Onzo

“We’re trending on twitter!” The cry went out across a roomful of self-confessed geeks and assorted hacked electrics (including 50 flashing rubber ducks).

This summed up the second Homecamp: bigger, broader and noisier. We had international visitors! (Bart Van Der Meerssche from Belgian community metering application Flukso). We had energy experts giving presentations from Spain via Skype! We even had a virtual Homecamp on ReactionGrid, OpenSim! And we had donuts!

It’s exciting to see the Homecamp space expanding in two ways. Firstly getting deeper into the tech. Joe Baguley spoke about his experience testing the GEO and Bart Van Der Meerssche told us about the community metering application Flukso, and our very own Ken Boak shared his gas metering experience. Secondly, broadening the appeal to non-geeks (gasp!), for instance Benjamin Ellis spoke about designing apps using behavioural economics.

For me it’s the tension between these two directions that keeps Homecamp relevant and inspiring. Thanks to Chris Dalby and James Governor and everyone else involved. We’re looking forward to the next one.