On Saturday, Matt Knutzen, Geospatial Librarian for the The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division at the New York Public Library, will speak at the New York Map Society’s monthly meeting, held at the NYPL. Read details on the Map Society’s website. Open to the public. While you’re there, visit the beautiful map room (Room 117) and the current map exhibit, Mapping New York’s Shoreline–don’t procrastinate, because the exhibit ends on June 26.
Tamara Adlin of UX Pioneers calls Gel (Good Experience Live) “the coolest conference in the whole wide world,” and I’m with her. To quote Mark Hurst, the usability event’s founder and host, “Gel is a conference that teaches good experience by creating a series of good experiences throughout the conference.” And here’s the thing–I had a series of really good experiences at this event, for which Mark had drafted me as a speaker. Fortunately, speakers are also granted full attendee privileges: I went to the workshops and talks, mingled with creative and brilliant youth (that’s what it seemed like–the smartest and nicest 30 year-olds ever), ate organic food on bamboo plates, drank water and wine in real glasses, and went on a fabulous field trip to Dead Horse Bay-a great bus outing to a beautiful and haunting landfill of early 50’s refuse. Matt Haughey (Metafilter guy) does it more justice than I can–read his blog entry. The heart of the conference was The TimesCenter, an excellent venue. Most of the speakers described their unusual and creative careers–I was wondering ahead of time how I’d fit in, but that’s the tie that bound us all. How Mark kept us stimulated throughout: short talks (20 minutes), variety–including music (from The Gregory Brothers to the Ebony Hillbillies to Dr. Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey on the Rocks, who in her 20 minutes had all of us singing Zulu chants in rounds), restorative breaks. During my slot, I talked a little about my maps, but mostly about all the great stuff going on in the map world, whose cradle is now the internet.
Most of the attendees were veterans–they come to Gel year after year. I understand why: you come away celebrating creativity, communication, and possibility. Check it out.
