& so nancy arrived, which was very exciting - we hadn't seen each other since isea in belfast, where we had many an adventure ... but that's another story! (nancy was also in haiti a couple of weeks ago at the ghetto biennale, so last week's earthquake has had a direct personal impact - more here and sign the petition to drop haiti's debt).

after lunch, the audience has shrunk by almost half, & it seems to be mostly men who have left. so we now have something like 90% female audience, & the talks are also becoming more overtly feminist.

first up after lunch was lana brindley, who gave an entertaining talk about the importance of good technical documentation. she was followed by angie byron, who works with drupal & spoke about getting involved as an open source contributor. (i had been feeling slightly conspicuous having a mac at a linux conference, so i was a bit relieved to see angie also has a mac - & she doesn't even cover her apple sign ... !!!)

i'm at the haeksen miniconf at the australian linux conference, being conveniently held this year in wellington, where i conveniently happen to be at the moment. everyone has rushed outside at lunchtime, because there's the first sunshine in about a week of appallingly bad weather. but in the foyer there are quite a few people lurking around, either chatting in groups or hunched over laptops attached to the powerboards that have been generously placed around. there's an open wireless network which doesn't seem to need any log-in, despite signs displaying the password, and a cafenet token in the conference bag. but an open network is what there should be, at an open source conference.

A consideration of parallels between switching genders/bodies and switching realities...

Reality Shifting – Part 1: Rezzing - Read the rest, with video, @ Augmentology.com

“There are many worlds and many realities in our universe. When one reality, or one world-view is superimposed on another, it is inevitable that social, economic and cultural problems arise. Hierarchies of worlds are constructs of a bygone era. Ecologies of worlds should guide us in considering our future… We can begin by designing environments that can respond to physical, environmental, or social needs. Not only the needs of human beings, but also of the organisms and elements with whom we share the Biosphere.” – fo.am

Rezzing occurs in the space in-between worlds. Rezzing happens in the moment we switch from one reality to another: where the structure of synthetic worlds is unveiled. We see these spaces appear gradually – textures, alpha channels and audio appear in layers. Forms start as simple grey patterns that morph and evolve via emergent detail. These patterns resolve as final forms that adhere to in-game physics and flop into “place”.

Read the rest @ Augmentology.com