[Chicago] BARcamp Summary

[Brian W. Fitzpatrick]

Wow.  Sounds like an amazing time.  If only I'd been in town... :-(

-Fitz

On 7/24/06, Jason Rexilius <jason at hostedlabs.com> wrote:
> Hi Everybody,
>
>  Apparently my attempt to send this to the list didn't work last time,
> so I thought I would try again...
>
>  I just wanted to thank everyone for making BARcamp such a success.  I
> also wanted to recap for those that couldn't make it and make a few
> requests to the group. So first let me thank everyone who presented,
> organized or sponsored:
>
> * Troy Haaland - helped mop floors, and clean up after (I really needed
> the help, thanks Troy!)
> * Garret Smith - brought liquor, tended bar, signage, conversation
> packet router
> * Richard Lynch - material support, conversations, helping hand
> * Sarah Gray - donated butcher paper and projector so we could write and
> see
> * Dan Ratner - donated camping furniture, supported the temporarily
> disabled
> * Brian Schoen - brought the Billy Goat CheezBorga for starving organizers
> * My Linh Le - All around hot girl, donated SUV, food stuffs and camping
> furniture, puts up with Jason Rexilius  ;-) * Walker Hamilton -
> presenter, mischief maker
> * Jonathan Wolf Rentzsch - presenter, tie display mannequin
> * Jason Jacobsohn - presenter
> * Joe Born - device debugger
> * Ziad Hussain - presenter
> * Matt England - presenter
> * Chris Gladwin - presenter
> * Jim Wales - presenter, political rabble-rouser, really cool guy
> * Sean Johnson - presenter, conspirator
> * Mason Dixon - presenter
> * Ian Bicking - code sprinter, hacker, good guy
> * Johnathon Andrew Walter - conspirator
> * John Quigley - brought beer, nuf said
> * Wendell Davis - conspirator
> * Michael Tobis - presenter
> * David Dalka - Marketing / Customer Listening evangelist leadership
> resource for high growth start ups.
> * Realnets - sponsor http://www.realnets.com/
> * SitterCity.com - sponsor http://www.sittercity.com/
> * Portage Venture Partners - sponsor http://www.portageventures.com/
> * Arc Technology Group - sponsor http://www.arctg.com/
> * Intentionally Designed - sponsor http://www.intentionallydesigned.com/
> * Mail Launder - sponsor http://www.maillaunder.com/
> * Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center - sponsor
> http://www.chicagolandec.org/
> * CleverSafe - sponsor http://www.cleversafe.org/
> * Neuros - sponsor http://www.neurostechnology.com/
>
>
> Here is what happened for those that missed it:
>
> Friday
> 09:00 - setup begins, Troy and My Linh help me out. Troy goes nuts with
> the mop and the Pinesol..
>
> Saturday
> 12:00 - people started showing up en masse..
> 12:30 - jason runs around like chicken, sans head, Garrett brings
> liquor, fetches ice
> 13:00 - we tapped the first keg
> 13:30 - Ziad Hussain gave a history-rich talk on mobile handheld
> multimedia and gaming appliances and the new GP2x linux device specifically
> 14:00 - Garrett threw up some break-out area conversation topic signs
> 14:00 - the Chicago Linux Users Group started their Uber fest
> 14:30 - lots of side discussions about web2.0, XML transforms, seed
> funding in Chicago (lack thereof)
> 15:00 - second keg from LUG is tapped
> 16:00 - Cleversafe gives talk on their approach to secure, distributed
> storage, its uses, and their roadmap
> 17:00 - A code sprint gets organized for HyperCard implementation in
> Javascript w/ light server side
> 17:30 - lots of food runs
> 18:00 - HyperCard code sprint continues
> 18:00 - Mason Dixon gave a talk on Motion User Interface, A presentation
> of flows within the development of interactive high-data rate displays
> 18:45 - Sean Johnson gives a talk on Burning Your Business to the
> Ground, or what mistakes a start-up should avoid.  By the way, the
> resources mentioned in that talk are up on the BARcamp main page
> 19:30 - Michael Tobis gave a talk on Programmable Educational Media,
> shared programmable widgets and a shared environment in which the
> widgets can interact, to teach programming or other quantitative topics.
> 20:30 - Jim Wales gave a quick talk on Wikipedia and a longer talk on
> Campaign Wiki, which is organizing a meetup event here in Chicago 29
> July, linked to on the BARcamp main page
> 21:30 - Lots of informal talks about the Chicago tech scene, HyperCard
> hacking, Wikis and clubs, pubs, and parties.
>
> Sunday
> 05:00 - talks from the night before finally wind down, the last camper
> is tucked neatly into his sleeping bag, visions of code and AJAX widgets
> dancing in his head.
> 06:00 - jason sleeps
> 07:00 - jason wakes, goes to shower and fetch another fan (damn it was
> hot!)
> 09:00 - people start showing up for day 2, light talks, coffee is
> brewed.. extra strong
> 12:00 - some spontaneous talk was given.. can't remember which.. uhh..
> more coffee
> 13:00 - script kiddie posse shows up, a little playing around with lock
> picking, video presentations, little rapscallions  ;-) 14:00 - jason
> rexilius gives boring talk on building geographically distributed HA web
> clusters
> 15:00 - Jonathan Wolf Rentzsch gives a great talk on Mac OSX GUI hacking
> in Cocoa and Objective C, really cool
> 16:00 - Jason Jacobsohn introduces the crew to the Chicagoland
> Entrepreneurial Center and what it can do for YOU! Nicely done!
> 17:00 - food?..
> 19:00 - spontaneous meeting of the minds on the challenges facing a tech
> start-up in Chicago, problems in building community, and what to do
> about it.  The answer: The Chicago CoWorking Incubator Project.  Take
> energetic, entrepreneurial tech folks, add beer, heat and creativity and
> you get an action plan.  See the details on the main page of the BARcamp
> site.
> 21:30 - jason, groggily, chases the last of the hardcore campers away so
> he can sleep..  ooh sweet sleep, how I miss thee so.
>
> Monday
> 06:00 - clean up and return of borrowed tables and chairs begins, Troy
> Halaand throws in for help, yet again.  Thanks Troy!
>
>
> So here is what came out of BARcamp Chicago 2006:
>
> 1) An open source project to bring HyperCard back from the dead
> 2) A CoWorking project to build a central hub for the community and a
> home for wayward entrepreneurs
> 3) Lots of idea sharing, introductions, conversations and learning
> 4) Some entrepreneurs who were looking for teammates for start-ups met
> some rock-star hackers, we shall see what comes of it
> 5) Companies met business partners and a few successful collaboration
> stories came of it.
> 6) A number of the stealth tech start-ups in Chicago saw some spotlight
>
>
> Lastly I would like to make a request of people who were there:
>
> 1) If you gave a talk, mentioned a resource, or had something to share,
> get some reference material or a link up on the BARcamp site so people
> can find it
>
> 2) If I missed a shout out, a presentation or a thank you thats in
> order, please let me know.  I know I missed stuff..
>
> 3) Check back on the BARcamp site for updates on the various other
> events that are coming up and support those; nextChicago, campaign wiki,
> CoWorking Chicago, user group meetings.. theres a lot happening!
>
>
> Thanks again to everyone that showed up, participated, supported and
> donated!  See you all at the next event!
>
> -jason
>
>
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