Comments on An Open-Source Conference: BarCamp

flow chart — Mon, 21 May 2007 01:24:09 GMT

Useful in any environment. I’m wondering though if text messaging/IM have changed the way we have communicated…of course under a certain age. I will definitely commit them to memory and use often.
http://www.edrawsoft.com
Think of BarCamp as the open-source equivalent to a traditional conference, in which top-down planning is replaced with bottom-up self-organizational models.

Anders Ramsay — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:34 GMT

Good point Adam – I was actually going to make mention of the somewhat testosterone-heavy tilt of the attendees, but then decided against it because I found that the girls were just as much in the thick of discussions and presentations as the boys. I’d say the BarCamp NYC conference had quite a bit of the retreat feel as well, at least compared to those I’ve attended.

Adam Greenfield — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:34 GMT

Jeez, were there any women at BarCamp? Forgive me, forgive me, but I’m so very tired of events that are little more than conclaves of Aspergerian boys…

Andrew’s success at Design Engaged – or one of them; there were many – was that it felt like a retreat with a bunch of very smart, very funny human beings, in which things like space, food, and the city around us mattered at least as much as the presentations. For my money, this – the “engaged” part – is what is missing from so many conferences, even the latterday crop of “unconferences.”

David Heller — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:34 GMT

Hi people, the UXCampNYC is struggling to find a space that meets our needs. If you are in NYC and have access to a space that would fit the camp modis operendi, I’d love to hear from you. dheller (at) gmail (dot) com.

David Crow — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:33 GMT

We had a big designer presence at BarCampToronto and there is a DesignSlam on February 25 from 2:30pm to 6:00pm (we had a similar design slam at CanUX 2005 in Banff. I am not sure how well the Slam will translate to the unconference format, but it’s worth trying out.

BarCampToronto was really easy to organize. Probably no more than 40 hours of work, and most of that could be reduced the second time around (like making sure people donate things/items rather than money). We continue to try and bring the community together monthly using an OpenSpaces-like format for presentations. It’s much lighter weight and still a lot of fun.

Andrew Otwell — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:32 GMT

We put together Design Engaged, a more designer-oriented un-conference the last two years. I’ve been pleased to find that you can organize something for about 30 people that they really enjoy, feed them decent lunches, and cover many other costs, for a few thousand bucks. More people should be doing these things.

I specifically did not want something quite as freeform as BarCamp, although DE is about 1/2 semi-structured or unstructured work. The other half is traditional presentations-at-podiums, which seems to provide a good foundation for a weekend of discussion and other work. I’ve written some blog posts about structuring DE 2005 (http://www.heyotwell.com/heyblog/archives/2005/11/design_…) and DE 2004 (http://www.heyotwell.com/heyblog/archives/2004/11/design_…), and the main DE site (http://www.designengaged.com) has links to others’ thoughts.

David Heller — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:32 GMT

Hi gang,
For information about the UXCampNYC event, go to http://barcamp.org/UXCampNYC

We realy need more helpers and we need to find a space. We are open to other places in the NE Corridor for this event.