I am lucky, in that I have been to all of the previous Oggcamps. The first, in 2009 was in Wolverhampton, at the Connaught Hotel. The venue was just right for the number of attendees, lots of space in the main room, and a few smaller rooms where talks could be hosted.

In 2010, the venue changed to the Black-E in Liverpool, a much larger venue, for a much larger crowd.

In 2011, the third Oggcamp was held in Farnham Maltings, Farnham. A large, well layed out venue, with a large hall (seating around four hundred people), exhibition space, and smaller rooms for sessions.

This years Oggcamp was fantastic, creating a large event, filled with lots to see and do, while at the same time providing a personal and comfortable experience for Oggcamp veterans and newbies alike.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Daubney, used under CC-BY-NC-SA)

This year, I was the crew manager, and I was responsible for leading a crew of around 22 volunteers in the general running of the event. The best word I can use to describe how the crew worked was seamless, everyone just slotted into place.

(Photo courtesy of Miia Ranta under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

So dear reader, lets take a look at behind the scenes of Oggcamp

Saturday 13^th August, Premier Inn, Aldershot

• 06:30
  • It’s early…I’m tired, but I am excited to be getting ready for Oggcamp, no breakfast, as they didn’t open until 7:30am #facepalm
• 7:30
  • Tony Hughes, Arran Gallagher and I wait for Mike “Heed” Rimicans to arrive in “The Heed-mobile”
• 07:45
  • Heed arrives…after I ring a back up taxi! We load up the car, and head out to Farnham Maltings
• 08:00 Farnham Maltings, Farnham
  • We arrive at the venue, and unload the gear.
• 08:15
  • I assemble the crew, and start issuing out jobs to people.
    • Those identified as having AV skills meet Alan Bell, our head of AV for the weekend.
    • I have a natter with Alan, to ensure that all of his AV requirements are met, and ask if he needs more crew over the day, to which he says yes, so I gather more crew for him to work with over the weekend.
  • The rest of the crew, and I start shaping the venue to our requirements.
    • Setting up tables for stalls.
    • Banners and Signage.
    • Moving stock to the stalls.
    • Reception desk
    • Campfire Manager terminals
    • Twitterfall
    • Setting up the exhibition space
      • Ensuring exhibitors requirements are met.
      • Checking rooms are fit for purpose, with no health and safety issues present.
      • Ensuring health and safety rules were complied with (Sorry Ken, but Nanodes in the sunshine was a lot better )
• I allocated some of the crew to work in the rooms, on a rotating hourly shift basis, so that they worked for an hour, then had an hour off.
• Other crew members took part in the talks, and helped out where necessary, for example giving crew members on the stalls a break where needed.
• I was conscious that the crew were all volunteers, and as such I wanted them to enjoy Oggcamp, rather than feel as though they had to work the whole weekend, so I ensured that everyone rotated around the venue, and had as much time off as possible.
• 11:00
  • I’m interviewed by Ken Fallon from Hacker Public Radio, about how the crew were organised.
• 12:00
  • Myself and Robin Catling record a quick fullcircle podcast segment about day one of Oggcamp.

• 12:30

• I assemble a crack team of soft drink smugglers, and using the trolley from the venue (sorry venue) we head over to the O’Reilly offices to liberate some soft drinks.

(Photo courtesy of Miia Ranta under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

• 13:00
  • Geeknic is go..go..go……A park full of highly caffeinated geeks is a good thing.
• 14:00
  • Back to work for the team.

• Live Show
  • All the crew work together to ensure that the venue is cleared, secure, and all of the attendees are in the main hall for the live show.

• End of the day
  • Check all the rooms are secure, our merchandise is locked away in the venue, everyone knows what time to report the next day (well apart from one person I missed, who unfortunately turned up 2 hours early, sorry mate).
• 17:00
  • Now back to the hotel to get ready for a few beers in Farnham.

• 18:00 to unknown
  • Hello my name is beer, I like Les.
  • @bobobex got smashed, daughter dismayed.
  • Fire performers.
  • Slow bar staff.
  • Great music.
  • Not enough drinking time.

Sunday 14^th August

• 07:30
  • You know the drill…
• 08:00
  • Breakfast, in a word, shocking!
  • I believe I ordered my bacon cooked!
• 09:30
  • Arran, Tony, Kevan, Frances and Les pile into Tony’s car and head to the venue.
• 10:00
  • We arrive and start yesterday’s process again. But this time I make sure that the crew who worked in the rooms the day previous, were not working in the rooms on Sunday.
  • Ensuring that there are enough crew to man the stalls, man the rooms, cameras, av suite, help exhibitors, take breaks you name it.
• 11:45
  • Ambjörn, who shall now forever more be known as Gaius Baltar (the resemblance is uncanny) needs his presentation printing out, cue Les liaising with venue staff to make that happen.

