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November 17, 2006

Activist BarCamp limits attendance - What a scandal!

Zack Exley explains why RootsCampDC is now only accepting people—anyone—who worked on the elections this cycle. Space is limited and it was filling up with executive director types, whereas RootsCampDC is supposed to be

a place where the volunteers and precinct organizers would analyze the elections together with directors, candidates and consultants as peers. We also wanted to bring in people who worked on the elections in new ways: bloggers, guerilla ad makers, programmers and others.

I'm with Zack on this. Applying any explicit admission criteria goes against the BarCamp philosophy, but I'm more interested in having a good meeting that nudges democracy forward than in being a BarCamp purist. Diversity of experience and position matters a lot here.

I'd already signed up to attend the second day—I have a family event on the first day—although I don't fit into any of the categories. Making get-out-the-vote phone calls for the Deval Patrick campaign doesn't put me in the same solar system as the folks who poured their time and hearts into campaigns this year. I expect to listen a lot and learn a lot at the get-together. [Tags: politics netroots zack_exley barcamp ]

Posted by D. Weinberger at November 17, 2006 10:23 AM


Comments

I attended the Roots Camp in Second Life, which was really valuable, not only for the content exchanged, but especially for connecting with people in Second Life and helping people move forward with what we can do there.

There are also RootsCamps in New York City, Bloomington, IN, and Columbus OH coming up. These may be where the really interesting gatherings happen since it will include all of the real workers who can't afford a trip to DC.

Maybe if I get organized and catch my breath, I'll set up a RootsCamp in Connecticut.

Posted by: Aldon Hynes | November 17, 2006 10:49 AM


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