Idea Lab

Barcamps in Bolivia and Madagascar

by David Sasaki
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Tellingly, when you search for "barcamps" on Google, the first location-specific reference is not San Francisco, Boston, or Seattle. No, it's Bangalore, once known for its large British military station, and today the so-called Silicon Valley of India. BarCamp Bangalore has already held six events over the past couple years, starting in April of 2006. Barcamp Bangalore 7, held once again at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, will take place on September 13 - 14 and include a "hack night" to develop web applications using open web frameworks like Django and Ruby on Rails. In February I wrote a...

• August 27, 2008
• 2 comments

BarCamps Without Borders: The Unconference Spreads Globally

by David Sasaki
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

OK, So you've got your own blog. You've started taking pictures and posting them online. But what's more, you've also trained some of your friends, family, and neighbors how to publish online. And, via the blogosphere, you've been able to get to know others in your city who you otherwise never would have met. Great! It gets even better. Through this new online community and conversation you have discovered that many of your daily concerns are also the concerns of your neighbors and friends. You want better public transportation. So do they. You think it would be cool to organize...

• February 17, 2008
• 3 comments