[penguicon-general] A couple of thoughts about programming

Wed Apr 25 09:35:43 CDT 2007

So I'm at work and bored out of my mind, as per usual. I look up "Rube
Goldberg" and find the Rube Goldberg machine building contest. I got myself
to thinking that maybe we should consider hosting one. Not an official one
by any means. A lot of the attendees drive and we have other contests where
you bring stuff to the con (like the masqurade), so why not a Rube Goldberg
one where we create a simple problem, this year's is "Take an orange, juice
it, and get it into a glass." Give people time to set up their machines and
then have them on display. Depending on, you know, interest. Alternativly,
we could just have a design contest and let people build nonfunctioning
models as opposed to actual working ones (this would be possible to do at
the con if we just got a whole bunch of crafty supplies.)

This is Molly de Blanc, vomiting ideas onto the list.

On 4/25/07, Rachel Weisenfeld <rweisenfeld at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I saw no lack of attendees to the bio-geekery panels.  I would personally
> also love to be a part of this in the future.  Also, Chuck needs a chem geek
> to help him out with something about food chemistry.  I think that could be
> a lot of fun, too.
>
> On 4/25/07, Tracy Worcester <tracy.worcester at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm not sure I could pull together a full-time science track, but I'm
> > definitely willing to volunteer to at least try to pull together a
> > proto-track.  I will note that it is, once again, likely to be medicine
> > heavy, given my biases.  (:
> >
> > ...Tracy
> >
> > On 4/24/07, Matt Arnold < matt.mattarn at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Cathy,
> > >
> > > This is a good place to discuss it. The only way for Penguicon to get
> > > the kind of programming one wants to see, is to ask the general
> > > population of attendees to provide it. The schedule is largely
> > > crowdsourced-- in other words, it consists of whatever volunteers step
> > >
> > > forward to do. That grassroots method is why we had a hundred program
> > > participants this year.
> > >
> > > That having been said, there is a way to formally encourage there to
> > > be more programming of one kind or another. That is to recruit a
> > > deputy of the programming department to run that programming
> > > subdepartment.
> > >
> > > For instance, I had computer, literature, gaming, anime, music, sword,
> > > webcomic, and food deputies. I handled the science/futurics/crossover
> > > programming myself.
> > >
> > > Some deputies organized more programming than others, but what
> > > mattered is that the quality was quite high and we tried to spread out
> > > each track and keep it from clumping up. Some of these were light,
> > > such as costuming, but at least they were not nonexistent. We would
> > > have been very weak on media programming had not Ferrett's wife Gini
> > > Judd (a Nifty Guest) saved my bacon by coming up with some ideas for
> > > that. I suspect that when you talk about having game, music, and anime
> > > tracks, what you mean is panels talking about these topics. Volunteers
> > > to come up with topics they would like to speak on would absolutely be
> > > welcome. It's great to come up with ideas on the list, get some people
> > > excited about them, and get those excited people signed up to speak.
> > >
> > > The science track has been increasing year by year, although mostly in
> > >
> > > medicine. This time we had our first Science GoH Christine Peterson,
> > > who spoke on Life Extension, and Nanotech Safety. There was also
> > > "Cellular Visions: The Inner Life Of A Cell", and The
> > > Brain-As-Computer Metaphor. I'll be very pleased if we continue this
> > > trend.
> > >
> > > To segue onto a related topic, crossover has not been mentioned here.
> > > Although concom roles are highly fluid this time of year, the incoming
> > > conchair and I have been talking about whether or not I want to head
> > > up programming again, but at the very least I would like to be the
> > > deputy for crossover/futurics programming for 2008. This would be one
> > > of the hats I would wear. (Minister of Communication plays to my
> > > strengths, was never really replaced, and is a role I intend to
> > > reprise.)
> > >
> > > One thing I realized from several comments over the course of the year
> > > is that different people mean different things by "crossover
> > > programming" but they often don't realize there are other definitions.
> > >
