It's not all hard work and sessions at EDUCAUSE, although on full conference days the first session is always at 8am, and the last finishes at 6pm, so long days. On two nights there's usually some sort of party, one organised by vendors, and one by the conference. Not for the first night I chose (along with almost the entire British contingent) to go to the Google party - its always good. Held in the Academy of Natural Science, we got up close and personal to some fantastic butterflies in their butterfly house:
and saw lots of other exhibits including some dinosaur skeletons. The party element was great - a magician who fooled me completely with some very good card tricks. I know it's sleight of hand, but really annoys me when I cant work out how its been done. We could make android images of ourselves and have them made into badges - can you recognise me?
And - the best of all - we could ecord a 7 second video in front of a green screen with your choice of props, and have it turned into a flip book with the aid of some very clever printers. Of course, most of us chose the boxing glove to hit somebody with. On the way back we managed to get a quick picture of TeamBrit under the LOVE sculpture that Philadelphia is famous for (being the city of brotherly love and all that.
On the last night of the conference there's usually something organised to do with the city we're in, and this time we went to the National Constitution Centre, Philadelphia being the place the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. Interesting place, and we were able to wander in amongst bronze statutes of all those who'd signed the constitution, including Benjamin Franklin.
I must say, I was very impressed with Philadelphia. It's a city with a real nice feel about it. Easy to walk round, and lots of people walking (and you can't say that about all US cities). very flat, lots of parks, murals and public art everywhere, and lots of history.
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