It’s hard to evaluate the effect of a festival like DS5, but in my experience it is positively energising to meet with other practitioners, listen to the speakers and watch a fresh series of digital stories. We spend so much time working in isolation meeting very few people who really understand what we’re doing until we explain it to them it’s refreshing to discuss issues at DS5 where most people know exactly what you mean and can help you discover solutions.
At the end of the festival I poked my Sony Digicam in the face of a few delegates and asked them what it had meant to them. Without exception they also responded positively.