BarCamp Saskatoon 2007

BarCamp was a success again this year. Exact number of attendees is not known yet, but Ryan says that about 60 signed in.

The presentations I attended were interesting and insightful and led to a lot of discussion. The topics were diverse, everything from Biomimetics to Flex, iPhone hacking, Social Media Tools in Learning, Open Source Licensing and much more. Today's event confirms for me that we have some smart people doing great things in our Saskatchewan city.

Pete Quily, Adult ADD Coach, gave a great talk to us from Vancouver on iChat about the "ADD Surplus Condition in Technology". Unfortunately, I messed up with the time and thought that Pete was presenting an hour before we had arranged. He was able to adjust to my error in scheduling, and, after grabbing a coffee gave us a very informative and engaging talk.

My talk about Women in Technology seemed to go okay. It felt more natural and I sensed that people were listening with more interest than to my presentation last year. Public speaking is not something I am comfortable with, but this is a topic I am invested in and close to and I felt I had to put shyness aside. If it brings any awareness, then that's really all that matters.

CBC's Search Engine and the Afrosphere

I had the opportunity to tune into Search Engine, hosted by Jesse Brown on CBC today. Search Engine is a radio show about the "surprising and significant ways the Internet is transforming our world. A look at politics and culture through the lens of the Net."

Jesse was interviewing Dexter Thomas (AKA Dex Digital) about the Jena 6 and how blogging in "the Afrosphere" quickly brought international awareness to this case.

I recommend, if you aren't up on current events and what's been going on in Jena for the past year or so, to check it out. 15,000 - 20,000 people marched in protest there a week ago, and just today Mychal Bell, the last of the six in custody, was released on bail.

I'm going to try to catch Search Engine more often, Thursdays at 11:30am (12:00 NT) and Tuesdays at 3:30 pm (4:00 NT, select markets) on CBC Radio One.

BarCampSaskatoon 2007

Saskatoon's 2nd BarCamp happens this Saturday, September 29.

BarCamp takes place again at The Cellar, below Winston's, an ambient and understated location in the basement of the Senator Hotel (243 21st Street East).

As usual, the agenda will be established on the morning of the 29th.

Have a topic you'd like to speak or hear about, or
just looking to find out more, visit the wiki.

Happy Birthday Smiley!

The "smiley" emoticon is 25 years old today. Scott Fahlman, as a member of the Computer Science community at Carnegie Mellon, in the early '80's, recognized the need for an indicator to explicitly mark posts that were not to be taken seriously. Thus the "smiley" was born :-) ...turn your head sideways ;)

iPhones in Saskatoon

The iPhone has come to Saskatoon after all. As of last week, Nathan Koch, a 21 year-old iPhone enthusiast working for Elite Mobility, is unlocking phones. They're for sale for $1,000.

IT Projects Exceed Budgets

This article from CNET describes how a survey of 100 chief information officers found that 1/3 of all projects are 10 - 20% over budget and 1/4 are more than 50% over.

Issues such as bad planning, scope creep, and conflicts between multiple projects are said to be blamed. Something that sticks out is "the lack of visibility and control" managers have over projects, so little awareness of where projects are in terms of development effort compared to budget, that they aren't in a position to know that the project is veering off track. Or, perhaps, by the time they do realize, it's too late to do anything other than finish the job.

Good reporting from the system being used to track projects helps you see where a project is in terms of hours expended vs. budget available. The system is only as good as the data in it, of course, so as long as the team is entering hours daily, it should be a good representation of where things are at.

Communication with the team working on the project is also key. They know when things aren't going as well as expected. When you're talking, checking in on a regular basis, you're more likely to be informed when extra resources or assistance is needed. For example, extra hands can be delegated to more basic tasks and allow senior developers to focus on more complex programming. Quickly responding to scheduling changes might not be realistic if you aren't aware that the need is there.

Anticipating going over should be a sign to review and reevaluate the entire project and perhaps make needed adjustments in the timeline and/or budget. It may not stop the project from going over, but at least you can be proactive and take steps to manage the client's expectations and hopefully bring the project to an effective conclusion.

Hear Me Roar

In September, O'Reilly will publish articles with the theme "Women in Technology". Tatiana Apandi created this series.

She gathered women from every stage of life to weigh in on experiences. These perspectives are easy for me to relate to, either by reaching back in my history, or touching what is happening now, or thinking about what could be achieved.

Tatiana's choice of the lioness seems appropriate and her rational for choosing this animal to represent the series is well considered, "although the lion is often called the King of the Jungle, lion society is actually ruled by its females. Lionesses are the ones primarily responsible for providing sustenance for their entire pride. She is a natural leader. When hunting, each lioness plays to her strengths. She even adjusts her individual role in the hunt depending on the prey to ensure capture for the pride. She can adapt to suit the task at hand. A lioness also will nurse any cub, indiscriminate of whether that cub is her own. She will give with the greater good in mind."

For more information:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/womenintech/2007/09/05/a-fifty-year-wave-of-change.html

My Mobile Device

Ever since we upgraded to a new phone with camera, etc. My husband has been bogarting the thing, claiming that what was originally purchased for me, is now "ours" which really means that I need to get something else for my own use.

Considering my work, it makes sense to look at getting something truly multi-purpose. I need the phone and the web browser... and the scheduling. The camera and other multimedia are nice, but not the most important features to me.

When I mention that I'm looking at getting something, friends chime in automatically, "iPhone". But, they aren't available in Canada, and likely won't be for some months (January at the earliest, from what I've read). Also, the cost and in particular the monthly cost of the service contract with Rogers may be something I'm not willing to deal with.

I really like the BlackBerry Perl smartphones. They look good. I haven't really heard anything bad and the cost is reasonable. I think for development and testing this device probably has the largest market share. More research is obviously needed before I can make an informed decision, but I'm leaning towards a BlackBerry today.

On Being Nice

I loved Tantek's post about how important it is for conference participants to be "nice".

Thinking about my conference experiences, here in Saskatoon, I can't come up with many occasions where people weren't nice. Thinking about our upcoming BarCamp on Sept. 29... I expect the tradition of polite communication will continue.

Things are just easier when you treat people the way you would like to be treated. We all like to be approached with a calm and gentle demeanor, with respect, empathy and consideration, and humour.

I put some thought into fairness and try to understand motives and perspectives when I get some harsh treatment, but, of course it still stings. I don't have too much time to be mad or hold a grudge, but when I encounter intentional rudeness, it doesn't inspire me to bend over backwards or give out any favours. I think that's the way it is with most people and it's not just a conference thing, that goes for social interactions as well as business ones.

So, if you're nice to me... guaranteed, I'll be nice to you.

Hello, World!

Just as I was contemplating a blog (much less secretive than my last) danah boyd gives her recommendations for creating a public Internet identity to control public appearance. Up until now, my Internet identity has been pretty loosely defined and largely controlled by references related to employers and BarCamp. With this blog, I can present my ideas and impressions in (I hope!) a clear way, so that the next time I get googled, maybe there will be more of the kind of information someone (who?) looking for me or things about me would expect.