• If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

BarCampUAE

Page history last edited by Nikhil Soneja 14 years, 11 months ago

A group of Bloggers and Twitterers from UAE met on 27th March 2009, for lunch and shisha and decided to hold BarCamps in UAE, thanks to the optimism and encouragement of Melanie Swan, who proposed the idea to us. I recommend holding the first edition of BarCamp in UAE on May 9, 2009, giving us enough time to round up participants to share their interestingness with the rest of the group. 

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. In true BarCamp spirit, I solicit the help and active participation of volunteers to share the joy of kick-starting this fantastic initiative in UAE.

For the 1st edition, the aim is to keep it simple and encourage participation. So, I recommend concentrating on the basics to keep the costs of organizing to the minimum. 

BarCamp UAE is your event, so shoot away with suggestions and recommendations on how you think you can help with any of the below to BarCampUAE at gmail dot com or @BarCampUAE

BarCamp UAE - 1 Event details 

When: May 9, 2009 

Where: Dubai Internet City, Building No. 3 (DELL), Thuraya Conference Hall. 

BarCamp UAE also has its own website at http://BarCampUAE.org

Web links

Website

Topics and ideas

Twitter

Facebook Group

Facebook Event

Logo

Following the culmination of a week-long vote to select a logo on April 19th 2009, we have a winner!  Its Michel Al Asmar's Arabic Architecture themed design, here's the official logo for BarCamp UAE 2009 and Michel's explanation for his choice of motifs :

This is taken from the Arabic architecture style, a famous shape used in corners of the room that people gather in.

Sponsors

We are looking for sponsor(s) to support us with the basic costs of recording and podcasting the event. Where possible we can do with borrowed/ donated video cameras, tripod stands, tapes, microphones, extension cables, projectors, adapter plugs, etc to setup the basic infrastructure to document and record an intense and oriented discussion among participants.

Additionally, we would like to host a permanent blog which documents, archives and facilitates online participation in the run-up/ during/ after the event. Approx. $90 for a domain + hosting for a year at GoDaddy.com. Any sponsors?

We could also do with support for stationary/ writing material, name tags, white boards, markers, snacks, drinks, and goodies (maybe a t-shirt or a USB key or a hat, etc) for all participants. Can you help us find some money with your network of connections?

Planners & Volunteers

Kedar Iyer 

Masarat Daud

Paul Castle

Rami Kayyali

Nikhil Soneja

Kristna Nyzell

PK Gulati

 

Participants (aka Campers) and Topics of discussion 

Become a participant of BarCamp UAE and sign up to BarCamp UAE 1 by participating in an existing topic of discussion or leading your own.

 

Schedule

To be decided once we get participants signed up with their choice of discussion. See what other participants are talking about. 

 

Have ideas for discussions at BarCamp UAE?

 

Be sure to add http://discuss.barcampuae.org/ to your favorites, the page that will be the BarCamp UAE idea nerve center until the event commences. Register your ideas for discussion (and everyone who attends BarCamp should have something to discuss!), and let others vote/comment on the same. Once we've built an idea bank of what people want to discuss, we will have some amazing momentum heading into the live discussion on the 9th of May. It'll be a great chance for the participants to interact in the buildup as well!

So get cracking, take those ideas you've always wanted to discuss but never felt you had an audience for, and put it down there. You'll be surprised how many people want to hear from YOU, and better yet, want to talk back with you on! Get your ideas to us before April 30 2009, following which we'll be in live mode in the lead up to BarCamp.

Also remember, there are NO separate "presenters" and "listeners" at BarCamp, everyone's involved in the discussion; the ideas listed are from the initiators, but once they get underway, all participants will be driving forward the discussion, so be sure to register your comments on how you would like to interact with the existing topics as well.

Here's a sampling of the ideas suggested so far:

1. Introduction to Think Tools

Think Tools is a software developed out of the Max Planck Institute. Originally developed to answer questions such as what is the age, size and purpose of the universe, the logic was commercialized into a software called Think Tools which allows companies to develop robust strategies in complex environments.The software itself is based on the principle of combining very powerful visual representation with complex quantitative analysis to help make decision making easier. Additionally the software also allows you to test live the impact of changing variables on strategies chosen without having to wait for weeks or months of research to be done.

2. Head in the Clouds

Cloud Computing is gaining more and more interest in the world. Though few people really fully understand the concept of a cloud, nor do they know how to fully utilize the cloud. Currently, I am doing some work on the Microsoft Azure Cloud and looking specifically at not only making it work, but also at finding where the Cloud is most useful to an organization. I would like to look at this new technology, perhaps have a discussion on it's uses and current successes (e.g. Amazon EC2 cloud) and new ideas (Microsoft Azure). This would be an informal discussion, with some examples if I finish off some work I am doing on the Azure Cloud (or some information on the issues that were faced with hands-on work on the cloud).

3. Living Sustainably

The world's biggest challenge is Global Warming and we see it affecting us everyday, with freak changes in the weather to the breaking of ice bridges in Antarctica. Global Warming is a problem that affects the entire human race and all the species that co-exist with us on this planet. But before we jump into the ways we can solve this problem, let's take a moment to reflect on our lifestyles and its impact on the environment.

The UAE has the highest carbon footprint per capita in the world. Questioning the reasons why we behave in a certain way will help us mend our habits, individually and collectively in the societies we live in. Clearly, there is not one solution that fits every society, culture or region, so my aim is to explore and understand the differences in behavior between people in order to design custom solutions that benefit and unite the global community for one common cause, to extend our lease on this Earth.

4. Location based services/GIS in applications/web pages

Mapping/GIS in UAE desktop/web applications...looking for a collaborator, as have no experience in terms of map service mashups on the internet...ulterior motive is to learn about those from my potential collaborator! I think the future is bright for value addition to various websites through incorporation of maps and location based services.

5. Software Productivity Tools

Invitation to discuss : Software productivity tools, we all have our favorites, and they save us a ton of work, now its time to share! For me, things like Total Commander (I can work literally 10 times as fast using this instead of Windows Explorer), Google Documents, Zimbra, IrfanView, Intranet messaging systems, CutePDF etc. This would be a topic where i think all participants would have equal airtime, as there must be many to share!

6. Social media for social change

We use social media tools everyday to make new friends, form interest networks, share pictures and videos, spread news and information like wild fire, and learn and share knowledge within communities.

A growing number of initiatives like MobileActive.org, Twestival, Change.org, PosorNot.com, the Facebook causes app, etc are using the power of social networks to make a real difference in peoples lives.

Let's put our heads together in this animated discussion by sharing examples and exploring ways to affect social change by using social media tools.

 

Tasks 

 

1. Scout for a venue sponsor.

2. Get sponsors/ donors to cover costs of recording, podcasting and goodies for participants.

3. Enroll participants for the event.

4. Organize speakers and topics for discussion.

5. Manage materials for event (stationary, projectors, name tags/ t-shirts, snacks, drinks, etc) 

 

Tags for flickr, delicious, twitter, technorati etc.

#BarCampUAE

Who's helping promote us?

‘Un-conference’ plans emerge for Dubai' by Tom Gara, a technology reporter with The National on 29th March 2009. 

BarCamp UAE Un-Conference, Dubai Internet City, May 9th 2009 by Mohamed Marwen Meddah, founder of StartupArabia.com, a free wiki to the latest startup news in the region.

BarCamp UAE by Edward Santillan of SEODubai.org on April 9th 2009

 

 

Bloggers and reporters rule! So if you are a blogger/ reporter who will blog about the event before/ during/ after. Please do add yourself here with a link to your post, so we know that you are saying nice things about BarCamp UAE - 1.