Technology & Design (un)Conference: No Spectators, Only Participants
minnēbar 2006 Archive
*May 6, 2006, Minneapolis, Minnesota*
WHEW! That was great. What a good time minnēbar turned out to be. I will have more notes but for now I am exhausted.
Thanks for the great times! Add your comments and feedback at MinneBarFeedback. Keep in touch with the
minnēbar Google Group. Sign up today! And be sure to post your photos to the Flickr Group and tag your blog posts with minnebar!
Presenters, please add your slides to the MinneBarSlides page.
If anyone has notes or podcasts you could link to them from the MinneBarPodcasts or the MinneBarNotes pages.wino kredyt mieszkaniowy sprzedam mieszkanie sprzedam bilet
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Sponsors
We have some great sponsors that are excited to help this inaugural BarCamp event in Minnesota really take off. Here they are:
pajunas interactive
Ayamon
Ripshark
MindTouch
Clockwork Active Media Systems
Dan Grigsby
Dow Jones
Alt Text
Venue Sponsor
Catalyst Studios
Participants
Here is a list of all the participants who signed up for MinneBar 2006. It would be cool if people could indicate on this page if they made it or not. I have added some of the folks I knew to be there as a guide. Know of anyone who was there that isn't on this list? Add them.
- BenEdwards - alt text (participated)
- Ethan Galstad - Nagios, Ayamon (participated)
- John Nesbitt MN Open Standards (participated)
- Casey Helbling - Clear Consulting, slurred speech (participated)
- Jesse O'Neill-Oine (participated)
- Scott Vlaminck - Subconscious (participated)
- Raven Zachary
- Ben Tesch - magnetbox, RIAA Radar (participated)
- Dack Ragus - Cin-O-Matic, Dack.com (participated)
- Adam Sellke - Ripshark, Sellke.com (participated)
- Garrick Van Buren - Working Pathways, First Crack Podcast, MNteractive (participated)
- Steve Hanson - Cruiskeen Consulting LLC (participated)
- AaronFulkerson - MindTouch MOSSIL (participated)
- Pete Erickson - Digineer, MOSSIL, nothing else cool
- Allie Micka - Pajunas Interactive (participated)
- Grant E. Johnson - City of Minneapolis
- Nate Schutta - ntschutta.com (participated)
- Mike Huot OpenNMS (participated)
- Matt Raykowski OpenNMS
- Peter Fleck PF Hyper Blog (participated)
- Dan Grigsby (participated)
- David Newberger
- Nick Sieger (participated)
- Jesse Ross (participated)
- Luke Francl (participated)
- Ry4an Brase - Minneapolis Surveillance Camera Project Swarmcast (participated)
- Paul Cantrell - In the Hands, Macker (participated)
- Alissa Barthel - Creot Radio (participated)
- Jake Dahn - HyperboleDesign, AIM:
compfreak221, jabber: jake@hyperboledesign.com - Neil Mix - Pandora (participated)
- Todd Mcgrath - supergloo
- Jim Cuene - www.cuene.com
- Chuck Hermes - Clockwork Active Media Systems (no)
- Geoff Murtaugh
- Patrick Riley (no)
- Brian Michelich (participated)
- Tim Elliott - Winecast
- Andrew Eklund - Ciceron
- Mark Leppke - Devotion (participated)
- Ben Moore (participated)
- Tom Brice (participated)
- Mark Wagner (participated)
- Curtis Thompson (participated)
- Jonathan Dahl - Slantwise Design (participated)
- Jamie Thingelstad - Dow Jones (participated)
- Dustin Bruzenak
- RickCochrane - ObjectZen Consulting
- Kevin Marshall -kcmarshall Digital Marketing(participated)
- Eric Peterson
- Ryan Melena
- Samir M. Nassar - Chronolith
- Brady Hegberg - lili.net
- J Cruit - Some Guy
- Tim Wilson - The Savvy Technologist (participated)
- Nick Thompson - linux consultant, tech nut (participated)
- Kristina Halvorson - MIMA, Brain Traffic
- Morgan Catlin - Simplicis Identity (participated)
- George Reese - Simplicis (no)
- Robert Metcalf - Flyspy
- Mark Kurtz - MindTouch (participated)
- Jeff Pester - Urban Radar
- Siddhartha chadda - Casper for OS X
- James Walsh (participated)
- David Graham
- John Roberts New Counsel - jroberts@newcounsel.com
- Brooke Nielsen - takotech (participated)
- Jim Pichler Digital River
- Steve Neuharth
- Eric Nordberg (participated)
- Michelle Nordberg (no)
- George Coller - Independent Consultant (participated)
- Charles Gimon - Minneapolis Public Library, representing myself (participated)
- Jon Homan - SimplyTech (participated)
- Bill Dorman - Semantic Circuit
- Ward Tongen - Medtronic (participated)
- Brian Kopp - Medtronic
- Charles Oliver Nutter - Blog JRuby (participated)
- Martin Grider - Clockwork Active Media Systems livingtech
- Don Kelly (participated)
- Jacob Hookom - JSF Facelets (participated)
- Dan Flies
- Richard Elsberry - Independent Consultant
