Live from Barcamp Leeds

Today and tomorrow there is the Barcamp Leeds here at the Old Broadcasting House. This year I had not prepared any talk, but I just decided to stop by and meet a few people there. Right now, Tom Scott gives a very interesting presentation about creating videos for YouTube or other video sites. He pointed out that this is right now the "big thing" to do, as the technology is here, and video provides a very good way to access audiences and present ideas. He gave a few tips on how to make a good video, using frequent cutaways to keep the video alive and to cover cuts and camera position changes. He also pointed to the parody site he made a few years ago about the UK government emergency web site (brilliant parody!).

Paper submitted to CIRCLE Conference

This weekend the major activity was in preparing a paper for the CIRCLE conference. I had submitted an abstract earlier, which had been accepted ("Marketing in Web 2.0"), and the due date for the camera-ready paper was this Saturday - so I thought. When I checked again the website, I realised that the due date had been already Wednesday, 5.3. - so I was already late. Well, I finished the paper yesterday night and sent it off, despite some distractions from the tech front which I came across while preparing the final paper version and checking some references.

New Semester Begins

This Tuesday is for me the first day of teaching in the new semester. It starts with two 2-h tutorials for the final-year project supervision. Fortunately, the tutorials are shared, and we supervisors can take turns in supervision.

The students propose interesting projects - in the tutorial we give them advise for the development of their ideas. They will have to showcase them in May.

I am also up for two "guest lectures", and I give one tutorial on "Innovation and Enterprise". Besides that, I still keep my group for which I am the "Academic Coach". Is quite reasonable, but I also have to move the Centre for Creative Technology forward... we need to prepare bids and publish the achieved results.

About Beijing and China

Walking in alley in central Beijing.
China is a country at a threshold of change: its economic growth is unbroken, and next year, in 2008, it will host the Olympic Games in Beijing. The consequences are quite apparent: in many places in Beijing there are large construction projects. Several subway lines are being built, and the status of the construction sites arises doubts if these lines can be completed in time for the Olympics. The conference hotel was quite near the main Olympic Stadium, which has an interesting structure, like a bird's nest. Around the hotel many roads are under (re-)construction, dust is in the smoggy air.

Construction of the Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Olympics.

Construction and high rise apartment buildings in Northern Beijing.

Road scene in Northern Beijing.

Possible source of internet connection problems?

Road traffic has increased in the past few years, and the once dominant bicycle traffic has been overtaken by the car traffic (literally).

Road traffic jam.

Beijing has many modern / contemporary looking buildings; around our hotel was a whole array of highrise buildings with apartment complexes. But a large part of the population still lives along those Hutongs, these small side roads with their one or at most two-story buildings in traditional style. Many of these areas around the Hutings appear impoverished, and Beijing seems to be ashamed of them somewhat: there were whole quarters being torn down and replaced by either "gentrified" versions, or by completely new buildings, shopping centres, parks. When I walked or biked through a few of those Hutongs, some looked a bit like slums, but others had a dignified appearance of centuries of tradition. It is a pity that this appearance is slowly dying out.

Small Hutong in centre of Beijing.

Near the Drum Tower, north of Beijing Centre.

Near a food market, east of Forbidden City.

Small shops at alley in Beijing.

During my stay in this one week there was no rain fall during the days, but the sky always had been in a thick haze. Sometimes it appeared as one could only see a few 100 m. The reason for this smog is said to be the increased car traffic, industrialisation, and dust from construction.

Half-destroyed buildings in one of the small Hutongs.

Torn-down building. There are many such sights in Beijing, where these traditional buildings are replaced by modern shopping malls. A shamefull end of centuries of tradition.

Recent scandals re. tainted food and unsafe products have tarnished the image of China as a booming economy of the future: the image of its products is very bad, but the officials are trying to clean this up. But overall there seems to be an attitude that anything is allowed which can bring a profit. Tourists anyway appear to be "fair game", as they bring into this country their (our) well-filled wallets, and anything goes to get the content of this wallet. One example is the operation of illegitimate taxis, seemingly tolerated by the "real" taxis and standing in the same queue in front of hotel exits. These "fake taxis" usually have a sign on top of the car which looks like an official taxi sign, but without writing or lights. They have a meter inside for calculating the fare - but the meter runs about twice or three times as fast as the ones or regular taxis (which charge 2 RMB per km, and which have a red sticker about this on their windows - the fake taxis have no such sticker). So in general I do have a feeling of caution towards anything that is offered in Beijing to me as a tourist - it is very likely that any offer is fake and would result in me getting cheated. But I am confident that by next year, Beijing and China will have cracked down on these practises, as this is about their reputation - and also about a lot of money and business from tourism and international trade.



Overall, this was a fascinating opportunity to have a glimpse into China and Beijing during this short stay. I will visit there again, if I have another opportunity.