The BarCamp movement continues to gain ever more momentum in a local context, and although there have been BarCamps with an Africa focus in the Silicon Valley and UK, there has yet to be a pan-African BarCamp taking place on the continent. This changes with the staging of the inaugural BarCamp Africa 2010 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, June 4-7.
Abidjan shares land borders (and thus easy and cheap transportation) with five countries, it has an excellent international airport and is a cosmopolitan world capital that can provide the necessary facilities. The event will be organized by the experienced local groups of Akendewa in Côte d'Ivoire and GhanaThink in neighboring Ghana, with additional collaboration from Maneno.
The year 2010 is an incredibly important year to have this event as it is marks the 50th anniversary of independence for many African nations in addition to Côte d'Ivoire, including: Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Senegal, DR Congo, Somalia, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, CAR, Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, and Mauritania. A celebration and meeting between the people of these nations at BarCamp Africa will allow them to share the progress of their nations as well as exchange ideas and work together on what lies ahead for the future, looking back at the last 50 years, preparing for the next 50. Additionally, this marks the first year that the World Cup will be held on the African continent and the BarCamp will take place the weekend before the official start of the Cup.
The official main site is www.barcampafrica.org with 2010.barcampafrica.org serving for this year's event. The website pages are available in: French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Place a Badge on your site. Follow along on Twitter. Fan the event on Facebook. Register at Eventbrite. But most of all, attend and be part of the first event to bring together Africa and bridge the ideological and language divides.
BarCamp Africa is currently look for forward-thinking sponsors who realize the talented people and vast potential in Africa. Contact us if you would like to be part of this historic event.
So what is a BlogCamp? A blogcamp is an informal workshop about the craft of blogging that is an outgrowth of the BarCamp, a format which gets people together in a casual, un-conference setting. The focus exists in order for those who might be strong in one aspect of blogging (such as photos or HTML code) to exchange knowledge and tips with others in attendance in order to help proliferate blogging and make it as easy as possible for anyone to participate. Most importantly, a BlogCamp helps those new to blogging to give them a solid foundation for the future by working with a group of fellow blogging devotees. Moreover, there is an important social aspect to BlogCamps in that all bloggers, whether they are beginners or seasoned geeks, are brought together and motivated by their common interest.
The beauty of a BlogCamp is that anyone, anywhere can have one. No one owns the name or the event. We've put this section here on Africamp in order to promote more of them in Africa, but they have lives of their own. While general barcamps are fantastic and have been steadily increasing across the continent, having a camp just for blogging decreases the massive scope that a large, general barcamp can have while increasing the specific focus to be solely on the many intricacies of blogging. All you need is an internet connection and people who want to share stories.
Over the next six months keep an eye for BlogCamps in Africa to happen in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Ghana, and Guinea with Maneno's support. If there are others, please join this site to write up an announcement about them on Africamp. And remember, you can never have too many bloggers in the world!
Before we start:Abidjan is the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, located on the west coast of the "United States of Africa". Babi is to Abidjan what Big Apple is to New York or Jozi to Johannesburg.
BarCamp Babi 2010 will be a three day event held on March 5th through the 7th of this year 2010. BarCamp Abidjan 2010, also known as Barcamp Babi, will be a FREE event for anyone who is interested in using their skills, talent, vision, rive and financial resources to improve the production, dissemination, and monetization of content from and about Africa's economic, financial, cultural and social life. The first Barcamp Abidjan in 2009 gave birth to a Côte d'Ivoire-based social entreprise, Akendewa which is producing this second BarCamp .
BarCamps all over the world have brought together individuals and organizations to share ideas, passion, drive, ambitions and, eventually, collaborate on various projects and businesses.
Expected panelists and speakers (yet to be confirmed) include Google, Paul Sika, Jean Patrick Ehouman, Ameyah Debrah, E-tranzact, VIPnet, Web4Africa, Gwen Marshall, Radio Jam, etc.
There will be sessions organized by various Google representatives, presentations by lead speakers as well as other breakout sessions on various topics and interests as put forth by the attendees.
Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Babi website. Help spread the word about BarCamp Abidjan 2010 by grabbing badges, and show yoursupport by donating to help cover costs. You may also contact the BarCamp Abidjan team through its website for sponsorship opportunities.
If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs. BarCamp Babi 2010 is supported by Google Africa, Web4Africa, Chembe Ventures, Foundation, Ushahidi, Web4Africa, who all pledged their support . Our media partners are IvoireMuzik,Ivoire Blog,Avenue 225, Fratmat.info, Koaci.com, Bassam fm (some to be confirmed). Our technical partners include VIPnet and Assistweb.
See you there!
Interested in becoming a partner? Contact Frederic Tape at tapefr(at)gmail.com or Edith Brou at edithbrou(at)gmail.com
An Akendewa production.
We welcome corporate involvement in the form sponsorship. BarCamp Lusaka is a Free to attend event so that we can encourage participation. Your support in shouldering the costs for the event will be greatly appreciated and acknowledged through all our media efforts and at the event.
Thank you to iConnect.zm are sponsoring the cost for venue hire and fast wireless broadband for the day.
We would prefer partnership in the form of direct sponsorship of certain items we need over receiving cash.
