FOWA

I'm in London for the Future of Web Apps conference. Ryan Carson's onstage now giving everyone the lowdown on how things work this year. Networking seems to be the order of the day, though the WiFi network is pay-for this year, and that's going to seriously limit the amount of live coverage online (a qualified 'boo' since I'm covered by my T-Mobile partner agreement with sponsors BT).

UPDATE: Ryan Carson has apologised for the lack of network, explaining that there's been a big technical problem and it's killed the chance of a free network for any part of the conference. The guy from BT's going to talk to someone and see if the pay network can be opened up. Considering how slow it's been today, that'll kill it outright..

Technorati Tags: Computing, Conferences, fowalondon07, futureofwebapps

Karlskrona

Karlskrona
Originally uploaded by sharl.

Here's where I'm at.

Sweden

This is my last full day in Karlskrona, where I'm staying until Thursday. Monday was spent largely in transit, in that fabulous/terrible nowhere land that is modern air travel: Subtle shifts of airport architecture, scaling up from Birmingham's smallish International Airport to the enormous and efficient Schipol and the aging national pride of Stockholm, and back down all the way to the tiny but serviceable Ronneby on the southeast coast of Sweden, conveyed by largely uniform 737 all the way. Karlskrona is a coastal town built on 33 tiny islands, and the streets speak with a quiet modernity layered on aging architecture. The coffee bars hum with gentle contemporary dance music and encroaching global brands jostle homespun stores. The Hotel Conrad is modern and clean yet satisfyingly basic, all wooden floors and Bjorn Borg shower gel. Wifi is free, and TV airs US shows (including the deliciously dark "Dexter" which I don't think has reached terrestrial UK screens yet) and Bowdlerised versions of hardcore porn movies.

This afternoon I'm heading back the Blekinge Tekrnska Högskola where I'm meeting Maria Bäcke and Fred Young to discuss further their plans for a Digital Media & Humanities Archive, with a view to getting involved in the longer term. Maria is also instrumental in the League of Worlds conference, which is also coming to Karlskrona this October, so I may well be back for that. We'll also present the emerging archive strategy to second year students on the Literature, Culture and Digital Media programme as we'll be needing their help in gathering and processing some of the media involved.

I'll post soon on how this strategy comes together, but it's an interesting opportunity to try and tie some of the Web 2.0 stuff together in a functioning educational/academic setting, and probably good for the basis of a paper or a few lectures in itself. Let's hope it brings me back here soon: I intend next time to spend a few days in Stockholm, and perhaps even travel west to Copenhagen on my way home.

Technorati Tags: Airlines, Airports, Media, Sweden, Travel