BarCamp Transparency and Oxford Code Jam

Almost certainly no progress on those copious and comprehensive notes about BarCamp Oxford this side of Easter. But it's worth mentioning two offshoots from the weekend's discussions that look set to become big events in their own rights.

Sylwia Presley, Ben Werdmuller, Marcus Povey and others are beginning to organize a Transparency BarCamp, to talk about the ethics of social media and web 2.0, Open Government and individual freedom, and even topics like cyber-activism. Meanwhile another group, including the likes of Matt Thorne and Oleg Lavrovsky, is hoping to try their collective hand at Oxford geek jams, collaborative all-day coding events.

The local geek community---most obvious to me personally at the Oxford geek nights of course, but to others through the Oxford Flickr Group or the Agile Oxtremists---has always been strong and supportive, but in quite a slow-burning way. Suddenly it's like someone's given those flames some air, and the Oxford geek/social scene has warmed up. It feels great.