So I’ve spent the better part of the day yesterday trying to register to be able to edit the wiki page and declare my participation. Not an easy process for many reasons – internet up and down, had no idea how to obtain an invite key. So with a little help from Brogan, since it appears he knows something about it and I’m IN! BTW – Chris gives real good technical support – courteous, prompt and succinct.
So what is PodCamp? I had to explain this to Emily, just like she had to explain the water barrel class she went to, so I thought I would just provide a primer on PodCamp, as I understand it. So what is it? Why it’s an unconference of course! Despite all the hype that there is NO structure, It’s a Semi structured event focused on sharing information within the social media community in a open forum. There is apparently drinking as well.
The structure of the event, minimally the content, develops organically based on registration declarations – Session Leader, Participant, Sponsor. Being a newbie, I’ll just participate @ the Emory hosted event on March 16-18th. So with my inability to clear the first geek bar of REGISTRATION without help, I’m confident the rest of the community experience will be cake, since the community governance model is fairly straight forward:
There are 6 main rules which govern what may or may not be called a PodCamp. Your planned event must meet all 6 requirements and sign off on this license in order to be called a PodCamp.
1. All attendees must be treated equally. Everyone is a rockstar. Likewise, registration should be open to the public and unrestricted, subject only to limitations of space.
2. All content created in and around the event must be released under a Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. This means that any recordings, video, pictures, podcasts, written documents, promos, and the like prepared for or recorded at the event must be licensed under the creative commons license. The Creative Commons License 3.0 is incorporated by reference.
3. All attendees are PARTICIPANTS. They are encouraged to lead sessions, speak on existing sessions, and contribute to the overall event experience. Organizers must make every possible concession to create an open speaking schedule, suitable for spontaneous participation. Everyone must be allowed to participate. (Subject to limitations of physical space and time, of course). This means that the speaker’s list must allow open registration and must not restrict who is allowed to speak.
4. All sessions must obey the Law of 2 Feet – if you’re not getting what you want out of the session, you can and should walk out and do something else. It’s not like you have to get your money’s worth!
5. The event must be new-media focused – blogging, podcasting, video on the net, social media and any other new media formats.
6. The financials of a PodCamp, including details about sponsorship money and how said funds were used, must be fully disclosed in an open ledger, to the PodCamp Foundation.
3 days will be tough, but the open discourse should be fun. I have a hard time at a 3 day MSFT conference and you typically get a cool show with Duran Duran or another not so currently “in” band, but not a lot of communication. The good news is the first night is just beer at a pub and the event schedule isn’t too daunting, but the registrants list is – almost 200. Since the list IS publicly available, I did some research on the registrants to better understand the GA/ATL blogging landscape a little more:
Jen Gordon – True Gritz and a not so current blog. Her year old lament about a bloke from the UK who snagged “her designs” reminds me of who’s cribbing. It is however; theoretically possible he randomed into a header, main and 3 column footer on his own.
Right Rev Chumley – I had an old english sheep dog in college named chumley. I didn’t have time to watch an old school short which is front ended in crazy, but you might.
Heather Smith – Honest little intro.. Cool little mashup information architecture. Indie chick music – right on.
Buzz Brockway – Apparently republican, I think. He asserts McCain can beat Obama in a recent post. Per the post $13.40 is the current definition of a living wage has gone up from the $10 I previously endorsed as a workers world card holder – circa 1992.
Clearly an eclectic group! These folks are considerably more passionate, creative, diverse and artsy than I would have thought. The wonders of community!
Lesson learned: I guess I shouldn’t use my sterile and benign musings as a fair representation of the market entry requirements for social media.
YUP, I am sooo out of my league – I think I’ll wear black – it makes me look taller. But then I realized it was for last year… what a waste
