Bloody hell – not a thing posted on here since last August! Why do I always have the impression that everything is being documented…well I guess it is on the myriad blogs we have for individual stuff and twitter of course. Ok – so we've been doing LOADS of stuff and there's a whole BUNCH of things we're working on, so I'll try and get them down in the next few days…
Tag: projects
Blog
Kapow! It’s the Cataspanglish Summer Special! Pt.2/In the City
by chris • • 0 Comments
One of the most interesting things we've been involved in this year was the Do 1002 Systems/Layers Walkshop Barcelona with Adam Greenfield and Nurri Kim. As usual, I've haven't had time to post about it but I've been ruminating on it ever since. The walkshop was pretty well documented – the videos above are by one of the walkers, Marc Pous and there's a lot of stuff on the quick & dirty blog put together by Enric and myself. I've got to finish uploading photos and adding details to the map of the route and you can find my pre-gig post here.
For some time now we at Cataspanglish have been discussing the usefulness (or otherwise) of event formats. Whereas more & more things online are getting geolocated & locally contextualised, so-called knowledge sharing events continue to operate in a void, as if there were some kind of universal truths which operate everywhere. A typical example of this is the references to FixMyStreet made by many speakers over the last year without (usually) exploring the local conditions, history and culture of the UK or (in this case) Spain/Catalonia and why the public are more likely to participate in this sort of project in one place than another.
Another issue is the amount of time & effort which finding & negotiating the use of a suitable venue and infrastructure, such as wifi and power supply, requires. Again, to us this is beginning to seem redundant when public spaces are increasingly connected. Back when I was a dirty squatter, the lack of physical space/housing & constant moving meant serious organisational problems for the squatting movement, as nearly all the time was spent in just getting a roof over your head. While the housing crisis remains, what has changed is the ability to organise things in public spaces – as has been demonstrated in a rather overkill way by the Breakout events, but exists in an everyday, workaday way in coworking in cafes etc. Also lessons have been learned (by us at least) from the concentration on the building as a space of Citilab instead of Citilab as a collection of concepts & ideas.
Kapow!
Yeah, yeah – but what does it all mean?
It means that through participating in the walkshop and all of the above, we are going to start doing events in public spaces using available infrastructure. Will we do more "Camps"? Well, we've got one up our sleeves, but we want to explore this new idea, so the the next cataspanglish "event" is going to be somewhere in downtown Barcelona and it's going to be a kind of mashup inspired by the walkshop, subtlemob and Hannah Nicklin's "The Smell of Rain Remind Me of You". The theme? The City of course…Watch this space
Here's a video about subtlemob's "As If it Were The Last Time"
Blog
Kapow! It’s the Cataspanglish Summer Special!
by chris • • 4 Comments
Back in the prehistoric period that was my childhood I used to spend my summer pocket money on these "summer special" comics (images taken from this great post on the subject by Lew Stringer). And this summer feels just like one of them, so much stuff crammed in within the covers – so I just wanted to recap a little what's happening in the world of cataspanglish…
Right now we're up to our eyeballs in PodCamp Barcelona 2010 which takes place in El Masnou, September 13-18. Instead of following the format of the last two years and making it easy on ourselves, clever cataspanglish decided to change the format, adding some workshops to give back, through our knowledge, something to the good folks of El Masnou who bankroll the event. We also decided to limit the number of "presentations" and, at the suggestion of @Moof who is working on PodCamp with us this year along with @pdavenne, make the afternoon part of the "main" day of PodCamp Barcelona an after-lunch discussion forum based on the "sobremesa" – the long, leisurely after-lunch, over coffee and liqueurs chats around the table typical of Spain.
Moof and myself had discussed this kind of event idea after attending the 1pound40 conference held by Amplified in London late last year. Much of the thinking about PodCamp Barcelona 2010 has been inspired by the concepts of Sue Thomas and Toby Moores about participation, involvement & creativity which they experiment on through Amplified projects, and conversations with Steve Lawson and Lucy Windmill who came over to PodCamp Barcelona last year. I'd say that what we bring to that (and which complicates everything intensely), is our intent to create the conditions for real time, genuine but informal communication to take place but amongst people expressing themselves in different languages simultaneously. We have the speaker on the podium simultaneous translation thing down, but how can we extend the peer sharing of knowledge and ideas in a real time multilingual context? Maybe through transliteracy? We'll keep you posted on the results of our experiment and if you've got any thoughts, please share them in the comments.
