Apr 14 2008

Whither Barcamps?

Published by Amit Pande at 4:28 pm under Conferences, India, Communication

Via Outlook Business - a somewhat critical view of whether the Barcamp unconference phenomenon in India needs to revisit its entrepreneurial roots to avoid imploding upon itself.

A related article notes notes that events such as proto.in and headstart.in seem to be making more headway because they are more self-selective in nature:

My experience in organizing Dcamp Bangalore last year was that it is indeed difficult to get the balance between top down structuring (which you need a bit of to get the event off the ground) and bottom up collaboration (which is sort of the whole point).

That being said, I remain a firm believer that unconferences (even if somewhat directed) have the potential to start radical conversations, are a very democratic form of dialogue and are evolutionary and emergent in nature - which makes them much more interesting than top down events. Unless of course its something as interesting as the World Debating Championships : - )

One Response to “Whither Barcamps?”

  1. Vijayon 15 Apr 2008 at 12:50 pm

    I actually agree with you Amit. I’m more for free-flowing conversations as well, but I wish there was a focus in the theme which brings together great conversationalists.

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