Ignite comes to Cardiff - 3 December 2008
A slightly off topic blog post, but I’m so excited about this I couldn’t resist putting it up.
Under our guise of Cardiff Web Scene, we’re getting together with Nocci (Network of Creative and Cultural Industries) to hold the first UK Ignite event!!!
Ignite was started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since then hundreds of 5 minute talks have been given across the world. There are thriving Ignite communities in Seattle, Portland, Paris, and NYC and it is an internationally recognised format for producing dynamic, high energy and engaging presentations, with topics as wide ranging as “How to produce a low-budget horror movie”, “Did today’s architecture cause the financial crisis” and “How to use public transport without going mad”.
But the craze has not yet been brought to the UK… until now!
Ignite Cardiff is being held on Wednesday 3 December at Sodabar in Cardiff City Centre, and will start at 6:30pm: if you want to take part or would just like some more information visit www.cardiffwebscene.com or www.noccinet.com. Entry is FREE and you don’t need a ticket to attend.
Interested in taking part?
The format is simple:
- come up with a subject that you’re passionate about, it can be on any topic (it doesn’t have to be creative, cultural or web related), it can be serious or fun – the only rule is that you can’t talk about yourself, your company or one of your projects.
- Then visit www.cardiffwebscene.com to sign up (or just send an email to hello@cardiffwebscene.com telling us who you are and what you want to talk about).
- If you are selected you’ll be sent the Ignite PowerPoint template. Presentations should be 20 slides in total with each slide lasting 15 seconds.
It’s not a contest, it’s just for fun, but don’t miss your chance to take part.
All applications need to be received by Friday 14 November and the selected speakers will be notified by Tuesday 18 November. Final presentations need to be submitted by Monday 1 December. It’s free to enter so what have you got to lose?!
The Ignite community is sponsored by O’Reilly – We really hope to see you there!
*** Claire
Add comment October 24, 2008
Box UK and the BBC - the beginning!
Over the last week or two we’ve started work on the initial stages of our project with the BBC, which we’ll be keeping you up to date with over the next couple of months.
The initial stages will be very much R&D related and will involve experimenting with the BBC’s existing data. One of the issues that we’ll need to deal with is coming up with amazing, sexy but useful applications that users won’t be able to live without. Dan’s previous posts go to show some of the scope that can be covered with just travel data.
When we were picked to take part in the Labs we went in thinking that, by restricting ourselves to just looking at travel data , that we had a fairly limited scope, and I’m happy to admit that there was a slight feeling of jealousy at the companies sitting in the room with us talking about ARGs and interactive television shows.
However, when we sat down and started looking at the sheer amount and variety of travel data that’s available, the platforms and media that it can be pushed out on to, and the other data that can be mashed with it, we’ve come to realise that there is huge potential to develop applications that are sophisticated, fun, useful and visually stimulating… and we’re getting very excited about the whole thing!
So we’re going to regularly write about all the cool stuff we’re doing and if you have any thoughts or comments along the way please let us know…
*** Claire
1 comment July 15, 2008
Web Scene Meet-Up #4 Announced!
We’ve had a very busy couple of weeks… not only have we arranged the next web scene meet-up, but we’ve also launched the new Cardiff Web Scene comminuty website (and got a shiny new logo!
Meet-Up #4 is being held on September 25 2008 at The Yard in The Old Brewery Quarter in Cardiff city centre. The evening begins at 6:30pm and runs through until 9pm and we’re going to be upstairs, above the main bar.
We are very exciting to announce that our speakers for the evening are Carl Harris, Website Manager for the BCS (British Computer Society) and Mike Ellis. Mike is a Solutions Architect at Eduserv, organizer of BathCamp (http://bathcamp08.eventbrite.com/), obsessive blogger (http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/), ex Head of Web for the Science Museum, serial web-app creator, digital musician, and a few other things too!
You can register for the event at http://cardiffwebscene4.eventbrite.com/, it’s FREE and don’t forget, entrance isn’t restricted to invitees or registered visitors, so if you know someone who might be interested in joining us, please bring them along!
And as if that wasn’t exciting enough, Cardiff Web Scene has a new logo AND a new website. Hop along and have a look and let us know what you think!
*** Claire
Add comment June 27, 2008
Faster and cleverer or distracted and lazy?