• 14:00
  • __Freakyclown__ has a problem with Campfire Manager, so I call upon Mark to help him out.
• 15:00
  • The first “live in front of a studio audience” edition of The Dick Turpin Roadshow. With special guests Mr & Mrs Corenominal
    • Now this was a challenge! We had to swap rooms with another speaker (Thanks Big Ron from Wolves LUG).
    • Update Campfire Manager (Thanks Mark) to reflect the new room.
    • Beg, borrow, cadge and steal enough equipment to record the show and play jingles / show image on screen.
    • Ask Dan Lynch to use the mixing desk, and record the show through that (on his Zoom H4, with my Zoom H2 as a backup on the stage)

• Raffle
  • Just like the live show, check all the rooms are clear, and that everyone is in the main room for the raffle.
• End of event
  • I place Tony “Hard Sell” Hughes on the merchandise stall, and he does me proud, I thought thumb screws were illegal, but he applied them with scary efficiency.
  • Pack up, tidy up, and ensure that everyone is out, and that all of our equipment is too.
  • Hand back the keys to the venue staff.
  • Get taxi back to hotel.
• 18:30 till far too late
  • Food, drinks, friends.

Monday 15^th August

• 02:55
  • Fire alarm goes off, I wake up instantly, room mate is unaware of any alarm, even after I tell him to get the f”(% up
• 07:30
  • I am very tired, so I make a coffee, and try not to wake my room mate, then head outside for some fresh air. Where I am pounced upon by HPR roving podcaster Ken Fallon, so with a cup of coffee in hand we record a podcast on a picnic bench, in the playground of the pub next door.
  • I then join Phil, Becky and Emma for breakfast, where we look back to the weekend that was with melancholy, happy to have been part of it all, but completely shattered.
• 12:00
• On train, back up’ north!

Oggcamp was amazing, the presenters put on a great show, the speakers were exceptional, but I think the biggest thanks should go to the crew, they volunteered their time, they worked tirelessly, and knew exactly what to do!

So to all the crew I say, thanks!

Roll on Oggcamp 2012

Les

Oh and just in case you missed it, popey just loves chicken

Geekup Blackpool

Blackpool finally has a geek social event.

I’ve wanted to setup an event like this for a while, but I’ve not had the time. So it came as quite a shock when the plan fell into place without any major hitches.

The first meeting was on the 25th July at Gillespies pub, and you can read more here

I’ve also been in a meeting with Fiona Dransfield from Blackpool Council, about the councils involvement with social / creative and technical events in Blackpool (such as Barcamp Blackpool Blackpool Social Media Surgery, and Geekup)

Blackpool Social Media Surgery

Duncan and Cath held the second Blackpool Social Media Surgery, I came along to help as a surgeon.

Myself and @surlydev showed Mike from Blackpool Advocacy (@blackpooladvo) how to use Twitter effectively for their organisation. Including how to use Dropbox to share private and public files with employees and service users.

Blackpool LUG

We’ve created an Android app a banner, played with Arduinos, you name it, this group has done it!

Oggcamp

It’s only two weeks to Oggcamp

I’ll be there in my capacity as Crew Manager, spending some lovely time down south, and chatting with some old friends.

The Freedom, in Free Software, does anyone know what it truly means? Was the uptake in Linux and Free Software due to ethical choices about freedom? I hope so, and those that attended the event were treated to a day of learning all about those freedoms.

Blackpool LUG attended, there in an audience, and support capacity.

The day started with an informal introduction to Software Freedom, what it was, how it started and how you could contribute.

Next up was a live demo, on how to install Ubuntu. Luckily we had been gifted a number of PCs that we were able to give away to the attendees. So we had Ubuntu pre-installed on most of them, and taught people how to use Ubuntu and Free Software.

After a coffee break, with some lovely cakes, there was a talk hosted by Charlie Owen, a whistlestop tour of Ubuntu, all the apps you need, and how to get the best from Ubuntu, even yours truly was put on the spot to deliver a quick tour of Kompozer

After the talks, the day was more hands on, with people networking and getting to grips with Ubuntu.

I really enjoyed this event, it showed that Free Software isn’t just beards and penguins, but people and passions.

