BarCamp Oxford 2009

4-5 April, University Club, Oxford

OSS Watch have teamed up with Torchbox, Nearly Done and The Apache Software Foundation to run a BarCamp in Oxford on April. The fun will start on the evening of April 4th with a geeky meal, the real action commences at 10am on Sunday the 5th (add your name to the list of attendees).

ATTENDEES: follow @barcampoxford on Twitter (or use the tag #barcampoxford to join in), and join the Google Group. That way we can all keep each other informed, about resources, planning, requests for  help/crash space etc.

Details

View Larger Map

Venue and overview

(See the bottom of this page for a map showing walking routes to the venue)

The venue is the University Club, Mansfield Road, Oxford. It's booked for the Sunday, but we will kick off on Saturday evening with a meal somewhere in Oxford. The unconference will happen during Sunday daytime.  For those planning to turn up on Saturday night, the venue offers accommodation at a reasonable rate, but availability is very limited and must be booked well in advance; check availability here.  There are also plenty of other cheap options for overnight accommodation in Oxford (including couch surfing for free, see below).

Meals on Sunday

Food will be provided on Sunday, thanks to generous sponsorship from Nearly Done. More details to follow.

Themes

BarCamps are ultimately themed by the attendees: what you want to present, the BarCamp will host.

We'd love for this event to allow academic/hacker types to meet up with the vibrant and highly active geek community in Oxford, the county and beyond. Our intention is to make geek connections between projects in the academic and business sectors.

BarCamps are supposed to be fun, informative and useful. Whilst we do not intend to limit the kinds of topics you can discuss we are deliberately marketing the event to people with interests in one or more of the following:

• Open development techniques and practices
• Web 2.0 style data mashups
• Use of and engagement with The Apache Software Foundations projects

Barcamps need you!

Although we have sponsorship, a venue and a date, unconferences consist of you, the attendee! We need:

• People!
• More sponsorship: food, schwag etc.
• Network bits and pieces, projectors, stationery
• Offers of basic help, setting stuff up
• Offers of crash space for out-of-town visitors, on Saturday and maybe Sunday 

Attendance at the BarCamp is Free, but normal BarCamp rules will apply, most importantly all attendees will be expected to particpate in an active way. Ways to contriubte include:

• present (informally or formally) about your favourite project
• hack together a mashup with other attendees systems
• play devils advocate in a lively debate
• have a drink with someone you have never met before

Help publicise the event

You could help by telling people about the event, or by putting up this poster.

What to bring

• Laptop
• All the chargers/cables you'll need
• A plugboard to make sure we have enough sockets
• If you're using a Mac for a presentation, VGA adapters
• Spare battery (if you have one)
• Camera
• Sleeping materials - sleeping bag, pillow and toiletries (if you are using our crash spaces - see below)
• An idea for a session, presentation or talk
• A smile
• ...?

Crash space

Geeks from out of town will be in need of crash space on Saturday 4. Please put your name down if you can offer someone a piece of floor.

We have also reserved a small number of rooms at the venue for those wanting to pay for their own bed. Contact OSS Watch to learn more.

Attendees

Attendee numbers are limited owing to funding for things like catering. Currently we've set that limit at fifty, but we can reconsider it if there's enough demand.

If there's still space, then put your name on the list below, along with what you can bring to the party. Everyone at a barcamp will speak or contribute somehow, but if you can offer extra bits and bobs then that'd be great.

If you don't want to get a pbwiki account, then just email us and we'll put you on it.

Richard Morrell

richard at linuxtec dot co dot uk

Paul Emsley

pemsley at gmail dot com

Catering

We'll be providing snacks and drinks througout the day. Lunch will be provided with plenty of vegetarian options, let us know via the google group (see above) if you have any special requirements.

There is a bar in the venue and we've asked for it to be opened at 3pm. I'm sure there will be a bunch of us heading off for food and more beer in the evening, so  all your needs should be catered for.

Accomodation

These are some suggestions for accommodation in Oxford. 

1.  Parklands B&B:  reportedly reasonable.  Around a 20-minute walk from the venue, or a 5-minute bus ride plus a 10-minute walk.  Around £90 per room per night. 

2.  Rewley House (University's Continuing Education Dept.):  offers quite basic, inexpensive accomodation.  Around a 15-minute walk from the venue.  Roughly £65 per room per night. 

3.  Best Western Linton Lodge Hotel:  no personal reports, but reasonable location similar to that of Parklands B&B.  Around £60-£70 per room per night. 

4.  Holiday Inn Pear Tree:  good accommodation, but less convenient location,  on the northern outskirts of the city, by the ring road.  The Pear Tree Park & Ride service runs from near the hotel, reaching the centre of Oxford in 10 minutes; the venue is a further 10-minute walk.  Rooms are usually over £100 per night.  Please note the park and ride service does not run past 18:57 on Sunday, nor after 23:30 on Saturday. 

5.  The Buttery Hotel:  reportedly reasonable accommodation, directly in the centre of Oxford, and around a 10-minute walk from the venue.  Between £55 and £90 per night, depending on room type. 

If you would like more advice, please contact any of the organisers, as below.

Travel

From airports:

Heathrow and Gatwick:  There is a good bus service direct to Oxford's central Gloucester Green station; see here 

Stansted:  There are indirect services run by National Express, through London or Heathrow Airport; see here 

Birmingham:  There is a frequent rail service from Birmingham International Airport to Oxford Rail Station; see here

For details of travel from other airports, please contact the airport for information.

Travel by rail:

Trains to Oxford all arrive at Oxford Rail Station.  For details of trains, please see here

Travel by inter-city bus:

Buses to Oxford generally stop near the centre of the city, often at the Gloucester Green bus station.  Some services also stop slightly further from the centre, in Oxpens Road.

From London specifically:

Bus:  two services run frequently; the Oxford Tube and the Oxford Express. Travel time is around 2 hours. 

Rail:  trains run from London Paddington, and take around 1 hour (though some stop more often, taking around 1.5 hours).  See here

By car:

On-street parking is difficult to find in Oxford, and is limited to 1 or 2-hours.  Some details can be found here.  

There are also some car parks where a car can be left all day for a fee (see the above link).  The most convenient locations for the venue are at Gloucester Green and Worcester Street. 

There are also park-and-ride services, but please be warned that these stop in early evening on Sunday.  See here.

Getting to the venue:

Taxis are available at both the rail station and Gloucester Green bus station.  By foot, the venue is around 10 minutes from the centre of the city, 15 minutes from Gloucester Green bus station, and around 25 from the rail station.  Please see the map in the next section. 

Buses from the rail station to the city centre are available, and cut the walk to around 10 minutes.  Services include the S3, which runs from the station to George Street during the day; see here.

Map of Oxford

A map showing the centre of oxford, with walking routes to the venue from the rail and main bus stations, the hotels suggested in the "accommodation" section, and from the Park & Ride bus stops.

Core Organisers

If you've any queries, contact one of these people.

Thanks also to Danese Cooper for keeping an eye on BarCamp Oxford 2009.