Tag: barcampmilwaukee

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Mini RC Helicopters

At the first BarCampMilwaukee, in 2006, someone showed up with a mini RC helicopter (I think it was Jerry?) and everyone thought it was cool. $30 at Radio Shack? Many geeks said they’d be picking one up ASAP.

Mini RC Helicopters

So I was thinking, since Bucketworks has some major ceiling height in the warehouse section, let’s bring some mini RC helicopters and fly them around. Now, I don’t have one yet, but I’ll get one. Amazon lists a bunch, but I want to read through the reviews and try to pick a good one. You wanna fly with us? Pick up a mini RC helicopter and bring it to BarCampMilwaukee2 on Oct 13/14, 2007.

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barcampmilwaukee.com, now with Drupal!

The new barcampmilwaukee.com is a site running Drupal, and I’m pretty damn impressed with it. Blake did most of the work, ok, pretty much all of the work, and I helped just a bit with the PayPal stuff and the CSS. (The site from the first BarCampMilwaukee is still available at 2006.barcampmilwaukee.com)

This site is very cool. Drupal gave us so many great features out of the box, I can’t imagine doing it from scratch without a great framework to take us most of the way there.

Just to highlight a few features, by the time we get to BarCampMilwaukee2, you should have a good idea who the other participants are and what interests you may share, the sessions people may want to see happen, what opinions people have on things, how to donate, and who donated.

I first encountered Drupal back in 2002, and back then saw it has potential, and I’m glad it’s turned into a mature system. I really want to get more into Drupal, as I keep coming across projects that might be a good match for it’s capabilities. Drupal interest in the Milwaukee area is also growing, and if we’re lucky, we may see a DrupalCampWisconsin before the end of the year.

At BarCampMilwaukee2, Blake will do a session titled BarCampMilwaukee.com in ten minutes, and I’ll definitely be there.

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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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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.