I was lucky enough this year to have the most awesome experience of attending my first Gnomedex. Gnomedex is the self-described “Technology Conference of Inspiration and Influence” that meets yearly in Seattle, WA. It's a bunch of blogger, new media, tech enthusiast types that get together to discuss the society and the Internet. It may sound like a bunch of geeks, but this would only be partially true. Yes there was plenty of talk about gadgets and websites, but it all came back to community and how technology affects everyone.
Gnomedex is a relatively small conference, usually just a couple hundred people. Small as it may be, this group of people tends toward the amazing. Even though a lot people already knew each other through things like twitter, getting to meet in person still is important. After-party conversations ranged from how to build business models off of twitter to rapid prototyping circuit boards. The one constant was the quality of the conversation. In the real world, just like on the web, content is king.
Good Content
I was most interested in two particular talks at Gnomedex. One by a long time role-model of mine Dr. Phil Plait—otherwise known as the BadAstronomer.
The Bad Astronomer
Phil gave an awesome talk about skepticism on-line and the misinformation we are up against. News can spread so fast now that there is practically no firewall between the public and bad information. His archetypal example was a particularly bright meteor that was caught on camera, coincidently, a couple of days after a widely reported collision of two satellites in space. Almost immediately the Internet (well okay, just twitter) was abuzz with speculation that the meteor was a piece of the former spacecraft falling to the ground. Never mind that it happened at the wrong time of day in the wrong location and was moving far too fast. The rumor that it was a spacecraft quickly became ‘fact.’
This misinformation could be avoided if people are careful and ask questions about the evidence they're presented. Which is his point about skepticism. It's not really about being cynical or mistrusting but instead simply double checking the things you hear. Whether it's from wikipedia or from your family doctor, people can be wrong. And sometimes the wrong info can be dangerous.
Phil has been especially concerned about the growing influence of so called “antivaxxers.” These are people who are using their influence to convince—likely because they themselves believe it—people that vaccines are dangerous and lead to maladies such as autism. There are thousands of parents who believe this and it's extremely unfortunate because there is absolutely no link whatsoever! The real danger lies in not getting kids vaccinated. Suddenly there are cases of measles and polio and other diseases thought to be more or less eradicated showing up again in these un-vaccinated children. Some have died. The lesson here is to fight back. Misinformation is best kept at bay through constant vigilance—speaking out on the behalf of truth in letters to news programs, forum posts, or anywhere else you see questionable content.
Bre Pettis and his amazing MakerBot
Another talk was given the same day by a master of the modern DIY movement, Bre Pettis. Bre Pettis makes things. He is an amazing guy who has an uncanny ability to both consistently come up with great ideas and to follow through on them. He helped start NYC resistor, a group that makes cool things in New York and is the founder of MakerBot. MakerBot is an awesome open source 3D printer. 3D printers are great, instead of paper they print things. MakerBot extrudes ABS plastic and makes it into whatever shape you can imagine. It's like your own mini factory!
Something amazing happed when people were given access to 3D printers. A whole community sprung up around sharing digital files, just one step from being real things. One website in particular has emerged, called thingverse.
“People still haven't figured out that sharing is the best thing ever”
Bre talked about the amazing things that can happen when large sets of data are shared like that. Objects evolve, people add and refine designs and the end product is almost always better than it started. Historically design has been such a closed concept, with individuals and companies holding their cards close to their chest until the final product was unveiled. But it doesn't have to be this way. Open source is just as strong as ever and wonderful things happen when people collaborate.
Showing Up Counts
I didn't realize it until I got back to Portland and had some time to think about it, but the most interesting thing about all the people at Gnomedex is they all wanted to be there. I figured that I would be more of a spectator, happy to watch and maybe learn a thing or two. But really everyone is there to learn from each other and be a part of something. All you need to do is show up. I encourage anyone who likes talking about the internet or technology to go to Gnomedex next year and see who you meet. It's a great conference.
