QUOTE
The event at IIT Bombay on a Saturday morning is decidedly different from any technology conference I have been to. For one, there is no fixed agenda for the day. It is being decided on the spot — the speakers are scribbling the topic and tentative time on yellow Post-Its. The conference rooms are marked ‘Vada Pav’, ‘Chaat and Chutney’ and ‘Bhaji on the beach’. And my question, “Can I talk to one of the organisers?” is met by a long pause. There are no “organisers”, I am informed, although many have helped facilitate the event. Welcome to the concept of BarCamps!
Simply put, a BarCamp is a technology ‘un-conference’. It is an informal, open-for-all event where techies gather to discuss, demonstrate and talk about various aspects of their favourite topic — technology. From next-generation Internet to mobile computing to hacking — no topic is barred. There are no rules either, except that you cannot simply be a spectator. You have to participate in any way you can.
At the heart of a BarCamp is sheer enthusiasm. What joins its participants is a shared passion for technology and a desire to create and witness greater innovations in a way it can be applied in the real world. Many of them are young techies working for or running their own startups, trying out new ideas. And a BarCamp offers the perfect platform for spontaneous brainstorming, essentially creating a brewing ground for ideas and ways to implement them.
Entrepreneurs stand to gain the most from BarCamps (see ‘Why Entrepreneurs Must Attend BarCamps’). It offers them an opportunity to learn by interacting with their peers. It is also a good platform to get your product publicised, and perhaps grab the attention of investors. BarCamp Mumbai, for instance, saw venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy, who has invested in several startups in the space. “It was great to see such enthusiasm. I’m looking forward to the next BarCamp,” he says.
S. Karthikeyan, who heads sales at Venture Intelligence, a venture capital and private equity research firm, explains: “It is a very exciting forum where you can get an idea of what is happening in the field of technology. Although it is early days yet, BarCamps in India could attract investor interest at some point.”
Investor interest aside, BarCamps can help grab a lot of attention for your services. At BarCamp Chennai, for instance, Internet startup Taazza.com did a soft launch of its services. The Indian website aims to enable users to find pertinent information about topics by using the latest Internet tools like tagging and mapping. It presented the idea of finding news that interests Indians in an uncluttered manner, without dealing with annoying pop-ups and banners.
Taazza found itself very well-received at the event, and “by popular demand”, took the presentation to BarCamp Bangalore too. Through its blog, Taazza has been floating the concept since February, but the two BarCamps have done much to publicise it. For one, several people have blogged about it on their pages since the event.
Similar has been the tale of Neobinaries.com. Another startup, it had a novel offering to display at BarCamp Mumbai — a guide to the latest applications of Web 2.0. The website wants to bring together the people who use these applications, those who develop them and the people whose services revolve around them. Not only did Neobinaries.com grab the attention of the participants, it also received constructive feedback on how to improve its services on the site. Its presentation was followed by a busy half an hour of suggestions, queries and debate.
The concept of an un-conference is finding rapid popularity across the globe. For techheads, it means freedom from the trouble of ‘organising an event’, and allows them to focus on what they love doing — talking tech. Almost all arrangements — planning, registration, topic suggestion — are done online. Only a minimum sponsorship is needed to provide the venue (preferably Wi-Fi enabled), food and some stationery.
Many techies are even travelling across cities to be a part of the next BarCamp. Take, for instance, Atul Chitnis, a technology consultant from Bangalore. He has travelled all the way to Mumbai only for the event. Practically a BarCamp veteran, the Mumbai chapter is the third he is attending, after Chennai and Bangalore. The fact that there is no rigid agenda appeals to him. “In Chennai, we were 120 people in two rooms and nobody knew what would happen. Some of the really interesting discussions happened in the corridors,” he recounts.
BarCamp Bangalore had some high-profile presence. Open source guru Chris Messina, who enjoys something of a global cult status with new-age techies and entrepreneurs, travelled all the way from the US to attend the event, much to the delight of the others attending the session.
Companies, too, are now taking note of BarCamps. The venue for the Bangalore chapter was sponsored by Yahoo! Some of Yahoo!’s global executives, including global vice-president Chad d!ckerson were also there. Of BarCamp Bangalore, d!ckerson says in his blog, “I see passion, creativity, and the kind of geeky excitement that gets me up every morning. I see partners in making the world a better place through technology.”
The BarCamp concept originated as an open, free-for-all tech event in response to criticism of FOO Camp, an exclusive invites-only informal techie conference held every year in the US (FOO stood for Friends of O’Reilly, a reference to publisher and open source crusader Tim O’Reilly, who hosts the event).
The name BarCamp does not, as many suppose, arise from the idea of a group of people meeting over drinks. It is taken from the word Foobar, a commonly used term in computer programming with allusion to the FOO Camp.
The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto in August 2005, with around 200 people in attendence. It took place in a little over a week after the idea of a BarCamp was mooted. Since then, the concept has spread to various parts of the world.
In India, the first BarCamp was held in Delhi on 4 March 2006. In the short six months six then, it has rapidly gained popularity. After Delhi, there have been BarCamps at Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. The next one is to be held in Dharamsala on 22 October.
The world over, close to 50 BarCamps have been held, from Amsterdam to Boston to Chennai.
