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distributed.conf

Yes, this post is for those amongst us who had hoped to duck the Broome issue this year. (-:

There are many great places which will miss out on holding an LCA for the very simple reason that they don’t have critical mass. Broome is one of them.

Ask one of the young’uns (-: hi Jess, ’Chi :-) whether they’d rather see a presentation about DDR, or do one on Cable Beach?

Cairns is another one.

Would you rather cram into a theatre at 9AM for a slideshow, or be wallowing in fresh mangoes by a warm beach at 7AM on Green Island?

Training to rein in PERL bugs, or straining out the windows of Kuranda Railway?

Then consider a few other places — like Devonport, where a conference could be run on the Spirit of Tasmania each way from Melbourne (try a Sheffield health retreat; where else would you go?) — or across a table of Simmo’s at Busselton or Dunsborough — or (who knows?) in the splendidly characteresque, forested, exquisitely built Hahndorf?

Splitting the Conf up into enough pieces to fit into all of these places is a bit much to consider, all in one go — but I wonder, have we thrown enough technology at the problem yet?

Half a day of frenetic activity followed by an afternoon in spa or pool, watching video from the other location(s), trimmed & compressed to fit across the wires (most of these places have at least ADSL2) seems a lot more reasonable. Themes for the locations (development here, networking here, Ruby here, desktop stuff here, games here, server stuff here, etc) so those deeply interested in interactive involvement can become more directly involved would ease the choice of where actually to go.

Distributing the locations across 4 or 5 wide-spaced sites would make travel a more reasonable option for visitors in every state (sandgropers to Broome, banana benders to Cairns, crow-eaters & ’Springers to Hahndorf, Victorians & Tasmaniacs to Devonport etc).

Not a final solution, not a 2009 answer in one hit, but something to start thinking about & planning for.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Mm, DDR. What makes pydance better than Stepmania, other than it being in Python? Stepmania's a more accurate clone.

Oh, and hi, though I've no idea why you expect me to be reading this. :)
Leon RJ Brooks said…
Code, I am competent with. Dancing, however, requires me to bow humbly before your superior choreographic wisdom.

You comment wasn’t an archetypical foray into linguistic paradise, but it does offer a pithy insight into the choreographic mastery (or mistressy, whatever) available to someone such as your fine self, who can cast aside the limitations of a conventional approach, reaching out deftly to touch an essential — possibly quintessential — grasp of the matter.

Hmmm. Words don’t come easy to me, nor is dancing a personal sine qua non, but with this internet thingy to hand, I can nail the little blighters down properly. (-:
Leon RJ Brooks said…
Oh, WRT readership, part of the wonder in this blog thingy is the marvelous variety of responses one gets from (mostly) unexpected visitors.

Your comments, & your joyful approach to so many things will be, I suspect, always welcome.

Um, for a more pragmatic insight into the choice of pydance, well, GIYF?
Leon RJ Brooks said…
unrelated to above comments: any votes for a mini-conf thing consisting of evening (-sleep-) morning sessions on Spirit en route (to & fro), interlaced with painting Devonport the same colour as Spirit’s hull?

This could be done seamlessly, or with a day or two’s bunking in Tas, or possibly a split enterprise (one seamful party wrapping a seamless arrival & a mixed return).

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