I must confess that I hadn't heard the word barcamp until a few days ago, and just today I learned about about foocamps and Open Grid. Obviously, I haven't visited any of these events yet, but I cannot wait to attend one (unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the next barcamp in Berlin). So, take a deep breath, Holger.

Those who know me are aware that I am equally excited about Whole Systems Change approaches such as Open Space Technology, World Café, etc. and social community development in the Internet. I have been writing before that the principles facilitators have been applying for years are reborn in the Internet under the buzz word Web 2.0. Now, the Internet community has discovered the principles of Open Space (and the advantage of a face-to-face meeting) for themselves.

For those who were as ignorant as I was, what are barcamps and foocamps? That is what Wikipedia writes on Foo Camps:

BarCamps are organized and evangelized largely through the web, harnessing what might be called a Web 2.0 communications toolkit. Anyone can initiate a BarCamp, using the BarCamp wiki.

The procedural framework of BarCamp is similar to Open Space methodology for organizing meetings, but looser. It consists of sessions proposed and scheduled each day by attendees, mostly on-site, typically using white boards or paper taped to the wall. This has been dubbed, with another play on words, The Open Grid approach. While loosely structured, there are rules at BarCamp. All attendees are encouraged to present or facilitate a session. Everyone is also asked to share information and experiences of the event, both live and after the fact, via public web channels including (but not limited to) blogging, photo sharing, social bookmarking, wiki-ing, and IRC.

The Open Grid is the agenda of the Barcamp and reminds me of the market place at Open Space events.