By Chris Ihidero
Greetings from cold cold Manchester!
So FuturEverything Festival has been a lot of fun so far. I’m attending on behalf of Nigerian Entertainment Conference, thanks to British Council Nigeria and FuturEverything. As always, seeing how others organize a festival of this magnitude helps one see what’s great and what’s not so great about a platform like NECLive.
When you hear the word ‘hacker’, what comes to mind? Some lonely dude sitting behind a computer in a dimly lit underground space, right? It was interesting to meet a few hackers today at the opening sessions of the festival conference. Much more interesting is how analysis of the collection and use of data affects just about everything. It was great to hear people being referred to as great hackers and seeing that the work they do isn’t negatively disruptive but rather impactful positively in society. Danja Vasiliev’s presentation was the top one for me; he’s one of the top hackers in the world.
The ‘informal’ nature of FuturEverything has been most impressive. I can’t remember seeing a single tie today. Jeans and sneakers rule here. My kind of thing. It’s the ideas that matter, and if Day 1 is a pointer to what’s to come, the ideas here are truly eye opening and invigorating.
Finally met Nigeria’s representative at the Global FUTR Lab 2015, Adebayo Adegbembo. The maiden edition of Global FUTR, in partnership with the British Council Creative Economy, selected 10 young creative from across the world: Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Pakistan, UAE, Nigeria and the UK. Adebayo’s Àsà apps and videos intends to educate and explore possibilities of delivering Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage through new media. I shall be having a chat with Adebayo in the coming days.
As with every really good festival, I am missing more stuff than I am consuming because there’s just too much going on at the same time.
Diner, at Beef and Pudding restaurant, was…well, beef and pudding! It was fantastic. Here’s hoping the green soup I had for starters will not put my butt permanently in the toilet bowl this night. Fingers crossed.
See you tomorrow!
