Project:Bitcoin/Bitcoin Weekend 2011: Difference between revisions

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=== Email Draft ===
=== Email Draft ===


This is what I've been sending out to prospective Bitcoin economists -- [[User:Martind|Martind]] 12:55, 6 September 2011 (UTC)
Subject: Call for Contributions: Bitcoin Weekend at the London Hackspace


: I just started talking to Amir Taaki ("genjix"), a Bitcoin contributor and one of the founders of the Bitcoin Consultancy, about giving a talk at the London Hackspace. He is a coder and has been working on and with Bitcoin for quite a while; he knows the community and the software system well, has helped build a few Bitcoin exchanges and is running one himself; his talk will probably be quite technical. He's kind of an open source nomad too.
Hello,


: I thought for the event it would be interesting to pair him with an economist who knows Bitcoin well and can talk about currency systems to an informed and critical crowd of mostly non-economists. We're not necessarily looking for someone prolific; we're looking for someone who can understand, explain and critique these systems. Put them in a wider context.
(introduce yourself)


: Where would I find such a person? Who else could I ask? Any pointers appreciated.
We're preparing a series of Bitcoin-related talks, discussions and workshops at the London Hackspace on the weekend of the 24th/25th of September. Want to participate? We already have a few confirmed talks by Bitcoin contributors and infrastructure providers.


: The London Hackspace is run as a non-profit, we don't have a budget to pay people for talks, and attendance will be in the low dozens rather than hundreds; but we draw a passionate crowd of specialists and hackers of all kinds of interesting backgrounds. Last week we had an event with people from Pachube and the Nanode project and had people travelling from as far as Belgium to attend… this one drew a brilliant crowd.


: -> https://london.hackspace.org.uk/
Some of the confirmed contributors:
*  Amir Taaki ("genjix") is an open source software developer, co-founder of the Bitcoin Consultancy, the author of libbitcoin, has helped build a few Bitcoin exchanges and is running one himself (Britcoin, the UK's largest exchange.)
* Jason Chia is a member of the Bitcoin Consultancy and a barrister in the UK specialising in corporate law.
* Vladimir Marchenko was previously known as the author of the FileDonkey and Figator P2P search engines. He is currently running a private supercomputer which is one of the largest private bitcoin mining operations in the UK, and possibly the world.


: I.e., someone young and/or naturally inquisitive is going to enjoy this; someone who's mostly interested in building a high profile probably won't get much out of it.


: The talk would be in the near future, probably late Sept or early Oct. We'll try to record it and will make the video public.
Regarding yourself, we're particularly interested in:
* software developers familiar with the Bitcoin codebase
* cryptographers who can comment on Bitcoin crypto mechanisms
* admins/developers with experience running Bitcoin infrastructure
* economists and lawyers/barristers with a good understanding of Bitcoin, and optimally some practical experience
* Bitcoin merchants and exchange providers
 
... but generally we're just curious to hear your suggestions. We're not necessarily looking for someone prolific; we're looking for someone who can understand, explain and critique these systems. Put them in a wider context.
 
Get in touch if you'd like to participate. We'll try to record the talks and will make the videos public.
 
Who else should we ask?
 
 
The London Hackspace is run as a non-profit, we don't have a budget to pay people for talks, and attendance will be in the low dozens rather than hundreds; but we draw a passionate crowd of specialists and hackers of all kinds of interesting backgrounds. We recently had an event with people from Pachube and the Nanode project and had people travelling from as far as Belgium to attend… this one drew a brilliant crowd.
 
http://london.hackspace.org.uk/
 
I.e., someone young and/or naturally inquisitive is going to enjoy this; someone who's mostly interested in building a high profile probably won't get much out of it.
 
 
Regards,
(your name)

Revision as of 21:18, 6 September 2011

See also: Bitcoin Workshop 2011-09-25

About

A meetup for Bitcoin contributors, enthusiasts, and everyone curious about Bitcoin. We will discuss the code, the infrastructure, the mechanisms of currency systems, and many other things. A great chance to bring new people together.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, 24 Sept 2011 and will start around 2pm. Location:

Day 0 schedule

(This is a draft and will change a lot.)

  • 14:00 Keynote by Amir Taaki (10 mins)
  • 14:15 Bitcoin song (10 mins)
  • 14:30 Break (15 mins)
  • 14:50 Technical talk by Amir Taaki (15 mins)
  • 15:05 Mining talk by Vladimir Marchenko (15 mins)
    • Getting started with bitcoin mining
    • Common mining rig designs
    • Common software
    • Using bitcoin mining pools (do's and dont's)
    • Bitcoin mining axioms.
  • 15:30 Geek discussion (30 mins)
  • 15:45 Break (15 mins)
  • 16:05 Economics talk by Gary Mulder (15 mins)
    • What is money?
    • Bitcoin inflation vs. government fiat inflation.
    • Investing in bitcoins.
    • Future of bitcoins.
  • 16:20 Legal talk by Jason Chia (15 mins)
  • 16:40 Roundtable with speakers and audience (30 mins)
  • 17:00 End (5 mins)

