So, I’ve been a little bit quiet over the whole Barcamp transparency thing in recent months for one reason or another – but not because nothing has been happening!
As the UK enters into an election year, and with legislation such as the infamous Digital Economy Bill being rushed through parliament, and all parties promising to clean up politics, 2010 looks to be an exciting year for transparency related issues.
I am therefore delighted to confirm that Barcamp Transparency will be happening again later this year, with more speakers, more interesting conversations and more beer afterwards!
Transparency isn’t just a hot topic in the UK of course, so we are currently actively putting together plans for holding similar events elsewhere in the world. If you would be interested in helping out, please get in touch!
Finally, it has come to light from the conversations that we have been having that there is a need for an online community space to help organise these events and let people from around the world discuss and collaborate on transparency related issues.
This quote – made almost 16 years ago – sums up in a nutshell why I love the internet sometimes.
As is obvious from the ongoing events this morning that the law firm Carter-Ruck didn’t really understand just how badly it was going to shoot itself in the foot when it gagged the Guardian newspaper in an attempt to prevent them reporting on open questions asked in parliament.
These questions referred to the Minton Report regarding illegal toxic waste dumping.
I guess we should really thank them, because had they not done I wouldn’t have this delicious feeling of schadenfreude as thousands of people find out about their client Trafiguraillegally dumping toxic waste off the Ivory Coast, in possibly the largest toxic waste scandal of the 21st century.
The story broke this morning, and has been widely circulated around blogs and twitter, passed around like a note in a giant electronic classroom (Interestingly, at time of writing at least, the BBC have not picked up the story. Make of that what you will).
The internet is people (as my esteemed friend says so often), and when people are connected secrets become much harder to keep, and cover-ups much harder to orchestrate.
Yesterday, all the hard work we put in to getting Barcamp Transparency 2009 ready paid off, and I have to admit I am really pleased with how it went!
Judging by the feedback I’ve been getting throughout the day you guys enjoyed it as well, but please let me know if there’s anything that we could do better next year!
Of course the event wouldn’t have been possible without our sponsors… Google who were kind enough to cover the cost of the venue (and thanks to the Oxford Club for being so good to us on the day!). Thanks to our other sponsors – 1000 heads, Proactive, Outmap, Moo and TerminateTheRate.org as well.
There were plenty of interesting conversations had, and we’ve already spawned a couple of interesting projects – do write in and tell me about yours, we’d love to do a followup!
Check out our flick group, and if you have any photos feel free to upload them to the group pool.
Tomorrow, those of you who are coming down the night before are welcome to join us in the Gardener’s Arms from about 7pm for food, beers and a bit of socialising… look out for the group with Barcamp Transparency posters (thanks Ben Werdmuller for designing those!).
Don’t forget to @mapkyca on Twitter if you get lost!
This is a free event, but we need to get an idea of how many people are coming, and a rough list of contacts so that we can furnish you with things like Wifi keys etc.
Technology Strategist, Organiser of Barcamp Transparency, formerly the Senior Architect working on the Elgg social networking framework.
I have been involved in software development for many years and provide a range of consultancy services around social software, system architecture and the development process.
So, I’ve been a little bit quiet over the whole Barcamp transparency thing in recent months for one reason or another – but not because nothing has been happening!
Yesterday, all the hard work we put in to getting 
