The general idea about a Campus is that “it’s an event for freaks and geeks who spend day and night downloading music and movies.” Fake. That is what the press usually say and therefore we believe ourselves, but after having had a couple of interviews with various media I can see that the main reason why they say that is because they have no idea what the rest is about. More than one journalist tried to start an interview by saying “Look, I have no fucking idea what a blog is, so quickly tell me something that will help me for an article.” Of course, not before taking a photo with his flaminge i-phone. I couldn’t help but smile remembering the words of Ben Hammersley a couple of hours earlier during his fabulous talk that he came to say something like that as “the new geeks are those who acquire the latest technology without having a clue why it works or how it works”. I leave you a little video of this inspiring man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nTX58yQUKCU
The Campus Party Europe has been about many interesting and relevant things. The presentations have been a luxury. Paul Bennett, Blank talking about vertical gardens, Tony Segarra, advertising creative who told us about the emblematic pieces of his agency SCPF, such as the campaign “You like to drive” from BMW or “The independent republic of your house” from Ikea, The Almería Solar Platform talking to us about the future of solar energy… and countless other speakers to ask questions was totally accessible.
The space itself was divided into 3 large thematic cores: Digital Creativity, Science e Innovation. In the central area, two areas of tables where the specialists in Robotics and Modding were located.
The organization did not provide us with a list of participants or their projects, so we had to be the campuseros themselves who completed a Collaborative online list with our projects and contact. Let’s not forget that it was an essential requirement to present a project to qualify for an entry and we were quite sorry to leave without making a list.
In addition to the conference area, there was a space dedicated to the future where one could see a 1-1.5 scale prototype of Hiriko (a electric car promoted by AFYPAIDA, DENOKINN, and with the collaboration of EPSILON EUSKADI and MIT) a cockpit simulator for an iberian boeing 747 that I enjoyed as a little girl and a series of projects thatthey combined art and technology in a truly original way.
On a human level, the experience has been fabulous, so as a final touch I leave you with the following video in which you can appreciate the diversity of campuseros and in which if you pay attention you will find me.