The Bangalore Barcamp

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Plans are afoot for a Bangalore edition of Barcamp. Barcamp is an “Unconference”, an event where we eliminate the panel of speakers and let the attendees do the talking, on the assumption that most attendees are also knowledgeable and, being unencumbered by the formality of stage, more likely to make interesting conversation.

First, some history:

O’Reilly is a US-based tech publisher that, like all tech publishers, needs to become aware of emerging technologies well in advance so they can get a book out on the subject before it gets mainstream. Books have long gestation periods. Among their methods has been what CEO Tim O’Reilly calls “Friends of O’Reilly Camp” (Foo Camp), an annual event since 2003 wherein Tim invites a bunch of really smart people to hang out together in a camp (a real camp, with tents for accommodation) and teach each other stuff or brainstorm new ideas, without any predetermined structure. O’Reilly skims from this for their books and conferences.

The event was meant to be private, but word got out and this of course pissed off a lot of people who weren’t invited, or weren’t invited the following year. Hence Barcamp, a counter event where anybody can participate. (The words foo and bar have a long and unrelated history together; this has nothing to do with bartending.)

Now, before you think this is yet another tech conference that could be of no possible interest to you, hark! Barcamp is a geek conference, a place for anyone with a good understanding of any subject to come and learn from each other. Whether you are a photographer, architect, lawyer, biker or academic, the place is open to you. See my post to the discussion list with additional thoughts.

Barcamp’s hope is that (a) participants will have a good time (non-contributing spectators are not welcome), and (b) that the event will be a place to form collaborations and germinate ideas that will eventually see the light of day. This concern with outcome is critical: without that, this would just be a bunch of friends hanging out and celebrating their togetherness rather than their achievements.

Interested? Add yourself to the wiki and join the discussion list.

themadman — Mar 21, 2006 11:39:52 AM — # ↩

Maybe I can teach some cooking. :p
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 21, 2006 11:58:33 AM — # ↩
  
  Come in, come in. Serious.
  - themadman — Mar 21, 2006 12:06:21 PM — # ↩
    
    Judging by the list of topics, it seems to be pretty much a tech get-together. I may not have a problem with that, but I was reading your group post about including architects, artists, and all those other folks, and right now, it doesn't seem so inviting to them.
    - Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 21, 2006 12:08:27 PM — # ↩
      
      That was a template list lifted from somewhere. It'll hopefully change as people sign up.
    - Anonymous — Mar 21, 2006 1:16:12 PM — # ↩
      
      It is a wiki!
      And the BarCamp is also like a wiki... Add interesting topics!
    - latelyontime — Mar 21, 2006 2:43:19 PM — # ↩
      
      I would love it if you could come and talk about cooking....or even better, teach us some magic recipes :)
      
      I know the list right now sounds very tech-geeky...but I have gone and registered myself and am hoping to get something out of too...so we will be the odd men out and look snooty.
ga_woo — Mar 21, 2006 3:51:28 PM — # ↩

How will this be an unconference if most of the time most of the people are not knowledgeable about the topic at hand?

I think the reason tech unconferences work (I've never been to one) is because tech geeks have a cursory knowledge of everything techie and so can participate regardless of the particular technical topic at hand. I don't think a generic geek unconference is possible. It could be, at most, an event with a bunch of talks and an enthusiastic audience.

Or maybe I'm just wrong about what BarCamp is supposed to be. I don't know.
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 21, 2006 5:08:21 PM — # ↩
  
  What if, say, the talk were on traffic? You don't have to be a traffic geek to understand the nuances of traffic management. Anyone who faces traffic can appreciate it.
  
  That's the idea. There are tons of geeks in fields that we are all familiar with but never imagined had any depth. It's not just about being able to teach others. It's also about being able to say "but I've observed $foo effect in traffic" and getting a rational explanation for how it works or exactly why it's broken and what is an impediment to fixing it, and thus going home with a better appreciation for the world around you.
  
