I’ve been intrigued with Unconferences ever since I attended Wikimania at Harvard during the Summer of 2006. Although Wikimania was not strictly an unconference, I really appreciated the free flow of ideas, and the fact that much of the conference was unstructured. I’ve found that I learn much more from fellow participants, than formal presentations.

Recently I’ve been introduced to the concept of BarCamps. Quite frankly I’m intrigued with the idea of hosting a "Web 2.0 and Corporate Learning BarCamp in 2008". Here is a link from a BarCamp hosted in my home state of Minnesota earlier this year.  It will help you get the idea.

Anyone else interested ? Post a comment, or send me an email: rhoeg@comcast.net.
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Update posted on January 7, 2008: Feedback to this idea has been positive.  I’ve contacted some folks I know at both Stanford and Harvard with the goal of seeing if either of those organizations might be willing to provide space for such an event. As much as hosting a BarCamp in Minnesota might be easier for me, it’s obvious that Boston or Silicon Valley would allow for better participation on the part of some key individuals.
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With as hectic as life becomes during the holiday season, take a few minutes and listen to this podcast from TechNation (NPR), The Age of Speed (Learning to Thrive in a Faster More Now World).

Description: In The Age of Speed, Former Olympic speed skier and now author and consultant Vince Poscente shows us instead how to harness the power of speed for less stressful, less hectic lives. This doesn’t necessary mean slowing down!

I’ve also added this podcast to my Innovation and Networked Economy Podcast Series.
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I’ll admit … it’s a challenge.  I’m tempted to have fun for the rest of December and only post about important technical knowledge management items … like flying saucers, or focus upon leisure time activities like SixSigma. After all, have you analyzed your holiday activities? Do your relatives understand the need to maintain all holiday processes in a "lean manner"?!

I give up, thus via Asiaing.Com I bring to you not one, but two great eBooks:

• How to Make the Most of a Flying Saucer Experience: Book | Web Site
  (or)
• Six Sigma for Quality and Production: Book | Lean Sigma Institute

Seriously, Asiaing.Com is one of my favorite eBook sites for providing links to legal and interesting eBooks. The number of books they review is amazing.
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Please pardon me if during this holiday season my posts don’t focus as much on technical topics. Thus, how do you do to stay sane this time of year!? Here is how Molly and I addressed this issue. We both took Monday and Tuesday off, and escaped to the Ann Bean Mansion B&B. This is our Christmas present to each other … two days of togetherness! In addition, we each have $100 to spend in the town of Stillwater, Minnesota. As I’m not much of a shopper, and there are no computer stores, I am challenged, but it’s fun!

Our hosts, Jeremy and Erin, are fantastic. Even Jeremy’s Dad gets into the act by painting some murals. Erin’s breakfast was superb, and we enjoyed everyone’s conversation.  I even learned a new technical term … D.P.S.F. (doilies per square foot). This helps one avoid B&B’s which are too frilly!

Once again, how do you stay sane during this Christmas season? Add a comment to this post and let us know!
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But not by me … my credit card number was stolen and recreated for a woman named Jessica. I’m covered, but a few comments about the situation. My data was stolen during a recent business trip to New Jersey. When folks complain about the security of online shopping, all I can say (and have said for years) … I prefer the online experience to the physical alternative of giving up my credit card at every "real world" business establishment.  On the web it takes a smart criminal to steal your data. At the local restaurant, anyone with a high school education and some minor training can steal your data. Here at the Hoeg family, I’ve trained my kids to never make an online purchase unless the url starts "httpS", and they can establish the validity of the vendor. Without the "S", I don’t buy.

In the end, low tech did me in ….

In closing, I leave you with a photo of my youngest son’s LAN Party (Wikipedia article) which was held Friday night.  I was impressed with the setup! Sorry about the photo being a bit fuzzy … in total we had seven souped up systems churning data! I had never realized that the guys wore a single unit headphone to monitor the computer’s audio … and left the other ear for real world conversations!
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