BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants. The first BarCamps focused on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats. I attended Barcamp Nigeria on behalf of SWAT.
The first ever BarCamp in Nigeria took place in Lagos at the Tom Associates Training Center on April 25, 2009. The main goal of the event was to create a central node for ongoing conversations and connections on the most important technological initiatives in Nigeria.
With 70 – 80 delegates in attendance we witnessed the first ever face-to-face meeting of Nigerians involved in web & mobile industries coming together to form a community. Unlike the usual un-conference format BarCamp Nigeria actually had keynote speakers. Justin Hartman, MD and co-founder of Afrigator – Africa’s largest social media aggregator and blog directory launched a micro-blogging service: Gatorpeeps (slidehsow below), Social Media Trends in Africa and shared his start-up experiences.
Microsoft Nigeria’s PR and events Manager, N’dee Victoria Uwadoka, presented an interesting and a bit outdated slideshow about web 2.0 but her actual message had the desired effect 
There were also a host of breakout sessions held on the following topics:
- Long Tail
- Open Source
- E-learning
- Technology Derivatives
- Getting Nigeria online
- Web development
- RapidSMS
- Social Networking
- Internet-based Radio
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
With the BarCamp ethos of collaboration and cooperation in mind I’ll now point you to some of the attendees thoughts on BarCamp Nigeria 2009:
Finally, a thank you to the BarCamp Nigeria organizers Tim Akinbo, Ayodeji Adewunmi and the sponsors for an amazing event. I saw the trip to Lagos as a fact-finding mission about Nigerian Internet users.
Digital Lifestyle of Connected Nigerians
Two days in a country is not nearly enough to learn about an internet population and I was pleased to learn about the Digital Lifestyle of Connected Nigerians survey which aims to explore what Nigerians (who are currently resident in Nigeria) are doing to get (and/or stay) online, what internet services they use and other important questions. If you are a Nigerian Resident, reading this, please complete the Digital Lifestyle of Connected Nigerians survey (takes 7 minutes).
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August 28th, 2009 at 9:40 am
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