It took some dragging myself out of bed to get to BarCamp Leeds 2008 but it was definitely more than worth it because the free beer actually arrived this time. It got off to a brave start with Dom defending the very name of SEO.
There seemed to be a definite musical theme to BarCamp with great demo of the music sequencing software that doesn’t fry your head like Cubase and the rest called Ableton Live. Ableton is kinda loops-oriented but as the name suggests, is geared towards live performances.
Ian Forrester demoed the Pacemaker (YouTube), which he described as an iPod killer in that it’s a portable music player but one with which you can mix and DJ your tracks. You have to go and see/hear it.
After blogging about being so disappointed at the media consumption emphasis of the iPhone, something that gives you something to do, something to be creative with, an experience to get lost in… seeing devices like the Pacemaker is really encouraging. I’m not a big fan of dance music, I’ve never quite got DJ-ing, but Ian got me hooked just because of the creative aspect to what he was doing. Great stuff.
The ukulele made an appearance in the bafflingly excellent Ukepedia project. The premise is simple… Wikipedia articles sung to ukulele. Pure genius that raises all sorts of complications about licenscing (another common theme to BarCamp).
Dave Verwer gave an excellent peep into how to create an iPhone app, creating a HashTagWatcher app in seconds, which became instant audience participation as those present started “joining in”… you had to be there. It was fab.
As ever, it was a totally inspirational event on so many levels, my only disappointment being the sessions I missed due to not being able to be in four places at one time. Maybe Imran will pull his finger out and get a cloning booth sorted by the time BarCampLeed09 rolls round.
What – no mention of our impromptu live performance?
I’ll never forget singing “I predict a riot”, “Something” and “White riot” whilst you played the uke!
RB