Betascape

I attended the Baltimore conference Betascape this Saturday. Betascape is a small conference for creative people: artists, writers, programmers, designers... you name it.

It's an informal conference; the small cons can be informal. Yet while informal, it had interesting sessions and was run efficiently.

There were lectures, conversations, workshops, and of course the "hallway track". The last is a feature at all conferences, although not all conferences recognize its importance and accommodate it. The venue for Betascape was multiple buildings, so the hallway track was actually the "sidewalk track". The weather was pleasant and chatting outside worked well.

I attended several sessions, including "How gadgets can change our culture", "Visual Design: Why It's Necessary", "Now that the internet has arrived, are writers dead?", and "What happens when everyone is a publisher?" Beyond the sessions, I contributed to a project at the con: a person is constructing a reading of a book, with people reading one sentence each. (I read sentence number 13.)

Betascape is an enjoyable conference. I had short notice of it this year and could attend only a fraction; next year I will block out the entire week-end.