The other big issue, and one we haven't had the resources to deal with this year, is that of inclusion of disabled and deaf people. We have added a plugin on the Spanish website which reads the posts (need to find one those for Catalan and English too), but the budget didn't stretch to having sign language and attempts to get volunteers has (so-far) failed…
Whew! this getting too damn long for a single comic strip so I'm going to have to use that great expression "to be continued…"
Blam! (update)
Can't believe I forgot to include the Tweetlation real-time tweet translation that Moof set up at PodCamp Barcelona 2009 and which he and Patrick are going to be running this year. Check out Can you tweetlate?
Blog
Urban OS – a city operating system
by chris • • 0 Comments
Although I'm no longer working for Citilab, I'm still involved in the Urban OS project which has grown out of UrbanLabs . I've previousy written about Urban Labs here
The main aims of the Urban OS project are to:
Conceive, develop, test, implement and distribute components of a new operating system for the city, which improves the processes of communication, participation and consumption under open, efficient and sustainable parameters. It will be necessary to design and/or reutilise different type of interactions and of networks between technologies and people in the urban space, like mechanisms of visualization, distribution and improvement of each one of the components of the system. UrbanLabs OS can be composed of different autonomous projects that follow these aims, which at the same time realize the potential of the OS
Besides working locally we've also had contact with Birmingham School of Media at Birmingham City University, FutureGov, and DIYCouncil
Cataspanglish, PodCamp Barcelona
PodCamp Barcelona 2010
by Admin • • 0 Comments
And we're back…
[en]
PodCamp Barcelona 2010 will take place in El Masnou from September 13 to September 18th. Yes, that’s right, five days of PodCamp Barcelona — because this year we have a new venue, a new format and a theme: community.
[es]
PodCamp Barcelona 2010 se celebrará en El Masnou del 13 al 18 de septiembre. Sí, si, esto es correcto, cinco días de PodCamp Barcelona porque este año tenemos un nuevo local: Els Vienesos; nuevo formato: Talleres y presentaciones, y tema: Comunidad.
[ca]
PodCamp Barcelona 2010 tindrà lloc a El Masnou del 13 al 18 de setembre. Si, si, correcte, cinc dies de PodCamp Barcelona perquè aquest any tenim local nou: Els Vienesos; nou format: Tallers i presentacions, i tema: Comunitat.
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Do 1002 Systems/Layers WalkShop Barcelona blog
by chris • • 0 Comments
Enric & myself have got this quick and dirty blog together for the Do 1002 Systems/Layers Walkshop Barcelona with Adam Greenfield and Nurri Kim which will take place on Friday, June 18th – check it out babes!
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Pasemos a la acción!
by ana • • 0 Comments
foto de UrbanLabs'09 pool
Acabo de volver de UrbanLabs #ul09 donde he aprendido mucho, he escuchado cosas interesantes y algunas no tan interesantes, donde he conocido a gente que tiene unos proyectos muy interesantes y otros no tan interesantes, pero lo más importante es que hemos compartido ideas, conocimiento y risas entre los que estábamos ahí.
Mi cerebro no ha parado desde entonces, cuando asisto a jornadas así me cargo de energía “analógica” para transformarla en “digital” y enviarla al depósito del social media para intentar hacer “algo”, por qué de eso se trata ¿no? Está muy bien que nos reunamos y trabajemos juntos durante unos días, pero después qué ¿A dónde va todo ese conocimiento? ¿Emprendemos alguna acción?
Quizás es un poco pretencioso pero los que creemos en el social media somos revolucionarios, gente que queremos que las cosas cambien.
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5 reasons why we’ll be at UrbanLabs!
by chris • • 2 Comments
Around a year ago I went to Citilab-Cornellà for the first time to participate in UrbanLabs 08 – you can see my first impressions here. A year later I'm working at Citilab and taking part in the preparations for the event, which we will also be going to as cataspanglish. So here are some of the reasons cataspanglish will be attending:
- UrbanLabs is a hands-on get down & dirty event which aims to have a real impact and not just be a talking shop although there are some…
- Great keynote speakers – Adam Greenfield, Juan Freire, Ben Ceverny & Dave Harte. These are not your boring "circuit" speakers, but people with a real passion for what they're doing & thinking, people who get involved in things such as…
- The Ideas Bank which Platoniq are coordinating – real ideas & projects will be presented and the participants of UrbanLabs will be voting on the "best" one to give some financial aid to from the (low) fee from the event because …
- the motto for Urbanlabs (a contribution of one of its founders, Enric Senabre) is (read this post by Ramon Sangüesa): "Technocitizenship" (geeks with civic conscience and citizens with digital abilities) and "Socioinnovation" (let technocitizens invent their collective future) – so come &
- let's invent our collective future!
