BarCamp, according to Wikipedia, is an unconference that “open sources” the organizational process of FooCamp by codifying it in a wiki and evangelizing it through a Web 2.0 tool kit. FooCamp comes from the term Foobar, which (oh, duh) is exemplified in…
// PHP code
$foo = ‘Hello’;
$bar = ‘World’;
$foobar = $foo . ‘ ‘ . $bar;
// $foobar now contains the string “Hello World”
Web jargon overload?
Hopefully I didn’t loose you, but the truth is… I lost me. I followed that explanation right up until the “PHP” and then my eyes glazed over and I uncomfortably giggled because it sounded funny, but I really had no idea what it meant. Regardless of what your web-geek-o-meter reads, if you have an interest in sharing and learning about the World Wide Web, BarCamp is for you. Keep your eyes peeled for info emerging from this weekend’s Washington DC BarCamp “unconference”.
Barcamp is a gathering of minds in the web industry who come together to participate in sharing ideas. Participants are encouraged to take photos, blog and cover the event via the web. I love the fact that it promotes the idea that everyone has something to contribute, and everyone can have access to the event’s information via the web.
I have never been to a Barcamp, but what I have read so far gets me very excited. From what I can tell the concept of the event is in the same vein as a wiki. Rather than an “online collaborative website in simple form” it is a real life gathering of minds eager to share their input that takes place in a casual, very non-complex atmosphere. Topics to be discussed at the DC BarCamp are expected to include social media, blogging, design and development.
My presentation/ discussion is going to be focussed on the “Why” behind design for the web. There are a lot of interesting visual trends in interaction design and the user experience that I would like to explore and hopefully even stumble upon cognitive explanations for them. I would love to see participants sharing their personal design approaches in a conversation exploring how much is based on psychology, data, and pure design intuition.
With my incredibly hectic week hopefully slowing down I hope to enjoy some web-geekery and meet some locals this Saturday. Check out Barcamp online and see if there is one in a town near you or stay tuned to see coverage from this weekend’s Washington DC BarCamp.
[tags]barcamp, barcampdc, barcampwashingtondc, unconference, webdesign, interactiondesign, userexperiencedesign[/tags]
5 Comments
Watching your presentation right now… good stuff. Congrats!
BTW, I had 2 Beetles with my family when I was a kid… there was a giant hole in the floor, and it got really(!) cold in the winter. Did u have a new or old version?
— August 11, 2007
Good seeing you again, Samantha. If you’re ever up in Boston, let me know. I should be back down this way in a month or two for a Refresh DC meeting.
— August 12, 2007
Thanks for coming, and great to see you! I really enjoyed your talk, and think it led to some fantastic discussion. Hopefully I’ll see you around some more!
— August 13, 2007
Argh. Saying that “foo” has something to do with “foobar” is most unhelpful. “Foo,” “bar,” and “baz” (sometimes continues with “bat” and “boo”) form a list of “metasyntactic variables.” They stand in for other variable (or function) names in examples, when you often just “some variable,” but it needs a name (“some variable one” and “some variable two” are not convenient). “Foobar” is vaguely separate, inasmuch as it’s not part of the sequence, but it is also a metasyntactic variable. BarCamp (ad-hoc, open) was created in response to FooCamp (invite-only, O’Reilly run).
— August 13, 2007
To echo what the other gentlemen said, thanks for coming!!! It was great to finally meet you in person.
I’m bummed that i missed your User Experience talk and discussion. I’ll have to see if there are bootleg tapes floating around somewhere.
I hope that we’ll see you around at Refresh DC.
— August 14, 2007