Geeks from far and wide leave screens to meet each other

May 29 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

Armed with a laptop and an open mind, Andrew Mernin takes part in the latest internet phenomenon to hit the region.

IT’S a sunny Saturday evening in Newcastle and most young revellers are out on the town, making the most of the bank holiday weekend.

But in a quiet corner of the Ouseburn Valley, a largely young crowd has gathered to while away the hours in a different and perhaps more productive way.

The gaggle of self-confessed geeks have come from as far afield as Manchester, Brighton and even Slovenia to take part in the North East’s first Barcamp – a global phenomenon where web users meet for an informal marathon of discussion, debate and technological exchange.

The scores of participants at the event are joined by some very special guests including online marketing pioneer Tara Hunt, who has been a major player in the Barcamp movement since its inception three years ago.

Also in attendance is Aubrey du Grey, the scientist who believes he can defeat the ageing process and who treats his audience to the same presentation he made at international technology conference Ted.

The beauty of Barcamp, which has been dubbed by some sections of the Press a sleep-over for geeks, is that it is an open forum of debate with no rigid schedules or conference leaders.

Ms Hunt, who took part in the world’s largest Barcamp, attended by 900 people in America, says: "I think this could be the first of many Barcamps in the North East."

There have been more than 400 barcamps around the world, on five continents, in 250 cities, with more than 30,000 people taking part.

According to Ms Hunt, the events are usually shaped by their location.

She says: "People in New York always talk about therapy, but the thing to come out of the North East event is productivity.

"Barcamp is really amazing because we spend a lot of our lives online and this brings us together with new people who we might not usually meet."

When people arrive at Barcamp, which runs throughout the day and night, they are encouraged to post a discussion or presentation topic on a wall.

Today’s topics are varied and abstract and include, "gender bias at geek events", "how to make banana bread", "protecting your bits – parodies, pineapples and pirates" and "do you have to move to London to further your career"?

In another corner of the Artworks gallery, a handful of people are huddled over their laptops, which are connected to various flashing lights and circuit boards.

By putting their minds together they have devised a system where an LED under a paper cup illuminates when the cursor on the screen is moved.

"This could be used as something which lights up when you receive an email," says a twenty-something called Olly, who tells me he sees the word geek as a term of pride.

Sitting next to him is Jure Cuhalev, who has travelled from his hometown in Slovenia to be at the 30-hour event. "I came here to interact with other bloggers," he says.

Brian Degger, a digital artist from Australia living in Newcastle, says: "I enjoy hanging out with geeks.

"I class myself as a geek and it’s just hanging out with quite intelligent people with wide-ranging interests."

But with the rapid growth of visual technology such as telepresence – which could eventually end the need for face-to-face meetings – is there a danger that gatherings like Barcamp could have a limited shelf life?

According to North East IT consultant Gareth Rushgrove, who helped organise this event, our increasing reliance on technology means it is even more important for people to meet.

He says: "Barcamp is like football. If you watch it in a trendy bar, it’s nowhere near the same as the atmosphere you get at St James’s Park.

"We’ve got some big speakers – Aubrey du Grey did the speech he did at Ted – I couldn’t pay for speakers like that.

"It’s great for people outside the area to see things are happening in the North East and to have the chance to meet people they wouldn’t normally have the chance to meet."

According to Mr Rushgrove, the event could well be the first of many in the region since he has already had interest from a number of venues in the North East to hold Barcamps.

Click on the links below for some useful Barcamp resources:

Barcamp.org

Barcamp North East

Video of Barcamp San Francisco