BarCampBlock in Palo Alto

I attended BarCampBlock in Palo Alto yesterday, which could have been the largest BarCamp to date with over 800 people in attendance.

“BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. The name BarCamp was inspired as a complement to FooCamp.”

With these unconferences, the attendees are the ones who create the content, and the organizers create the environment. Organizing an unconference does require a similar amount of preparation, but the experience by the attendee and the community which is created is special and inspirational.

Last week, I received an e-mail from a HQ supporter about potentially inviting some attendees from the Participatory Exploration Summit to the October 23, 2007 Space Shuttle Launch. Since Shuttle launches are notoriously delayed due to Florida’s weather humor, attendees normally plan to stay a few additional days after the scheduled launch date to increase the likelihood of witnessing the launch. Since I have never been to the Cape, it is my understanding that this is a time to socialize with fellow watchers or network with fellow VIPs, depending on your vantage point. This leads me to the obvious gedanken of encouraging NASA to host a ShuttleBarCamp.

I will be in HQ next week to explore this idea with people. I most likely will not have the bandwidth to organize the ShuttleBarCamp, but as in all BarCamp organizing, it is a community effort. I have no doubt that the community will organically form given the opportunity.

4 Responses to “BarCampBlock in Palo Alto”

  1. beth beck  on August 22nd, 2007

    Love the idea Robbie. Let’s start our organic BarCampShuttle garden!

  2. Robbie  on August 22nd, 2007

    Maybe this upcoming Shuttle launch can be the scouting mission for the organizers of BarCampShuttle, to see the options for a site, understand the logistics, and get excited to organize. It is quite impressive that NASA regularly organizes events during the launch with hundreds of people.

    I think the attributes to optimize would be view of the Shuttle launch, power outlets, areas with whiteboards, projectors.

  3. Andrew Hoppin  on August 23rd, 2007

    Only issue is that X Prize Cup is the day after the launch window opens, so some invitees may want to take off for that instead if the launch doesn’t go on the first day. All of which is to say that having this be a planning trip with a smaller group sounds fantastic. Also could convene an open planning meeting while there with a larger group that just happens to be there anyway for the launch– anyone who is interested.

  4. Marc Boucher  on August 25th, 2007

    I think is a great idea as well, make it so. :-)