5 reactions on “Smart Participants

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1. We’re just over 3 weeks away from our 31 August event, the Smart Stuff That Matters unconference (#stm18).
   With our summer hiatus nearing its end, I built a (still growing) list of currently registered participants. It’s a very nice mix of different backgrounds, ages, origins and interests. Some have been to our very first birthday unconference 10 years ago, others only recently became part of our personal or professional networks. Some live almost next door, some live half a world away. All have interesting stories to share, so if you haven’t registered yet but would like to come, do let me know, and bring your curiosity.
   We’re now at some 30 people attending, from half a dozen countries or so. Likely we’ll end up closer to 50 participants for the unconference. Check out the list, and click some links to get a feeling for who’s coming.
   
   Some of the participants in the 2014 event. Photo: Paolo Valdemarin, CC-BY-NC-SA

2. The title of the event is Smart Stuff That Matters 2018. The theme is triggered by us moving to a different house in a different neighbourhood and a new city last year, and the resulting exploration to find your new place and rhythms in a new environment.
   We will look at ‘smart’ from a combined social and technical perspective, in the context of (y)our home, (y)our neighborhood, (y)our city and how that is interconnected. Within each of those we can imagine different aspects (e.g. for the home) as potential topics of presenting, discussing and doing (we will have the mobile Frysklab as well).
   In the morning we will explore the context and setting, and get to know each other better. Followed by building the unconference program in more detail. The afternoon will have plenty space for a variety of sessions in 30 minute slots and multiple sessions parallel when needed. The Frysklab mobile FabLab is available throughout the day as well.
   Have questions or suggestions? Do get in touch, or use the webform to share an idea.
   For now this is the rudimentary schedule for the event.
   Friday, the unconference
   09:00 Door open, coffee/tea
   10:00-12:30 morning program

   10:00 Opening, welcome by Ton & Elmine

   10:20 Intro-round: your best and worst moving experiences

   11:00 Building the program together: which sessions will take place?

   11:30 round 1 (discussions, talks, creating)

   12:05 round 2 (discussions, talks, creating)

   12:35 Lunch
   13:35-17:45 afternoon program
   13:35 Brief recap, and re-start
   13:45 round 3 (discussions, talks, creating)
   14:20 round 4 (discussions, talks, creating)
   14:55 round 5 (discussions, talks, creating)
   15:25 break
   15:40 round 6 (discussions, talks, creating)
   16:15 round 7 (discussions, talks, creating)
   16:50 round 8 (discussions, talks, creating)
   17:30 Closing remarks
   17:45 Drinks
   18:30 Chinese & Indonesian buffet dinner, drinks
   21:00 End
   Saturday, the BBQ
   11:00 Door open to continue work from yesterday in groups for those who want
   15:00 Door open for the party
   15:30 Official first sausage on the bbq
   ends when the last person leaves.
   More info:STM18 Main pageSmart ParticipantsSTM18 ProgramGetting to AmersfoortPlaces to stay

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3. Do You Have Any Diodes? ….. …. Is probably the most unlikely question I got ever asked out of the blue at a birthday party. However the answer turned out to be yes, I did have two diodes. I didn’t think I did, but taking a look in the one box I suspected might have some electronic components in them, proved me wrong.
   The diodes were needed to increase the strength of the scary noises an evil robot was emitting. This evil robot was being created just outside our front door where the enormous Frysklab truck, containing a mobile FabLab, was completely filling the courtyard. Representing everything that is wrong and evil about some of the devices that are marketed as necessary for a ‘smart home’, the evil robot then got ritually smashed into pieces by Elmine, wielding a gigantic hammer, named ‘The Unmaker’ that a colleague brought with him. That was the official closing act of our unconference “Smart Stuff That Matters“.

   Around all this our 40 or so guests, friends, family members, clients, colleagues, peers, were weaving a rich tapestry of conversations and deepening connections. Something that our friend Peter put into words extremely well. Elmine and I are in awe of the effort and time all who joined us have put into coming to our home and participate in our slightly peculiar way of celebrating birthdays. Birthday parties where evil robots, a hyperloop to send messages from the courtyard to the garden, mythical German bbq-sausages, friendship, philosophy, web technology, new encounters and yes diodes, are all key ingredients to help create a heady mix of fun, inspiration, connection, and lasting memories.
   Thank you all so much for making it so.
   
   
   

4. It’s the end of December, and we’re about to enjoy the company of dear friends to bring in the new year. This means it is time for my annual year in review posting, the ‘Tadaa!’ list.
   Eight years ago I started writing end-of-year blogposts listing the things that happened that year that gave me a feeling of accomplishment, that make me say ‘Tadaa!’. (See the 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010 editions). I am always moving forwards to the next thing as soon as something is finished, and that often means I forget to celebrate or even acknowledge things during the year. Sometimes I forget things completely. Although I have worked on improving that sense of awareness over the past few years, it remains a good way to reflect on the past 12 months. So, here’s this year’s Tadaa!-list:

   The Smart Stuff That Matters unconference and bbq party in honour of Elmine’s 40th birthday was an awesome event bringing together so many great people from our various contexts. Thank you to all who were there, from right next door to halfway across the globe, and so many different places in between. It is a great privilege you came together in our home. So much fun having you all at STM18! Of course we had the mythical German sausages again….Peter made a sketch of our house, sitting in the garden