  I think that is a lot more meaningful than being forced through a lecture on how tags are the latest jazz and look at all these cool new web 2.0 apps we're adding tags to, and just you wait, they'll totally revolutionise your world. Hey, it's just a tag. A label. The idea's been around forever. It's just that some people realised it works for categorisation better than the existing system. That is all. Enough already!
  
  It is that hyperbole quotient we are trying to cut down on by changing the format.
  - manubhardwaj — Apr 10, 2006 3:25:10 AM — # ↩
    
    You don't have to be a traffic geek to understand the nuances of traffic management. Anyone who faces traffic can appreciate it.
    
    It's 3am, and I'm not all that eager to argue about this, but what you say isn't true IMHO. There's a big difference between appreciating traffic management (which is what you and I can't do in Bangalore) and understanding its nuances: an uncle of mine, Anantharamaiah, was a professor at IIMB with a PhD in Transportation Management; it's a completely different ballgame.
    - Kiran Jonnalagadda — Apr 10, 2006 7:38:39 AM — # ↩
      
      True, good catch. I was aiming for the bringing about awareness side of things. Sadly, it seems this Barcamp will be overrun by the Web 2.0 crowd.
      - manubhardwaj — Apr 10, 2006 9:39:40 AM — # ↩
        
        In a world where it's "cool" to have a bunch of people hanging around in a room where WiFi access seems to be the biggest
        
        Here's a thought: get these people together and make it a No Laptop rule. Then let's see how many of these people actually have ideas, thoughts and opinions to share, and how many of them are obese gasbags who find power in flaming mailing lists.
        
        Most geeks are seriously deprived of interaction. The best times I've had at IIMB have been when a bunch of brainy people have sat for hours and talked about life. And geeks understand everything?! Yeah OK whatever.
        
        It ain't cool to be photographed (digitally) sitting in front of a WiFi-connected Mac at a conference of people, dammit. Why do you think I don't want to come to the BarCamp? I'm sick of "my kernel is cooler than yours" talk, and I'm afraid there is nothing I will learn except AJAX at BarCamp. Even the chef seems to have said no, and he will, by far, be the person I can learn the most about life from.
        
        manubhardwaj — Apr 10, 2006 9:44:33 AM — # ↩
        
        Two clarifications:
        
        - The first sentence should read
        In a world where it's "cool" to have a bunch of people hanging around in a room where WiFi access seems to be the biggest priority, here's a thought:
        
        - There was not, repeat not, a reference to anybody specific here; the "gasbag" comment was personification of what I believe to the typical asshole geek, as opposed to the good geek. IMHO. IMHO.
        
        Kiran Jonnalagadda — Apr 10, 2006 11:57:47 AM — # ↩
        
        I can't speak for the other planners -- and thankfully not, because they counter my more eccentric ideas -- but here is some of what I've considered:
        
        * Ban projectors. If you can't engage your audience interactively, maybe you shouldn't be here. If you really must show something, show it on your laptop screen. If that's not big enough, maybe you have too large an audience. Or pass around a URL that people can see on their own screens. This is about the only reason to have laptops and wifi.
        
        * Don't schedule the "sessions". Set no time limits. Everyone gathers in the morning and people who choose to "speak" first take the available rooms. People may run their session for as long as they can hold the crowd together. A new session starts every half an hour in whatever room becomes available and an announcement is posted to the IRC back-channel.
        
        * Run 5-6 sessions in parallel, starving each session of audience so only those who are really interested come to any of them. If the session's a hit, maybe there can be a replay later in the day.
        
        * Ban anything Web 2.0 or otherwise hip because that will clearly draw in a wannabe crowd that won't contribute usefully.
        
        * Invite people with orthogonal interests (of course they get no benefits that regular attendees don't). Some of the most interesting conversations happen when you find parallels between your work and that of someone who does something completely different.
        
        * Make it a two day event in a place where people can stay over for the night. The really interesting discussions happen when you've had some hours of acquaintance with a new person, are free of the formality of a session with a pre-determined topic, and are borderline drunk.
        
        * Impose a token fee that weeds out anyone who's not certain why they want to be here. This goes into a pool to pay for the venue and food, for example.
        
