Supernova and BarCamp SF
The selectivity and content-driven structure that make Supernova succesful unfortunately mean that we can’t provide a platform for everyone doing cool things. Time and space are limited, and I have to make hard choices to pull together the best possible program. There’s a totally different approach to conferences, which is to make them free, open to everyone, and participant-driven in terms of content. These “unconferences”, to use Dave Winer’s phrase, are complemenary with events like Supernova. Each format has its strengths and weaknesses. I’ve always wanted to see a truly open, decentralized event happen alongside Supernova.
This is why I’m thrilled that Chris Messina, Tantek Celik, and a group of technologists and entrepreneurs are organizing a BarCamp and Mashpit in conjunction with Supernova 2006 in June. Chris just posted the announcement on his blog.
BarCamp is “an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment.” In other words, it’s a self-organizing gathering of cool people, showing off (or creating!) cool technologies, where no one is turned away. The success of the BarCamp model is a testament to the power of the Net to bring people together. There have been BarCamps all around the world during the past year, organized and attended by innovators with passion. There’s obviously no shortage of those types in the San Francisco Bay Area, and many others will be in town for Supernova. The current plan is to wrap events around both sides of Supernova, creating a weeklong festival of tech goodness.
We’re excited to support this community effort, and have offered to contribute Wharton West as a venue. We’ll post more details here as things solidify, or you can participate directly in planning the event through the BarCamp San Francisco wiki.
To quote Chris, “this is gunna be fun.”
