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Geeks as the Media at Notacon
sinnergy writes "One of the Midwest's only remaining "hacker" cons, Notacon, will be happening April 8-10, 2005 in Cleveland. As an interesting subtext, an extraordinary amount of interest in independent media coverage for this event has been occurring. One project includes Jason Scott's Notacon Radio project. The Packet Sniffers are doing their own Notacon TV project. In addition, numerous other online media outlets, oline radio shows and bloggers have really picked up on the idea of events like these being truly valuable to the geek community. Even the local geek radio show is keen on the idea. Richard Thieme, one of the event's selected speakers, has promoted the hacker con as being one of the final bastions of open speech. Is this the birth of a new trend or is this simply geeks doing what they always do... spreading the word about something new and different going on in their world?"
Shameless plug, I know, but I'll be speaking at NotACon on some of the more interesting aspects of the community I run, and other geeky pursuits. I'm betting this will be a huge opportunity to connect with others with similar interests.
~~~
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The latter. Next!
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Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that attendees are acting as media for such an event. The alternative is expecting the mainstream press to get it right.
I look forward to seeing what the "geek media" comes up with.
unixkb.com -- articles on practical Unix issues.
Don't click the link...it opens about a billion and two popups. None of them have anything, its just annoying.
If you do get trapped, ctrl+alt+del and then end task firefox. (Or whatever your webrowser is)
I have this really funny quote that I like to put here. Unfortunately, there's this really annoying thing called a char
Is CLEVELAND the Midwest?
Back where it comes from
It's such a d00d attitude
Let's hack where it belongs
All the script kids growing up on the skids are goin' Cleveland hacks, cleveland hacks
They're all jackin' in with an old 9-pin
They're goin' cleveland hacks, cleveland hacks...
0hi0!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
> "One of the Midwest's only remaining 'hacker' cons..."
What!!!
It was new last year
http://crimethink.org/notacon1/notacon1.html
-PHiZ
Pretend I said something meaningful or insightful here.
Anyone else find the tone of this intro really amusing?
"Media giving unprecedented coverage to something you've never heard of"
Hmmm
I can't tell what is meant by the quotated use of "hacker" in the summary. Do they mean "hacker" which they could have used without the quotes, or do they mean "cracker" which explains the quotes but doesn't explain why they didn't just use the word?
Hello Slashdot! NotaconTV needs bandwidth! If you will be attending and can bring a [large] 100MB switch and/or CAT5 to the con we will hit you up with free schwag! Contact us at contact[@]packetsniffers.org Thanks![packetsniffers.org]
Wow, a gathering of pot-headed computer geeks sharing ideas and interests. I wish I could go.
Hi everyone. I posted a message on our site and figured I'd also post here. We need network hardware to sustain our efforts at NotaconTV. The organizers of Notacon are willing to let us ride on their supplied hardline and wifi, however we will be asked to remove our server if/when we start to cause bandwidth problems (And rightfully so). As such, I feel we will probably be removed from the network early in the event. We are looking to see if anyone would be able to supply us with a largish 100MB switch and/or cat5 for the event. Please contact us at [contact at packetsniffers.org ].
Thanks!
dosman
In our college (about two hours from Cleveland) there was talk on taking a pilgermage for this event, however the exorbant price (atleast for students) on entrance made us pause and think against it (even the pre-registration was a tad pricey). It is unfortunate that they removed the option for student discounts, it would be more condusive to learning for local colleges students who could actually attend with out having to pay an arm and a leg, but still want to get a foot hold into the industry. However, the recordings should really be cool!
Is that a dare?
-PHiZ
Pretend I said something meaningful or insightful here.
Wow, not only is aol instant messanger hacked so that I cannot get on, but a huge obtrusive microsoft ad is right on the top of this story, and its a flash file with sound. That is the first ad I've encountered on /. with sound, and I'ts a Microsoft one? Shame on you!
Your Momma's so fat she makes emacs look like nano!
I went to NotACon last year, and was very much unimpressed with it. It was small, obviously operating on a shoestring budget, and generally unprofessional. Last year I felt ripped off for paying to get in. The speakers they had presenting weren't all that knowledgable about their topics in most cases, had no polish or presentation skills, and their equipment setup as often as not wasn't working as intended, and the printed schedule of events was completely wrong. I'd go in to hear someone talk about a topic that I was interested in, and something completely different would be going on in the room, and then I'd ask someone and find out that the speaker I wanted to hear either canceled or was rescheduled for an earlier time and I'd missed them. I hope they've improved things for this year, but I won't be going to find out.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Don't forget Defcon which will be occurring in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 29-31, 2005. http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-13/dc13-index.ht ml
The Technomancer
"Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active."-
...one of the event's selected speakers, has promoted the hacker con as being one of the final bastions of open speech. Is this the birth of a new trend or is this simply geeks doing what they always do... spreading the word about something new and different going on in their world?"
Guys, this is a hacker con, not Babylon 5 brought to life... "Birth of a new trend"? Um, it's shameless PR, and it isn't unique to geeks.
SirWired
I expected, for the $50 or so I paid to get in:
- Competent, knowledgable speakers. There might have been a few, but most of what I saw was amateur. The self-professed "military technology history expert" who maybe was 14 years old and obviously had no actual military service record takes the boobie prize.
- Presentations that didn't suck. (Maybe you should test whether your laptop can talk to the projector BEFORE the presentation begins!)
- A published, printed schedule that was accurate. And if they had to change the schedule, quit disseminating the outdated schedule!
After about 5-6 hours of this lameness, I got fed up and walked out. I wish I knew the person who organized it so I could punch him. For $5, it might have been an OK time, but for $50 I felt like I got conned by NotACon.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
OK, I'll give you the one on the military technology. That one was pretty much sucked. However, wasn't that one of the few backup speakers?
That's the thing. I didn't go there to see that speaker. That's what I ended up seeing, because something else that I DID want to see wasn't happening when it was supposed to.
You were there 5 or 6 hours... huh... it sounds like you gave it a really fair shot.
At that point, I'd seen enough. I couldn't tell when anything was supposed to happen, and all indications were that whoever put this together had zero experience with organizing an event. Why should I continue to waste my time putting up with that kind of bullshit?
And the threats of physical abuse? Talk about unprofessional.
I don't like to mix business with pleasure, and punching the organizers would have definitely been pleasure. So OF COURSE I'm unprofessional. Charging people $50 for admission and then giving them SHIT is also unprofessional.
If you expect to be given then the world on a silver platter for FIVE BUCKS, you are sadly, sadly mistaken my friend. Heck, I don't know how I'd put on something like it for 5 bucks a head.
Well, you start by stripping your bedsheets and using them as projection screens for your presenters, most of whom were selected by walking down the hall of your dorm at college and saying, "Hey anyone want to give a talk on some kind of technology that they know something about?" Then you put up a web site that makes it look like you're professional, competent, maybe even cutting edge. Rent out a convention room at a Holiday Inn, and sell enough tickets to cover expenses. Seriously, I would have been disappointed if my ticket HAD cost $5, but I wouldn't have been pissed off. But for 10x that much, I feel robbed. Wanting to punch someone who robs you is understandable, isn't it?
But, the rest of it, I mean, come on. A/V problems are endemic to any event such as this.
Not if the people putting it together plan, prepare, and do some basic testing. If you go to a professionally produced presentation, it's fucking slick. If you go to some half-assed amateur bullshit hour, you get endemic problems. A/V tech is easy enough, if you're a supposed 1337 haxor you shouldn't be having problems getting a laptop to talk to a DLP.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!