Stephen Blyth's Blog

Believe the hype – e.govt barcamp, Wellington

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007, Hui, conferences, Wellington

When I was away sunning myself in Arthurs Pass at the weekend, an unofficial e.govt participatory workshop was held in Wellington. Run on self-organising principles, ala open space technology, about 100 people attended to talk about things important to them in the e-government field. Called a barcamp, the event was similar to other (un)conferences (sic) springing up around the globe.

The one person who attended I talked to said it fascinating, though a little scary to someone not working in the IT industry. I went online to find out other reactions. Here’s what some of the blogging participants have said:

• It rocked! Maupuia Calling blog
• It was inspiring to see very clued-in government people aware of and eager to fix issues around “how to make e-government better in New Zealand”. Brian on the Silverstripe blog
• Bar Camp was pretty cool. Rebecca Cox blogging at Magnificent Paws
• It was relaxed, collaborative, and people seemed to be willing to share more openly and talk about contentious issues [than the GOVIS conference]. Julian Carver on the Seradigm blog
• I stopped by the Fronde hosted barcamp session around e-government and was pleasantly surprised. Eduard Liebenberger on Speed kills – Agility for IT professionals blog
• It was fantastic to be able to talk to people, especially government people in an informal context and to openly discuss challenges, successes and whatever any session/discussion randomly led us to. Sandy Mamoli frying up at Eggs benedict and two flat whites
• A great day. Jim Donovan, on En Avante
• On balance, an excellent day, glad I attended. Dave, Mike or Malcolm on No Wombats blog.

As much as any geeky IT event can be, sounded kinda fun.

Citizen Rogue, Tara Hunt – who seeded the idea of a Wellington barcamp when she was visiting to present at the 2007 Govis conference – should be chuffed. (Read my post about the conference “Fogged in after Govis“).

Take a look at the official Wellington e.govt barcamp wiki to find out more.