Day 1 schedule

  • 14:00 Security talk by Vladimir Marchenko (30 mins)
    • Security is not a state, it is a process.
    • How to do quick and simple risk assessment
    • How to safeguard your bitcoin wallet
    • How to safely operate bitcoin mining machines.
  • 14:30 Practical bitcoin workshop by TBC (1 hour)
  • 15:30 Break (30 mins)
  • 16:00 Developer workshop - use bitcoin on a simple PHP website by Amir Taaki (2 hours)

Speakers

Vladimir Marchenko

Vladimir Marchenko, is a seasoned IT professional who started decades ago and since than run a FIDO node in Russia in early 90's; worked for Russian Ministry of Defence, worked for companies such as Coca-Cola, Pipex, Ebuyer, founded and run a number of private companies in UK. He is known as an author of websites filedonkey and figator (p2p). Vladimir is currently running a private supercomputer, which is one of the largest private bitcoin mining operations in UK and probably in the World.

  • Founder and owner of bitcoin.org.uk
  • Sysop of FIDO node
  • Bitcoin Mining Operations Management Service under ( https: en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Marchenko_Ltd Marchenko Ltd )
  • Developed the figator.org search engine.

Amir Taaki

Another lover of all things free. Known by nickname genjix.

  • ( http: libbitcoin.org/ libbitcoin ) - first full-node alternative implementation of the bitcoin protocol.
  • Co-founder of ( http: bitcoinconsultancy.com/ Bitcoin Consultancy )
  • Owner and operator of ( https: britcoin.co.uk/ Britcoin ) (largest UK exchange) and the new exchange (soon to replace Britcoin) for USD, EUR and GBP, ( https: intersango.com/ Intersango ).
  • ( https: gitorious.org/freecoin/freecoin Freecoin ) bitcoin fork.
  • Other stuff like vibanko wallet service, bitcoin poker client, Spesmilo thin-GUI, pastecoin and others...
  • Been around free software fulltime for 10 years. Was into 3D before.


  • ( http: www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2011/06/110624_divisas_moneda_virtual_bitcoins_sao.shtml BBC World News (Spanish) )
  • ( http: www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/bitcoins-how-do-they-work Guardian )
  • ( http: www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hack-attack-pushes-bitcoin-to-the-brink-2300384.html The Independent )
  • ( http: rt.com/programs/keiser-report/finance-politics-gold-money/ Russia Today: Keiser Report )
  • ( http: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwNfBgwbqng This Week In Startups )

Jason Chia

To be completed after: Jason Chia is a barrister specialising in the bitcoin legal situation. He has been closely following the law around bitcoin during the last few months.

Gary Mulder

Gary first encountered the Internet in 1992 and has bounced around the world and the IT industry for nearly 20 years. Realising that there was more money to be made in investing than being a wage slave, he decided to learn as much as he could about economics. Bitcoins are both a pure artifact of the Internet and a very interesting financial experiment with many novel applications.

  • sysadmin for William Hill online gambling site.

Contributions

(This is a draft and will change a lot.)

Proposed

Suggestions for talks and other contributions, along with people who could run it:

  • ...

Confirmed

These contributions have been confirmed, and the contributor can make the schedule:

  • ...

Invitations

Groups we should invite:

  • ...

Email Draft

Subject: Call for Contributions: Bitcoin Weekend at the London Hackspace

Hello,

(introduce yourself)

We're preparing a series of Bitcoin-related talks, discussions and workshops at the London Hackspace on the weekend of the 24th/25th of September. Want to participate? We already have a few confirmed talks by Bitcoin contributors and infrastructure providers.


Some of the confirmed contributors:

  • Amir Taaki ("genjix") is an open source software developer, co-founder of the Bitcoin Consultancy, the author of libbitcoin, has helped build a few Bitcoin exchanges and is running one himself (Britcoin, the UK's largest exchange.)
  • Jason Chia is a member of the Bitcoin Consultancy and a barrister in the UK specialising in corporate law.
  • Vladimir Marchenko was previously known as the author of the FileDonkey and Figator P2P search engines. He is currently running a private supercomputer which is one of the largest private bitcoin mining operations in the UK, and possibly the world.


Regarding yourself, we're particularly interested in:

  • software developers familiar with the Bitcoin codebase
  • cryptographers who can comment on Bitcoin crypto mechanisms
  • admins/developers with experience running Bitcoin infrastructure
  • economists and lawyers/barristers with a good understanding of Bitcoin, and optimally some practical experience
  • Bitcoin merchants and exchange providers

... but generally we're just curious to hear your suggestions. We're not necessarily looking for someone prolific; we're looking for someone who can understand, explain and critique these systems. Put them in a wider context.

Get in touch if you'd like to participate. We'll try to record the talks and will make the videos public.

Who else should we ask?


The London Hackspace is run as a non-profit, we don't have a budget to pay people for talks, and attendance will be in the low dozens rather than hundreds; but we draw a passionate crowd of specialists and hackers of all kinds of interesting backgrounds. We recently had an event with people from Pachube and the Nanode project and had people travelling from as far as Belgium to attend… this one drew a brilliant crowd.

http://london.hackspace.org.uk/

I.e., someone young and/or naturally inquisitive is going to enjoy this; someone who's mostly interested in building a high profile probably won't get much out of it.


Regards, (your name)