‘Tis the season to be conferencing

The digital lifestyle is upon us, and thanks to Web 2.0 the onus is on you to be a producer as well as a consumer. Two conferences in that spirit are coming up in the next month.

This weekend Shanghai will be host to its first ever barCamp, the ad hoc tech lifestyle “un-conference” where every attendee is encouraged to participate either as a speaker, organizer, or active listener. The action kicks off at 6 pm on Saturday night with a pre-un-conference social at T-Sens, and continues Sunday with the main event at the Toodou offices along the Suzhou Creek. If you bring a prepared talk, arrive promptly at 8:30 am for breakfast and the planning of the day’s schedule. If you arrive late, be prepared for the possibility of speaking to an empty room in the middle of the night: barCamp is touted as a 24 hour event. So far, topics mentioned have included web programming, open source business, urban photography and navigating the Shanghai bus system.

Coming in October, not to Shanghai but to neighboring Hangzhou, is the 2^nd annual Chinese Blogger Conference. Last year, weblog enthusiasts and entrepreneuers gathered in Shanghai at the first Chinese Bloggercon to “celebrate the art and science of weblogs” within a Chinese language context. This year, the gathering looks to have grown in size and prestige. The tentative schedule lists possible talks by Chinese IT “godfather” Keso, Danwei.org chief editor Jeremy Goldkorn, and a possible videoconference panel with digital artists in Europe. (Note that the conference will be 99 percent in Chinese; however volunteers will be putting notes online in English during the event.)

On Upcoming.org:
BarCamp Shanghai at Toodou Offices (September 24-25, 2006)
Chinese Blogger Conference 2006 in Hangzhou (October 28-29, 2006)