BARcamp Chicago

Some Ideas To Hack On at BARcamp This Year

Tim — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:28:10 +0000

BARcamp is only a week away! If you’re looking for something fun to hack on over the weekend, here are a few things that I’ve found recently that look exciting:

Apps For Metro Chicago Competition

We invite software developers, community groups, businesses and individuals to build apps that solve problems and improve services in Metro Chicago. Our goal in this three-phased competition is to increase government transparency by facilitating the building of software applications that are creative, useful, and designed for long-term impact.

Apps for Metro Chicago, Illinois is the first apps competition to be a collaborative effort among four governmental agencies. The City of Chicago, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Cook County, and the State of Illinois are together providing an exceptional amount of open data, an unprecedented amount of technical assistance and unique efforts to help software developers team up with community organizations to build useful apps.

Geoffrey Hing is a developer for the Metro Chicago Information Center and will be in attendance to talk about this contest. The prizes are pretty good and a strong submission could gain you some notoriety and help make your city a nicer place to live.

FabFi Long Range WiFi Links

FabFi link in Afganhistan

FabFi is an open-source, FabLab-grown system using common building materials and off-the-shelf electronics to transmit wireless ethernet signals across distances of up to several miles. With Fabfi, communities can build their own wireless networks to gain high-speed internet connectivity—thus enabling them to access online educational, medical, and other resources.

This is a low cost, long range internet link system that is in use in nations with poor infrastructure to connect people to the internet. Building a link like this would be impressive; contributing something back to the project would be amazing. And if the internet isn’t working well during the weekend …

Talk Topic Discussion Forum Now Open

Tim — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:35:48 +0000

Want to see what kind of talks we’ll be having at this year’s BARcamp? Head over to our discussion forum and browse the topics people have submitted. Vote on the ones you like to help improve your BARcamp experience. And if you have a talk you’d like to give but are unsure if people want to hear it, post it on the forum and see what people think. The comments might help you improve your talk.

BARcamp Chicago on July 9-10th at Pumping Station One

kharriss — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:34:06 +0000

Pumping Station One (3354 N. Elston Ave)

We are pleased to announce that Pumping Station One, Chicago’s first hackerspace, has offered their space for BARcamp Chicago this year. Pumping Station One is located at 3354 N. Elston Ave, Chicago IL in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. BARcamp Chicago will be taking place the weekend of July 9-10th.

Stop By and Say Hi At Flourish Conference

kharriss — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:57:26 +0000

BARcamp Chicago will have a table at this years Flourish Conference. Flourish is an open source conference at University of Illinois Chicago. The talks cover various topics about open source tools, issues and strategies. We will have a table in the mini-expo area with some BARcamp Chicago stickers and can cozies. Just look for the table with the BARcamp Chicago banner. If you have any questions, suggestions or just want to find out more information about BARcamp and are at Flourish just stop on by. The information for Flourish is below.

Flourish Conference

When: April 1-3

WHERE: UIC Student Center East (750 S. Halsted)

Sign Up And Stay Updated

kharriss — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 04:01:41 +0000

We are currently underway planning and working on BARcamp Chicago 2011. If you would like to receive periodic updates about BARcamp Chicago 2011 and future BARcamps please sign up for our announcement list.