Wuthering Bytes
Walking a thin between passion and terror.
The picturesque surrounds of the Upper Calder Valley, Hebden Bridge plays host to Wuthering Bytes for one week a year in September. This event is a celebration of maker culture and encompasses many facets of the movement. We were lucky enough to pop along for the Open Source User Group meeting, which showcases new and interesting projects.
To open the event, we heard from Dr Tim Drysdale who has been part of the LabRTC team at the Open University to enable real-time control of hardware over an internet connection. The goal of the project is to enable anyone to have real-time access to expensive laboratory equipment, no matter their location.
Next up was Ken Boak, an ex-BBC R&D engineer who is striving to open up how the next generation of engineers are trained so that we can enrich our future with the best technologies. Also presenting was Adrian McEwan from DoES Liverpool, a long standing and standard setting hackspace, McEwan illustrated a map resource that he has developed, showing the location and services offered by the many UK maker groups, suppliers and manufacturers. McEwan is keen for others to learn what is out there and for makers to work with manufacturers and kickstart an increase in UK makers.
Another interesting talk was by Daniel Mulligan who talked about open source film production, from open source cameras and equipment to work flows that involve open source software for video production.
We enjoyed our time at the event and it was exciting to see so many makers/engineers working on projects both big and small.