Date: 17th October 2009
Location: Blackpool
Venue: Blackpool Pleasure Beach

http://bcblackpool.eventbrite.com/

Based in Blackpool we were keen to get involved with something locally, explore whats big in the region and what the tech community is talking about. Inquisitively we headed to the seaside for a day of web, tech and Potato wedges.

Held in the Paradise room at Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach, Barcamp Blackpool bills itself as an “unconference” with no scheduled speakers. It’s the attendees who make the content and with subjects as diverse as Ruby on Rails and a talk on Ernie the Electronic organist, there was something for every taste!

Morning

With sessions appearing on an ad-hoc basis throughout the day, we kept popping back to the board to see how the day developed. With post-it notes the weapon of choice, sessions sprung from conversations, Twitter topics and everything between.

Collaborative working

More of a discussion than a presentation, in this session attendees spoke about their feelings on collaborative work spaces and sharing of ideas.

W3C crowdsource review by Ian Pouncey

Employing the crowdsourcing methodology the group undertook an objective review of the W3C website. With some interesting points raised by the speaker and the group, without being overly critical the source code was evaluated.

Afternoon

With an open bar provided kindly by Yahoo, lunch gave a prime opportunity to socialise and talk web. With attendees traveling from as far a field as Cornwall, everyone had something different to bring to the table. After a spot of lunch it was back to business.
Accessibility content and cognition by Ian Pouncey

Ian gave a good common sense advice on accessibility and iconography in design. The talk tried to take in all the different angles a user may come to a website from, with varying disabilities such as those with screen readers. There were some great hints and tips about how to control screenreaders through coding.  This talk brought together the contrast of design vs web based technology. We had a really interesting chat after the presentation with Ian about web 2.0 and whether standards are even relevant today, and learned a little in the process.

Slate my website by Mike Nolan

In simple terms this session did exactly as titled, with a review of Edgehill, Barcamp Manchester, Testled and Barcamp Blackpool. Sites we’re rating on a sliding scale based on viewing the page for 10 seconds, then recalling as much as possible.

Introduction to BSL by Lalita D’Cruze

One of Steve’s highlights of the days was an interesting and different talk about British Sign Language, which included the audience working through the sign language alphabet! As we are in the communication industry, talks like this can open you up to a different way of thinking (which can only be a good thing) and change your preconceptions in general.

HTML  Emails by Rich Quick

Rich gave an informative talk on designing and developing emails and some of the challenges this brings.

We came away from the day learning a little, meeting a few and generally having a good time with like minded individuals. The attendees really make or break the event, but with such a broad range of subjects covered there really was something for everyone.

We’ll look forward to the next Barcamp.

Special thanks to Gemma Cameron for the organisation and all the sponsors involved. www.Bcblackpool.com