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Geeks as the Media at Notacon 125

Posted by samzenpus from the fair-and-balanced dept.
sinnergy writes "One of the Midwest's only remaining "hacker" cons, Notacon, will be happening April 8-10, 2005 in Cleveland. As an interesting subtext, an extraordinary amount of interest in independent media coverage for this event has been occurring. One project includes Jason Scott's Notacon Radio project. The Packet Sniffers are doing their own Notacon TV project. In addition, numerous other online media outlets, oline radio shows and bloggers have really picked up on the idea of events like these being truly valuable to the geek community. Even the local geek radio show is keen on the idea. Richard Thieme, one of the event's selected speakers, has promoted the hacker con as being one of the final bastions of open speech. Is this the birth of a new trend or is this simply geeks doing what they always do... spreading the word about something new and different going on in their world?"
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Geeks as the Media at Notacon More

Geeks as the Media at Notacon

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  • Looking forward to it! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stephthegeek ( 733850 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @08:51PM (#12096204) Homepage
    Shameless plug, I know, but I'll be speaking at NotACon [notacon.org] on some of the more interesting aspects of the community I run, and other geeky pursuits. I'm betting this will be a huge opportunity to connect with others with similar interests.

  • latter (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @08:54PM (#12096220) Homepage
    "Is this the birth of a new trend or is this simply geeks doing what they always do... spreading the word about something new and different going on in their world?"

    The latter. Next!

    • It seems to me that the lack of interest in all sorts of trade shows in recent years could possibly be attributed to the flood of too many so-so ideas that don't stick around for very long. Perhaps that's a little off topic, but the fact is that these shows are sadly so few and far between. My buddies and I are talking about driving to Cleveland. 8)
      • Not just that they are so-so ideas, but that everybody is trying to have the next killer-app. So instead of just striving to make a great product, they think that they have to be completely revolutionary and groundbreaking. Now, there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. However, more often than not, what we see is companies CLAIMING to be that, but actually not being anywhere close. THAT is why people lose interest.

  • Getting it right. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kwoo ( 641864 ) <(kjwcode) (at) (gmail.com)> on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @08:56PM (#12096234) Homepage Journal

    Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that attendees are acting as media for such an event. The alternative is expecting the mainstream press to get it right.

    I look forward to seeing what the "geek media" comes up with.

  • I don't think this is a trend that we'll see in the future. Rather, it's some creative marketing on the part of the organizers/attendees.

  • Since when... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by /dev/trash ( 182850 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:01PM (#12096272) Homepage Journal
    Is CLEVELAND the Midwest?

  • Cleveland hacks! (Score:5, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:06PM (#12096299)
    All this bandwidth calling me
    Back where it comes from
    It's such a d00d attitude
    Let's hack where it belongs
    All the script kids growing up on the skids are goin' Cleveland hacks, cleveland hacks
    They're all jackin' in with an old 9-pin
    They're goin' cleveland hacks, cleveland hacks...

    0hi0!

    • As a Clevelander (well, actually west of Medina, but close enough), I just had to laugh at that one...

      Dammit....now I'm imagining an episode of the Drew Carey show subtitled in 13375p34|.....
      • "Dammit....now I'm imagining an episode of the Drew Carey show subtitled in 13375p34|....."

        I can't help but remember one of my favorite jokes from that series. It was from the series last, declining years. Winfred Louder had just been replaced with the dotbomb "Neverendingstore". Drew wanders in, in his typical business suit and horn rims. One of the 20 something brothers who runs the dotbomb says "Oh look! It's the ghost of a guy who worked here in the 1950s!"

  • only remaining (Score:3, Informative)

    by Compenguin ( 175952 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:08PM (#12096320)
    > "One of the Midwest's only remaining 'hacker' cons..."

    What!!!

    It was new last year
    • Well, it is carrying on the tradition of RubiCon. Which lasted, I believe, five years. Definitly at least four years, but I believe five.

      -PHiZ

      • Re:only remaining (Score:3, Informative)

        by sinnergy ( 4787 ) *
        I would assume five since Rubi-Con 5 occurred. We were there, I think.
      • Carrying on a few traditions, like "being in the midwest" and "being fun to attend".

        Notacon's definitely trying to avoid a few other rubicon traditions, like "getting broken up by the cops" and "having the attendees vandalize the hotel".

        I don't think there's any real connection between the two. None of the same people are putting notacon together, and the target audience is pretty different. I think there's a strong emphasis towards leaving the kiddies at home for this one.

  • Who? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Anyone else find the tone of this intro really amusing?

