BarCamp is a non-conference organization focused on internet technology and culture, known for being participatory and democratically run. It was founded as a reaction to the exclusionary nature of Foo Camp, and now takes place nearly every weekend in different parts of the world. Attendees are diverse and united by their use of the internet, and each event is planned separately by local volunteers. The most important rule is that everyone should contribute something, and attendees often find it an immersive and exciting experience.
BarCamp is an international non-conference organization that focuses on internet technology and culture. Non-conferences are known to be democratically run, volunteer-planned, free to join, and participatory in nature. BarCamp is known for being an event where geeks of all shapes and sizes can teach, learn and develop new ideas.
BarCamp is named after Foo Camp. Among programmers, foo, bar, and baz are “words” commonly used to take the place of any word: these are called meta-syntactic variables. Foo Camp began in 2005 as an invited annual conference hosted by technology editor Tim O’Reilly. As a reaction to the exclusion event, interested people founded BarCamp. Now, Foo Camp continues to happen every year in the San Francisco area, while BarCamp takes place nearly every weekend in a different part of the world. For example, the first weekend in June 2007, there were BarCamps scheduled in San Diego, CA, Seoul, North Korea, Sacramento, CA, Toronto, Ontario and Raleigh, NC. Both events continue to be participatory in nature, although BarCamp allows any interested person to participate.
BarCamp participants are diverse, even if there are specific interests that unite them. The use of the Internet and new technologies is always a huge theme, but what unites BarCampers is where that theme crosses over into other areas. Individuals who use the Internet not only for work, but also for art, design, hobbies, engineering, environmental responsibility, social responsibility, organizing and socializing will find much to teach and learn at BarCamp. In a broad sense, everyone who builds or uses the Internet is part of the culture that drives BarCamp.
BarCamp inconferencing is pervasive. Each event planned separately by an ad hoc group of local volunteers in the area that will host the event. Budgets are formulated and sponsorships are sought to pay for simple meals, Internet access, and other logistical needs. On the first day of the event, attendees will register, have a meet-and-greet, and then schedule the session which they moderate on a huge time table in the common area. This program will continue to change and grow as more attendees register and schedule their talks. BarCamp has a few rules, but the most important is that everyone should contribute something, whether it’s planning, teaching, or throwing away the empty pizza boxes. To enhance the experience, BarCampers are usually invited to literally camp overnight at the venue.
For attendees, BarCamp is often an immersive and exciting experience. Finding like-minded geeks, learning new things, and building best practices are all end results of attending a BarCamp. The collaborative and casual atmosphere is often supported by a keg of beer or several bottles of wine and participants find that attending BarCamp offers as many professional benefits, in networking and learning new technologies, as social ones.
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