I’ve just settled into b.TWEEN 08 at the Museum of Science and Industry and already concluded this is not like any other conference I’ve been to.
For starters, this is the first time I’ve turned up not as a pure technologist aiming to further my own knowledge: the blue badge around my neck marks me out as “Press”. I only hope the militant arm of the NUJ doesn’t find out and demand my union dues.
Secondly, at registration I was offered the chance to get an RFID tag. Apparently by pressing some button on it, I would be able to bookmark parts of the proceedings so I can instantly get to the appropriate bits of the video online after the conference. It’s an interesting experiment, but given that I hate the concept of RFID I’ve decided to opt out of that and merely remember the bits I liked.
I’m going to be writing a couple of articles a day here over the next two days trying to find stories I think the wider Manchester on-line scene will find interesting. The programme has a couple of highlights I think you might like, but if there is anything you see you want me to cover, please leave a comment.
I’ll also be micro-blogging the event via twitter, and so you don’t have to put up with all my usual twitter traffic, you can just track the b.TWEEN related stuff I – and other participants here – tag as relevant via the appropriate Hashtag #btween.
One thing this conference has in common with all others though – we’re only on the first morning, the first talk hasn’t started, and we already seem to be 20 minutes behind schedule. Ah, these wacky technologists with their innate dislike of watches – glad I’m a member of the press, eh, what?
Dim Sum Digital 