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 attendees. 

Event details

When:  27 June 2009

Where:  Swaziland

Where to Stay:  Recommendations coming soon!

 

Mission

 BarCamp Swaziland is a one day event to provide a platform for technology practitioners in Swaziland to share and learn in an open environment.

 

Objectives

§  Encourage local technology capacity building by sharing best practices and building partnerships within the technology field

§  Identify technology interests and trends in Swaziland

§  Expose youth to technology and technology providers by involving them in the conference

§  Provide a platform and opportunity to test the capacity of mobile phones for mobile registration and real-time, international mobile reporting

 

Logistics: Mobile-focused

The logistics for the first BarCamp Swaziland will be focused on using mobile phones and access.  Rather than depend on Wi-Fi access, which can be expensive and slow, BarCamp Swaziland will be the first that will conduct international reporting exclusively using mobile phones.  One of the goals of this BarCamp is to explore how effective mobile phones are for outreach, registration, reporting, and data collection. 

Mobile Outreach:  The traditional way of inviting participants to a conference is through a local newspaper advertisement in the Swazi Times.  While we still may employ this method to ensure adequate outreach, BarCamp Swaziland will embrace mobile-based outreach techniques such as SMS and mobile access to Facebook.

 

Mobile Registration:  There are limited numbers of Internet access points in Swaziland with access at rather expensive “Internet Cafés.”  However, access to the Internet through mobile phones is much cheaper, where data service is free.  To ensure investment on behalf of the participants and to alleviate costs, we would like to charge a minimal fee of E15 (~$1.50) for attending the conference.  However, because there is limited access to credit cards and accepting cash is a hassle, we would like to register participants using mobile.

 

BarCamp Swaziland proposes to register participants using mobile phone bys: 1) one SMS message from a mobile number will indicate registration information 2) payment will be accepted with a mobile to mobile airtime transfer via SMS.  In other words, users will pay for the BarCamp Swaziland registration with airtime!  The airtime collected will be redistributed to our youth mobile reporters to alleviate SMS costs while covering the conference.

 

Mobile Reporting: Real-time, international reporting will exclusively be done using mobile potentially using following, and other, platforms:

-          Mobile Facebook via data connection or SMS messaging

-          Microblogging platforms: Twitter via data collection or Twe2.com using SMS

-          Multimedia platforms?

 

Mobile Data Collection:  Attendees will be surveyed using mobile phones applications.  There is a Durban-based South African Company that provided a platform to conduct mobile surveys of participants at Mobile4Dev in Johannesburg hosted by MobileActive.  Using this or other platform, attendees will be surveyed on these possible topics:

-          Technology use

-          Social media preferences

-          Mobile use

-          Profession

-          Technology Interests

 

Mobile  Real-time Collaboration:  Another idea for the conference is to set up a platform for SMS messages sent by attendees during the conference will be displayed on a large screen within the conference on certain issues. 

 

Youth Participation

We would like to engage youth at this conference, particularly rural youth, at this BarCamp.  Ideas for the participation include:

• Serve as mobile reporters using mobile phones to broadcast coverage
• Conduct a survey of participants using mobile tools
• Present a session on youth and mobile use 

Sponsors

YouthAssets www.youthassets.org

 

Schedule

 Saturday, 27 June 2009 

• Morning

• Tea

• Lunch

• Afternoon

• Dinner

• Evening/Party

 

Proposed Sessions 

• add your topic...

 

Topics I would like to hear about 

• add a topic...

 

Planners/Advisors 

• Sabelo Dlamini
• Gcina Dube
• Kaushal Jhalla
• Shara Karasic
• Jennifer Sly

 

Volunteers 

• Kaushal Jhalla

 

Participants (aka Campers) 

• add yourself...

 

Task List

(please cross out when it's done)

 

Tech

• Mobile Bloggers
• Projector
• White Boards
• Photo
• Video
• Audio

 

Non-tech

• Breakfast
• Tea
• Lunch
• After-party
• Tables and chairs
• Name Tags
• T-shirts

 

Tags for flickr, delicious, ma.gnolia, technorati etc.

Please use the tag #barcampswaz for content related to this event

 

Links to Social Media 

Blog: http://www.barcampswaziland.org

Facebook: Group "BarCamp Swaziland" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68541247809

Twitter: @barcampswaz or http://www.twitter.com/barcampswaz

 

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