August 25-27, 2006
We've invited about 200 Friends Of O'Reilly (aka Foo), people who're doing interesting works in fields such as web services, data visualization and search, open source programming, computer security, hardware hacking, GPS, alternative energy, and all manner of emerging technologies to share their works-in-progress, show off the latest tech toys and hardware hacks, and tackle challenging problems together. We'll have some planned activities, but much of the agenda will be determined by you. We'll provide space, electricity, a wireless network, and a wiki. You bring your ideas, enthusiasms, and projects. We all get to know each other better, and hopefully come up with some cool ideas about how to change the world.
Foo Camp is as much fun as participants make it. Be prepared to lead or participate in a session, ask interesting questions, show off what you're working on, and generally leave your mark on the weekend. It's a little like Burning Man in that there are no spectators, only participants. People sometimes ask "what can I do to be invited back" and your best bet is to make a (positive) impression by engaging and presenting.
We'll put the program together on Friday evening at about 30pm, so if you want to lead a session, sign up for a slot then. Don't worry if you arrive late, there should be enough sessions to go around. We'll have a variety of spaces–conference rooms, open areas, and even tents (added this year because we have less indoor space). Several of the rooms have projectors, but we could use more, so if you have one to lend, do bring it along.
Ideas for sessions and activities:
Travel and Accommodation:
If you need help using a Kwiki, check out KwikiHelpIndex for an overview and KwikiFormattingRules for specifics on formatting. But really, all you need to know is this: Every page is editable. The only syntax you need to know is linking, and wiki links are even easier than HTML links. You just surround whatever text you want to link, plus the URL of the link destination, with square brackets. And if you write any word in what's called CamelCase (a word with embedded caps), that auto-generates a link to a page called wiki.oreillynet.com/foocamp06/index.cgi?YourCamelCasedWord, and creates a new blank page at that URL, ready for editing. If you want to override that autogenerated link for a CamelCase word, just put it in brackets with a different URL. Putting equals signs around a phrase makes it into a heading. There are a few more formatting tricks, but that's enough for most people to get by on. And that's it!