        I'm afraid there's too much inertia to break away from the conference format -- which I thoroughly detest -- and I don't have the spare energy to do much about it. Besides, if the mass of people want a regular conference, who am I to tell them what's good for them? Better to round up interesting characters who I think would like my idea of an unconference. And yet, the very idea rankles my egalitarian senses. If it's going to be a private gathering, it has no business being discussed in public except to show off how cool we are, which is not why we're gathering.
        
        *sigh!*
        
        Kiran Jonnalagadda — Apr 10, 2006 12:10:05 PM — # ↩
        
        It looks like someone was daft enough to tell a Web 2.0 crowd that Web 2.0 was overrated, and got booed for it (BarCampHyderabad). I can't find that report now.
- bluesmoon — Mar 21, 2006 6:59:11 PM — # ↩
  
  actually, they work because geeks have the ability to understand anything
  - ga_woo — Mar 21, 2006 7:22:03 PM — # ↩
    
    For example, I hang out with cultural studies academics these days. They know very little of tech, but their insights into other fields such as cinema and art are utterly fascinating. Let's get people like them into this. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bangalore_barcamp/message/15)
    
    Culture, art, cinema? Really? Most geeks have trouble designing an unugly web-page.
    
    P.S: Anyway, I probably shouldn't be discussing this because I won't be at BARCamp Bangalore. So, um, before someone comes in here and asks me to mind my own business...
    - Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 21, 2006 7:29:11 PM — # ↩
      
      If you're expecting someone to discuss the nuances of bharatnatyam vs kuchipudi, yes, that'll be a turn off. But what if someone comes up and demonstrates how piracy is actually good for innovation, with clear evidence of how today's stars started their careers with cheap rip-offs? (Yes, I know someone who studies this.)
      - ga_woo — Mar 21, 2006 7:36:28 PM — # ↩
        
        Yeah, I agreed with your previous comment. Was just addressing bluesmoon's actually, they work because geeks have the ability to understand anything. I think there are a lot of "scientist geeks" who cannot understand art and who probably never will.
        I just quoted part of your mail since it had examples of stuff many geeks will be unable to understand.
        
        bluesmoon — Mar 21, 2006 7:47:18 PM — # ↩
        
        maybe your definition of geek isn't complete
Anonymous — Mar 21, 2006 5:29:42 PM — # ↩

I was hoping you-know-who wouldn't be involved, but I guess he just cannot resist acting like an asshole even on the mailing list.

Sheesh, some people just don't grow up.
- themadman — Mar 21, 2006 7:24:12 PM — # ↩
  
  There is no need to insult Jace like that. ;)
hserus — Mar 21, 2006 8:24:01 PM — # ↩

The madras (i still refuse to call it "chennai") barcamp is even more tech loaded than the bangalore one :(

Oh well - if its just random bloggers with tech (or quasi tech) backgrounds getting together ..
premshree — Mar 21, 2006 8:36:51 PM — # ↩

Doesn't there seem to be too much planning (of sorts) going on for the event?
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 21, 2006 8:40:22 PM — # ↩
  
  Just finalisation of date and venue. Some of us would like a 2-day event, which would require advance planning, but otherwise it could easily be done this weekend or the next.
  - premshree — Mar 21, 2006 9:12:49 PM — # ↩
    
    Cool, I hope it's that way and that not everything is "planned" as such.
- mannu — Mar 21, 2006 9:15:33 PM — # ↩
  
  Well, it's mostly "unplanning" :)
joshmachine — Mar 22, 2006 12:14:36 PM — # ↩

awesome..would be checking back on wiki and distribution list.
themadman — Mar 23, 2006 5:35:27 PM — # ↩

I hope somebody is going to talk about Web 2.0
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 23, 2006 5:50:30 PM — # ↩
  
  The Hyderabad folks have that covered.
  - themadman — Mar 23, 2006 5:52:44 PM — # ↩
    
    You didn't click my link, did you? ;)
    - Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 23, 2006 5:53:50 PM — # ↩
      
      I share that opinion. ;)