This isn’t a ‘how-to’ blog post at all. I just wanted to use the title.
UKGovCamp13: A Fab event
Steph and Dave did their usual marvellous job, making UKGovCamp appear effortless, with it passing off without a hitch (well, second time round).
Lloyd Davis kept everyone in order and provided entertainment; ‘Fingers’ Cattell typed like the wind; IBM Southbank was the perfect venue; the sausage and mash was sublime; and the bar tab* was never ending…
It was an oportunity to:
- Recharge batteries
- Develop cunning plans with like-minded people
- Challenge and be challenged
- Discover the latest disruptive ideas and technologies
- Catch-up with friends
- Make new friends
- etc etc
Which one?
At the session pitches, I struggled deciding which ones to attend – I wanted to go to all of them.
#UKGC13 – the Pitches from Beatrice Bray on Vimeo.
There’s not a single session I’ve been to at any unconference where I haven’t taken away something worth having. Fortunately, at UKGovCamp the sessions I wasn’t at were all captured one way or another, whether on Twitter, video, photos, or in blog posts.
All write now
Steph Grey has created a Pinboard of #ukgc13 blog posts, but I’ll list them here as well in case you haven’t spotted them.
-
Louise Kidney: A Shiny World: UK Gov camp 2013
- Tony Scott: I went to UKGovcamp 2013 | Tony Scott
- Sarah Baskerville: #ukgc13
- Rowena Farr: A few take home pointers from GovCamp 2013 | Digital democracy, news, thinking, tips & tricks
- David Buck: Davebuckster: UK Gov Camp 2013
- Lloyd Davis: Some things about Govcamp #ukgc13 | Perfect Path
- David Bicknell: Govcamp tunes in public sector’s digital channel – Government Computing Network
- John Glover: UKGovCamp ’13 – public sector collaboration event
- Jonathan Flowers: #UKGC13 – Notes on Session re Big and Small Companies Innovating Together | Jonathan Flowers
- Lloyd Davis (again): TwitterBot-ageddon | Perfect Path
- Julia Chandler: Govcamp 2013 | Julia’s Blog
- Ben Proctor: Cardiac surgery in hoodies | Digital skills for emergencies and resilience
- Ann Kempster: There IS a future for digital comms teams » Random musings
- Dave Briggs: You went to UKGovCamp, what next? | Kind of Digital
- Jason Cobb: ukgovcamp uncovered | onionbagblog
You would never get this sort of output from a traditional conference
Another dimension
I pitched a session about 3D printing, asking who is doing what already, and wondering just how disruptive is 3D printing going to be? A few takeaways from that:
- 3D printing (and scanning) is in its infancy; costs are high but falling fast
- In a localgov context:
- libraries and museums could reproduce artefacts for visitors to handle
- braille descriptions could be printed on objects for the visually impaired
- Localgov should catalogue objects and release them with an open licence allowing others can reproduce them (a bit like the Open Government Licence for open data, but for physical objects)
- Personalisation – objects could be tailored to meet individual needs e.g. for those receiving care in the home
- Sue Lawson (@shedsue) and other Library Campers have loads more ideas
- There are resources available at Maker Librarian
- Companies are creating new markets for themselves e.g. Crayon Creatures which turn children’s drawings in to 3D objects and Replicator Warehouse which prints 3D objects on demand.
- Power to the people: one individual with a good idea can turn it into something tangible
- Thingiverse is brimming with examples of ideas and designs
- Products like Cubify and Makerbot are helping 3D printing at home become a reality
- Already, there are ways to recycle material with neat products like Filabot which lets you recycle household plastic for 3D printing and the Lyman Filament Extruder which lets you recycle old filament
- Printing human embryonic stem cells? Yes, really
- Printing skull implants ready for surgery? Of course
- There’s even a pen that lets you create stuff in 3D
- How long before the first spam arrives on a 3D printer?
Somewhere I read that – in the longer term – household rubbish could be broken down in to its constituent parts and then reassembled for printing. We could witness a fundamental shift in transport, supply and distribution. I could go on – indeed, I already have. Suffice to say I think it’s quite exciting.
Looking Ahead
Notes
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