Intervention: The Conference Celebrating Internet Creativity
from the we-need-more-of-this dept
This is a guest post from James Harknell about an event he's putting on that we thought would be of interest to folks who like TechdirtAnyone who is a reader of Techdirt knows that we are in a time of publishing disruption -- one that has the potential to cause a huge repressive backlash to this wonderful thing we now call the Internet. Everyone from governments, legacy publishing companies, and large IP and patent warehouses are trying to figure out a way to clamp down on the ability for new business models, and even regular people, to compete using this new egalitarian international distribution system. It simply caught them entirely by surprise, and now they want to kill it or regulate it to their sole advantage.
So how do you fight back against this looming threat? Like Techdirt and many other rallying websites, you bring people together to talk and build a strong community of informed creators and fans. Mike and the other contributors to this site are doing an excellent job of doing this online, but there is also a benefit to physically bringing people together to discuss these issues and work directly as a community.
This is part of why we created the yearly event Intervention. Onezumi and I started Intervention (a combo of the words "Internet" + "Convention") in 2010 as an outgrowth of our own online work in webcomics -- an area of internet creativity that has led to multi-million dollar business entities and phenomenal crowdsourced kickstarter campaigns, and has made many fully self-employed independent artists a living in its short history. While many other types of events have online artists as guests, and also some related programming, none were specifically designed around the needs of the DIY and indie online artist crowd.
Besides the combo of words that created the name Intervention, we chose the name for exactly what it represents -- an Intervention to both the business world and the creative world; a notice to those who refuse to acknowledge that things have changed and business adaption is needed for survival, and a call to action to artists who feel that they aren't good enough or capable enough to succeed on their own. This is your Intervention, a yearly place for you to learn and teach, to build a community of like minded artists, and to pass along your knowledge to the world and be a spotlight on the possibilities that the internet offers -- and to show what can be easily lost if we choose not to fight to keep it.
Our next event is scheduled this September 21-23rd in Rockville, Maryland. We hope that you can attend and help us grow this important conversation and be a part of "Your Online Life, In-Person."
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Filed Under: conference, intervention, publishing
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for example,,, this web site, totally devoid of any creativity whatsoever... a perfect reflection of masnics 1 dimentional 'mind'......
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I guess you're of the same fabric as the FOX clique mispelling Obama to Osama to their audience.
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creativity here !!!! oh TECHDIRT... NO WAY !!!!!
oh yes, that right, have a convention and talk about it,, not real creative !!!!!!!!
but at least you can talk about how you might try to be creative... nothing will come of it, and this web site will be exactly like it was yesterday, and exactly like it was 5 years ago..
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Re: creativity here !!!! oh TECHDIRT... NO WAY !!!!!
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Re: creativity here !!!! oh TECHDIRT... NO WAY !!!!!
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Re: creativity here !!!! oh TECHDIRT... NO WAY !!!!!
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Maybe from the open source hardware people that are becoming the hot new kids on the block.
http://hackaday.com/2012/08/08/sparkfun-recognized-for-their-growth/
Without actually having any granted monopolies to protect them they survive and thrive in an environment that other lesser beings(i.e. "creative artists") could not survive just by being creative, but have to resort to the ol'good fashion monopoly to do their thing and ask everybody else to foot the bill/consequences of such incredible marvelous acts of creative thinking, if you can't compete remove the competition, lock everything up and make criminals out of everyone who disagrees, what could go wrong with that kind of thinking?
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You really should check it out.
I've been attending Intervention since it's inception, and can honestly say that, in addition to the "fun" events and panels, there are just as many panels & events devoted to education, ranging from business to storytelling to website creation and maintenance. The founders are very energetic and passionate about this event and it is reflected throughout the convention.
Disclaimer: The energy and passion is so contagious that I have joined the convention staff. That said, I would continue to go and support them even if I wasn't staff.
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Take The Good With The Bad
I wanted to thank Mike for giving us the ability to get the word out about our event.
I think we can all tell which commenters on this thread need the real Intervention. For the rest of you who actually like to discuss things using logic, evidence, and analysis we'd love to see you at our event this year to continue the discussion on the difficult road ahead for all online creative people.
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If you can make it to Rockville, you will have a blast
Much geekier than a typical comic con, yet there's a wonderful balance struck between tech and creative...I'm guessing that's because web comic artists have to do both.
This results in piles and piles of great people attending, with almost no noticeable level of assholes, and that's an epic accomplishment considering the audience.
Oni and Harknell have their organizational shit together too; very, very smooth con operations, and instantly responsive to your needs.
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Intervention Veteran
If you can make it out there, do it :D
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I attended for the first time last year, and as long as my schedule allows for it, this con will continue to be a must do for me for years to come.
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