Hacking the Subconscious at Notacon

If you've been a reader of Cool Cleveland for any length of time, you've deduced that we're big fans of Notacon -- the famed computer hacker conference that has graced Northeast Ohio recently. You can read more of our previous Notacon coverage here, here and here. But the only way to soak up the vibe of what being at Notacon is really like, is to get a few bleary-eyed computer hackers in a room before breakfast and hack them while they're still groggy and waiting for their caffeine to kick in. And that's exactly what Cool Cleveland did recently.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. What exactly is a hacker conference or "Hackercon?" Well, most people "in the know" are familiar with them, particularly the Def Con held in Las Vegas this year. But we Clevelanders have our own spectacular "tech-geek" event that is becoming bigger each year and represents those midwestern hackers with pride...

Notacon draws from over a dozen states and a few other countries -- and yet, it's still relatively unknown to locals. This year, Notacon will feature even more events and the City of Cleveland's "Tech Czar" Michael DeAloia will help anchor Notacon to the region with a keynote speech.

In all, it's the perfect way for the event to celebrate its 4th incarnation this year. If you're into a multitude of tech proficiencies in a collaborative, fun networking environment, this Notacon is for you. Collaboration and camaraderie is key and one-upsman humorship the mood at Notacon -- as I found out over coffee, tea and LOLcanos (more on that in a moment) at Phoenix Coffee in Lakewood as we talked about the event. You're best to follow along like a group IM, if you will. The parties are (left to right) Dan "Muchomas" Washburn, Paul "Froggy" Schneider, his wife Jodie "Tyger" Schneider and Jim "Vitruvius" Eastman.

Good luck trying to type to keep up with them, though; I found out the hard way after quitting caffeine just how hard it is. We all begin with a rapid fire exchange of one-liners and party stories from the night before; and when the laughing finally settles...

Cool Cleveland: Well! You're all a jovial bunch to get people together this early in the morning--

Vitruvius: It was a miracle we all made it. We're not morning people. Wait until the caffeine kicks in. (grins)

Froggy: Get us away from computers and technology and "let's see if they can all physically talk to each other," right? (laughs)

Muchomas: Dare I even suggest--

Tyger: So much doesn’t come through online. We are all such computer geeks.

Froggy: I’ll try not to be too quotable. (laughs) Ironies abound!!!

CC: So how do you explain Notacon to people who don't get it?

Froggy: I don't know. We’re still trying to figure it out... if we can't figure the fucking thing out... there's always a lot to cover, but summing it all up? I’m lost and we're only four years in! (laughs)

Vitruvius: Maybe profanity will get more people to come! We'll all try it and see if it works! (everyone laughs)

Froggy: Basically, it’s a little bit of everything, under mantle of art, technology and community. We call it a community builder, but that's only one facet. There's a lot to explore and engage in, both interpersonally and technology-speaking. A lot of work, a lot of money, but it’s a lot of fun and well worth volunteering our time. It takes a lot of energy, as well...

Vitruvius: But hey, we’re up at 9:30 on Saturday! (laughs)

Tyger: We enjoy getting people together more so than all of the other things we're involved in, so that comes through pretty strongly.

Vitruvius: We really try to encourage creativity and collaborative effort that is not really experienced. Talks and presentation are scheduled but the real beauty is that speakers will come presenters for the entire weekend... the really cool shit happens spontaneously.

Tyger: Think of a recipe or cooking analogy. Serendipity is really the call of the day. Take equal parts hackers, artists, musicians, add caffeine and beer to taste, serve over Cleveland. (all laughs)

CC: (Aside to Muchomas, pointing to pad): What is that, exactly?

Muchomas: (chuckling, holds up notepad) A LOLcano someone drew at a meeting recently.

Muchomas shows off a picture of a hand-drawn volcano with LOLs flying out of it to the group. Everyone laughs.

CC: Speaking of spontaneity... Perfect! So, who comes to Notacon? Obviously, you get a lot of creative types... what about corporate/business types who focus on security penetration or are tech officers for their respective companies?

Froggy: Not really. We get a few, but mostly those in business have very practical means. Our focus with Notacon doesn't really avoid practical technology per se -- so some of what we cover in the weekend could be applicable to them -- but we tend to focus more on artistic means. That appeals to some of those [registrants]. We're just not geared to the security penetration stuff. That is a valuable skill, but we go with more of a creativity route.

Vitruvius: We like the audio stuff, too. That tends to get people going. We're passionate about what we do in our careers, so this is a pleasurable diversion from the work environment.

CC: So because this is as much a social and entertainment endeavor as anything else, I assume this makes Notacon very free-flowing...?

Froggy: Everything is going to be off the cuff, interactive. I hack people way better than I hack computers. When Jodie and I started Notacon we had been going to them for a long while... and we realized we were going to meet all the people as much as we were the programming-- we used some of the other hacker conferences as a jumping-off point years ago and decided that part of what we'd do is keep the schedule a little lighter than some of the others to leave room for social networking and connecting.

Tyger: Getting to see old friends, the opportunity make new friends -- all of that was great -- until we realized that we stopped going to the talks, despite there being so much valuable content. There's a balance we try to accomplish with it every year, and I think we've got it just right this time.

CC: For the benefit of the audience, what does one do at Notacon?