- Aleh Matus - NorthStar CMS (participated)
- Rudrava Roy - Low Vision Lab, University of Minnesota
- Rob Terhaar - Famous Computerist
- Neophytos Iacovou - Infamous Computerist (participated)
- Jason Rysavy - Catalyst Studios (participated)
- Mark McCahill - University of Minnesota and Open Croquet
- Pete Clark - Minnesota Population Center
- Michael Woods - w.oods
- Marc Trimble - West7th.net & West7thDomains.net
- Mark Powell - Medtronic (participated)
- Ben Wallace - Brand & Marketing Consultant ben.wallace@comcast.net
- Rich Graves Carleton, Brandeis, Stanford, THHP
- Peter Berman - ActiFi
- Nathan Hall - Interface Designer greatnorwegian@gmail.com (participated)
- Chris Schumann - Third Wave Partnership
- Orlin Melstrand (participated)
- Bruno Bornsztein - Feedmarker, MissingMethod
- Mykl Roventine - Voyageur I.T. (participated)
- Lori Baker - Wolfmotell
- Benjamin Ortega - Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota (participated)
- Harold Slawik - New Counsel
- Dave Schroeder - Pilotvibe, Flashbelt conference
- David Naughton - Networking & Telecommunications Services, University of Minnesota
- Tony Julian II - More Various random stuff
- Anton Torres
- Christine Noyes (participated)
- Lynn Leitte
- Craig D. Rice - St. Olaf College and UniYatra Group, LLC
- David Hedrick Skarjune - MySQL User
- Pam Rostal - Essentialist at Trissential LLC (participated)
- John Kuster (participated)
- Matt Thompson - StarTribune.com Snarkmarket One of the EPIC boys (participated)
- Margaret Andrews (participated)
- Ryan Asleson (participated)
- Derek Peterson - BOLD Crossing
- Norman Orstad Orstad Design Slantwise Design(participated)
- Brian Repko
- Larry Green (participated)
- Steve Tuckner (participated)
- Erik Haugo
- Brian Dolan-Goecke Open Source Consulting of Minnesota (participated)
- Kelly Nawrocke - Last of the famous international playboys (participated)
- Chris Hoehn - public education
- Mark Danielson - FindLaw.com (participated)
- Matt Gray - Clockwork Active Media Systems (no)
- Kari Rowles - Freelance IA, periferal.com
- Michael Cameron
- McClain Looney - Founder, Beezer International (partcipated)
- Chris Barber - CB1, INC. (partcipated)
- Vishal Saraswat - University of Minnesota. (participated)
- Ron Lancaster - WidgetWeb (participated)
- Matt Cruikshank - Vital Images (participated)
- Jeremy Iggers (participated)
Sessions
It looks like MinneBar will have room for 24 sessions throughout the day. Many will already have topics but we will leave room for signing up for topics during the event.
What do you want to talk about? Suggest session ideas below. Sessions will be discussions of 40 minutes in length and can cover just about any topic you can dream up. Expect some topics to be introduced and added the day of the even as well as everyone gets a feel for the crowd and what they would like to talk about.
Tentative Session Schedule
Session Topics
10:00 - 10:40
Area A: Programmer and Designer Roles
Jacob Hookom
How CSS, server-side languages, and semantic markup can help define programmer and designer relationships with agile development
Web 2.0 in the Real World
Jamie Thingelstad
Real world, revenue generating applications to tackle the financial services world online with examples from the new API-based Javascript tools Dow Jones has launched called LiveQuotes and shortly LiveNews.
Area C: Building Synthetic Worlds
Mark McCahill and Tim Bray
Immersive multi-user environments are used for entertainment, virtual meeting places, teaching, and learning, We discuss two approaches to building massively multiuser synthetic worlds: an open source P2P toolkit called Croquet and proprietary server-centric model called Second Life. U of MN is a core ed partner on Croquet project and Mark McCahill is one of the Croquet architects. Tim Bray blogs about Second Life.
11:00 - 11:40
Area A: Open Systems Licenses and Legislation
John Nesbitt & AaronFulkerson
A discussion on what open source (OS) is, why, and how. As well as OS/Open Standards Legislation and Policy in MN. Will include some discussion centering on understanding the variety of available open source licenses
Area B: Agile Design
Ben Edwards
The agile method has been proven effective in the world of software development yet the various design disciplines (information, interaction, visual, etc.) seem to have fallen behind on this. Discuss how agile themes and methods can be incorporated into the work flows of designers regardless whether or not they are working with an agile development team.
