Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Real Time Reporting from Mashup Camp


Well, the time for camp is here! I'm going to try to post as much as I can during the day, but the agenda that we are working on is so interesting, I might be able to keep up. This is my first un-conference, and it's really different than the other conferences I've been to.

Unlike most conferences, the agenda is not set before the day the conference starts. At the beginning of the day, the moderator asks the audience to come up to the front with the sessions that they are willing to lead. If you're unwilling to lead, but want to see a session, you can speak up too. I didn't see a session on real time communications mashups, so (lucky me) I'm running that one.

There are also some basic rules for the conference :
1) Whoever comes are the right people
2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
3) When ever it starts is the right time
4) When it's over, it's over

And the law of two feet:
If you are not learning or contributing, it's your responsibility to respectfully go somewhere you are learning or contributing.

If this isn't a good example of the mass democratization of our culture, I can't think of a better one. At other conferences, the vast majority of people who are speaking are those who paid for sponsorships. Here, there's a place for people who just want to talk. If you don't want to hear, just leave... which I suppose is where the two worlds overlap.

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