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BarCampMilwaukee2: Session Ideas

I’ve proposed a few sessions for BarCampMilwaukee2. I really need to stop. I don’t want to do too much, and I want others to be able to get a chance, but dammit, I just get BarCampFever sometimes!

We will be doing intro sessions to start things off, and I think it’s really important to promote Creative Commons. We are going to suggest (but not require) that people post their photos, video, code, etc. under open licenses, and try to explain why this is a Good Idea. I’ve been wanting to talk about CC to many of the locals for a while now.

This is one where I don’t know how it will go, Internet for Kids. As a total net-nerd, with kids, I may know too much about how things work, so sometimes I’m not sure what I should or should not let my kids do online. Do we follow high-tech solutions (proxies, blocking) or low-tech (sit with them and watch what they do.) Mainly looking for advice and ideas here.

And of course, Popsicle Sticks 2.0… Yeah, that’s right. You think you’ve built things with Popsicle Sticks before? Total Popsicle Sticks 1.0 – this is the Next Generation of Popsicle Stick Building! (I hope…)

Oh yeah, I also tossed out the idea of a mini-remote-control helicopter rally, and at least one person seemed totally hyped up about it. Did I mention the ceiling at Bucketworks is like 50 feet tall in the big room?

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BarCampMilwaukee2 Planning Rolls On…

We held a Tech Cafe on Saturday, August 18th, 2007 at Bucketworks. Justin brought us food and drinks, and we discussed BarCampMilwaukee2, which will take place on Oct 13/14, 2007.

Oh, the BarCampMilwaukee2 site is up and ready to go at barcampmilwaukee.com. Feel free to go there and sign up and start filling it with content. Blake did a great job on the site.

BarCampMilwaukee2 (Signage?)

I won’t get into the details of the meeting here, since what we discussed will most likely show up on the site, and on the list, but things are going good. Bucketworks is in need of a few things, and we’re hoping we can help provide them, or find people that can.




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What makes Firefox open-source?

I’ve had this argument many times with Justin… defining what exactly makes something open-source.

He is confident in telling me that Firefox is not open-source, and (as I understand it) he believes this because the Mozilla Organization, which controls the source code for Firefox, does not easily allow people to contribute code. They keep a tight grip on who was their bits put into Firefox. And while it is true that there are pieces in Firefox that you cannot use elsewhere (branding elements, graphics, etc.) I still believe that Firefox is open-source due to the fact that it uses the Mozilla Public License which is considered an open-source license by the Open Source Initiative.

I asked the question on Pownce recently, Is the Firefox web browser open-source?

And I think it’s a question that most people who have a basic understanding of the term “open-source” would answer “yes” to, but… Is that the case?

I thought maybe searching for “firefox is not open source” would unveil some great conspiracy I was not aware of, but no such luck.

Personally, I don’t think allowing people to contribute code is a requirement of open-source. It may be an important component of community and “open-ness” but accepting someone else’s code into your project does not seem to be a requirement. Providing the source code, and allowing people to modify and use that source code does seem to be a requirement, and though I’ve always downloaded binaries, I just downloaded the source code to Firefox.

So what is the scoop here? Is Firefox open-source?



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Backing In

I tried recording a song but I couldn’t get the drums quite right so it turned into a 30 second intro with very minimal drums and mainly guitar and bass.

Anyway, it’s called ‘Backing In’ and you can get it from Ourmedia…

I would have scrapped the whole deal, but I wasn’t about to let this thing beat me. I need to experiment with the order in which I record things. For this piece the drums came last, which has often worked in the past, but not with this one. Life is like that sometimes…


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BarCampMilwaukee2 at Bucketworks

Bucketworks was a big part of making BarCampMilwaukee happen in 2006. Besides providing a venue, James (the leader of Bucketworks) got deeply involved, and he had a great time. BarCamp, with it’s un-conference like traits, is a perfect match for Bucketworks, which bills itself as “a health and fitness club for your brain”

Milwaukee is lucky to have a place like Bucketworks. For BarCampMilwaukee2 some of us are pitching in to help get the place ready. They just moved to a new building, and there is a lot of freakin’ work to do. Last weekend a few of us were there wiring the joint up, pulling ethernet through the ceiling and walls. Once that is complete, we’ll be adding wifi all around. Personally I’d like to see Bucketworks become the place for Milwaukee’s tech/art community to gather.

Who pays for all this? Members do pay a fee, but it’s ridiculously cheap in order to be affordable for everyone. Bucketworks isn’t a huge money making venture. Right now they are trying to raise money for the relocation, and they’ve got 6 people (I’m one of them) who have contributed just $360. Bucketworks is a non-profit, and donating will help ensure they stick around, so help if you can.

(You can see some photos of the new location on Flickr. If you’re lucky, I’ll have a video up soon. If you’re really lucky, you’ll attend Web414 and take the tour.)

If you’re willing to help, get in touch with me. Right now we plan on being there Sept. 1st, 2007 to do more wiring, and see what else we can do to prep for BarCampMilwaukee2, and every day at Bucketworks.