BarCamp Pittsburgh on 22 Nov

The first BarCamp Pittsburgh will be held next weekend on Saturday, 22 November at the Wilkins School Community Center in Swissvale. The event will be co-located with the Western PA Linux User Group’s November members meeting. However, you don’t have to be a kernel hacker in order to attend BarCamp. Everyone is invited: programmers, hackers, engineers, bloggers, artists, musicians, designers, writers, poets, creators and makers of all stripes and colors.

Pittsburgh has already held a successful PodCamp for three years running. Like PodCamp, BarCamp is a participant created event. The schedule and agenda is determined by the attendees at the opening session. Unlike PodCamp which has a specific focus on new media, BarCamp is completely open to any topics. Typically sessions have a creator/maker bent with everyone from designers to engineers showing off their creations and teaching others how to do the same. For more background on barcamp, read the wikipedia article or check out the barcamp wiki.

I’ve been lucky to be part of BarCamps in Hong Kong, Beijing and New Orleans now. So while I was here in Pittsburgh, I wanted to start the BarCamp tradition here. While there isn’t much time for promotion, I’ve already heard from a number of excited people, so I think we’ll more than fill the small spaces we have.

If you’d like to get even more involved with BarCamp Pittsburgh, I’m still looking for a few organizations to help sponsor lunch, t-shirts, and badges. Also, if someone has a digital projector we could borrow that day, please let me know. Finally, please spread the word! Especially on the local campuses.

If you’re free the night before BarCamp, the Pittsburgh Bloggers are having a BlogFest Friday evening at Finnegan’s Wake. So you can enjoy Light Up Night in Pittsburgh with fellow bloggers and head over to Swissvale the next day for the BarCamp!