Return to the Bay

This weekend is the 2008 iteration of Bay Area Drupal Camp held at U.C. Berkeley, Saturday and Sunday, October 11th and 12th.

Along with the info at Badcamp.net, the schedule is Google-doc'ed and will give you a sense of what's in-store.

Notably, Earl Miles creator of Views, Panels will kick off the learning fest with a keynote on Saturday morning.

My pal Dmitri is presenting on Simple Test (along with Florian Lorétan), CCK and jQuery (along with Amit Asaravala), Tao Starbow will show you how to make your own Wikipedia, Chris Bryant discusses managing site configurations and Keiran speaks about the Acquia buzz.

Alas, the event is full so if you slacked, you are almost out of luck, ...  in true Drupal fashion, some geeks are organizing an overflow event so everyone goes home happy.

BAD Flashback

Last year Francis, Erik and I (DaveO) headed down to enjoy some autumnal California sun and learning.

I recorded a handful of podcasts with some interesting Drupalists {William on accessibility, Dmitri on module making and Colin on innovative projects}. Plus annotated a few presentations from the academic halls of the impressive campus and back to Vancouver.

Meet the Candidates!

Rolling along with the SXSW Get the Vote Out campaign, today's potential presenter is me, Dave Olson.

A wee rookie at last years' SXSW, I fell into a groove and rocked it hard, producing an epic barrage of social media extravaganza.

As for presentations, i'm a guy who obsesses about doing something innovative in form and message - i avoid hackneyed acronyms and run o' mill tech babble to create sessions with a positive vibe and useful edu-tainment which you ain't heard before. Here's what I offer for SXSWi 2009:

For your Consideration:

1) F@ck Stats, Make Art - Dave Olson - solo

Via a pictorial journey through his own career of creating grassroots art and publications, renegade social media producer and writer Dave Olson will extol, encourage and explain the importance of taming the intimidation, solving conundrums and digging deep to muster authentic creative self expression in the digital era.

2) Social Media for Social Change - Dave Olson + panelists

Tips and case studies on how social change focused groups with limited resources can use the web, and internet tools including mobile technologies, to spread their messages effectively and inexpensively, as well as rapidly activate constituents for campaigns and activities to effectuate local or international change.

Time for Voting!

The crowd-sourcing portion of the panel-selection for SXSW Interactive 2009 (scheduled March 13-17, 2009 in Austin, Texas) is underway.

The SXSW online panel picker is open for voting and commenting and you are invited (indeed encouraged) to sign-up (you know the drill) and vote for your the panels you think are most useful.

You don't have to be an attendee or planning to attend to vote - just be someone who's you know, interested. Questions about all this SXSW panel stuff? Check the SXSW Panel FAQ.

Stepping up

As the risk of shameless promotion, the topics listed here all seek to deliver solid practical skills along with discourse on the fundamental issues and the details.

If you have questions/comments/curiosities about the pitches, please consider leaving a comment on the SXSW panel picker - sure it takes an extra few moments but will help the selected panelists hone their messages if they are indeed picked. Also offering props publicly helps spread the voting goodness.

Do you have an awesome panel in the mix? Drop a comment and let's get the vote out!

Here is your chance to see Raincity Studios' DaveO in action.  It's all happening at Net Tuesday 4 - Podcasting for Social change, Tuesday July 8th at 5:30pm.

DaveO will be heading up and moderating a presentation on the art of podcasting: how to make a show; the benefits of micro-broadcasting; promoting your show; and how podcasting can spread your social change message.

The all-star panel features mobile guru, Roland Tanglao (also from Raincity Studios), John Bollwitt (audio engineer, and podcaster from RadioZoom and Crazy Canucks) and Rob Cottingham (social change technologist, humourist and Bedtime podcaster).

DaveO made a quickie video to get everyone excited about the presentation - check it out:

Net Tuesday4 is organized by Joe Solomon and hosted at Workspace with sponsor love from Communicopia and Social Signal.

Details

• Where: Workspace (400-21 Water Street) Vancouver BC
• When: Tuesday, July 8th, 5:30pm-7:30pm
• RSVP: Facebook, Meetup

NOTE: Pardon the third-person writing (I feel like Bob Dole talking about Bob Dole ;-).

Raincity Studios' Community Evangelist Dave O riffs with Leo Laporte about do-it-yourself art and self publishing for personal, creative expression on the Lab with Leo TV show. Like old pals, they explore Dave's collection of ditto-ed newsletters, punk rock fanzines, gig handbills, well-traveled cassettes, and other projects while riffing about remixing ephemeral objects in digital art and participating in the new artistic renaissance.