Google WhereCamp 2008
This weekend, I visited WhereCamp 2008 at the Googleplex. I believe that they have held this unconference for 3 years now, but this was my first visit. The organizers of the event tried something new this year. Participants were welcome to camp out at the Googleplex on Saturday night in tents provided by Google. I spoke to a person who had done so. He had come from Ohio and was unprepared for the chilly Mountain View nights. I told him that he camped out at a good time. This weekend, Silicon Valley was actually suffering through a heat wave that broke several records.
WhereCamp had a good crowd over the weekend, but Sunday, the day that I attended, there were not as many sessions as the day before. Of the sessions that I attended, the one that I got the most out of was the session on Maps Copyright. A lawyer presented some slides that showed some of the maps that people had tried to copyright recently. Since practically nothing had been added to the basic map data that was provided by the U.S. Federal government, there was nothing to copyright. But still people wasted time and money to try.
There were some interesting map demos that were given. What was most interesting was how broadly the term “maps” had been taken. One somewhat related demo was a site that allowed users to create social maps. For example, the presenter showed social maps of the governors of the US state and could toggle the map between their party affiliations, their religion, their sexual orientation, etc. Another interesting social map showed the top US executives and which companies they ran and which boards of directors they sat on. Following on the theme of power and money, he also had a map that showed links between people who had raised campaign contributions for US political parties and then were appointed as ambassadors to foreign countries.
One project that created the most buzz had nothing to do with maps. A student presented his science project, which was a 3D display. It is based on principles applied previously in the area of 3D displays. His take on it involved using faster and more up-to-date hardware than displays that I had seen in the past.