BarCamp Oxford 2011

10-11 September, University Club, Oxford

The Apache Software Foundation (hopefully with additional contributions from local companies) are going to run a BarCamp in Oxford in September. The fun will start on the evening of Saturday September 10th with a geeky meal followed by pub, the real action commences at 10am on Sunday the 11th.

The venue has been booked, and sign-ups are open! To sign up, edit the Attendees section below to list yourself, or drop an email to the google group and we'll do it for you. Then, have a look at the rest of the page for more information on the event, what to bring, when to come etc!

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. This will also allow you to find out when signups open!

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, OX1 3SZ, 01865 271 044. 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).

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.

Saturday Evening

For anyone arriving early, we'll be going out for a meal on the Saturday night. People will likely begin congregating in a pub from about 6pm, and we'll head to a restaurant for 7.30pm for dinner. Afterwards, we'll head off to another of Oxford's great pubs! Do come along to some/all of the Saturday evening if you can!

If you have ideas on where we should go, please suggest them via the Google Group. We'll announce the final plan nearer the time.

Meals on Sunday

We're hoping that we'll again be able to offer food during the day at the venue. It'll depend on sponsors though, so more details nearer the time!

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

Schedule

In commons with all BarCamps, we'll be deciding on the schedule on the day. So, it's up to you! Here's the suggested framework. We will fill in the details at the start of play.

• 09:00 set-up/get-in
• 09:30 registration (say hello, make name badge, get swag/loot etc)
• 10:00: After a brief introductory talk, the schedule will be decided by us all at the start of the event. How it works is that we scribble down topics we're interested in and hold them up. If others are interested we then pick a slot on the programme (single or double). It's all very flexible and as topics emerge there is often splitting and lumping and reorganizing. If a session is really going strong at the end of its slot then folks simply decamp and carry on elsewhere, having free'd the room for the next slot. The schedule is expected to morph during the day
• 11:00 First slots
• 12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
• 13:00 Oxford walkabout- see the dreaming spires
• 15:00 Downstairs bar opens, for those discussions that work best with beer... Sessions continue upstairs
• 17:00 Closing session
• 17:15 clean up and off to pub

To give you an idea, here's a photo of the schedule board from last year. We also hope to post updates of the board at random intervals, check Flickr for photos tagged #barcampapacheoxford.

Barcamps need you!

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

• People!
• More sponsorship: food, schwag etc. Please ask your work nicely!
• 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 the poster which can be downloaded from here.

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 10th. Please put your name down if you can offer someone a piece of floor. Anyone without crash space sorted should let it be known at the meal on Saturday, and we can pair people up then.

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

We have contacted those of you who indicated the need for a crash space and it look like you are all sorted, but if you still need support, let us know!

Attendees

Attendee numbers are limited owing to funding for things like catering. Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors we have managed to increase the maximum attendance from 50, so we're please to report that everyone who has registered below will have a space.

Also mention 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.

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

Catering

Sponsors permitting, 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.

On the Saturday evening before, we're going to for a meal, followed by drinks in a nearby pub. The venue is still TBD, but will likely be a short walk from the Station, Bus Station and the centre of town.

• Sponsorship

  We're still looking for more sponsors! We have the venue covered, but we still need food, swag etc.

  If you may be able to help out, please get in touch with the organisers (see the end of the page) or drop a note to the google group. We'll hopefully have an information pack on sponsorship available soon.

  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.

  	Name	Organisation	Email
  1	Ross Gardler	ASF	rgardler AT apache.org
  2	Nick Burch	Alfresco/ASF	nick AT apache.org
  3	Sylwia Presley		@sylwiapresley
  4	Mohammad Nour	ASF	mnour AT apache.org
  5	Sander van der Waal	OSS Watch	sander.vanderwaal AT oucs.ox.ac.uk

  ---

   

sylwiapresley