This is a photo of home-made flame-throwers lighting the effigy during Burn in the Forest, the BC regional Burning Man event recently held in the Squamish valley. I had an excellent time there, and here are the rest of my photographs.
Last year I attended the Intention Retreat, which happens the 5 days over New Year's. It was a gathering of about 80 people, held in camp lodges outside Maple Ridge, BC.
It was an amazing way to celebrate the end of the year, and start of the new. It's a combination of workshops, dance parties, and communal meals. An excellent container for a gathering.
There's a pre-festival party happening next friday, and there's also the opportunity to ride a bus up to Intention for 1 party night. Check the Intention website for details.
I'm attending again this year, and I highly recommend this event.
Notes from day 1 of the 2010 Northern Voice personal media conference...
Bryan Alexander reminds us inject a sense of mystery into our (digital) lives.
How do you Find Your Voice? Monica Hamburg says "Write, write and keep on writing. Don't be afraid to suck."
Dave Olson says "Take Risks and Hone your Craft with practice. Your voice comes out of your personal experiences."
The Cunting Linguist said "Write for yourself. Create excellent content. Be yourself online and don't pull your punches."
Taylor Loren ended the day with a hilarious take on relationships in the digital age. She had artistic slideshow technique, and maybe works with my cousin.
PPS: A friend of mine recently started a new blog about food and environment issues in Vancouver. I have been quite enjoying it, so check out: None too strong.
Critical Mass is a fun bike ride that lets everyone cycle parts of the city that are normally overrun with cars. Costumes are encouraged in our monthly bike parade!
Vancouver details: Meet at the North end of the Art Gallery. On the last Friday of every month. Announcements at 6 PM, we ride at 6:15.
Critical Mass uses ad hoc organization through the ride. Every cyclists looks out for each other. It's important for safety that all the bicyclists stay together in one large group. Safety in numbers.
Stop and "cork" open intersections to cars. This is a very rewarding experience and a good opportunity to see the beautiful parade go by. After corking you'll be at the back of the ride, and can play the peloton game of racing to the front.
People at the front need to choose the route in real-time and shouldn't get too far ahead. The group will stop after the top of bridges or big hills and let everyone catch up. If the mass is big it should stay on larger streets so we have more lanes and can ride together.
I led a session during the unconference day titled TransitCamp and Open Source Government. It was my first time presenting such a thing, and definitely a learning experience: - good idea to ask audience how much they know about the topic at the start - plan for at least 10 minutes of questions (probably more at unconferences) - work on being a calm and collected speaker
Matt Mullenweg was an excellent keynote speaker. However, I must call bullshit on his suggestion that police can make any meaningful difference containing spam in open systems.
CBC is experimenting with crowd-sourcing Citizen Journalism, at least in Vancouver. I am planning to send them some story pitches, and you can too. This could be an awesome opportunity to open up our media. Hopefully I'll write more about this in the future.
Building a Better Conference Badge is a good read for all organizers. The NV nametags definitely need a redesign. Space for user-tagging is a good idea, but you need to tell people to do it when you give them out.
My advice to Santas for next year: - If you show up at the first meeting point, do it 45 minutes later then advertised. - Show up at the dinner-time meeting point if you're a night-time Santa. - Pace yourself. In between giving out gifts, Santa mostly barcrawls. - Plan to party with Santa all day and/or all night. It's a lot of fun. - Bring some of your favorite Christmas spirits with you. - Don't be Santa on an empty stomach. - Bring your friends. The more the merrier.