> > > I frequently hear from prospective panelists, "I can't be on that
> > > panel because I only know half of it", and I tell them the other
> > > panelists know the other half and getting them together to learn from
> > > each other is the whole point. That's how I know a crossover panel
> > > when I see one.
> > >
> > > Since the two main tracks of Penguicon are computers and science
> > > fiction, a more restrictive definition involves events at the
> > > intersection of real-world technology with inspiration from futuristic
> > > imagination and vision. Look how The Future Of Spyware was a panel
> > > with a security expert and a science fiction author. The podcasting
> > > panel was simultaneously about the computer tech of podcasts, and the
> > > fiction content some of them offer. The presentation on the current
> > > project of self-replicating 3D-printers was so visionary it was a
> > > realization of the political and economic renaissance many SF stories
> > > look forward to in the 21st century, but the hacker community is
> > > making it real.
> > >
> > > Others definitions are more restrictive, but no evaluation of the
> > > state of crossover programming can be effective without an
> > > understanding of what one means by the term.
> > >
> > > -Matt
> > >
> > >
> > > On 4/24/07, Catherine Olanich Raymond <cathy at thyrsus.com> wrote:
> > > > This year's Penguicon had a boat load of program items of a bunch of
> > > different
> > > > kinds. Some cons refer to similar types of items as program
> > > "tracks."  I was
> > > > thinking today about the "tracks" we had, and a few we *might* want
> > > to
> > > > consider adding for 6.0.
> > > >
> > > > By my count (which could easily be wrong) these are tracks we had:
> > > >
> > > > *  Technical Track (items about Linux, or computer/technological
> > > issues);
> > > >
> > > > *  SF Track (items about fannish stuff);
> > > >
> > > > *  Martial Arts Track (courtesy of Aegis, mostly, but I thought I
> > > saw at least
> > > > one Tai Chi workshop, so that adds to the variety);
> > > >
> > > > *   Food Track  (impressively successful; the Dark Chocolate Tasting
> > > ended
> > > > after about 40 minutes because 9 of the 12 varieties of chocolate I
> > > brought
> > > > to sample were already all gone);
> > > >
> > > > *   Gaming Track -- i.e., special events associated with
> > > gaming.  This
> > > > included, impressively, not only Celebrity Munchkin and the slate of
> > > GMed
> > > > games but also the miniatures workshops.  It might, or might not, be
> > > > interesting to add a few gaming-related panels to the schedule
> > > too.  ( E.g.,
> > > > a "new developments" or "upcoming products" panel, which maybe some
> > > game
> > > > manufacturers would want to do).
> > > >
> > > > And here are a few tracks it might be worth adding:
> > > >
> > > > *  A costuming track.  We had, I think, two costuming
> > > panels.  Possibly there
> > > > isn't more demand for more, but it may be worth checking out.
> > > >
> > > > *  A science track.  Neat developments in the world of science.  A
> > > good number
> > > > of the General Technics folk are professional scientists (Bill
> > > Higgins,
> > > > Jordan Kare, Charles Lane, Brother Guy, to give a few examples off
> > > the top of
> > > > my head) and have given panels/talks at SF conventions in the past.
> > > >
> > > > *  An anime track.  Since the anime room was so dead this really may
> > > not be
> > > > worth doing.  If we feature an anime GOH next year, we may want to
> > > consider
> > > > supporting him/her with some related panel items.
> > > >
> > > > *  A music track?  This should, I think, include filking, but could
> > > include
> > > > performances by pro and semipro musicians (not just The Great Luke
> > > Ski,
> > > > please!) or even panels about things like the history of filking or
> > > > music/technology crossover issues (e.g., DRM).
> > > >
> > > > We already have a bunch of workshops (writing, belly dance, martial
> > > arts,
> > > > minatures) and I think this is a trend to continue, though I think
> > > it would
> > > > be inappropriate to consider them a "track" per se.
> > > >
> > > > May as well do some brainstorming while everybody's still high on
> > > the sucess
> > > > of the con....
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Cathy Raymond < cathy at thyrsus.com>
> > > >
> > > > "You've got to have the proper amount of disrespect for what you
> > > do."
> > > > -- George Mabry
> > > >
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-- 
Faithfully yours,

molly.
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