   Being witness and officiating at our dear friends’ Klaas and Amarens wedding in Tuscany.
   Dinner al fresco / Thirty years of friendship (images by Elmine)

   Presenting Networked Agency during a keynote at State of the Net in Trieste. A great opportunity to create a better narrative to explain Networked Agency, and present it to a much wider audience. Also great to see Paolo and Monica, as well as many others again. Our friend Paolo opening State of the Net, enjoying the beautiful city of Trieste

   Working in Serbia, Italy, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium.
   Creating a measurement framework for open data impact, that allows for different levels of maturity, embraces complexity, and aims to prevent gaming of measurements.
   Getting tremendous feedback by the funder of a client project last year, that it was the most exciting thing they funded.
   Getting asked back by multiple clients
   Joining the board of Open Nederland, the Dutch Creative Commons chapter as treasurer
   Joining the board of Open State Foundation, the leading Dutch advocate for open government, as its chairman, after having been one of the initiators of the very first event in 2008, that later turned into this great organisation
   Taking the time to just hang out with other geeks at IndieWebCamp in Nürnberg

   I spent every Friday at home to be with our daughter. A joy to watch her develop.

   Giving the opening key-note at FOSS4GNL. I especially enjoyed writing the narrative for it, which ties local data governance to geopolitics and ethics. the Dutch open source geo community, and during the keynote (images Steven Ottens)

   Got to be there for friends, and friends got to be there for me. Thank you.
   Sponsoring the Open Knowledge Belgium conference with my company The Green Land, and participating in the conference with our entire team, and providing two sessions.

   Finding my voice back in blogging. I’ve written more blogposts this year than the preceding eleven combined, and as much as the first 5 years of busiest blogging combined. As a result I’ve also written much more in-depth material than any other year since I started in 2002. This has created more space for reflection and exploration, useful to shape my ideas and direction in my work. It was inspiring to renew the distributed conversations with other bloggers. As a result I am revisiting much of my writing about information strategies and the workings of human digital networks.
   Working with a client to further detail and document both Networked Agency and the ‘impact through connection’ project we based on it.
   Making day trips with Elmine and (not always) Y, e.g. to BredaPhoto, Eddo Hartmann and Fries Museum. Making good use of our more central location.
   Started to make better use of the various spaces our house offers, like the garden, the attic studio, and my own room. Room for improvement in the next year though.
   Avoiding feeling hurried, while keeping up the level of results.
   All in all it was a rather unhurried year, with more time for reflection about next and future steps. I worked 1728 hours, which averages out to about 36,5 per week worked. This is not yet getting closer to the 4 day work weeks I actually have, compared to last year, but at least stable.
   I’ve read 69 books, at a steady pace. All fiction, except for a handful. I’m looking to create the space to start reading more non-fiction. That likely requires a separate approach.
   Elmine gave me an amazing sculpture for my birthday, called “Strange Bird Totem”. The artist Jacqueline Schäfer’s work is described as “showing a positive vibe for life in a complex modern society“. That sort of feels like a great motto for the next year. Ever onwards!

5. Amersfoort has several hotels and B&B’s and draws a steady stream of tourists. It offers a good variety of restaurants and pubs as well. The old city center has canals and a range of buildings that date from medieval times, such as the water gate. Cities like Utrecht and Amsterdam are near (20, 45 mins by train respectively), so you could also plan for a longer stay there and visit us for the event.
   For comparison where everything in Amersfoort is relative to our home take a look at the map. We’re in a neighbourhood called ‘Vathorst’, about 7.5km from the center at the northernmost edge of town.
   Our home is easily reached from anywhere in town by bus (lines 3 and 7 a 15 min service taking about 25mins from the city center), (rented) bicycle, cab (about 25 Euro from city center) or car. There is limited parking space in our street (on one side of the road only, and not in our courtyard), but a bigger parking space is available a 4 min walk from our home (map).

   Hotels
   There’s a number of hotels in the city center, both chain brands as well as independent ones. The city center hotels are very well located to explore the historic parts of town on foot and enjoy local coffee bars and restaurants, but you’ll be about 7.5kms or a 25 minutes bus ride from our house.
   There’s one hotel, reasonably priced, in walking distance (15 mins) from our house, which is the Van de Valk Amersfoort A1. Best reached by car, and like our home about a 20 minute bus ride from the city center.
   Bed & Breakfast

   A range of options are listed on AirBnB.
   Eight more listed on Bed-and-Breakfast.nl

   Our guest rooms
   We can accommodate several guests in our home. Suited for guests on a tighter budget, or for friends staying on a bit longer. Contact us to discuss the possibilities if you intend to come to the STM18 unconference and bbq.

   1 guest room with double fold-out bed (normally E’s office, your guest room may be workshop room during the event)
   1 guest room with a smallish double fold-out bed, and room for sleeping mats (normally our tinkering space, your guest room likely will be workshop room during the event)
   1 guest room suitable for 2 sleeping mats (normally Y’s room, who will relocate to our room during the event, your guest room may be workshop room during the event)

   More info:
   STM18 Main page
   STM18 Program
   Smart Participants
   Getting to Amersfoort
   Places to stay
   The Medieval watergate Koppelpoort, photo above by William, CC BY-SA

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