THATcamp Canberra is now finished, I’ve learnt so much in the past two days that it would take three days to write a coherent report. No time for that at present, so for now I’ll just list in  a random way the things I got from ThatCamp. There is the twitterfeed #thatcamp for more extensive documentation.

1. a network of like minded people working on related projects.  Some session felt like the best kind of masterclass. Very intense and very focussed.

2. the opportunities of variabilities of crowdsourcing,  and how important a good work flow design is for users. Best example i can think of is the NLA’s australia newspaper project http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

3. I finally understand how semantic web and ontologies work!

4. networks, networks, networks… same as 1. but i need to reiterate how important meeting your institutional peers in an informal context is.

5. persistent URLS!

added: Trackability of record is vital for DAAO.  It is also interesting when thought of in a critical cultural light. The politics of identity and the persistence of identity as it relates to data and how that might relate to other politics of identity is a fascinating case study in metastability. ( I wonder if someone has done it?)

6. so many useful links for existing projects that have tools that we want –  no need for wheel reinvention. The DAAO’s delicious tags tell the story.  Look in the right column of this blog and click on DAAO delicious feed if you want to see more.

7. good citation information- the better you identify something, the easier it is to draw it back in. A repeat of No 5. But this is becoming a key issue for us in DAAO – as we have ambiguous information in our collections and artworks fields.

8. layers- safe layers and layer that users can play with.

9. Learnt more on dealing with Legacy issues, extensibility and transition paths.

10. A summation by another THAtcamp participant  http://rearleft.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/mo66g33k/