Happy Saturday!

So glad I got out and enjoyed a gorgeous few hours of winter sunshine while they lasted!
Been meaning to take some photos in Hyde Park for a while, so I got off the bus a few stops early and meandered through the city and the Domain on my way to the Rocks. True to form I stuffed up the times and missed the Technology & Behaviour session at Creative Sydney. But ended up catching a really good talk instead on Crowdsourcing and Collaboration. Heard from a couple of very cool kids who created The Loop, a great online portfolio site that you can spend hours on trawling through people's creative work in illustration, photography, film, fashion and everything else you can imagine.

Ross Dawson gave a broader overview of creative crowdsourcing which was really interesting and perfectly timed for the program we're planning for our big national conference in August. It's really exciting to see some of the opportunities out there for finding amazing people to collaborate with, and with the power of technology and these tools there's almost no limit to what you can achieve if you have a great idea.

The habits of three years working for a union are hard to break though, and so even while I'm pumped about the possibilities of these applications as I aim to move further into the creative industries, I can't help but wonder what it means for the way people work, their intellectual property rights and fair reward for their effort. But trying to stem the tide of crowdsourcing and collective intelligence is futile; the next challenge is working out the sustainable economics of it. And that's what will be fascinating to explore at the conference, particularly in terms of how some of these new models for work can apply to journalism.
Anyway, it ended up a terribly soggy, grey afternoon. On the bus home, the only people visible were those huddled on their balconies, slouching and pacing aimlessly in the universal posture of bored smokers in bad weather. But just now it's cleared into a stunning soft-focus, rose gold sunset.

Found some affordable flights, so once I find my passport (!) New York and Europe here I come! And more immediately, some live music and a few rowdy beers beckon. Hope you're having a great weekend!