What’s a BarCamp?

So, what is BarCamp?

BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference filled with open, participatory events, discussions, and workshops where presentation content is provided by the participants rather than chosen speakers. The first BarCamp took place in 2005, and since that time BarCamps have been held in over 350 cities all over the world. More details can be found on Wikipedia’s definition of BarCamp.

What’s the “Bar” in BarCamp stand for?

No, it doesn’t have anything to do with alcoholic beverages (though many attendees network at bars afterwards). BarCamp originated as a response to Foo Camp, which was an invitation-only conference held by Tim O’Reilly.  Both conferences are a play on the terms foo, bar, and foobar, which are common placeholder/variable names used by hackers and computer programmers. More details can be found on Wikipedia’s definition of BarCamp.

What will BarCamp Harrisburg be like?

The topics for this year’s BarCamp Harrisburg will be the Web with a track on education.

Attendees arrive around 9-10 am, have breakfast, network, and post topics they would like to discuss on a schedule board (we’ll have markers and paper available to post topics). Following a brief kick-off meeting with the entire group, the day will consist of sessions broken down into 45-minute blocks. There will be a break for lunch, followed by afternoon sessions that will run until around 5 pm.

This year’s BarCamp Harrisburg will be held at Harrisburg University’s 16-story campus in downtown Harrisburg. The facility’s classrooms include wireless Internet and access to projectors. Attendance is free for those who register, but space is limited, so register early!

Last year’s sessions included:

• Building a site using the Gaia Flash Framework
• Open source content management systems
• Developing Desktop Applications using AIR
• Developing Android Applications
• Using Seaside
• How to use SVN with Web projects
• Top Photoshop Tricks
• Top WordPress and Drupal plugins
• Application Performance & Scaling
• Best Security Practices
• Unix Command Line Productivity Tips
• Applying User Interface Design to Source Code

Who are the Organizers?

BarCamp Harrisburg 2 is being organized by:

Rich Hauck, Hauck Interactive
Steve Infanti, Harrisburg University
Ryan Riley, Harrisburg University