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A couple of interesting free events for cultural sector people – Mike Edson Oct 15 & Amped Oct 16

We’ve got two really exciting free events coming up at the Powerhouse for everyone who is interested in the ways in which the cultural sector is and can do exciting and impactful things with digital. What’s more they are back to back on October 15 and October 16.

Despite being free both need pre-registration.

On the evening of Friday, October 15 the Powerhouse Museum hosts Mike Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution. Mike will be giving a free talk about the idea of the Smithsonian Commons and how that vast institution is tackling the opportunities and challenges of digital. This will be an opportunity to consider what Australian institutions and communities might do as a response, and how we measure up with what we are already doing. The talk starts at 645pm and you will need to pre-register online.

Mike is in our neck of the woods courtesy of the NZ National Digital Forum, and we’re very happy that they have made his single stop visit to Australia a reality.

The very next day, everyone has a chance to push the boundaries of what we are all already doing at Amped. Organised by the Web Directions crew, Amped happens is on Saturday October 16. Unlike other ‘hack days’ this one isn’t just for developers and hardcore nerds. Amped is aimed at broadening the scope of what happens at a ‘hack day’ – especially as many of the best ideas come from the less technical and need pairing up with the more technical for proper execution.

There’s going to be rapid fire challenges around certain datasets, platforms, design issues – as well as mini-workshops running all day. And, as it is being run by Web Directions, you can rest assured they’ve roped in as many of their great lineup of speakers as possible to join the fray. (And if you are going to this year’s Web Directions South, you’ll notice our very own Paula Bray is on the lineup!)

The Powerhouse Digital Crew will be out in force at Amped, and we might just have a few brand new, shiny, tantalising things for you to play with . . .

Again, pre-register for Amped online. It is free to attend!

3 replies on “A couple of interesting free events for cultural sector people – Mike Edson Oct 15 & Amped Oct 16”

I love the branding of the Amped thing. Very nice.

Coupla questions I’d love to have you pass on to the crew behind it though.

Hack days… I know that they started at a web company (Yahoo, yes?), but there is nothing in the name of Hack Day that implies “web”, per se, nor in the opening paragraph of the Amped site:

“Amped is the hack-day, reloaded: high energy, diversity, and breaking the hacker stereotype. If geeks are the new rockstars, then Amped is our Lollapalooza. .”

But then it goes on to say:

“Regardless of what you do on the web, at Amped there’ll be a challenge to engage you, and gurus on hand to guide and inspire.”

Regardless of what you do “on the web”? Nothing wrong with the web, but I’d be stoked to see the Powerhouse exploit its strategic advantage here to diversify the event. What with the museum being so full of physical interactives, robots, toys, tactile experiences and all that guff, I’m wondering if there isn’t a chance to leverage this event to focus on hybrid interactions, physical computing, interactive simulation and other fun, less web-centric things? Get dorkbot in with their hardware hacks and look at crazy new controllers? VR sims, projector games in Beta Space, Wii hacks and powergloves? (I know that someone will want to do some Augmented Reality, but… yeah, there’s more craziness out there still than handset-driven AR i tells ya) Diversity of Human-computer interaction?

Puttin’ it out there.

Will Mike’s talk be recorded at all? I’d love to hear it but not sure I can keep the old eyes open that late on a Friday night.

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