Friday 26th June 2009 saw the 4th installment of the Open Knowledge Network event in Aberdeen. As a co-organiser and speaker at these events I thought that a blog post was in order.
An event in Aberdeen celebrating all things digital seemed like an unworkable idea at the start and probably still does to those either outwith the digital community or too long in the Aberdeen digital community...from "that's not really my thing" to "I don't see what's in it for me"...I've already heard several excuses from people who would get a lot out of it, determined to put up walls and never attend. Truth is, that these reasons are unfounded and as OKN attendances have shown, not even relevant to the buzzing, talented and highly creative group of people from hobbyist to student to professional to board level attendees who pack out Peacock Visual Arts periodically to share ideas, see what's happening in the industry, have a few drinks, listen to some music and set the digi world to rights.
For those of you who don't know me and have attended OKN, I spoke on Yahoo Pipes at OKN02 and spent much of OKN04 looking after the bar, in that regard, the chances are that if you were there, then I've at least briefly met you.
OKN04 sprung into life with the first presentation by Jono Sandilands. A graphic design student exploring some digital avenues made for interesting viewing and the work done on "project ping pong" was conceptual, imaginative and impressive. Jono then helped me to drink the bar dry.
Next up was James Littlejohn who gave an overview to "The Open Stack". I discovered that a number of students from Aberdeen University were at OKN specifically to hear this talk as it held relevance to their course.
Third slot went to Ewan McIntosh, Channel 4's digital commissioner for 4ip who had made the journey up from Glasgow specifically to tell us all about 4ip and how they're looking to invest in ideas for the future of digital media. Plenty of food for thought here and plenty of people talking about this in Aberdeen which I'm sure Ewan will be happy to hear.
Last slot of the evening went to Bill Thomson who "doesn't get invited to do children's party's" but is very welcome at the OKN. "Mad Scientist", "Crazy guy" "he breaks childrens toys and makes them cry" are all words and phrases I've since heard describing Bill's introduction to circuit bending. Outstanding finale, you just cant beat a bit of live soldering fueling weird noise.
OKN then moved into it's informal networking mode which basically means that beer was drunk, music was played and we all talked amongst ourselves before the very sensible decision to move to the pub happened.
I really feel that OKN is making a difference, encouraging discussion and generation of ideas throughout the forward looking designers, programmers, artists, film makers, photographers and musicians and many others who fancy a night amongst the rest of the digital community.
I have personally been delighted with the impressive attendances and positive feedback received from all the OKN events to date and hope to see you all at OKN05 for more digital fun and games.
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