Re: [LAU] LAC 2015 feedback

On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 04:53:43PM +0200, Christopher Arndt wrote: As organiser of one of the previous LACs I may be allowed to comment. One thing you should keep in mind is that the LAC is traditionally a bit less formal than your average XXX conference. I'd agree that this one was maybe one of the least formal ones, and a lot of your comments refer to things directly related to that. Even if not ideal, that is part of the charm, and I'm pretty sure actually appreciated by at least a large part of the attendants. Also keep in mind that you pay 0.00 Euro for attending. Which means that many things will depend on the work of volunteers rather than professional event organisers. That remains true even if some parts are sponsored. At some places, people - and the available volunteers - are dealing with public events as part their daily work. That would be so at e.g. the ZKM in Karlsruhe and even at the much smaller CdM in Parma where I was the organiser. It does make a difference - some things will be attended to even if you don't explicitly ask or plan for them. In an educational institute where the normal audience consists of students, things will be a bit more 'à la guerre comme à la guerre', and as far as I'm concerned, that's what I expect and it's perfectly fine. The same applies to availability of technical resources - some places have all you need in store, but if that is not the case finding what you need and make all of it work together can be more difficult than most people imagine. In summary, I think the organisers of LAC 2015 did a great job and I very much enjoyed being there. Many thanks to all who made it happen. Ciao, -- FA A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia. It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)