Open Cities 2007

I'm here at Open Cities for an all-day "unconference" about the design of our cities. I'm too groggy to come up with a good description, so here's what's on the website:

Open Cities Toronto 2007 is a weekend-long web of conversation and celebration that asks: how do we collaboratively add more open to the urban landscape we share? What happens when people working on open source, public space, open content, mash up art, and open business work together? How do we make Toronto a magnet for people playing with the open meme?

You are invited to discuss, dance, debate, and download Toronto’s potential to become an epicentre and an example of a community that thrives on openness. We’ve all chosen to live here for a reason – let’s figure out how we can combine our talents to build a city-wide community of openness.

I'll be blogging throughout the day so you can check back to see what's happening "as it happens" so to speak... unless you're reading this through Facebook, since apparently, their software isn't smart enough to process changes to pre-existing posts.

Update: 12:15pm

It's been fun so far, Misha Glouberman has been a fabulous ring-leader. I've had some good conversations from so many different people. One guy wanted to build a mobile FM transmitter for Uganda, and I met a couple of women wanting to revitalise the street food vending in Toronto. My favourite so far though, has to be the woman who organises seemingly random dancing sessions around the city. Fun times are being had.

Update: 1:21pm

I just finished my first conversation and I have to say that I'm not that impressed. It's interesting conversation, but at this point, it feels more like a sort of mental masturbation than anything else. We share ideas, but nothing else comes of it. Maybe I'll feel differently later.

Update: 5:21pm

So it's finally over and I'm pleased to say that my attitude has changed. I've had some good conversation, but more importantly, I've learned a lot of handy stuff as well. On top of that, I've come up against two cool projects that some of these people want to do: an Kevin Bracken and Lori Kufner (New Mind Space) are advocating a true 24hour Toronto, and Mark Surman is attempting to creat an Open Source Chamber of Commerce. Both ideas sound fabulous, and it's solidified my faith in gettogethers like this one.

I'm heading over to the after-shindig-bbq at Ft. York. Hopefully, there will be more interesting things there.