranties if we have to.

If you can't make it to the next meeting then subscribe to the Makers mailing list, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or join us in the IRC channel.

Please help keep this building a Comic Sans free zone

Greetings from BarCamp Canberra 2011 in the new Commerce building at the Australian National University in Canberra. There are about two hundred delegates for the free event, but there is room for a few more, so come along.

The first session for the day is about how to give a presentation by Donna Spencer (@maadonna) . Her one rule is to talk about something you know and care about. This was a good lesson to start the day.

There is a buzz in the building. As well as BarCamp, ANU is hosting an UN Association meeting for young people.

While in the queue for a free coffee I noticed an official looking ANU sign on the building, which said: "Please help keep this building a Comic Sans free zone". It took me a few minutes to work out this was a joke.

You can follow on Twitter at #bcc2011 and blogs for "BarCamp Canberra 2011".

Reimagining education and government at BarCamp Canberra 2011 this Saturday

BarCamp Canberra 2011 is a free "un-conference" this Saturday at the Australian National University in Canberra. There are 158 people registered, with 41 free tickets remaining.

Proposed topics include:

• Designing for cognitive disabilities
• Graffiti: art or vandalism?
• Open Public Transit Data in the ACT
• Enabling Digital Society: The Government's Part
• Minecraft - using games as building and creativity tools
• What's Australia's Open Government Future?
• Information Philanthropy in Australia
• Online collaboration across public sector organisations - lessons learned/gained
• Web Apps to Enable Social Inclusion
• Gaming, transmedia, convergence and the whole, messy shebang
• Demos from the Make Hack Void members
• Communicating science and skepticism
• How to run a neighbourhood or a nation online: Can we use the same online systems to run a communal block of flats or a country?
• Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and online systems in a for people to talk, learn and make decisions together?
• WiFi Access Liability: Legal risks when providing and using open wireless access points
• Materials Handling and Logistics using contemporary robots, automated guided vehicles and production control systems.
• Running an Agile Business: Taking common agile methodologies and how to apply them to business management OR
• Agile methods within Government: Iterative and customer focused development and how it can work within Government
• Tweeting for your Country - what it takes to get social networking going in government
• More than document formats - advantages of a common operating environment policy for government
• How to deliver a kick-ass presentation

You can offer your own topic.

ps: The topic "How to run a neighbourhood or a nation online: Can we use the same online systems to run a communal block of flats or a country?" is from Pia Waugh and myself. But I am not sure I have told Pia about it yet. ;-)

pps: The topic "Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and online systems in a for people to talk, learn and make decisions together?" is a preview of my presentation for the 2nd Annual Learning Commons Development and Design Forum in Brisbane, 20 March 2011.

Bar Camp Canberra 2011

Bar Camp Canberra 2011 will be held at ANU College of Business and Economics in Canberra on 19 March 2011. This is free and there is room for 150 people. You can register online.

These events are a little geeky, with participants referring to each other by their Twitter "handle" and almost everyone having a wireless handheld device switched on all the time. But they do show how the blend of computer technology and old fashioned meeting procedure can work.