BarCampAustin brings open source to the world of ideas

The 'un-conference' BarCamp is all about spontaneity, offering a platform for participants to talk about whatever they choose.

By Geoff West
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Bourbon Rocks, a venue William Hurley booked for BarCampAustin just a few days before the opening of the event in 2007, had a little something missing: tables and chairs.

No worries. He put out a post on the micro-blogging site Twitter about BarCamp's furniture needs.

Three hours later, volunteers had not only brought in tables and 300 chairs for the room, but also set up the outside patio.

That's how BarCamp works: "People just come out of seemingly nowhere and present solutions," says Hurley (known as "whurley"), the architect of BarCampAustin.

According to its official Web site at BarCampAustin.org, the event is "An un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment."

Created by Socialtext Inc., a social software company in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2005, BarCamp soon branched out to more than 350 cities worldwide. The event's name doesn't refer to drinking; its roots are in the term "foobar," hacker slang for a placeholder name.

The format is simple: Walk in, grab a sticky note, write your name and what you'd like to talk about, and then post the note on the schedule board.

Subjects vary: the plight of Burmese refugees, bike advocacy, social networking, politics, economics. "There's simply no wrong thing to talk about," says Hurley, who is chief architect of open source and open innovation strategy at BMC Software.

Part of the fun is the event's unpredictability, says Hurley: "Even in the morning, we have no idea what the sessions are."

The event is so unpredictable, in fact, that this year's location came together just a few days ago. It will be at a revamped Paradox Night Club.

BarCampAustin runs during the South by Southwest Film and Interactive festivals, but is not affiliated with the larger conference and has a very different feel.

While SXSW programming is meticulously planned in advance, BarCamp's sessions are generated spontaneously by users. And BarCampAustin is free. Almost.

"There's sort of an unwritten rule," says Hurley, who first organized the event in 2006. "The price is participation, and people do and love it."

Sessions are either 15 or 30 minutes long, depending on the size of the room. The bigger the room, the shorter the time.

The format aims at motivating new attendees to present, Hurley says.

Volunteers will even help create slides for the presentations.

Hurley says BarCamp enthusiasts have three characteristics: passion for their subject, a willingness to share and an openness to the ideas of others.

He estimates that last year BarCampAustin had between 150 and 200 presentations, and an attendance that tripled the mark in 2006.

Austinite Todd Ross Nienkerk was a presenter in at BarCampAustin II in 2007. This year, he's joining Hurley as a co-organizer. However, "organizer" isn't quite the label.

"We're more like 'instigators,' " says Hurley.

While Hurley and cohorts book venues, set up sound and publicize in the days leading up to the event, presenters and volunteers run BarCamp, organizers say.

"It's very much a part of the free culture and open-source movements that have been exploding in recent years," says Nienkerk.

And no one holds ownership: "BarCamp is a bit like large banks in one regard: Everyone is a vice president," he says.

Each year at the festival, Hurley has worked from 4 a.m. till after midnight. As a result, he's never been to a session of BarCampAustin. He hopes that'll change.

"What would I like to improve about BarCamp?" says Hurley, giddy as he exits for a meeting with venue owners. "I'd like to see some of these wonderful talks."