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If you came to BathCamp, you may have noticed that there was an actual bath sat on the stage (sourced and carried to the event at great expense). In the evening it was full of beer. You probably noticed that too, judging by how much of it was drunk. Nestled amongst the beer however was a large family of yellow rubber ducks.
One thing we forgot to mention much at the event was our grand plan for a duck competition. The rules are pretty freeform. Take pics of the ducks in cool locations around UK and further afield (extra points for other Barcamps and cool web events), tag the pics as bathcamp on Flickr and add them to our Flickr pool, and then sometime around March (just before SXSW) a decision will be made on the most deserving duck, and its owner will
win an iPod touch.
Here’s a nice example, of one of the ducks riding one of those mysterious pigs that seem to be dotted around Bath:
If you didn’t pick up a duck at the event, let us know and we’ll try to get one to you somehow!
Happy ducking!
So, er, Bathcamp happened hey. I’m exhausted from it, as I’m sure many others are, but it was definitely worth it for all the great people, talks, sessions and so on.
I thought I’d get in a quick blog post to say a big well done to Mike Ellis (the baldy bloke who stood on the table and introduced the event). More than anyone, Mike has spent months running around, sorting stuff out, and having a few sleepless nights. In the end, none of the potential crises materialised, and it all went pretty swimmingly, so thanks Mike, from all of us! And thanks to to everyone else who came, who helped out, and who contributed to paying for stuff.
We’ll be looking through the photos, videos & blog posts from and about the event over the next few days, so if you do any of that stuff please tag it so it’s findable (as ‘bathcamp’, or maybe ‘bathcamp08′ or ‘bathcamp2008′ or some combination thereof). We’ll link through to some of the best content here on the blog.
There was some talk at the end of doing re-running the event next year as BathCamp 2009. We’re not even going to start to think about it for a couple of months, and maybe the format for next year would be a different kind of event? (a mashup of the BarCamp format at the Open Space format was discussed in one session). Keep this blog in your feed reader anyway, as we’ll post news of what happens here.
Finally, I thought I’d compile a quick list of everyone I could find on Twitter who went to the event. Might be useful for anyone wanting to make contact with someone they met.
frankieroberto (me), Mike Ellis, Drew Jones, Tim Beadle, Jennybee, Suzicatherine, Sam Downie, slum_goddess, jahcub, Darren Beale, Peter Gradwell, Mark Ng, Dale Lane, iammikek, Ian Ibbotson, Ruth Harper, Stephen Pope, Felix Cohen, Jag Gill, Matt Jukes, Jack Martin Leith, Mia Ridge, Chris English, Richard Harrison, Tom Goskar, Michael Edwards, Lisa Price, Mike Nolan, Rick Hurst, Alex Francis, James Boardwell ,gicela, Sam Machin, Brian Kelly, bookmeister, Laura Dee, Edward McCaughan, Keir Whittaker, Alistair MacDonald…
[man, that took longer than I anticipated. If you're not on the list and should be, send me a direct message on twitter]
Holy smokes. I just realised that in a smidgen over a week I’ll be sitting in a room listening to a bunch of people talking about interesting stuff.
The “what I’m gonna talk about” list has been growing. From herbs to “The Gurgitator” to archaeological computing to learning Chinese, this is shaping up to be a fantastically diverse and interesting weekend.
We’re close enough to BathCamp now that I can almost smell the excitement. Or is that the smell of 70-something people bedding down in a church hall..?
Over the last few weeks we’ve been talking to some immensely ace people who have agreed to sponsor the event. It is these guys who will be paying for the venue, the beer, the sandwiches, the pizza, the tshirts, the cake, the coffee and the pop.
Massive, huge thanks to each and every one of them. Big, comedy hands, high-fives and some whooping, please. Even better, buy them a drink at the event :-). Without them, none of this…
Here’s who they are:
- Eduserv “A not for profit, professional IT services group”
- Gradwell “Enabling the internet that you don’t see”
- Siftware “Helping deliver the technical aspects of web projects”
- Box UK “An award-winning UK web software company”
- Pluggable ”Web development and consultancy”
- Carsonified “Creativity with integrity”
- PixeLabs ”Web developer, user experience designer and lover of the internets..”
- Rattle “We do social innovation on the web”
- Insitute of Physics “Devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics”
We’ve also had some stirling support from Microsoft, WordPress and Flickr.
Thanks all. It is hugely appreciated. :-)
1. What do you do in your day job?
I work at Carsonified in Bath. We do a number of events focussing on the web industry including “The Future of Web Apps”, “The Future of Web Design” and “Fuel” which looks at how you can take advantage of web technologies to help run your business more effectively. Now and again I get back to the code. Most recently I helped produce “The Mattinator”, a web app created by Carsonified using the Django web framework in four days. The app allows you to post to multiple twitter accounts from one interface. I have also run a couple of my own workshops on PHP5 at our offices in Bath which I really enjoyed. Prior to joining Carsonified I worked as a freelance web developer focussing mainly on .Net and PHP projects.
2. What do you do outside of work, in your 10% time, or when your boss isn’t looking?
Like many other people on this blog I have a young child who takes up the majority of my free time. Now and again I still manage to crowbar in some personal projects and have a couple of ideas I am working on. Having only moved to Bath this year I am also really enjoying discovering the South West. We also seem to get a lot of visitors desperate to escape London, our previous home, for a weekend.
3. Why are you attending BathCamp?
I have never been to a BarCamp style event and it’s great that it’s right on my doorstep. It will also be good to learn more about what’s going on in the vibrant local geek scene, a good opportunity to put Twitter names to faces, meet people interested in similar stuff and to learn something new.
4. What are you passionate about?
My daughter, watching her grow and develop over the last year has been amazing and challenging. I also love learning and I still get a kick out of discovering something new, whether it be a new web framework such as Django or reading about Modernist architecture, great graphic design or discovering a new Belgian beer!
5. What would you fill a bath with, and why?
My abstract answer would be time, there’s just never enough. On a more “practical” level I would throw in a bunch of friends, the family, a crate or two of cold Peronis, a selection of pizzas, a tub of Italian ice cream, a great view to gaze at and a miraculous hangover cure for the following day.
