About
Quite frankly, this page was set up to profit from the popularity of the BarCamp concept. What's presented here is only remotely similar to BarCamps, but BarCampers are certainly among the target crowd. Here it goes:
- Mobile BarCampers are nerds that travel around while making a living with IT / the net. They travel together or alone. Some may experiment with this life style only for a couple of weeks, other's may lead it for years.
- From time to time, some of the Mobile BarCampers decide to join and hold a spontaneous BarCamp in some remote place which may be a city or just somewhere in the country side. Together with locals they exchange knowledge, hold courses, establish contacts. Such a camp may be organized in a mere couple of days, and it may last from a couple of hours to a couple of days.
- The goal of Mobile BarCampers is to use their valuable time to gain knowledge and inspiration by experience, to make something out of that, alone or together, and at the same time to make at least enough money to compensate travel expenses.
In a nutshell: It's about combining Coworking, BarCamping, and travelling, at least!
Random notes
Just put any random ideas that you have on your mind into the list below.
- To find peers one needs a simple technical infrastructure, such as a system to exchange geo coordinates using a light weight protocol which can be used e.g. using a satellite phone and text messages (important in remote areas). There probably is something already available. Anyone?
- An Internet connection should always be available at a BarCamp, but that may not always be possible. When Internet connections are expensive, Mobile BarCampers may share or pass along 3GM (UMTS) SIM cards or satellite access data.
- Alternative terms: Moving BarCamp, Mobile Coworking
Links
Sign up
Just add your name, and let's get in touch. A group of three to five dedicated people could be all that's needed to ignite Mobile BarCamping. Please tell us a bit about what you're interested in, and whether you're interested in a kick off meeting, perhaps at some ordinary upcoming BarCamp.
- Felix Klee: I'm at the moment looking for partners to get this whole thing going. I've limited experience with working while on the move, and in general I enjoy it. However, there are several reasons why I haven't really tried out the mobile working life style yet. Working for an extended period of time without ever meeting like minded period doesn't cut it IMHO. That's why I find the Coworking concept so attractive, and I'm optimistic that Coworking will "go mobile". I believe that a group of moving specialists can be an interesting alternative to just using the Internet, when it comes to spreading knowledge and educating people. Random details:
- Interested in low budget Mobile BarCamping / Mobile Coworking, for example in eastern Europe.
- Interested in holding a kick off meeting at some upcoming BarCamp.
- Located in Baden-Baden, Germany.
- Working in the LINUX / health care area, am trained as a Physicist.
- James Corbett and Coworking.ie: Helping to bootstrap the Coworking community in Ireland. BarCamp is already thriving here so the next step is to combine with coworking which is why I fully support this idea.
- NOTE TO FELIX: It looks like you're only a stone throw away from a Ryanair flight to Dublin so perhaps we and also think about Twinning our Coworking locations?
- Outscape (Rick): I've been travelling while writing software for over 5 years. I'm very excited to finally see a community evolving around this idea.
- Aaron Farr: travel quite a bit, but I was particularly interested in this page because I happen to live on Lamma Island which is listed below. If anyone is ever there, look me up.
Locations:
Let's start a list of places that we have checked out, with an overall impression of suitability and tips for hanging out and working. This is intended as a resource for travellers; and perhaps people with a visitable base will list it here?
- Hong Kong - Lamma island has some apartments for rent with internet access, for around 50 USD / night. Just go there and look around. They're called "Holiday Resorts" for some reason. Steven from Dollarful real estate can help. "Holiday Hostel" on floor 6D of Chung King mansion has wifi in the tiny, but clean rooms. 25 USD/night. Cell phones: buy SIM card anywhere in Tsim Sha Tsui, around 10 USD.
- Philippines - Globe's VISIBILITY service is nationwide 3G and works well. Unfort the commitment period is 2 years. Anyone got one of these and willing to rent it out to visitors? Cell phone SIM cards are available everwhere for a few USD, for example at currency exchange places. Cebu is a good place to set up a base.
- Buenos Aires, Argentina - Internet is plentiful, and lots of apartments available for short term rental. Great qualitify of life. SIM card for phones is easy.
- Panama - Outscape (Rick) would like to set somethig up there; he has property in Bocas del Toro, an archipelago in the Caribbean. SIM card for phones is easy, for example at one of the many shops across the from the Rey supermarket on Via Espana.
- Guangzhou, China - Outscape (Rick) has an office here, but currently not set up for coworking; please inquire. Internet places are not always easy to find.
- Singapore - The free nationwide network is so-so. WOrks in some places, but not all. I went to 5 hotels in Little India until I found one that had Internet, and it cost $3 per hour extra: Tekka Hotel, Belilios Lane, near Little India subway stop.
As imposed by the Flickr image they're based on, the files MobileBarCamp.jpg and mobile.jpg are released under the Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Creative Commons license. Author of the image: Christy Lane. Other author(s): Anonymous. Alternative/better banners are welcome!
