It begins!!
So proud of our turnout on a miserable day!
Doors open at 10:30 this morning. Snow, ice, and rain do not mix well, so be cautious!
University of Baltimore will open late this morning. Volunteers and organizers will start setting up when the building opens at 10:00 am.
We are all "essential personnel" at CreateBaltimore, so, if you choose to attend despite the weather conditions, we encourage you to leave home early, drive and walk very carefully, and arrive between 10:30 and 11:00 am.
If street parking is not an option, we are recommending the garage at The Fitzgerald at 80 W. Oliver Street.
Our new schedule as of 6:30 this morning (subject to change, of course):
10:30-11:00 Registration/Networking/Zeke's Coffee ingestion
11:00-11:45 Opening Planning Session
11:45-12:45 Session I
12:45-1:30 Lunch/Networking
1:30-2:30 Session II
2:30-2:40 Transition Time
2:40-3:55 Session III
4:00-4:45 Closing Thoughts and Next Actions
4:45-5:00 Everyone helps clean-up before sledding down to...
5:00-7:00 The after party at Mari Luna
We look forward to seeing you at this morning!
As we've prepared for CreateBaltimore2, we've seen some compelling social media discussion of possible topics for sessions. On twitter, there has been a consensus around several topics... defining what is "tech," mentorship for women in creative and tech fields, and more. Here is a sampling of some other fascinating session ideas that have been proposed by email:
Rodney Foxworth:
Funding strategies for not-for-profit organizations, facilitated by Kevin Griffen Moreno and myself. From the perspective of a funder (Kevin) and a fundraiser (me). Topics to include:
Lee Boot:
Photographer John Dean and I (filmmaker Lee Boot) want to do a session about bringing street commerce to Baltimore. I spent time in Instanbul and John spnt time in Florence this fall and we were both blown away by how different the concept of street commerce is in other parts of the world from the way we do it here in Baltimore (and most of the states). We think it could be the missing link for jobs, making the city a destination, and bringing life to struggling neighborhoods. What is street commerce? Something very different than Hampden's Avenue or the farmers market. We want to hold a session and show some film to explain why.
Phil Shapiro:
I'd love to brainstorm with other creatives the ways we could turn closed Catholic schools (and other vacant properties) into maker spaces. As a starting point, here is a blog post I recently wrote for PCWorld magazine on this topic. http://tinyurl.com/3rfwp45
I'm also interested in leading a session on The Revenue Stream. A discussion of best practices for using
http://indiegogo.com
http://kickstarter.com
http://breeziee.com/
and related web sites.
Jonathan Julian:
What's next for Coworking
Shared workspace is just the beginning. Hopefully the next generation of spaces will be more like a playground for creatives, incorporating the mentality of hackerspaces like Baltimore Node, including artist's studios, a venue (theatre?) for presentations, classrooms, and shared tools for hands-on making of products and hobbies. There are a bunch of folks making strides to open this next wave of spaces, we all should get excited about the potential here. Are you interested? Do you have kids? Don't you think high school students would benefit from this sort of after-school activity? Can you help the various organizers make these new spaces a reality? Last year we had a session about coworking; this year we should talk more generally about creative spaces.
The Next Baltimore Hackathon
The first hackathon in 2010 was a great success, and in 2011 it indirectly spawned a Civic Hack Day, Startup Weekend, and the Education Hack Day (weekend). What's next? The hack-weekend concept is very successfully applied to a single discipline, bringing creative folks passionate about the problem together with leaders of the discipline so the results can be immediately applied. Building prototypes is fun, but isn't it more rewarding to build something that can be put to use immediately? We're looking for passionate topic ideas: Manufacturing? Libraries? Real Estate? Transportation? OpenData?
Learn to Program in 2012
codecademy.com, CodeAcademy.com, teamtreehouse.com, hackerschool.com,p2pu.org, hourschool.com
It seems like the non-techie world has suddenly decided it wants to learn a little bit about computer programming. Even a tiny bit of skill or knowledge can help you scratch an itch, solve a simple problem, or just know enough to be able to realistically participate in planning and discussion of technical projects. There are passionate programmers that are willing to help you learn a little bit (or a lot) of programming. Do you want to learn this valuable skill? What are your goals? Do you have a project in mind? Just curious? Help the community discover what your needs are, so we can provide the appropriate resources.
A few updates and suggestions as the excitement builds for CreateBaltimore2 on Saturday...
* Can you help spread the word? Have you bought your ticket? Have you shared news about CreateBaltimore with your friends and networks? Help us reach people who aren't already "in the know" and share the registration link: http://CreateBaltimore2.eventbrite.com
* Session Ideas. Burning to tell other attendees about your session idea? Email it to us at info@createbaltimore.org and we'll plant the seeds for your idea in a post here. You can also add info and links at our page at the very helpful conference website at Lanyrd: http://lanyrd.com/2012/createbmore/
* Friday Socializing. Many CreateBaltimore participants will be in Fell's Point on Friday night for a whiskey crawl organized by Tim Train of Zynga and Heather Sarkissian of Betascape. The agenda:
6:30 pm Meet at Bad Decisions
7:30 pm Birds of a Feather
8/8:30 pm RYE
* An Early Start on Saturday. The agenda and content of CreateBaltimore is in your hands, doors open at 8:30 and we'll get down to business promptly at 9am. The morning planning session is
crucial. Thanks to our generous sponsors, there will be delicious coffee and donuts available on arrival (and a wonderful lunch too).
Registration is now open for the second CreateBaltimore arts-and-tech unconference! On Saturday, January 21st we will gather at the University of Baltimore to learn, connect, and act.
Sign up now at eventbrite and converse with other attendees online.
If you have questions or you'd like to sponsor the event, contact the organizers via info (at) createbaltimore.org.
Among the sponsors (to be announced shortly), we are grateful for the support and ideas offered by UB's Center for Digital Commerce, Culture and Communication.
