Audacity Unconference 2014

What is it?
AU14 is a coming-together of people interested in Audacity. We can talk all-things Audacity, and beyond, mostly proposed at the event.

See what is proposed so far at http://au14.audacityteam.org/.

Join up at our Eventbrite page.

Who is going to be there?
Quite a few of the developers.

About seven of the 'Audacity Team Members', including the whole of the 'Technical Leadership Council'.

Lots of other interesting people!

You too?

When is it?
Friday 11th and Saturday 12th July 2014.

Where is it?
UCLan (University of Central Lancashire) in Preston, England.

How do I book / What does it cost?
Book now on our Eventbrite page for either Friday, Saturday or both days. £25 per day to cover food and facilities / admin.

Numbers are limited to 115 but we are releasing places slowly so if we appear to be 'full', please email our administrator Colette CMSanders@uclan.ac.uk and she may be able to release a ticket for you.

What will happen?
We don't know what's going to happen, that's up to us all! People can propose sessions / ideas and people can go along and participate. We will facilitate that, but 'the thing' is up to the people there.

Let's get together with like-minded people for a chat and maybe a soft drink / beer etc. afterwards. Have some fun as well as sharing ideas!

See what is on offer pre-AU14 at http://au14.audacityteam.org/ but mostly we hope people will propose ideas at AU14.

What will you gain? Maybe some tips on using Audacity in your environment. A chance to chat with a developer, 'Team Member' or member of the 'Technical Leadership Council'? Maybe amazing music. Maybe some useful lesson plans. Maybe a novel way to measure the speed of sound. Maybe a collaboration with another school / researcher. Maybe a chance conversation with a future collaborator. Who knows? Influence the development process?

Maybe some inspiration?

Who can come?
Anybody interested in Audacity! Such as (in no particular order):


 * Audacity users
 * Educators
 * School teachers
 * University lecturers
 * Musicians
 * Podcasters
 * Researchers
 * Reverb developers
 * Whale-song researchers
 * who else is using Audacity in their research?
 * Developers
 * Forum 'elves'
 * Translators
 * etc. etc..

Help us extend this list to your interest :-).

What space is available?
We have various spaces available for break-outs, jam sessions, etc., all the normal university stuff. Space to do stuff. What will you need? Let me (Martyn) know.

Accommodation
Local hotels: There are several local hotels, including the Legacy Preston International and the Premier Inn (http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/PRECEN/preston-central). Others are available on the normal travel sites.

Student halls: There are rooms available in a private hall (who work in conjunction with the University). All rooms are en-suite in flats containing six rooms with a communal self-catering kitchen with basic crockery and equipment. The hall is Moor Lane Hall and cost is £25.00 per night inc VAT. Bedding is provided in rooms, but beds are not made up. To take advantage of this please see the form or email our administrator Colette CMSanders@uclan.ac.uk if you have any problems with that.

International
From outside the UK, you might like to fly into Manchester (MAN) or London Heathrow (LHR). MAN is much closer but a train from LHR may work quicker and cheaper than an internal transfer flight.

Train
For trains to Preston see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ (it's Preston, Lancs [PRE]). Book early (up to 3 months in advance) for the best prices.

Preston railway station to the Media Factory (our venue) is 0.7 miles and takes only 15 minutes walking.

Busses/Coaches
For long-distance coaches to Preston, see http://www.nationalexpress.com/ or http://uk.megabus.com/ (for the budget end of the market).

Preston bus station is (arguably) a national monument, and only a short walk to our venue.

Initial Survey
We did an initial survey to find out what people wanted from AU14. Here is what they said (edited a little).

They may run sessions on:

 * Audacity for noobs, first lessons
 * The use of Audacity in Audio - Visual sequences
 * Radio Journalism and Audacity
 * Mixing
 * Teaching/composing with children in school with Audacity
 * How we used it in our library
 * Nyquist and what it has to offer
 * HCI of Audacity in comparison to other Audio Software
 * Music

They want to attend sessions on:
(these have been grouped and ordered a little)
 * Basic User How To / Audacity for noobs, first lessons.
 * Interested in learning about basic sound cleanup/treatment for podcast/video soundtrack
 * Learn techniques, procedures, effects, equipment recommendations and why's
 * Sessions to create better podcasts and music from scratch
 * Audacity/podcasts for Post-Beginners: avoiding screw-ups, making-do (budgetwise), and any clever tricks that aren't too hard!
 * Getting to learn how the program works, how it has been working for others indifferent settings, whether there is any other like software for deaf people too
 * Using audacity in self-recording
 * Tips and features
 * Ways to use effects
 * Creating children's music
 * Benefits/uses of different file extensions
 * Best practices Professional workshops
 * Audacity workshop Advanced Audacity user plug-ins
 * Learning from professionals, stuff about plugins, talks on sound + music


 * Audacity for sixth form sound investigations - using it to calculate frequecy, wavelengths etc.
 * Using audacity to help to teach sound and waves in school
 * Uses of audacity in science experiments
 * Tutorials and workshops on how to introduce students 16-18 to audacity
 * Education - composing in elementary & secondary school. Developing teaching material.
 * Using audacity in higher education and libraries.
 * Learning how to use audacity and using the application in school linked to the EYFS and new curriculum


 * I want to make music
 * Meet other acoustic musicians and/or singer-songwriters
 * Listening to other's music / Listening to cool stuff done on Audacity
 * Voice Acting/Actors on YouTube panel
 * Demonstrating how Audacity helps me as an experimental musician
 * A band and a bar.
 * Possibly cookout/BBQ/Stove Geek session


 * Resume of the last improvements - New possible functions - New mobile compatibility - Future of Audacity
 * What is in mind development wise / Discussing improvements that could be made to Audacity
 * Discussion on improving the software
 * Listening to any technical, how to or similar talks
 * Interest in discussion about technical resources and content delivery ideas
 * Workshops (code and research), hack sessions


 * Plugins
 * Nyquist programming
 * Latency problems, VST-Plug-ins


 * Networking and Learning Everything
 * To talk about Audacity and the wonderful uses I've been able to gain from it and how I'd like to help others and how they could help me