Organized by Scott Burkholder, Andrew Hazlett, J. Buck Jabaily, and Dave Troy, Create Baltimore is an opportunity to find unexpected connections between Baltimore’s dynamic arts and tech communities.
There’s some concern about the forecast for a “wintry mix” and/or snow overnight and into tomorrow.
We firmly believe that “the show must go on” but it is possible that the University of Baltimore’s facilities will open late. We will email and provide social media updates as soon as we know anything, but you can call UBalt’s Emergency Notification line at 410.837.4201 or check out their Emergency Closing Announcements Page online.
If you hear nothing, then everything will be proceeding according to plan, with doors opening at 8:30 and the opening session starting promptly at 9am.
If street parking is not an option, we are recommending the garage at The Fitzgerald at 80 W. Oliver Street.
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:
- foundational support
- crowdsourcing
- individual donor cultivation and solicitation
- social entrepreneurship and enterprise
- government funding
- Program-related investment
- financing not fundraising
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.
Thank you, Everywhere!
Here is the schedule for today’s sessions.
At CreateBaltimore you’ll join nearly two hundred people building creative community in our city. Already, the response from registrants and sponsors has been inspiring. Now the real fun begins.
We’ll be updating the schedule in real time at this website and at http://lanyrd.com/2011/createbaltimore/
A few words on what to expect at CreateBaltimore:
*Be Punctual
The program will begin at 10am promptly. If you’re early, you can help us set up. If you’re on time, you’ll get an awesome T-shirt, delicious donuts, and Zeke’s Coffee. If you’re late, you’ll miss out on all of that and one of the most interesting parts of the day.
We will all introduce ourselves. Be prepared to say your name, an affiliation, and three words (no more) that define what you’re passionate about. If you want to lead a session, give a one sentence description. That’s all. If we all stick to that, we can hear from everybody and still have time to listen to Ellen Lupton’s inspiring keynote.
*You Own This
The volunteer organizers and very generous sponsors have created a space and an opportunity. The rest is up to you.
The success of CreateBaltimore is in your hands: pick up litter… share session notes online… help a presenter connect a VGA cable… step up to organize a session around your vital topic… be a social catalyst.
* Take Initiative
A number of people have already suggested a fascinating array of sessions they’re prepared to lead, but nothing is settled until the schedule planning session.
As we plan, don’t be afraid to jump right in with your own new ideas. You don’t have to be an “expert.” You might simply facilitate a discussion, or you may have a brief presentation to make before inviting conversation. You might end up leading a session with someone you’ve just met for the first time. Barcamps can be most electrifying when things like that happen.
* Speak Freely and Listen Deeply
We will be running four or five sessions concurrently during each hour-long block. If you’ve joined a session, and it turns out not to be what you are looking for, just leave and check out what’s happening down the hall. It’s no reflection on the session leaders, it’s peer-to-peer education in action.
Throughout the day, we encourage you to take notes, tweet, blog, photograph, sketch, record audio and video, question, argue, and code. You are the ones keeping a record of any sparks of genius flying here today. Share everything you can… flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc. Where appropriate, use the hashtag #CreateBmore. You can also post “coverage” at http://lanyrd.com/2011/createbaltimore/
You’ll find some extremely accomplished people around you, but we all have something to learn from one another. In discussions, at lunch, at the after-party, be sure to seek out people you don’t know and be curious.
* Bring your Gadgetry
You are encouraged to bring a laptop, smartphone, power strips, mifi hotspots, audio and video recording devices, projection equipment, and any other gizmos you think might be helpful. For internet access, we will rely on MICA’s ample (but not infinite) wifi bandwidth.
* Stick Around
After the sessions are finished, will have an important discussion summarizing what we’ve learned from one another and what our next steps should be as a community. We’ll also have some fun prizes to give away before marching over the bridge to Joe Squared for celebration and socializing.
* Suggestions for Further Reading
People working in public media host a huge PubCamp in Washington each fall. Here’s their helpful guide to “getting the most out of Pubcamp.” Much of the advice applies to participants at CreateBaltimore too.
http://www.publicmediacamp.org/2010/11/18/getting-the-most-out-of-pubcamp/
The “official” barcamp website has a lot interesting info: http://barcamp.org
We’re honored and delighted that MICA’s own Ellen Lupton will be delivering opening remarks on the morning of Jan. 15th. She has worked on the cutting edge of design while rooted in a practical, D.I.Y. ethic. Her vision is closely aligned with our hopes for CreateBaltimore.
Ellen Lupton is curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City and director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. An author of numerous books and articles on design, she is a public-minded critic, frequent lecturer, and AIGA Gold Medalist.
Visit Ellen’s website for more about her writing, ideas, and design work. We will have copies of some of her most recent books on sale at CreateBaltimore.