There will be a follow up to OK Computer, a 1.x event that will be there to offer support to the attendees from the last event, and there will be a new event this autumn, OK Computer 2, so watch this space.

You can find more pictures here

There were hundreds of different ways to play retro games on the day.
Imported Japanese cabinets lined the hall as you entered, retro consoles lined in great rows, everything free to play, and there were even some obscure kit that never made it to the UK. Pinball machines harked back to days when flashing lights and loud music ruled the arcades.

I was truly amazed at how much choice there was. Megadrive, SNES, PC Engine, Amigas (My personal favourites), NES, Atari Lynx, Commodore machines everywhere (including my first computer, a Commodore 16).

I met up with Heed, and we scoured the event, looking for games from our youth. Instantly I found THE game of my youth, Star Wars. When I was about six years old, this game was my life, I was a rebel pilot, and Vader was going down!

Not only were there retro games, but there were some new games too. Halo Reach LAN parties, Street Fighter IV contests, Goldeneye for the Wii (I still prefer the N64 version LOL).

There was a massive stall by a company called Console Passion, there stall had loads of consles, games and odditities to excite the retro gamer, in fact I was sorely tempted to buy from them, until I saw the Retro GT stall, I had to buy a Street Fighter Dragon Punch T-Shirt, and a Doom, red key card wallet

The day was great, I’ll be there again this year, taking half of Blackpool LUG with me.

Take a look at the rest of my pictures here

• The entire ground floor of my house was taken apart and rebuilt!
• That was four months of my life that I won’t get back.
• I’ve attended numerous events
• Software Freedom Day 2010 – Showcasing the best that Free Software has to offer.
• R3PLAY – A retro games expo, excellent day out!
• Okay Computer – A beginners guide to Ubuntu and Free Software

• I organised a follow up event to 2010′s UCubed
• UCubed 2011 was a massive success, and you can read more here
• Pictures are here
• And you can listen to me talk about it here Fullcircle Side Pod Ep8

What have I achieved since we last spoke?

• Completed an NVQ (or ITQ as they are called now) Level 3 in IT.
• Completed a course on working in schools as a creative practitioner, this was via Curious Minds
• Started writing articles for Linux Format magazine.
• I will soon be a commissioned writer for the magazine.
• Organised and project managed UCubed 2011…oh I’ve said that already.
• Done abit of adhoc podcasting.
• Full Circle Podcast Episode 17: Why Would They Do That?
• Full Circle Side-Pod Episode Eight: Hardware, Software and Knitting
• Linux Outlaws 202 – A Note from the Future (Interview Special)

What’s happening next?

• I’ll be going to Open Tech on May 21st, and I will be interviewing some of the speakers, I’ll post the audio when I get back.
• Dan Lynch has offered me the position of Lt at the this years Oggcamp 11 my main duty will be to look after the team of volunteers who will be manning the event. I jumped at the chance, as Oggcamp is such an awesome event.

Well thats all for now…better make MrsP’s dinner.

Les

One lady, who came to the event was enthralled with Ubuntu and the PCs on display. We found out that she had recently moved to Liverpool and was recovering from an illness. Her laptop was broken beyond repair. So we had a word with Neil, and he kindly donated a PC to her. I also gave her a 30 minute lesson on Ubuntu, and how to accomplish the main tasks (how to get on the internet, play mp3s and DVD etc.) She was really happy that we were able to provide her with this, as it meant that she could communicate with her family and friends.
We also provided a PC and lesson to a gentleman who was in a similar need. It was great that we were able to do this, and it really makes these events worthwhile.

The O2 Joggler was there and was the star of the show. Warren (http://twitter.com/warrenmakin) was enthralled by the device, and I hope that he managed to get one. Jogglers are really great, and running Ubuntu on them is a joy, I use mine at the event to play a video of Ubuntu features and adverts, and to demonstrate Ubuntu on different machines.

The day was really good and it was great to help so many people, we hope to run another event in April 2011, so watch this space for more details.

My thanks to Neil Morrin for organising the event and Rob McLellan for being a big help on the day.
My photos from the day can be found here

The roots of the event came from the Ubuntu Global Jam which is held every six months, and from an episode of the Ubuntu UK podcast where they interviewed Jo Shields, an Ubuntu and Debian developer. We thought that the link between Debian and Ubuntu should be publicised more, as without Debian, Ubuntu would not exist.

So our event aimed to raise awareness of the link between Debian and Ubuntu and allowed people to work together and learn from each other. There were many workshops, talks and groups all hacking together to make the Debian/Ubuntu world a better place.

