Events & The Favour Bank

Have you ever heard of the Favour Bank? It’s a derivative of karma, using an obviously capitalist metaphor, but Paulo Cohelo used the phrase in his novel, The Zahir. That’s when it first grabbed my attention.

The Favour Bank is something we are all aware of. According to Pablo, we withdrawl from it by receiving the help of friends and contacts when we’re starting out. We also deposit in it by helping others later, after establishing ourselves. Hopefully we end up in credit. An example might be Jeff Croft’s intention to highlight the work of less well-known people who aren’t the usual suspects, but are still doing great work, regardless. I try and do the same in my asides and rare posts. Hopefully you do, too.

I mention the Favour Bank because it fits neatly with a two events happening over the next few months; both might put all of us in credit at the Favour Bank:

1. Web Developer’s Conference, 2008

   The Watershed, Bristol, UK. 12 November, 2008.

   This is a conference run by, and for, the students on the Web Design degree course at the University of Western England (UWE). It’s an opportunity for them to meet and mix with industry professionals. There’s some interesting talks by folks such as Patrick H. Lauke. I will be on a panel discussing working in the Southwest with Joe Leech, Rick Hurst and Peter Coles. As of writing this, my profile hasn’t been added to the panels page but everyone else is there, so there’s much more interesting stuff to read.

   The conference is free to attend, and based on last year’s event, should be fun and interesting. If you’re around at the time, consider popping in.

2. South by Southwest (SXSW) 2009

   Austin, TX, USA. 13–22 March, 2009.

   This time I’m asking for your vote for our typography panel, Quit Bitchin’ and Get your Glyph On. It will be hosted by Samantha Warren, and fellow panel members will be Elliot Jay Stocks, John Boardley, and Ian Cole.

   We’ll be discussing web typography and I have a sneaking feeling that there will be some very different views on the panel so it should be fun. There’s also a fair amount of experience and passion there, too. So, if you can join us I’d love to see you there, but even if not, your vote would be very much appreciated! To vote, go to the panel picker page and either cast it, or quickly sign up to give us a thumbs up. Thanks!

In other news…

Locally, BathCamp is happening on the 13th and 14th of September at Invention Studios. I’m going to try valiantly to make it, and drop some typography musings on the unsuspecting crowd, but there’s already a heap of people going so it will be a fantastic day of geekery regardless. Keep in mind, according to BathMaster, Tim Beadle, any talk you give doesn’t have to be technical. Someone gave a talk about growing veg last year; it’s just a chance to geek about your areas of expertise in front of an audience who will appreciate the geekiness of it, no matter what.

Away from the Southwest, Scripting Enabled takes place on the 19th and 20th of September at the Metropolitan University of London. It’s a two day “conference and hack day” that aims to break down the barriers between disabled users and the social web. The first day will be a summit to discuss and identify the barriers with anecdotal evidence from disabled users. The second day will try and solve some of them — especially in regard to existing sites  — with a hackathon. Sounds like an event bursting with social karma, and thus, very cool. My accessibility lexicon and good mate, Jon Gibbins, will be in attendance, too. I’m tempted to ask you to heckle him if you see him, but I think I’ll reserve that right for myself.

If you know of any other interesting events coming up, feel free to share them by throwing the relevant HTML in the comments. It’s all good credit in the Favour Bank, or good karma, or however you want to describe the wonderfully seductive and aspirational concept of mudita.