Barcamp Nairobi – June 21st
Coders. Designers. Bloggers.
If you’re in Nairobi on June 21st, mark your calendar! We’ll be meeting at Jacaranda Hotel, going from 10am-5pm for Barcamp Nairobi ’08.
What is a Barcamp?
“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.”
All you need to know is this: it beats the hell out of a normal conference.
There is no pre-planned schedule of events, or speakers. There are set timeframes and rooms for anyone who comes in to sign-up for a time to speak in. You attend the ones you find the most interesting. It’s also less speaking than it is conversation and discussion around a specific topic.
Ideas for Barcamp Nairobi ’08
I’m sure you’ll come up with plenty of other items that are well worth having a discussion about. Here are some of the things on my mind that I hope to hear and/or talk about:
- Local mapping (Open Streetmap, Green Map, etc.)
- Blogging tools and trends
- Mobile phone apps (Android in Africa, FrontlineSMS and RapidSMS)
- Using Google’s App Engine for building web and mobile services
- I’d love to hear from some of the EPROM guys that worked with Nathan Eagle
- OS curriculum for universities
- Studying users (mobile and web)
- Building into social networks
Of course, I’ll do a talk on Ushahidi. Not just Ushahidi though, but some of the really interesting and open areas surrounding the crowdsourcing of content in Africa using mobile devices. Then, augmenting that content with web services like Google Maps, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Oh, I didn’t mention that Ushahidi will be providing free t-shirts for attendees. You have to be signed up on the Barcamp wiki to get one, so head on over!
Sponsored by Ushahidi, Yahoo and O’Reilly so far, get in touch with me if you’d like to sponsor as well. We could use a few more shillings to cover some of the expenses. And schwag, attendees can’t get enough schwag… 
You can also RSVP on the Facebook event page, but know that for the t-shirts you need to be registered on the wiki.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
oh man I’d love to go to this. love the logo.
[...] I just might be, if for nothing, just the free t-shirts! [...]
White african
You always seem to be attending conferences and flying around the world.
How do you actually make money to pay for it all?
Or are you just born wealthy?
Fill us in!
Simba
@simba – lol… anything but born wealthy. Maybe I’ll do a post showing where I grew up in Southern Sudan sometime. My parents were missionaries, and let’s just say they were not the type who drove a Pajero.
This upcoming trip is all about Ushahidi. However all of these other conferences I’ve been able to attend as a speaker or someone else has paid for me to attend. I’ve been very fortunate, as these things can be expensive and will drain your bank account quickly otherwise.
hey, man great that this is happening. I will post about it on my blog as well.
Are you aware of anywhere else that they host events like this other then South Africa?
Oh man. I wish I could move there a bit earlier and attend. It will be great I’m sure. Will definitely place a banner around… missiotech.com!
PS. Apple keynote almost over! Only iPhone stuff being discussed. But there is a new OS and I’m sure other hardware to be released, just not during the keynote.
[...] tech/web/phone apps or in the community using those things? Then BarCamp is for you. My friend at whiteafrican.com is hosting it with his new Ushahidi.com [...]
[...] Nairobi Posted on June 10th, 2008 by Saul Wainwright (No Ratings Yet) Loading … One of my favorite bloggers at the moment drew my attention to an event that is happening in Nairobi, Kenya called Barcamp [...]
[...] details at whiteafrican and to register add your name to the list at the barcamp wiki. Share and Enjoy: These icons link [...]
will b there
I’ll be there for the bar camp. Its my first time and I cant wait! I’ll be spreading the word on my blog too
I’ll be so there!
great setup and organization so far, should be a a ball.
Only hitch i see: that’s safari sevens weekend too!
see you at either place
I really wish I could be there. Maybe next year. Make sure you post some detailed updates. And photos.
wish i could come
Just learnt of the Barcamp today and couldn,t meet the 16th deadline for t-shirts but i’d be glad if i could still have one. i’M A BLOGGER AND WILL ATTEND SO THAT I CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW I CAN TAKE MY BLOG TO THE NEXT LEVEL..i’m looking forward to it.
Miss a little miss a lot! Missed it! dang!
[...] of the MamaMikers are going to participate at Barcamp Nairobi. Barcamp is a diverse networking group of people, who are brought together by their interest in [...]
Any idea when the ’09 barcamp will be?
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