Code4lib is a many headed beast :) It may depend on what you are looking for. (mailing list, IRC, conference, journal, etc.)

Mashed Library is a set of events (I ran the first one and I've been involved in many of the subsequent ones), partially bourne out of my frustration that I never got to go to the Code4Lib or Access conferences in North America. There is no organising committee or particular restriction on using the name - so anyone can run a 'mashed library' event, and they can be whatever format you want. The events have tended to be one day, cheap or free to attend, and have at least some 'unconference' element, and often some 'hands on' time/practical sessions. The events have tended to target a mixture of developers and 'tech interested' people - of course the mix varies between events. The last one was in Cambridge this summer and was focussed very much on cataloguing/metadata - there is a collection of presentations and blog posts at http://www.mashcat.info if you want a flavour of this.

After the first event I discussed with a few others the idea of having a mailing list etc. but in the end the question is always - why duplicate the code4lib mailing list? The original question asked about an equivalent 'British list', and I guess I've never really been sure what the point of it would be? What would be 'British' about it - what are the UK specific needs that can't be addressed on Code4lib? We use the same s/w generally, have the same code at our displosal etc.

To cover off the other thing mentioned DevCSI is a JISC funded initiative which has run a wide variety of events. The focus is coders in UK HE - so not repositories specifically, nor libraries specifically - however there are regular events run by DevCSI that are in these spaces. DevCSI have also supported several of the Mashed Library events - they are interested in making events happen and generally supporing the developer community, not necessarily always running things themselves.

They have run a big annual event 'Dev8D' for the last few years http://dev8d.org which has been a week long usually in February in London. They've also run one  student developer event DevXS http://devxs.org - I'm not clear if this will be repeated

Back to my question above - what is it that the code4lib list doesn't satisfy that people would like to see from a UK based list?

Owen


Owen Stephens
Owen Stephens Consulting
Web: http://www.ostephens.com
Email: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: 0121 288 6936

On 8 Oct 2012, at 09:14, Richard Wallis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The Mashed Library folks might be fertile ground for gaining interest in a
> code4libuk.
>     http://www.mashedlibrary.com
> 
> ~Richard.
> 
> On 7 October 2012 16:28, Tim Hill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Here's another lurking UK code4libber! I work for a UK/US company, but
>> I spend the bulk of my time in the UK (and never enough in the US to
>> coincide with a code4lib meetup). I'd certainly be interested in
>> getting the/a community more active in the UK.
>> 
>> Tim Hill
>> 
>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 9:12 AM, Simeon Warner <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>> Have a look at http://devcsi.ukoln.ac.uk/ . This is mainly focused on
>>> repositories but seems somewhat similar from an outside view.
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Simeon (lurking expat Brit)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 10/2/12 4:11 AM, Michael Hopwood wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Yes - my question was implicitly aimed at lurking UKavians.
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>>>> Dave Caroline
>>>> Sent: 02 October 2012 09:08
>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] CODE4LIB equivalent in UK?
>>>> 
>>>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 8:55 AM, Michael Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I know that CODE4LIB isn't per se "in" the USA but it seems like a
>> large
>>>>> number of its active users are.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Is there an equivalent list that you folks know of?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I dont know of an equivalent British list but there are a few of us
>> brits
>>>> about lurking in #cod4lib too (archivist)
>>>> 
>>>> Dave Caroline
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Richard Wallis
> Founder, Data Liberate
> http://dataliberate.com
> Tel: +44 (0)7767 886 005
> 
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