Bristol Knowledge Unconference

Hi all,

Just a quick note to all of those in the South-West of England (and
anyone else interested). I am organising a "Knowledge Unconference" in
Bristol, which is loosely attached to the "Semantic Web South-West"
Group.

The idea will be similar to a BarCamp, except that it is a lot
lighter, more social, more hands-on. It will also be only half-a-day
long. Plus it will be "themed" around the general subject of
Knowledge. So for example:

    * The Semantic Web / Linked Data / Hyperdata / Data Web
    * Topic Maps
    * Information Architecture and Design
    * Knowledge Acquisition
    * Knowledge-Based Systems, Knowledge Engineering and Rule-Based
Systems (etc)
    * Knowledge Visualisation
    * and maybe even, Object Oriented Databases

I will try to get the obvious companies in/around Bristol involved:
e.g. HP Labs, ILRT, University of Bristol CS Dept, UWE Computing Dept.
But I am very keen for small businesses, sole-traders and start-ups
who are interested in Knowledge and who are in the area to come along.
I'm also interested in a few PhD students and/or MSc students coming
along to show off their Knowledge projects.

I've decided to do this because Knowledge is such a broad subject,
which is so fragmented with people working on little Islands (with
their own formats, frameworks, methodologies, protocols etc) that it
is going to be worth just getting together, showing people stuff and
talking about it. Some of the areas of interest have been typically
academic in feel, so it would be interesting to hear success stories
within business.

Someone in Bristol City Centre has been lovely enough to offer modern
conference space for this event FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It has a
conference room that holds about 100, and two breakout rooms. Also
includes Free WiFi, Cabled Internet Connections, TV, and Projector.

I'm only brainstorming at the moment, and so I welcome all ideas/comments.

Oh, and... The event will be free and I won't need a sponsor because
the space is going to be free (unless people really really want a free
meal)

If you have any comments, or if you are really excited and want to
help me figure out when the best time to do this is (!) Then please
send a message to danieljohnlewis [-a-t-] gmail [-d-o-t-] com

Cheers,

Daniel

(p.s. I've also posted this on my blog:
http://vanirsystems.com/danielsblog/2008/07/10/bristol-knowledge-unconference/
  Apologies for cross-posting in that case)

Received on Monday, 14 July 2008 00:30:02 UTC