Muchomas: There's a lot to do. We have computer generated audio and visual demos written by artists, we conduct knowledge sharing community sessions for hackers, there's VoIP (voice over Internet) and amateur radio, grid computing--

Froggy: Basically "anything but ethernet" was our motto, as it relates to that. We had a contest last time to see who could get digital information from point A to point B electronically, but without Ethernet. That was the "Anything but Ethernet" competition. It was great.

Vitruvius: All that old network technology came out. Free space optics radio counted--

Muchomas: We had someone attempt it with a digital camera and model train set--

Froggy: The train, bits over hydraulic pressure, acoustic coupling, audio over VoIP. Some guys did not know any of that was possible. It's not a practical application for technology, but it was extremely cool! (all laughs) I love seeing people at their best.

Muchomas: Lots of digital media stuff.

Vitruvius: There's a DIY solar panel project to power lights, hacking your finances--

Froggy: I need that one. Notacon is taking a financial toll on my credit cards! (laughs) We'll at least break even this year; any profit we'll use to put back into next year's conference. Anyway, it's a meta-collaborative thing. And the great thing is that other events across the country are starting to look to Notacon. We all work with each other on pricing structures, collaborations... and it's shaken things up in the hacker conference scene, which has been pretty stagnant for a while.

Tyger: We’ve been told that we’re doing something different, and it's great to have the roots to build something more creative. This is what the hacker community started out like--

Froggy: In other places, where the dynamics with other conferences have changed, it's not about community anymore, it's about image… that’s what drives us. Notacon seems to be what attendees have been looking for... it definitely seems to resonate. Last year, we had a soldier come from Iraq who detailed his experience setting up ISP in a war zone. He talked about 110 degree server rooms. Believe it or not, he came home on leave just to attend the conference. It was incredible, and incredibly humbling when you have an experience like that. Incredible.

CC: Undoubtedly. Do you get a lot of kids who are interested in technology? Is it really a kid-friendly event anyway? Aren't there some wild people who attend these hacker cons?

Froggy: There are portions of Notacon that are kid-friendly, but we keep it a really free environment -- so it's not exactly a family event, either. We try to keep a nice balance and haven't had any problems; everyone who comes seems to enjoy. There's a perception that there’s a lot of destruction at these kinds of events. All negative stereotypes. People who come to our event know our history and nuture a positive construct--

Tyger: No one wants to screw it up… we try to make people realize that this is their event. Without responsibility, it ruins any event. We like it that participants take ownership and strive to be a part of something larger--

Froggy: It's that Burning Man philosophy: "what kind of world do I want to live in?" Jodie and I do the Burning Man festival and sort of used that as a jumping-off point for Notacon as well.

Tyger: The hotel we hold Notacon at has dealt with much worse than us! (all laughs) The venue is very near Cleveland Browns Stadium, so you get a lot of game day fans... there are Policeman’s Balls, Browns games... they tell us there are people far worse than us who show up there for other events during the year. I think that's why asked us to come back.

CC: How many people at this year's Notacon do you guess?

Froggy: We're looking at 250 people as of right now, and we're on track for 300-350 this year. We can handle up to 500 people including presenters it’s a lot of people and it’s a nice number.

Vitruvius: It's big enough for all the interesting people to meet each other, but small enough you don’t get lost in the crowd.

Froggy: We try to say hi to every single speaker and attendee. It's very egalitarian. We engage everyone as a participant, and treat them all as equally important people. Our speakers come for other presentation as much as to give their own; this year, very few were invited. Almost everyone volunteered in advance. We actually had overabundance of proposals and presentations this time. Everybody wants to be together and hang.

Vitruvius: There was that guy from Traverse City--

Froggy: We actually had someone move here after participating in Notacon. It's our own little reverse brain drain! (laughs) To put a business spin on it, we do have a job posting board getting formalized this year; Michael DeAloia, Ed Morrison, Dan Cuffaro and other speakers with the level of professional experience will draw in more and there's that promise of finding a job built through a socio-professional network there, too.

CC: How big to you see Notacon getting? Planning on larger venues, publicity and advertising in the coming years?

Froggy: Steady growth is good, but we're not overwhelming in any given year... we have a great showing from 15 different states 4-5 different countries. We only wish that Clevelanders knew about Notacon the way others do. But our plan has always been to keep it grassroots... flyers, ads and even interviews never quite get across what this conference is like. You almost have to experience it to understand it. We feel that good social connectivity, word of mouth and our increasingly solid content works as an ambassador for us.

Vitruvius: We want to share Notacon with everyone out there and want the results of that experience to spread throughout the community. We want it out there, not just at the events.

CC: Any final thoughts?

Froggy: You don't need to be technologically inclined to get into what Notacon is. We had a guy from Minnesota come down for Notacon 2 who builds his own acoustic instruments, dulcimers -- outstanding, wild stuff -- but he was not technically inclined and he admitted it. But that creative process kicked in and he had so much more fun, he told us "This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life... I don’t know if I can come again, but this was the most incredible experience I’ve had."

Vitruvius: He was all smiles the whole weekend. That made it worth it.

Froggy: Clevelanders need to see what’s in their backyard. High school kids, college kids, young and older professionals… it’s not hard to get to, we’re not really expensive, we’re definitely accessible… you can pretty well come and go all weekend, if you like we’ll make it worth your time. Even the admission reasonable. So, come on out.

Notacon drops next weekend, April 27-29 at the Holiday Inn Select City Centre on Lakeside; City of Cleveland Tech Czar Michael DeAloia serves as Notacon keynote speaker. Learn more about Notacon and their weekend-long schedule online at http://www.notacon.org.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com
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