I attended Burning Man from 1995 through 2002, and during that time I was very involved with the event, working with the Web Team and Media Mecca, as well as documenting the event through photos and video. Several factors have prevented me from going in recent years, specifically running a web hosting company (servers never take any time off). I still think it is a great event and encourage people to attend who have never been. Someday I might be able to return myself.
One thing that has evolved quite a bit over the years is the wi-fi cloud at Burning Man. This year we will see even more photos and video being uploaded from the Playa, as well as live video streaming, blog coverage and even updates via Twitter. So, although I can’t make it, I’ll still be able to check in from time-to-time and get an idea of what I’m missing this year in Black Rock City as we enjoy the empty restaurants and ample parking here in San Francisco.
Photos
Of course as always, one of the best ways to track images being uploaded from the Playa is through Flickr. Here’s are all the photos tagged “burningman2007” sorted by interestingness. Check back as throughout the week as the event progresses.
Danger Ranger has been uploading some great photos documenting the building of Black Rock City.
Black Rock City Webcam
As with previous years, there is a live video stream Burning Man from center camp run by HyperJohnGraham. Burning Man has also mounted a live webcam on the top of the Burning Man office in Gerlach, where you can watch as people come and go from the event.
TV Free Burning Man
Current TV, who was there last year, is back again this year with TV Free Burning Man, uploading videos from the playa (some in real time) and streaming Saturday night’s burning of the man during a live hour long broadcast.
Last year I heard at least one story of a group of people in San Francisco who stayed home and watched the man burn live on Current TV from their living room. Yes, I know that is absurd and I don’t recommend that over going to that actual event, but things like this are now just a normal part of the technological world we live in.
This year live streaming came to the masses, with websites like Justin.tv leading the way. There’s a very good chance that we will see some people attempting to lifecast from Burning Man using popular self-streaming services like Ustream and Kyte.
Burning Man Information Radio
You can listen to a live audio stream of Burning Man Information Radio.
IRC
An IRC channel has been established for Burning Man at #burningman on irc.freenode.net.
Burning Man Blogs
Recently Burning Man joined the Blogosphere, adding four new blogs:
– Building Black Rock City (chronicling DPW’s construction of Black Rock City)
– Prepare to Burn (information on getting ready for the event)
– Environment (ongoing coverage of Burning Man’s Green projects)
– Regionals (covering Burning Man’s various regional efforts)
I’m not sure how much Burning Man will be updating these blogs during the event, but the two to watch are Building Black Rock City and Prepare to Burn, both of which have been providing valuable information about this year’s event, for instance the Community Bike Project and the possibility of high levels of dust and whiteouts this year.
Wired
Brian Doherty, who is a senior editor for Reason Magazine and in 2004 wrote a great book about the event, “This is Burning Man”, is covering this year’s event for The Underwire blog at Wired.
Valleywag
During the week Simone Davalos will be a guest writer for the Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag, covering the event and attempting to dig dirt on the digerati by posting live from the playa up to six times a day.
SFGate
Reyhan Harmanci has been reporting daily from the Playa for the “Burning Blog” on SFGate’s Culture Blog.
Other Blogs
I also see that Summer Burkes has been doing some live blogging from BRC.
Frank Taylor is planning on providing updates and aerial photos throughout the event on the Google Earth blog. Burning Man has been working with the Google Earth team to create Burning Man Earth.
And of course there will be the occasional Twitter update from Burning Man, some of which will come through the Twitter group has been independently setup specifically for this year’s event.
UPDATE: The Burning Man sculpture was set on fire prematurely early Tuesday morning. Paul Addis was arrested in connection with the arson.