    "Media giving unprecedented coverage to something you've never heard of"

    Hmmm

  • Hacker or Cracker? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by VoidWraith ( 797276 ) <void_wraithNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:27PM (#12096421)
    I can't tell what is meant by the quotated use of "hacker" in the summary. Do they mean "hacker" which they could have used without the quotes, or do they mean "cracker" which explains the quotes but doesn't explain why they didn't just use the word?
    • This is not redundant.
    • I think it's because the event isn't specifically targeted at hackers, like defcon is. You could call it a "hacker con", but it's not really. It's broader than that, with a lot of attention on art and community. There are definitely some hard technical talks, and plenty of hackers will be in attendance, but that's not to the exclusion of anyone else.

      Read the schedule and the speaker biographies. I think you'll get a better sense of how things will play out, and why "hacker" is too narrow a term for this ev
    • They're talking about 1337 d00ds with access to "hacker tools" like Sub7.

  • "remaining"? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by heller ( 4484 )
    "remaining"? heh. it's 2nd year and it's "remaining"

  • Oh my (Score:3, Funny)

    by alex413x ( 845817 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:44PM (#12096511)
    Hello Slashdot! NotaconTV needs bandwidth! If you will be attending and can bring a [large] 100MB switch and/or CAT5 to the con we will hit you up with free schwag! Contact us at contact[@]packetsniffers.org Thanks![packetsniffers.org]

    Wow, a gathering of pot-headed computer geeks sharing ideas and interests. I wish I could go.

  • NotaconTV needs help (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:47PM (#12096536)
    Hi everyone. I posted a message on our site and figured I'd also post here. We need network hardware to sustain our efforts at NotaconTV. The organizers of Notacon are willing to let us ride on their supplied hardline and wifi, however we will be asked to remove our server if/when we start to cause bandwidth problems (And rightfully so). As such, I feel we will probably be removed from the network early in the event. We are looking to see if anyone would be able to supply us with a largish 100MB switch and/or cat5 for the event. Please contact us at [contact at packetsniffers.org ].

    Thanks!
    dosman

  • Pricey, but with mpeethree recordings?! (Score:3, Informative)

    by Caffeinebot ( 826925 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:48PM (#12096538)
    In our college (about two hours from Cleveland) there was talk on taking a pilgermage for this event, however the exorbant price (atleast for students) on entrance made us pause and think against it (even the pre-registration was a tad pricey). It is unfortunate that they removed the option for student discounts, it would be more condusive to learning for local colleges students who could actually attend with out having to pay an arm and a leg, but still want to get a foot hold into the industry. However, the recordings should really be cool!
    • Its only a little more expensive than last year. I paid something like $55 pre-reg this year. Last year I walked home with a copy of SuSE, two t-shirts, a stack of stickers, and tons of miscellaneous hardware...all free.

      If you live only two hours away and aren't going because of the(in my opinion) modest registration fee, then you are really missing out.

      A trek to HOPE or Defcon will cost you a LOT more. The price of USENIX or Linux World will make your head spin.

      The quality of the speakers for No

    • ...pilgermage...

      Cool, new caster class?

      Must be from 3.rd edition, haven't played that one yet.

  • Richard Thieme, one of the event's selected speakers, has promoted the hacker con as being one of the final bastions of open speech. I can see it now....The day when we geeks finally get the deserving social status other superheros have come to enjoy.... SuperGeek!!! GeekMan!!! GeekWoman!!! GeekDevil!!!! Buhahahaha we are the protector of all freedom and jutice, we are the SuperHero(tm)!!!!

  • Canada eh. (Score:1, Interesting)

    by jefedesign ( 869140 )
    Is anyone aware of a hacker con taking place in Canada? That would be awesome, although, I can't guess how many people would go... there aren't many of us up here. Its good to hear that hacker cons haven't been shut down.. although, it does beg the question: how long until they try to? Then what do we do?
  • Is this some sneaky way to pimp out the Notacon, or are you really interested in the media coverage of the con? If you are going to pimp out Notacon, why dont you just come right out and say it and quit beating around the bushes. Sht you sound so worried about whether this is a trend or not, who gives a fck, if you want to start your own con to keep it going why dont you its not very difficult, just look at the amount of anime cons out there and you'll see what i mean.
  • Wow, not only is aol instant messanger hacked so that I cannot get on, but a huge obtrusive microsoft ad is right on the top of this story, and its a flash file with sound. That is the first ad I've encountered on /. with sound, and I'ts a Microsoft one? Shame on you!

