Almost on a weekly basis someone asks me what's up with all the "camps" us social media people have all the time. I mean, there aren't any tents involved (except at things like DrunkCamp or CampCamp) so what's the deal with the naming of these get-togethers?
Here's a quick glossary of terms as BarCamp, BarCampBankBC, PodCamp (Montreal), and MobileCamp are all coming up next month.
- "Camp": Suggest an unconference style of meetup - full day or otherwise. The camping portion of BarCamp is to emulate FooCamp, "the annual invitation only, no-structure, no plan, tent on the lawns, hacker event hosted by publisher Tim O'Reilly." Yes, sometimes tents can actually be involved... as well as spirited beverages... that isn't the focus of BarCamp - at least not on Saturday.
- "Unconference": "A facilitated, face-to-face, and participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as high fees and sponsored presentations." [wiki]
Whether you're thinking of planning an unconference or camp from Demo to Vino, the underlying theme is to be social. Everyone has the chance to participate by way of offering up topics, being a speaker, volunteering or live blogging / podcasting / video streaming the day's events.
Photo Credit: John Bollwitt
