Dreaming

Appropriate dreaming, that is what I have been doing the last two days. Dreaming along with geeks and dorks, and people from top, middle and low class, at various occasions in the melting pot of Los Angeles.

BarcampLA (number 6), was an enjoyable experience. It is an open, participatory workshop-event, whose content is provided by participants. This one hosted in the workspace of a LA company, with hundreds of participants. Just sticking a notice on the board, and off one goes. Yesterday I had the chance to present the Macha case to this lively geeky public, amidst hundreds of PCs and other equipment clutter.

Later on the day Geoffrey Emery, whom was my appointed host for the day, drove me in his red, convirtable Mustang around downtown LA towards Codecamp, where he gave a speetch on the use of Virtual Earth in java-programming, and other nerdy things. Code Camp is a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. Quite a different atmosphere then Barcamp, but both completely open in nature - attendance is absolutely free - and speakers just 'sign in on the fly' and it all supports the free flow of information in an impressive way. I am just dreaming of the time we can have these kind of venues in countries like Zambia, where peers present, challenge and be challenged in an open, creative environment among peers and all.

In the evening Lynn Langit, Esther Schorr, and Anton Delsink joined and I was taken to a nice Japanese restaurant with stunning views at the 21th floor in downtown LA. They all visited Macha, are volunteering for the worthwhile SmartCare developments in Zambia. It was like a dream, meeting in one place, while we all live in different parts of the world (LA, Seattle, Dubai and Macha respectively).

This morning I went to Angelus Temple, around the block from where I am staying right now. It is operating the DreamCenter in LA and beyond, and it was certainy a top musical and experiential event. Nicely out of the box for a person from the Zambia rural area, stirring and exhilerating, a real big-town USA experience.