  • NotACon blew last year. It BLEW. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Junior J. Junior III ( 192702 ) on Thursday March 31, 2005 @07:46AM (#12098838) Homepage
    I went to NotACon last year, and was very much unimpressed with it. It was small, obviously operating on a shoestring budget, and generally unprofessional. Last year I felt ripped off for paying to get in. The speakers they had presenting weren't all that knowledgable about their topics in most cases, had no polish or presentation skills, and their equipment setup as often as not wasn't working as intended, and the printed schedule of events was completely wrong. I'd go in to hear someone talk about a topic that I was interested in, and something completely different would be going on in the room, and then I'd ask someone and find out that the speaker I wanted to hear either canceled or was rescheduled for an earlier time and I'd missed them. I hope they've improved things for this year, but I won't be going to find out.
    • I don't meant to flame but what the hell are you talking about? Didn't slashdot's timothy even speak? And shit, talk about a shoestring budget, it was their first one last year! Looked pretty professional to me for the time they ever did it. What were you expecting Usenix? Looks like a pretty good roundup to me. Some pretty big names and least a pretty broad and interesting selection of talks. Certainly not the kind of tripe you'd find at something like Summercon. As to scheduling, I'm sure if you h
      • I expected, for the $50 or so I paid to get in:

        - Competent, knowledgable speakers. There might have been a few, but most of what I saw was amateur. The self-professed "military technology history expert" who maybe was 14 years old and obviously had no actual military service record takes the boobie prize.
        - Presentations that didn't suck. (Maybe you should test whether your laptop can talk to the projector BEFORE the presentation begins!)
        - A published, printed schedule that was accurate. And if they had
        • OK, I'll give you the one on the military technology. That one was pretty much sucked. However, wasn't that one of the few backup speakers?

          You were there 5 or 6 hours... huh... it sounds like you gave it a really fair shot. Not. And the threats of physical abuse? Talk about unprofessional. If you expect to be given then the world on a silver platter for FIVE BUCKS, you are sadly, sadly mistaken my friend. Heck, I don't know how I'd put on something like it for 5 bucks a head. I can't even go to a m
          • OK, I'll give you the one on the military technology. That one was pretty much sucked. However, wasn't that one of the few backup speakers?

            That's the thing. I didn't go there to see that speaker. That's what I ended up seeing, because something else that I DID want to see wasn't happening when it was supposed to.

            You were there 5 or 6 hours... huh... it sounds like you gave it a really fair shot.

            At that point, I'd seen enough. I couldn't tell when anything was supposed to happen, and all indications
            • I spent some time consulting with my staff over where the source of your issues came from, regarding notacon's quality. After checking the location of the Holiday Inn and consulting my star chart, I think we've been able to triage your issues.

              It's not usually known, but when you have a number of cosmic arrangements, specifically the pyramid shape of the nearby Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and the metal plate in Nick Farr's head, something that is commonly referred to as a "dimensional rift" occurs. Unlike the

  • Don't Forget... (Score:2, Informative)

    by technomancer68 ( 865695 )
    Don't forget Defcon which will be occurring in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 29-31, 2005. http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-13/dc13-index.ht ml [defcon.org]

  • "Final bastion of open speech"? Gimme a break... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sirwired ( 27582 ) on Thursday March 31, 2005 @07:57AM (#12098865)
    ...one of the event's selected speakers, has promoted the hacker con as being one of the final bastions of open speech. Is this the birth of a new trend or is this simply geeks doing what they always do... spreading the word about something new and different going on in their world?"

    Guys, this is a hacker con, not Babylon 5 brought to life... "Birth of a new trend"? Um, it's shameless PR, and it isn't unique to geeks.

    SirWired

  • WTF? (Score:1)

    by jveit ( 318281 )
    A hacker conference at the Mistake on the Lake? What is this world coming to...

    • Re:WTF? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I love how people still refer to Cleveland as this only because it shows how little they actually know about the city. The phrase itself is now ALMOST 40 YEARS OLD [barrypopik.com] and refers to situations that aren't relevant anymore.

      I mean, come on folks, you're referring to CB slang for cryin' out loud.

      • Re:WTF? (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Irrelevant. Did you know that Cleveland is the one large city that has yet to regain jobs since the 2001 recession? Moreover, we don't anticipate returning to pre-recession levels until 2009 [usmayors.org].

        The city is in trouble. Not as much as Buffalo, but there's some big time job concerns here.
  • like it or not. Part of the mindset that we have at Binary Revolution [binrev.com] is that internet media is the last bastion of free speech. We have said it on our radio show [binrev.com] and our TV show [binrev.com] for years now. The FCC cannot regulate us (yet) and instead of us catering to the mass media and government, we are using a new medium to take back what is ours.

    I could go into a longer rant about this, but you would be better served to listen to our shows and realize for yourself.

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