As we head towards our first meeting with the BBC following the labs, I can’t wait to get stuck in. Funny thing is, I can’t wait for a lot of things (like Web Scene Meet-Up 4 which we have just arranged for 25 September!). I remember a time before the internet when people used to queue in shops and sit in traffic and wait for deliveries and things to arrive in the post, but thanks to the internet I think we have become a less patient society.
Having a huge wealth of information available on demand is fantastic, if I want to know what the weather forecast is going to be, I’ll just hop on the BBC website, I don’t need to wait and catch the forecast on the TV. Why waste my time queuing up at banks and shops when I can sit in the comfort of my own home and sort everything out online?
Our lives are faster due to the speed that we can now get hold of information and make plans. So does that mean that we’re now being more efficient? Does it mean we’re more organised and can manage our time better? Does it mean that we’re more knowledgeable?
In theory I think we probably are. We are now better at processing information in a fast and efficient manor, because we have to. Apparently the average working person in the UK will receive 40 emails per day! Whereas before email and the internet became common place you would receive your post in the morning which you dealt with, and then maybe one or two phone calls throughout the day. The normal office based working person is now constantly supplied with information and tasks throughout the day which need to be dealt with, so yes we should be more productive.
But are we also better at wasting time? 40 emails a day, that’s 40 times you’ll be interrupted by a little flashing icon in the bottom corner of your screen. And I wonder out of those 40 emails how many are relevant to you, how many have you been copied in on ‘for your information’, how many are your mates asking you if you want to go out on Friday or (in my case) your colleagues asking whose turn it is to make the tea? How much time do you spend pointlessly surfing the internet for rubbish, browsing Facebook, watching random videos on Youtube?
Are we also less sociable? Social Networking websites are very popular, but is social networking? Or even just being social? Why would you want to get dressed up and go out to catch up with your friends in the pub when you can sit in your pyjamas and write on their wall? Why make an effort to go out and meet people when you can just join dating sites, chat rooms and forums?
I think potentially the answer is ‘yes’ to all of the above and I guess the answer is all about striking a balance. But I wonder if the next step in popular web culture is sites such as Smynx (which is now in beta form for those of you that can’t wait for the official release) that span both online and offline activities and encourage users to get away from their screens and actually do something? I guess only time and trends will tell, and I can’t wait to find out!
*** Claire
Add comment June 24, 2008
No significant link between low, bright sun and accidents
When we first started mining the data, I raised the hypothesis that low, bright sun during the summer may cause an increase in incidents. Now that we have nearly 13,000 incidents recorded, and the past few weeks have been almost consistently sunny, I thought I’d re-examine this idea.
Having re-queried the data, it seems there is no such pattern - no increase in east-bound incidents during the early rush-hour, and no increase in west-bound incidents during the evening rush-hour or later in the evening when the sun is setting.
Of course, the sun may be responsible for other types of incident (increased road rage, increased break-downs due to overheating, etc), but these are unfortunately more difficult to test and prove with the current data!
*** Dan
Add comment June 16, 2008
Web Scene #3 overview and pics!
So Wednesday 4 June was the third Cardiff Web Scene Meet-Up at 10 Feet Tall and what a great night it was!
We were really pleased to see both familiar and new faces, mingling and chatting about the latest happenings in the web and the industry. We were even happier to hear that some of you made some great connections and even potentially got some new work from the event!
We were very lucky to be joined by Matthew Cashmore, Senior Research Producer for the BBC who invited everyone to Mashed at Alexandra Palace on 21 June (and also provided some free BBC goodies … We love you Matt!). For those of you who were unable to come to the meet-up but still want to take advantage of the free Cardiff to London (and return) ‘Mashed’ bus, you may still be able to sign up for your place online.
You can also keep up to date with the latest ‘Mashed’ and backstage news at Matthew’s Backstage blog.
Unfortunately our second speaker, Tim Holmes from Cardiff University wasn’t able to attend the meet-up, but we’re hoping he’ll join us to talk about journalism and writing for the web and one of the next events.
So that’s it for another couple of months, if you’ve got any questions or comments about the last or the next meet-up, or would like to speak at the next one, please let us know. We’re already thinking about Meet-Up number 4 which we’re planning for September and maybe even a festive meet-up in December.
