Dopp Juice Archive

So, there’s this little thing going on this weekend called BarCampBlock. Liz Henry from Socialtext is co-planning it, and sent me an invite a few weeks ago. When I signed up, there were less than 25 people on the list. I figured we were looking at WoolfCamp-style intimate gathering for discussions about new trends in technology and its social implications.

As I write this, there are now 583 people registered for the event. Holy Cow, people. Check out all these fancy folks.

So what the heck is BarCampBlock? It’s a BarCamp, of course. On a Block. Duh.

Okay, no, seriously. BarCamp is one of those renegade grassroots un-conference phenomena that pulls a whole bunch of brilliant independent socialtech-minded thinkers together into the same space for a day or two and lets them organize their own discussions. It’s free to attend (although you can buy a donor ticket for $100 or $300 if you’re feeling philanthropic), and it’s guaranteed to inspire the heck out of you. You can read more about the concept here at its wikipedia entry: BarCamp.

And the Block? The block is the Center of the Tech Universe in Palo Alto, including such office as Social Text, IDEO, Searchspark, and maybe Facebook… BarCamp is spilling out into the streets.

And I will be there.

Come along!

I am determined to make today beautiful. You should help me.

First, go to They’re Beautiful and send a random friend flowers for free.

Then, go to Orisinal and play the bumblebee game.

Then, go to the Jackson Pollock website and click around.

Then, go to CSS Zen Garden, click the links on the right, and geek out about how beautiful standardized code can be.

Then, go to GoodGraffiti.org and muse on the controversial awesomeness of guerrilla art.

Then, go to StoryPeople, browse for a story that makes your chest melt, click “Send eGreeting” in the left-hand menu, and create a free card for a random friend (but not the one you sent flowers too — someone different this time).

Then, go to the Snowsuit Effort and look at faces being real.

Then, go to SSAHN and look at faces being art.

Then, go to the Writ Workshop and read some fresh poetry by an emerging writer.

Then, look at the Flickr tag group for Harajuku.

Then go to ScrapBlog and make a page about what you’ve appreciated today.

Hey Austin! I’m comin’ to visit you this week! And so is every other web2.0/music/film geek in the United States of Creativity! So warn your locals to stay inside, ‘cuz we’re about to overthrow your street government, filling your cafes and taverns to the rafters with jargon and insider allusions. South by Southwest is happening!

We’re also bringing about 38 million dollars in tourist revenue, so I hope you’re not planning to complain about our invasion. We promise, also, that we won’t stay more than a week.

Now… what exactly do I want to see/learn/experience/teach/do while I’m there?… the panel schedule and speaker list are overwhelming!