I've set up a Code4Lib 2013 layer in the Android/iOS augmented reality 
application Layar [1] to do something that I think---I hope---will add an 
interesting and fun element to the conference.

You can use it to scan around the city to see two kinds of things: 1) 
tweets using the #c4l13 or #code4lib hashtag (if the tweets are geolocated 
so they can be nailed to a point) and 2) points of interest from the 
shared Google Maps that have been set up [2].

During the day all of the tweets will be coming from everyone at the UIC 
Forum, so that's not too interesting ... but I hope that outside the 
conference times, when people are all over Chicago, they'll be tweeting, 
and that's when you might wonder, "Where's everyone at?" and you can hold 
up your phone, look around, and see that a bunch of folks are two blocks 
over there at a blues club and another bunch are up over there trying 
obscure beers and someone else posted a picture of an LP she just bought 
down the block, and that a comic book store someone recommended is a half 
mile that way.

It's an Code4Lib-augmented view of Chicago: you look around and see what 
we're all doing and where we're hanging out, and all the places we're 
interested in or recommend.

To try it out, intall Layar on your phone, then run it, click to go into 
Geo Layers mode, and search for "code4lib 2013".  Launch the layer and 
look around. You probably won't see anything around you, but next time you 
tweet something with #c4l13 (and the tweet is geolocated so you're sharing 
your latitude and longitude) it will show up.

So, if you want to try it, add points to the Google Maps, and when 
you're in Chicago, tweet!

I don't know how well it will work, but please test it and try it, because 
I think if it does turn out it will be a lot of fun.

It can work for any conference or event. The program driving this is 
Laertes [3], and the code is here:

 	https://github.com/wdenton/laertes

It's pretty straightforward, and if you're comfortable running a modern 
Ruby web app then to make your own layer it's just a matter of some basic 
configuration at Layar's web site and customizing Laertes by editing a 
hash tag in a config file.  Or maybe I could host it for you, for a while 
at least.

See you soon,

Bill

[1] http://www.layar.com/
[2] https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=213549257652679418473.0004ce6c25e6cdeb0319d&msa=0
and https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=208580427660303662074.0004d00a3e083f4d160a4&msa=0
[3] As in Odysseus's father, who was one of the Argonauts and did a fair 
bit of travelling, and because his name has "layer" in it.

-- 
William Denton
Toronto, Canada
http://www.miskatonic.org/