UDPATED: Opportunity for Geek Girls to Represent!

Perhaps you've seen some blog buzz around the exclusivity of the O'Reilly group's FooCamp? No? OK, well take my word: there's been buzz.

Well, some folks who clearly grok the concept of "Do-ocracy" are putting on BarCamp. Calling it "complementary" to FooCamp (and spelling complementary correctly...which makes my heart go pit-a-pat) these folks are inviting one and all to participate.

As BlogHer Rashmi Sinha puts it: "Like BlogHer, the spirit of the event is open, and it would be a great idea for lots of women to show up."

It's short notice, with the event starting tomorrow night at 7PM, but if you feel like camping out in BlogHer sponsor SocialText's offices in Palo Alto all weekend, geeking out...then we at BlogHer can only say: do it!

I am not kidding about the "camping out"; I am not kidding about "all weekend." I wish I was a real geek girl, not just a wanna-be! It sounds cool.

To close, here's my favorite quote the BarCamp site:
"What happens at Bar camp must be spread beyond Bar camp!"

Go. Geek out. Blog about it.

UPDATED: We have some Bloghers live-blogging BarCamp:
Badgerbag
Kitt
Flickr Barcap Stream

Hat tip: Lisa Williams

PS-If you're there and are live-blogging it, send us the link, and we'll update this post.

Comments

[Lisa Stone]

Right on!

[mobile jones]

Elisa, great idea! Don't let the level of your geekitude stop you. It's a great chance to see what other people consider important, what they're working on, network and get in touch with your inner geek. Would love to hear the perspectives of a business blogger on geek goodness. If it didn't require travel, and arrangements for pet care, I'd so be there. So go for me. ;-) Go for those of us who can't and let us know if we should put Bar Camp on our schedules for next year.

[Jenny]

Sounds like fun - I hope some of our BlogHers head out.

(I'm four miles from O'Reilly headquarters. Perhaps I should try to gatecrash? Hee!)

[badgerbag]

There were all sorts. I haven't really been programming since 2001 and I don't keep up with tech geek gossip. I'm not working in the industry. But I had plenty of ideas to contribute and I felt very welcome! And - I noticed that even women who I considered to be lightyears above me in studly, crunchy geekitude, referred to themselves disparagingly as "in the middle" or "not Real programmers". Hmmmm. Food for thought, that.

I brought my kid. Everyone was super nice about it and didn't seem to mind the legos all over the floor.

Most of the women there had been to Blogher. and in fact I went only because whump happened to mention it to me, and as he talked about it I thought of people at Blogher saying that we should go to more geek conferences and Represent.

I'll continue posting more about it. And you can see some links to the women who were there in this barcamp liveblog, in the wiki's evolving notes on the women in tech discussions, and on the wiki's list of campers.

[Elisa Camahort]

Cool. Thanks for the update!

[badgerbag]

Also, major props to the gloriously verboseJo Spanglemonkey, Blogherista, for calling me halfway through Saturday's Barcamp and offering to pick up my 5 year old and whisk him away so that I could be a grownup uninterrupted for a while. HOW RADICAL WAS THAT?

[Nancy White]

Hm, is there a pattern here that might be useful in thinking about how to increase our participation in tech events?

* "Most of the women there had been to Blogher"

* " I went only because whump happened to mention it to me"

* "offering to pick up my 5 year old and whisk him away so that I could be a grownup uninterrupted for a while."

Are these the types of patterns that influence our participation? Are they different than mens'?

[Elisa Camahort]

Interesting question Nancy. Here's how I would break it down:

Bullet #1: I go where I feel like-minded people will be. I want to be in a group where I feel like I belong. Or where I feel welcome. And, once I feel part of a group it does break the ice, and I am more open to other activities that such a group is engaged in.

My verdict: Men and women both value this.

Bullet #2: I heard about this via word-of-mouth.

My verdict: Men and women both listen to word of mouth.

Bullet #3: Child care considerations

My verdict: Aha! Now we can get political. Is child care still considered a woman's problem, even when the woman is in a relationship with a man? I'm not a Mom, so I don't have an opinion based on experience.