I talked to Chris Heuer from Brainjams.org about the very interesting work he’s doing with organizing “unconferences.” I didn’t know what a barcamp was before today (an admission that drew gasps from some of the hipper Gnomedex attendees) but it’s a cool concept. A barcamp is basically a conference that’s organized on the fly. Everyone has to contribute but no one gets to run the event. Kind of a physical blogosphere, really.

The concept reminds me a little of birds-of-a-feather sessions that have been part of user conferences for many years. People basically suggest topics on a white board and then self-organize the discussion. Barcamps are longer – typically one or two days – and more intense. There’s also a post-event conversation that continues online that BOF sessions rarely have. It’s very Web 2.0.

Brainjams is about to organize a multi-city barcamp tour. If they come to town, I’m definitely going to try it.

Categories: blog_culture, social_media, Gnomedex