Rockin’ the US of A

Posted on by Kate Ho

A few weeks ago, I was in the U.S. for a mammoth 2.5 week trip encompassing 4 different conferences:

  • Cross Creative San Francisco Trip
  • Digital Media and Learning (DML)
  • Games Developers Conference (GDC)
  • South by South West (SxSW)

It was probably one of most memorable trips of my entire life.

There are some great photos by Carole Dunlop from TRC on the XCreative trip.

I also came back with a ton of ideas for Interface3. All this got pulled into a strategic plan that we’re adding to, modifying and executing. Watch out for news!

#24 Saying no for the week … [#30before30]

Posted on by Kate Ho

Spurred on by a conversation this afternoon, I’m going to try and tick another thing off my list by saying no to things this week.

This ‘thing’ was created because I would say ‘yes’ too much – to a fixing something, or to buying something or to organising some event. I’m just really bad for agreeing to do stuff.

So for this week, unless its to do with business, its going to be a ‘no’. Gulit-free no …

Visually search through EIF Programme [#CultureHack]

Posted on by Kate Ho

A few weeks ago I went to Culture Hackday Scotland 2011. I wrote about it on StartupCafe.

I made this:

http://www.interface3.com/EIF/

Its basically a mashup between Microsoft Pivot and the Edinburgh International Festival Programme.

 

Here is an account of why I did this:

For me, I really wanted to do something that could be used for this year’s festival. And since the only programme for 2011 available was Edinburgh International Festival, and it was complete (and in an excel spreadsheet), I decided to try and get it tidied up and visualise the whole programme in a much more interactive way in Microsoft Pivot.

Since I needed to use a windows machine and my little netbook wasn’t quite big enough for me, I moved my desktop machine to have a little retro 1990s-style portable office.

It took a little while because there just needed to be some thinking behind how best to present the data and which categories to pick. Once done, it wasn’t too bad. (And because the hack was relatively straightforward, I did actually get some decent sleep in).

The result is a silverlight app that allows you to sort via pictures. Best thing is, its ready to be deployed on the web, meaning that anyone who wants to visit the EIF this year, can look through shows on the web. I just need to find somewhere to host it.

#17 Go Cheese Chasing [30before30]

Posted on by Kate Ho

Tomorrow is the traditional Late Spring Bank Holiday Monday that the annual Cheese-Rolling Festival at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire takes place.

The sad thing is, due to health and safety reasons, it looks like the 2011 is going to be cancelled (similar to the 2010 event). The police are worried that people will break their legs because they’re running high speed down a hill. Which … when you think about it, is sensible. Especially considering the cuts that the NHS are facing at the moment. Continue reading →

StartupCafe turning 2!

Posted on by Kate Ho

Last night, StartupCafe celebrated its second birthday.

Never one to shy away from partying, we threw an amazing birthday party. It was pretty epic. There are photos. And better photos.

I’ve talked about how delighted we have been to get such a reception from the community and how happy we have been to be part of something that helps people.

Most of all, StartupCafe has allowed me to become great friends with the nicest  people in the world: Jess, Hilary, Thomas and Bela. They rock.