I attended wikicamp last sunday and it was nice to catch up with many folks with whom I had been interacting only over email. It was also great to hear from Jimmy who spoke with such great humility about history of wikipedia , the current work and future course of action for wikipedia and wikia.
The crowd at the wikicamp was a very diverse and a different set and it was good to see it that way otherwise in many of these conferences you bump into the same folks again and again.
I am a big fan of wikipedia and use it a lot like so many others but until I attended wikicamp I did not really appreciate the work that is put in by so thousands of volunteers to make wikipedia happen. Also I never knew that there are so many contributors from India. Thanks to Arun’s session on how and what of Indian wikipedia story I am able to much appreciate the work of the prolific wikipedians from India like Ganesh Krishnamurthy, BalaSundaraRaman, Bhadani.
The number of attendees was less compared to blogcamp but the energy was even much greater. One thing I like about events at chennai is the energy of the people at the event is just infectious, you are charged with that energy when you return home.
As is the case with unconference there is a lot of coverage on the blogosphere about the event.
Wikicamp ’07: Organisation through chaos
Wikicamp round up
Another feather in the cap for The Knowledge Foundation !
and many many more , just search on technorati for the tag ‘wikicamp’
Here are few photos from the event from my N70.
Takeaway from the event for me was the realization I don’t do any contribution to wikipedia and I should start doing so. Hmm ! Now what are the topics on which I can start contributing to wikipedia.
Rajan,
Wikicamp was my first experience in terms of attending such an event and also my debut as a live blogger and it would stay in my memory and my blog for a long time to come.
when I asked the question to Jim about why he doesn’t blog much on his site, little did i imagine that this question and his answer would actually commence the coverage in The Hindu (or is it Business line) the next morning. It is quite ironic that having reached the near iconic status, Jim thinks that it is actually a liability and constrains his freedom of speech!
Do visit here
Badri,
Jimmy’s humility is quite admirable. I agree with Jimmy that too much attention is a liability, this what celeberities , actors face daily. And jimmy is no less a rock star.
Rajan
Hey Rajan,
Every unconference is great.Right from BlogCamp,BarCamp,MoMo,Proto to WikiCamp(oops may have missed some in between) and everytime it charges everyone.
This time,it was special for me since I was able to make lots of contacts 😉 Also,excellent chance to listen to Jimmy Wales as you have told “He was really nice to the audience”.
Now eagerly waiting for BCB3 😉
-Himanshu
(Contributor to http://startups.in/india)
(Blogger at http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com)
Just read about your product on webyantra 🙂 and feeling for it being not available for sony ericsson phones… and damn! missed meeting you at wikicamp.