'Un-conferences' as open, participatory workshop-events

This morning I shared with some colleagues that I attended an inspiring so-called 'un-conference' and added to say that un-conferences are held in the popular Barcamps workform. A social event type that is rapidly emerging in the United States' (although the very first Barcamp was held in Amsterdam!!).

Interpreting their non-verbal response it was obvious that I was speaking nonsense, using the terms 'un-conference' and 'barcamps' asks for an explanation.

Thanks to network connections to our Compartuser Del.cio.us tool I ran into a wiki that shows that 'un-conferences' are also in swing in the Development field.

'BarcampKampala - Appfrica Wiki' explains that a Barcamp "is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants"

For the doubters among you here is a quote from the wikipedia description that tells it all: 'BarCamp is an international network of un-conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies and social protocols.'