Area C: The Internet and the Future of Art
Paul Cantrell (and...?)
The advent of mass media in the 20th century created a profound shift in the public's relationship with art: what the big-screen TV was to the late 20th century, the piano was to the late 19th. The public changed from participant to consumer; the critical mass moved from the amateur to the star; art become an industry, not just a business. But the technology -- the combination of the Internet and the plummeting cost of digital production of creative work -- place all of that in question again. The Amateur is back, the industries are in a panic, and everybody's feathers are in a ruffle. What changes will come to the art landscape as a result? What technologies should we be inventing to make the best world possible for art? And how can artists today navigate the dizzying onslaught of new threats and opportunities -- blogs, copyright violation, the Creative Commons, Garageband, the DMCA, mashups, podcasting -- to create a home for the work they love? I'll share my own thoughts and experiences (from In the Hands); come share yours.
Area D: Open Source Manufacturing
Steve Tuckner
The Open/Free Source movement has shown that it can produce great software that rivals and even beats software built at commercial software houses. It has shown that it can produce it not only cheaper, but also more reliable. The one thing that the open/free software movement hasn't done is produce things. Because to produce things requires not just peoples spare time, but also their spare change. This session is not a lecture, but an exploration of what could be done if open/free source methods were harnessed in the making of things: think bikes, skateboards, motors, buildings, cars, anything.
12:00 - 12:40
Area D: I Blog, You Blog, Weblog. Why?
Peter Fleck
Technorati is tracking 38.1 million sites, most of them blogs. Is this the end of Main Stream Media as we know it or are we all just wasting our time? Why do you blog? Why do I blog? Let's talk blogging and what we get out of it and how it might change things in the worlds of media and education. I will ask probing questions like "Can citizen journalism replace the Star Tribune?", "How can you make money blogging?" and "Why don't you read my blog?". Seating order to be determined by Technorati rank. Vloggers, podders, and blog newbies welcome!
Area D: Running Your Business on Open Source
Brian Dolan-Goecke
So you are a Open Source advocate, a crack programmer, and you have prospective clients knocking down your door. Now what ? You would like to run your business all on Open Source, what do you need. I will talk about the Open Source software you can use to run your business, covering accounting software, basic office suite, document management software and more. (Although MinneBarDemos space is full, we will try demo some of the software.)
Area B: Disintermediation
Charles Gimon
Disintermediation: who loses their job in an interconnected world? This will be more about economies of knowledge and expertise, rather than about physical supply chains. When information is searchable and obtainable quickly from anywhere, what happens to occupations that are based on providing information? Are those occupations based on delivering information, or on managing artificial scarcity of information? How does this affect the role of experts in a field? Is the public willing to be told what is trustable information, or will they insist on deciding for themselves?
2:20 - 3:00
Area A: Ajax
Nate Schutta
By now you've been exposed to the hype that is Ajax. You've been awed by Google Maps, you've tried Ta-da List, heck, maybe you even know what AJAX the acronym means. In the past we had to choose between difficult to deploy thick clients or feature bare thin clients but today we have a new choice: We can give our users the best of both worlds thanks to Ajax techniques. In this presentation, we'll cut through the hype and help you see where Ajax makes sense in your applications. We'll give you a brief overview of what Ajax is and recommendations for its usage, followed up by tips on how to take some of the pain out of JavaScript. Leading companies are introducing your customers to the possibilities of a richer web experience and after this talk; you'll be on your way to meeting their new expectations.
Area B: On being an independent Open Source Software developer
Ethan Galstad.
I'll talk about how I'm able to remain self-employed while developing an Open Source software project (Nagios) that is available free of charge. This is accomplished by using some "non-standard" OSS business models that don't get press attention. I'll talk about how Nagios got started, how the new business model came about, and where the model (and Nagios) is going in the future. I'll also be discussing why independence is important in Open Source, given the fact that there is a great deal of interest on the part of VCs and large corporations to acquire OSS projects. The OSS landscape is changing... what will it look like two years from now?
Area C: Real World CSS Design
Mark Powell
Bring your del.icio.us, Furl, Blinklist bookmarks, Web Developer toolbar and let's open up the hood. Show off innovative sites you've built or found and let everyone see how it works and why it's awesome. Other areas for discussion may include semantic mark-up and ECMA script that allows content to be separate from design separate from interaction. If you've got sites to show, include them on the MinneBarLinks page.
Area D: Citizen Journalism
Jeremy Iggers
I'll talk a little about Citizen Journalism, and especially a new local Citizen Journalism project, the Twin Cities Daily Planet.
