Foo Campfire

Foo Camp was a sign of unconferences to come. Its always been the case that conferences were more about people than content, and the best content comes from attendees. The free-for-all structure of Foo gave attendees equal opportunity to provide it. Anyone could host a session, powerpoint was a rarety, panels non-existent and conversation ensued. What was remarkable was how disarming it all was.

There was so much going on you always valued where you were, but thought you were missing something. The Foo Wiki, running on kwiki, turned into a real resource, especially when people began transcribing the event calendar. Some of the more collaborative sessions even used it productively to build something together.

Every session was a jam session. I blogged some of the first, but then found I needed to participate in the conversations too much to continue this contribution. Favorites included: social software (of course), meme construction lab, rendezvous, technorati vs. blogdex deathmatch, biophony and politics. But beyond the sessions, hallway conversation often took place outside. You felt as though you had time for real conversation.

Busted out several harmonicas for the acoustic jam session, abused them at campfires and even crashed the techno jam session. Glad I brought the telescope, the 70mm size worked well for the moon despite its profuse halo, wonderful to see reactions of folks who have never look through them. Left the camp wishing I had a Segway, but this morning I almost hit one with my car due to blinding sun, which gives me second thoughts. As an avid camper, enjoyed winding down the day with wifi in a tent.

Other posts on Foo (in no particular order): David Weinberger, Doc took photos, Tim Bray, Sam Ruby, Steve Gillmor, Jason Kottke, Andy Oram, Dori and Tom, Matt Croydon, James Cox, Nat Friedman and Jeremy Zawodny.

Really have to hand it to Tim for hosting such a wonderful experience.