Inspired by the success of BarCamp Chennai, the city recently hosted a two-day BlogCamp. The concept was the same as a BarCamp, with the central theme being blogs and podcasts. “We got such a fantastic response during the BarCamp that we came up with the idea of a two-day camp centred around blogs,” says Kiruba Shankar, who helped organise BarCamp Chennai as well.
The concept of un-conferences is rapidly gaining momentum and importance. In the coming days, we will see more action.
Simply put, a BarCamp is a technology ‘un-conference’. It is an informal, open-for-all event where techies gather to discuss, demonstrate and talk about various aspects of their favourite topic — technology. From next-generation Internet to mobile computing to hacking — no topic is barred. There are no rules either, except that you cannot simply be a spectator. You have to participate in any way you can.
At the heart of a BarCamp is sheer enthusiasm. What joins its participants is a shared passion for technology and a desire to create and witness greater innovations in a way it can be applied in the real world. Many of them are young techies working for or running their own startups, trying out new ideas. And a BarCamp offers the perfect platform for spontaneous brainstorming, essentially creating a brewing ground for ideas and ways to implement them.
Entrepreneurs stand to gain the most from BarCamps (see ‘Why Entrepreneurs Must Attend BarCamps’). It offers them an opportunity to learn by interacting with their peers. It is also a good platform to get your product publicised, and perhaps grab the attention of investors. BarCamp Mumbai, for instance, saw venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy, who has invested in several startups in the space. “It was great to see such enthusiasm. I’m looking forward to the next BarCamp,” he says.
S. Karthikeyan, who heads sales at Venture Intelligence, a venture capital and private equity research firm, explains: “It is a very exciting forum where you can get an idea of what is happening in the field of technology. Although it is early days yet, BarCamps in India could attract investor interest at some point.”
Investor interest aside, BarCamps can help grab a lot of attention for your services. At BarCamp Chennai, for instance, Internet startup Taazza.com did a soft launch of its services. The Indian website aims to enable users to find pertinent information about topics by using the latest Internet tools like tagging and mapping. It presented the idea of finding news that interests Indians in an uncluttered manner, without dealing with annoying pop-ups and banners.
Taazza found itself very well-received at the event, and “by popular demand”, took the presentation to BarCamp Bangalore too. Through its blog, Taazza has been floating the concept since February, but the two BarCamps have done much to publicise it. For one, several people have blogged about it on their pages since the event.
Similar has been the tale of Neobinaries.com. Another startup, it had a novel offering to display at BarCamp Mumbai — a guide to the latest applications of Web 2.0. The website wants to bring together the people who use these applications, those who develop them and the people whose services revolve around them. Not only did Neobinaries.com grab the attention of the participants, it also received constructive feedback on how to improve its services on the site. Its presentation was followed by a busy half an hour of suggestions, queries and debate.
The concept of an un-conference is finding rapid popularity across the globe. For techheads, it means freedom from the trouble of ‘organising an event’, and allows them to focus on what they love doing — talking tech. Almost all arrangements — planning, registration, topic suggestion — are done online. Only a minimum sponsorship is needed to provide the venue (preferably Wi-Fi enabled), food and some stationery.
Many techies are even travelling across cities to be a part of the next BarCamp. Take, for instance, Atul Chitnis, a technology consultant from Bangalore. He has travelled all the way to Mumbai only for the event. Practically a BarCamp veteran, the Mumbai chapter is the third he is attending, after Chennai and Bangalore. The fact that there is no rigid agenda appeals to him. “In Chennai, we were 120 people in two rooms and nobody knew what would happen. Some of the really interesting discussions happened in the corridors,” he recounts.
BarCamp Bangalore had some high-profile presence. Open source guru Chris Messina, who enjoys something of a global cult status with new-age techies and entrepreneurs, travelled all the way from the US to attend the event, much to the delight of the others attending the session.
Companies, too, are now taking note of BarCamps. The venue for the Bangalore chapter was sponsored by Yahoo! Some of Yahoo!’s global executives, including global vice-president Chad d!ckerson were also there. Of BarCamp Bangalore, d!ckerson says in his blog, “I see passion, creativity, and the kind of geeky excitement that gets me up every morning. I see partners in making the world a better place through technology.”
The BarCamp concept originated as an open, free-for-all tech event in response to criticism of FOO Camp, an exclusive invites-only informal techie conference held every year in the US (FOO stood for Friends of O’Reilly, a reference to publisher and open source crusader Tim O’Reilly, who hosts the event).
The name BarCamp does not, as many suppose, arise from the idea of a group of people meeting over drinks. It is taken from the word Foobar, a commonly used term in computer programming with allusion to the FOO Camp.
The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto in August 2005, with around 200 people in attendence. It took place in a little over a week after the idea of a BarCamp was mooted. Since then, the concept has spread to various parts of the world.
In India, the first BarCamp was held in Delhi on 4 March 2006. In the short six months six then, it has rapidly gained popularity. After Delhi, there have been BarCamps at Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. The next one is to be held in Dharamsala on 22 October.
The world over, close to 50 BarCamps have been held, from Amsterdam to Boston to Chennai.
Inspired by the success of BarCamp Chennai, the city recently hosted a two-day BlogCamp. The concept was the same as a BarCamp, with the central theme being blogs and podcasts. “We got such a fantastic response during the BarCamp that we came up with the idea of a two-day camp centred around blogs,” says Kiruba Shankar, who helped organise BarCamp Chennai as well.
The concept of un-conferences is rapidly gaining momentum and importance. In the coming days, we will see more action.