3:20 - 4:00
Area A: Open Source tools for Businesses
Steve Hanson & AaronFulkerson
Some topics that are sure to come up are using open source tools such as blogs, wikis and other CMS solutions in information management. Additional discussion could be around open source monitoring tools such as Nagios as well as specific solution for small business and non-profit organizations. (Steve Hanson) Issues I would particularly like to discuss include:
- Open Source tools for managing and sharing information and collaboration (blogs, wikis, CMSes, etc); e.g.- light-weight, but effective tools for information dissemination and collaboration
- Podcasting
- RSS for nonprofit groups
Area D: Ruby on Rails
Ruby Users of Minnesota
Facts, not hype, presented by Twin Cities Rubyists. Plan on a 15 minute jam session to build an application from scratch, some time to highlight Rails and some nearly objective thoughts about the hype and counter-hype
Area C: Scrum Experience Report
James Walsh as moderator
Join a discussion about how Scrum is working in your organization. Share your experience moving to Scrum and what successes and difficulties you have day-to-day. Learn how to be a better Scrum Master, Product Owner, or Dev Team member from other practitioners in your community.
5:10 - 5:50
Area A: Microformats
AaronFulkerson
Microformats are community established rules/standards for adding application specific semantics to XHTML. It's very simple stuff and is something that will become increasingly more useful in the next year+. In short, we're talking about simple and effective standards for semantic webbing. Pretty cool really. For an example of what I'm talking about view my hcard.
For more info see Microformats.org
Area B: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Ward Tongen is the discussion leader, YOU are the speaker.
Search engines are always changing and so should your strategies for keeping up with them. Possible subtopics:
- What techniques are illicit and what are best industry practices?
- What are the search engine spiders up to these days and how does it affect our web servers?
- Have you been banned or penalized by a search engine?
IDEA: Since we will have Internet access, participants may request a group critique of their website. If you want to volunteer your site to be reviewed by the participants, include it on the MinneBarLinks page.
Area C: Team Anti Patterns
Nate Schutta and Dan Grigsby
Teams aren't like boy bands - there's no formula that you can follow to guarantee a high performing team (though even if there was, many companies would probably ignore it anyway.) The best you can do (provided you are in a position to influence any of this) is provide fertile ground for teams to sprout. In many ways, its like being a farmer - all you can do is create a hospitable environment, one where greatness can thrive. Whether or not anything sprouts is anyone's guess but clearly you've got a better chance if you plant in fertile ground and water regularly! This talk will examine many of the ways companies spill herbicide all over their best teams...
Other potential topics of discussion.
If you want to ensure one of these topics is discussed, add it to the schedule above in one of the OPEN slots and add a description of it too.
- Flock (better as a demo?)
- UI design trends and interests
- Looceifer
- Agile development
- Interaction design
- Web design trends
- AJAX
- "Web 2.0" (App Review?)
- Ruby on Rails vs "the other guys"
- Living in the Cloud - storing your life on the Internet (S3, del.icio.us, gmail)
- RSS-OPML
- VoIP
- Information Architecture
- Citizens Journalism esp. blogs
- Sharing, The Commons, DRM, copyright issues
- Google: Why We Trust Them. Why We Don't.
Demos
At MinneBar there will be a series of 20 minute demos of projects (personal or otherwise) sprinkled throughout the day. This page lists the currently suggested demos and who is planning on leading each. Right now it looks like we have time slots available for 9 demos. These bracket lunch and breaks and people can use the time to take in some demos or just have general discussion and to meet new people.
Demo Schedule
| | Area A | Area B | Area C | Area D |
| 1:40-2:00 | MindTouch Demo | Pandora Demo | Building Navigator Demo | Asterisk@home Demo |
| 4:30-4:50 | JavaScript SOAP Bridge ap Demo | Flickr API - photo gallery demo | Flash Videogame | Xen Demo |
- A Pandora demo given by Neil Mix, builder of the Pandora music player.
- MindTouch MOS demo - wiki on steroids delivered in a managed network server appliance package for use as a next generation network file server and Intranet (Mark Kurtz)
- We could demo our JavaScript LiveQuotes application. (Jamie Thingelstad)
- I'm sure I could setup a brief Xen demo (Eric Peterson)
- Setup and install a fully functional Asterisk@home Open Source PBX system from scratch (J Cruit)
- Flash Video game I developed with Catalyst Studios for Best Buy. Demonstrate OO development with ActionScript 2.0, technical issues we had, setting up an environment, final product. (George Coller)
- The Flickr API - Roll your own photo gallery with the phpFlickr in 20 minutes or less! (martin grider)
- Building Navigator - An indoor navigation aid similar in principle to an in-car GPS but with primarily a speech interface. (Rudrava Roy)
OTHER
List other ideas and things that don't fit above, here:
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