If you want to keep up-to-date with our plans and progress you can join the Facebook group , sign up to the mailing list or watch this space…
*** Claire
Add comment June 6, 2008
The third Cardiff Web Scene Meet-Up is finally here
Yes, it’s finally here, despite burning buildings and ailing speakers – The third Cardiff Web Scene Meet-Up is tonight (please contain your excitement)!
It’s still at 10 Feet Tall in Cardiff city centre (a few doors down from the newly roofless O’Neills), starting at 6:30pm and it’s free entry before 8:30. Unfortunately Tim Holmes from Cardiff University has had to drop out but Matthew Cashmore from the BBC is still coming to talk about Mashed and Backstage and rumour has it, will be bringing some goodies along with him. We’re also going to be taking signups for the FREE Cardiff to London Mashed bus.
The night will be rounding off with music from Ridinghood and Suitcase. There is usually an entry fee of £3 per person to see the bands, however, if you’re coming to the meet up and you arrive before 8:30pm you can see the bands for free.
You can register for the event online or just turn up!
We look forward to seeing you later, please pop over and say ‘Hi’ and introduce yourselves and if you have any comments or feedback from the night or if you would be interested in speaking at the next Meet-Up (which will be in September… watch this space) please let us know.
*** Claire
1 comment June 4, 2008
Don’t drive to Cardiff on a Monday…
Our database of incidents has been growing over the last couple of weeks, since we started recording data from the BBC Travel feed.
The dataset size is still relatively small, for meaningful statistical analysis, but I just thought I’d perform some random mining of the data, for fun. (Yes, ‘fun’… I do need to get out more).
From initial results, it looks like Monday is the worst day for driving:
And, if you’re travelling along the M4, the city of Cardiff - although not the largest urban area along the length of the motorway - seems to suffer from the most incidents (clearly, it’s the large number of tourists flocking to our beautiful city).
More coming soon…
*** Dan
Add comment May 27, 2008
Geek is the new black
Continuing with the BBC connection, we’re really pleased to announce the first speaker for the next Cardiff Web Scene Meet-Up. Matthew Cashmore, Senior Research Producer for BBC Future Media and Technology, Research and Innovation who will be talking about ‘BBC Backstage’ and ‘Mashed’ at Alexandra Palace and just another quick reminder that you’ll also have the opportunity to sign up for the ‘Cardiff Mashed Bus’ which we will be organising for anyone who is interested in free transport to the event on June 21st.
Organising the next event has given us a warm fuzzy feeling that we’re doing something nice and good for the web industry and we hope that everyone who comes along will feel the same. As I’ve mentioned before, networking events and recognition for those that work in the web are few and far between however, thankfully ‘Geek Meet-Ups’ seem to be springing up all over the world from Oxford to Leeds to Boston.
Hopefully it will give the industry the bit of a boost that it needs, for example the BBC Innovation Lab that we recently attended follows a similar pattern to the last two web scene meet-ups in that the male to female ratio was about 15 - 1, and I bet Mashed will be the same. Why are women in the web in such a minority?
Is it to do with reputation? I’m not sure that terms such as ‘Geeks’ and ‘Nerds’ have helped promote the industry in the best light. Perhaps schools teaching ‘IT’ should get kids involved in the web a bit more and show them the funky stuff you can do with Flash and AJAX as well as the Word and Excel basics that are drilled into them on a daily basis. And not just the web, but games development, 3D graphics and simulation too.
Let’s all do our bit to show what a stimulating, fun and sexy industry the web is to work in - it can only be a good thing. It’ll help with recruitment and job prospects, more recognition and cooler events, bigger and better improvements in technology, and your mum and dad won’t keep asking ’so what is it exactly that you do?’.
The future is not just bright, it’s luminous!
*** Claire
Add comment May 21, 2008
Updated Personalised Travel Feeds… Now in HTML!
Quick update to the personalised XML Travel feeds. I’ve added a little feature that converts (server side) the XML to another output format. For now I’ve just written the HTML converter; am hoping to add RSS and other formats quite quickly in the future.
The additional parameter for requesting any personalised feed in HTML is ‘/format/html’, for example:
http://feeds.boxuk.com/bbctravel/xmlfeed/place/cardiff/format/html
I’ve purposefully omitted any HTML header information; this just returns an HTML list, suitable for embedding in remote pages.
*** Dan
Add comment May 15, 2008
Claire S
Dan Z
