My posts are often reflective and questioning, but nearly as often informative. The “Where are we going?” question is much more interesting to me than the “Where have we been?” question. I am, however, tasked with writing about Open Everything Madison on Saturday (as well as Berlin and Hong Kong), so I’ll try to post something substantial about that. Of course, I’m already much more interested in the next Open Everything Madison. You can see the planning for the next OEMad at http://openeverything.us.
OEMad 2008
Aside from our poor job with documentation and the functional, but less than ideal, handoff from Berlin, I’d say the day was an overwhelming success.
Some of our documentation can be found at various twitter accounts. Search for oemad and you should find them. There’s also the Google search for oemad. Debriefing notes are found on the main site as well as Articles and Resources. Some pictures are at Flickr but as of posting Non-Profit Tech’s photos are not being indexed.
I’m both saddened and elated when I tell interested people about Creative Commons, Free Schools and Really, Really Free Markets. Of course I’m saddened that these are more ubiquitous terms in our language, but mostly it’s a positive feeling. I’m always scared that my political leanings (which I think free schools and RRFMs show) will feed the “open source is communism” argument. As companies like OpenNMS, Red Hat and MindTouch clearly show, that’s a bunch of bunk. As a technology person first, I fear that the benefits of open source code are lost to the politicized “freedom”. Clearly I’m a fan of both. At the moment I’m having trouble finding a succint list of the benefits of FOSS, so if you’re up for a longer read, check out Albion, one of the oldest sites on the Web.
It’s also incredibly disheartening to see people interested in free culture being down on Creative Commons liscensed music. I listen to plenty of non-CC music, but I think at an event promoting openness, CC music should be played. Or maybe other bands that promote openness that might not license CC. I don’t know much about Radiohead, because that’s not the type of music to which I listen, but I think I’d be ok with their music playing.
We pretty much stuck to the schedule. It wasn’t exact, but close.
We broke up into two groups for the 1:30pm-2:30pm Open Knowledge section and I (along with the other organizers) went with the Education and Libraries group. Having a professor there was very beneficial. As I mentioned above, I introduced a lot of people to the idea of free schools. If you think free schools are weird, just remember that’s the only diploma former USC professor Cory Doctorow has.
The 2:30-3:30 Creativity, Innovation, and Economic Opportunity section was a lot of fun. We had a small group to discuss Art, Content and Property and we mostly discussed music; Radiohead, Girl Talk, Creative Commons, Nine Inch Nails and Jamendo.
By the time we got to the technology part of the day (a little later than 3:30) everyone was starting to get tired. But technology and openness are so easy, the discussion was still good. One of my friends that attended most of the event said that keeping it a cohesive event and him not coming just for the technology portion certainly made it more interesting.
After the event and cleanup, four of us went out to get Sushi on State Street and of course the conversation continued. After that, I headed to DevMadHouse at Extra Bold Portfolio Studio on Pickney St and 4 of the 6 people there had also been at OEMad, so the conversation continued and being a hack fest, centered more upon technology. At DevMadHouse there was no schedule to adhere to and we had the venue all night so conversation was even more fluid. There was some good conversation about FOSS in industry and whether Google is to be trusted with their Microsoft-like “embrace and extend” of OpenID. Photis always makes sure I don’t live in a FOSS bubble, which I suppose is a good thing. Also of note that weekend was MadXmas. Abe and Jonathan went, leaving the rest of us behind at DevMadHouse and then returned. Photis came to DevMadHouse after MadXmas.
OEMad 2009
As mentioned above, there are complete and changing notes on OEMad09 on the wiki. As much as I’d like to rehash all my ideas on that site so you have a single source of info, I don’t think that’s a good use of my time. Please check out the site. However, here are some of my biggest ideas: open gaming (actually either playing games on Linux or FOSS games on other platforms), open food (we could make it!), open hardware (building!) and live music. Getting a local documentary film maker to do a documentary on the process of making an open event happen would be totally cool too. Please, please, please share your ideas for the next event either here or especially at http://openeverything.us.
Calling it OEMad first off might be a misnomer as I think there’s a good possibility it will be in Milwaukee. Nothing is set in stone though. Potential names would be Open Everything Wisconsin or Open Everything MidWest. If there is any traction from Minneapolis or Chicago groups, we may not be able to claim OEMidWest. Time will only tell.
Yesterday at work I asked a non-attendie what we would have to do to get him to come to the next one. This is really the person in which I’m interested. Linux needs a critical mass. I’m ok admitting that part of why I support FOSS are selfish reasons. I support universal healthcare for much of the same pseudo-altruistic reasons. It’s not just for me, but also the institutions and people I care about. For instance, I hate to see my alma mater’s (NCSSM and UNC) throw money away at proprietary software. Still, I’d say that’s a somewhat selfish motive.
Back to the point, he said “Open Strippers” half joking but we did have an interesting conversation then about Creative Commons and the idea of a performance. A conversation that easily applies to live music performances and theatre. I also mentioned the Girls and Geeks discussions at BarCampMilwaukee. Of course, there’s also open source sex. So, I wonder what we could really make happen in this regard. Not just the sex regard, but bringing people in the door who are lazy, unmotivated or simply uninterested in openness (or just don’t know it yet). Of course, it’s the “just don’t know it yet” crowd in which I am really interested.
SWEDEN!
I bought a Flickr Pro account in anticipation of the Sweden trip this summer. I figure this way I can post Christmas photos too. I get a new camera for Christmas, so I suspect I’ll be taking a lot of pictures! The Sweden trip will be 7-9 days. My travel partner is wanting a shorter trip and I’m wanting a longer one, so I think keeping it at 9 days includes two weekends if you leave on the right days. It will depend on what sort of deal AAA can help me with. She is interested in dancing, the outdoors and visiting the cities. I am interested in fotboll, ishockey and metall (probably any English speakers can make those out…especially if you know me). So, I’m definitely looking for suggestions, both for her and for me. We’ll also probably be visiting Helsinki, Finland. I don’t know if we’ll have time to visit Copenhagen. It’s so close, but we don’t want to feel rushed. I’d kinda like to go north of the artic circle just for the experience. That might make it so Siberia doesn’t interest me as much.
Well, typing all of that with a broken arm wasn’t entirely pleasant, but I’m glad I did it and I hope you enjoy. If I had the time, I’d re-read for typoes, but whatever, release early, release often. If you stop by, please leave a comment!