The infamous Joggler from Barcamp Blackpool, running Ubuntu adverts was there, along with an internet cafe, which we set up using old pcs and a few Ubuntu 10.04 live CDs (Thanks Canonical )

The organisers (of which I am one) aim is to hold an event every six months, and to build on the popularity of the first event and provide attendees with a fantastic experience. If anyone has any suggestions or would like to help us, then please send me a tweet, I am @biglesp on Twitter / Identi.ca.

It is well known that London is the heart of Ubuntu related events, but who says that we can’t put the North of England on the map as an alternative venue to host Ubuntu / Debian events

If there aren’t any events near you, then start your own, link a few Linux User Groups together and send out a few emails. We did and look what happened.

Pictures of the event can be found here www.tinyurl.com/ucubedphotos

Orgcon was the first event organised by the Open Rights Group.

The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of our digital rights, and provide an open forum for discussion.

I set off for the event at 6am, in a taxi, bound for Blackpool North train station. I quickly arrived at the station and got on the train, settling in for the journey.

During the journey I spoke to a guy called John, from Glasgow, who was using Vista on his Dell Studi 15 laptop. We got talking because I have a Dell Studio 17 laptop.

I asked John what he uses his laptop for, and after some discussion I gave him a live demo of Ubuntu on the train (Using my trusty EEE pc 701). He enjoyed the look of Ubuntu and that software was easily available. So I gave him a CD (I took a few with me to OrgCon, just in case).

I arrived at London Euston, and said goodbye to John. I then met my old mate (and fellow Oggcamp Ubuntu Installfest Crew member Aijaz (@Gnudoc), we took the tube to Angel, then walked to the event.

We arrived at the University, and it is a lovely building, a mix of old and modern design.

We walked to the first floor and met Cory Doctorow,

then we met another Oggcamp Ubuntu Installfest Crew member, Stuart Ward. We had a chat and then went to the Open rights group stall and had a chat with the very knowledgeable stall holders.

After that we went to the Great Hall (no not the one from Harry Potter, athough there were a few life like pictures dotted around.

The first keynote was a panel discussion, which consisted of

• Cory Doctorow (Author and Open Rights Advocate)
• David Rowntree (From the ORG Advisory Council)
• Jeff Lynn (Coadec)
• John Buckman (Magnatune)
• Obhi Chatterjee (Shyama)

The topic of conversation was Thriving in the Real Digital Economy.

The talks was extensive, and covered many topics of a digital life that some take for granted (me included). I wouldn’t say that I understood everything, but I will be reading up on the topics covered to further my knowledge.

The second session was a workshop on how to talk to your MP, in regard to digital liberties, and specificaly the Digital Economy Act, there was role play, with one person being an MP, the other a savvy consumer of digital media.

The next talk was a keynote in the great hall by Prof. James Boyle (William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law and co-founder of the Centre for the study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School.

James had an excellent style of delivery and ensured that the crowd were entertained and informed.

Next it was lunch, at a local takeaway, we had a great lunch and the owner treat us like royalty (5 hungry lads turning up at the takeaway was incentive).

Back to the event and the next keynore was a panel discussion which consisted of

• Tom Watson MP
• Julian Huppert MP
• Eric Joyce MP
• John Grogan
• Anita Coles (Liberty)
• Richard Allan (ORG Advisory Council, and Chair)

The topic of discussion was Digital Economy Act: What’s Next?

This was an interesting topic of discussion,let down by a hot room and dodgy PA. But none the less it was interesting.

Next up was a workshop on the Digital Economy Act Campaign, this had great potental but was let down by assuming that everyone would just pick up the task and run with it, and we were short of time. We all split into four groups, and each investigated a different aspect of the DEA, my group discussed Website Blocking, Cory took the lead and everyone put something in to the discussion.

I then went to a talk on the Open BBC, discussing the BBC’s stance on DRM and its content, the main topic was that if the BBC tried to enforce DRM they would likely need to generate revenue from the content, thus losing their status as national television subsidised by the TV licence.

I then went to a talk on Web-blocking, this talk, unfortunately was not at a level that I understood, so I was easily bored.

My last talk was the future of privacy, another panel discussion. This was interesting but again the level that it was pitched at was way above what I understood on the topic.

On the whole the event was interesting, but didn’t capture my imagination. The work that the ORG (and other groups) is valuable, and I support what they do, but maybe next time they could have a crash course for dummies, or run a 101 session?

Well done to all involved and thanks for all your hard work.

My full set of Flickr picture can be found here

Bye for now.

Bye for now.