Other items you may sponsor:
•Food organiser (lunch, drinks, snacks)
•white boards
•PA system
•Name Badges
•T-Shirts (a great opportunity to place your logo there)
What you will get in return
•Acknowledgment at the opening session
•Special mention if you sponsor items used during the session
•Public announcements of support via our website, facebook and twitter account
•A warm, fuzzy feeling about contributing to the software development landscape in Zambia
BarCamp is an open format of conferences that has been used around the world to discuss technology where participants not only listen, but share ideas and lead conversations of interest to them. On the continent of Africa there have been multiple countries that have already created their own BarCamp for those interested in the newest innovations in technology, to come together and discuss topics of technology. On 19th December 2009, BarCamp Lusaka '09 will be the first BarCamp in the country.
BarCamps have officially been around since August 2005, when a group of friends decided to hold a participant-powered conference in Palo Alto, California, USA from 19 – 21 August 2005, as an open opportunity for those interested in technology to meet as a response to the invitation-only O’Reilly conference happening at the same time.
The idea was to have an ‘unconference’ conference that anyone could host and where everyone could present on topics they were passionate about. Since then barcamps have been held in over 350 cities around the world, including cities and communities in Africa fostering discussions, initiatives and ideas that might not have come to light before. While originally a very technical event in focus, they have evolved to cover any manner of topics from programming code to cupcakes.
BarCamp Lusaka '09 will be an all day event held on the 19th of December, 2009 at the Mulungushi Village along Lusemfwa Rd in Kalundu, Lusaka. This will be a not to be missed opportunity for all those enthusiastic about Zambian development in the context of technology. The exchange ideas for BarCamp will seek actual day-to-day application for the various technologies discussed. This will also be a great place to build connections.
Due to the limited capacity of the venue, reservation for those who are attending will be required. You are encouraged to register to attend BarCamp Lusaka at http://www.barcamplusaka.org/
Attendance for this event is FREE.
We'd love for you to come - if you're creative, a technologist, an artist, a writer, blogger, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor with a passion for using technology in the context of Zambian Development please join us. If you're just curious and interested - we'd love to meet you too. Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out!
Confirmed participants at this year’s event include:
- Eve Andersson and Misha Seltzer (Google)
Google is the world's most popular online software development company. In our current era Google can be likened to IBM and ICL in the mainframe computer era or Microsoft in the desktop era. Google have been keen participants in BarCamp events across the continent including the very first BarCamp Africa that they hosted at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, USA in October, 2008. Google will be making presentations on the Google Maps API, Google Apps, Google Analytics and Google Adsense.
- Mary Tembo (MD and founding of Media 365)
Mary is an entrepreneur with a passion for media and how it is used to promote solutions to social challenges. Mary and her sisters founded Youth Media that published the TrendSetters, a magazine that won numerous international awards for encouraging honest discussion on matters of lifestyle and health among the youth. She was co-owner of the Spar at Cross Roads before she started Media 365 who recently produced the popular mini-series Club Risky Business on ZNBC and Muvi TV. Mary Tembo will be part of a panel discussion on online content in Zambia
- Vaezi Chima (Management Consultant based in the UK)
Formerly a Productivity Development Engineer and Project Manager with Nokia and Motorola. Vaezi has consulted with companies like Cable and Wireless Global Market, Mizuho Corporate Bank, and GE Healthcare and more. His core area of expertise is strategic programme delivery. Vaezi intends to propose a point of view on how we can implement a framework to nurture talent of Zambian software developers.
Please register to attend as there is limited sitting available for the event. Reserve your spot for BarCamp Lusaka at http://blog.barcamplusaka.org/
Attendance for this event is FREE.
Well, Cameroon first ever BarCamp has come and gone
More than 200 people registered to attend the day-long unconference; about 250 people showed up physically at the event.
BarCamp has become the premier technology conference in Cameroon, bringing together the best minds and representation of the hottest companies in the internet, entrepreneurial, new media, and software industries, among others.
Thanks to Our Sponsors
Huge thanks has to go to all of our sponsors for their kind support.
In particular I’d like to say a personal thanks to everyone at RINGO that worked so hard with us to make this event happen.
Thanks to the Speakers
The feedback from the talks has been tremendous and there truly was something for everyone.
Thanks to You
Of course the biggest thanks has to go out to each and every attendee who made the effort - and especially those who came from far to show their support.
It wouldn’t have been much of a BarCamp without the conversations and buzz.
On a personal note, I’d like to thank everyone who got involved in organising BarCamp Cameroon and helped to spread the word and secure such a brilliant turnout. It certainly was a fantastic group effort -
A few important notes:
* All necessary documents we have created to run this BarCamp Cameroon will be made available on the google group.
* You can yet follow post-unconference discussion on the google group.
Sign up on the mailling list to be notified by email or follow us on Twitter for updates.
Join us next year for a free "un"-conference for the digital and technical community ,See you again at BarCamp Yaounde 2010!
my sincere thanks.
Jean-Francis
The crowd has gathered well and more will probably show up as time goes one given that Saturday mornings aren't the easiest thing to deal with...
Just to remind folks that the hashtag for today's event is #bcafricauk09 and the main Twitter is @barcampafricauk.
The list of sessions to be covered is on the wiki space.
