As the mists rise off the beanbags here at the Roberts Building on the campus of University College London, the FutureBook Hack has about 19 hacker-participants at work. FutureBook-pink blankets still cover some shoulders. The smell of breakfast being set up is encouraging.
It’s early morning. More teammates will join these.
The message goes out: By 1 p.m. today, London time, we must have the hackers’ entry forms. On them, they will proclaim what they’ve worked on for the better part of 30 hours. We’re asking each team what it would like us to call its entry…which personnel have collaborated to produce it…which APIs offered by publishers did they use to prompt and/or develop it…which technologies have they used to build their idea?
Because the big question is, of course, what are they working on?
No, wait, the big question is, of course, what will they render up when done?
No, actually, there’s another. And it comes from an interesting ring of power that was quickly on view Saturday as The Bookseller’s first-ever UK publishing hackathon convened. Industry figures stood in small groups of two and three, clusters of conversation forming, reforming, chatting, comparing notes.
The question: did we tell them enough?
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
The FutureBook: FutureBook Hackers at work: Did we tell them enough?
Read the full post at: The Bookseller’s The FutureBook