See you there…
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Ciudad Abierta/Ciutat Oberta/Open City
by ana • • 0 Comments
Nuestra contribución en el Banco de ideas de UrbanLabs 09 / La nostra contribució al Banc d'idees d'UrbanLabs 09 /our contribution to the Ideas Bank at UrbanLabs 09
[es]
Los datos de las ciudades, pueblos, países son nuestros datos: sobre nosotros, pagados por nosotros, y en teoría para nosotros. Las instituciones, la administración pública y las empresas privadas controlan los datos, a menudo (casi siempre) nos denegan el acceso, impidiendo a los ciudadanos utilizar la información acumulada para nuestras necesidades o para construir aplicaciones que puedan beneficiar tanto a la ciudadanía como a la ciudad.
Queremos explorar cuales son los datos más importantes que necesitamos, qué podemos hacer con ellos y cómo conseguir la información de quienes lo controlan o "hacking" los datos nosotros mismos. Muchas ciudades alrededor del mundo están liberando sus datos, reconociendo las ventajas y examinando las implicaciones de soltar información, mientras otros son más cerrados que nunca.
Ciudad Abierta/Ciutat Oberta/Open City quiere descubrir una metodología para liberar nuestros datos y construir aplicaciones colaborativas para el beneficio de los ciudadanos.
[ca]
Les dades de les ciutats, pobles, països són les nostres dades: sobre nosaltres, pagades per nosaltres, i en teoria per a nosaltres. Les institucions, l'administració pública i les empreses privades controlen les dades, sovint (gairebé sempre) ens denegan l'accés, impedint als ciutadans utilitzar la informació acumulada per a les nostres necessitats o per construir aplicacions que puguin beneficiar tant a la ciutadania com a la ciutat.
Volem explorar quines són les dades més importants que necessitem, què podem fer amb elles i com aconseguir la informació de qui la controla o "hacking" les dades nosaltres mateixos. Moltes ciutats al voltant del món estan alliberant les seves dades, reconeixent els avantatges i examinant les implicacions de deixar anar informació, mentre uns altres són més tancats que mai.
Ciudad Abierta/Ciutat Oberta/Open City vol descobrir una metodologia per alliberar les nostres dades i construir aplicacions col·laboratives per al benefici dels ciutadans.
[en]
The data of cities, towns, villages & countries is our data: about us, paid for by us, theoretically for us. However institutions, public bodies and private companies control that data, often denying us access and preventing citizens from using the accumulated information for our own needs or to build applications that can benefit both the public and the city.
We want to examine what are the most important data sets we need, what we can to do with them and how to get the information from those who control it or by "hacking" it ourselves. Many cities around the world are freeing up their data, recognising the advantages and exploring the issues involved, while others are more closed than ever.
Ciudad Abierta/Ciutat Oberta/Open City wants to discover a methodology for freeing our data and building collaborative applications for the benefit of citizens.
Blog
PodCamp Gives Back
by Admin • • 1 Comment
(image taken from the presentation "Citilab Model?" by Ramon Sangúesa at I+C+i at CCCB, Barcelona)
So it's pretty late and I'm thinking and watching the world go by on twitter and for some reason PodCamp Barcelona comes to mind. And I've got this idea that all of these incredibly talented, smart, creative, knowledgeable people coming together and sharing is great and that we are creating knowledge and social value with our peers, but it occurs to me that we should take it further. We still have to take an "official" decision about PodCamp Barcelona 2010, but as Cataspanglish we know we want to hold it in El Masnou. So what I'm thinking is that we should give back to the citizens of Masnou who have supported the PodCamp for two years. If all the people who participate in PodCamp are willing I would like to do some concrete things leading up the event itself, Birmingham style Social Media Surgeries, Podcasting workshops, mashup sessions, whatever. Let's share the knowledge and skills we have with the people who are giving us the opportunity to get together – what do you think? Are you in for giving back?