PodCamp Boston 4 in Dorchester, MA

This weekend marks the 4th iteration of the Podcamp unconference for new media. This year, PodCamp Boston is being held at the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston (right in my backyard) on August 8th and 9th.

What is PodCamp?

PodCamp is an unconference. According to wikipedia, an unconference is:

a facilitated, participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose

In other words, it’s a conference whose agenda is open-sourced and developed by the attendees, not the conference organizers. It’s a conference for the people, by the people. FooCamp, a hacker event organized by O’Reilly Media was the first conference to be described as an unconference. From there, the concept was expanded via BarCamp, which was then used as a foundation for PodCamp.

PodCamp takes the idea of unconferences and applies it to the new media industry. It’s an event where bloggers, podcasters, social media users, and new media fans and professionals can gather to exchange ideas, work on projects and meet new people in the industry. As Boston is a huge hub of social media activity, it’s only natural that PodCamp was founded here by Christopher Penn and Chris Brogan. Though the first PodCamp was held here in Boston, it’s since taken off and PodCamps are held all across the globe.

PodCamp Boston #4

Though the PodCamp unconference has a very open schedule, meaning you can participate in any of the panels going on or gather up a group of people and start your own, the scheduled talks have some luminaries discussing interesting ideas that are worth mentioning. A few of the scheduled talks:

Saturday Discussions

• What is next? – CC Chapman and Ron Ploof
• How do we measure the impact of social media? – Marta Kagan
• What is social bookmarking – Stuart Foster
• Will the Kindle saving reading? – Len Edgerly
• What is the progress of Boston 2.0? – David Cutler

Sunday Discussions

• What makes a successful tweetup? – Joseline Mane
• How do you get your company to see the value of social media? – Jamie Pappas
• What can social media do for education? – Kabren Levinson
• What’s the state of now? – Jeff Pulver
• What equipment is best for a video podcast? – Mike Volpe, Karen Rubin, & Steve Garfield

PodCamp Pre-Party

Tonight (Friday), there will be a pre-party at Boston Bowl in Dorchester, MA for PodCampers. Though all are welcome, anyone with a PodCamp ticket will have access to bowling, food, and drinks for free. Pre-party will last from 8 PM until 10PM.

PodCamp Tickets

As of 4:30 PM there are still 26 tickets left for PodCamp Boston. If you’re a blogger, podcasters, social networker, or any other profession involved with new media technologies, sign up now! Whether you hope to learn, meet new people or brainstorm with people interested in new media, PodCamp 4 is sure to be an awesome and informative time. Plus, your favorite Boston blogger will be there!

Anyone heading to PodCamp Boston 4, let us know in the comments below. You can also tweet about the event, the hash tag is #PCB4.

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