InfoCamp Berkeley

InfoCamp Berkeley is an unconference for anyone interested in user experience, information architecture, interaction design, information management, information design, librarianship, online search, informatics, and related fields.

InfoCamp has no pre-determined session topics or presenters, other than a keynote and plenary session. You, the participants, create and lead most of the sessions! You determine the topic and format of your session, and pitch your session idea to the group, and sign up for a time slot. The exact schedule will be created as we go.

The purpose of this format is to encourage collaboration, interaction, discussion, and real-time innovation. The benefits of this format include the immediacy of the topics — the sessions didn’t have to be submitted months ahead of time — and the fun, exciting (and a bit chaotic) feeling of being part of an event that’s being led by everyone.

Just because sessions are planned on the day, doesn’t mean you can’t start thinking and planning with your peers on what you can talk about or facilitate on the day. And don’t limit yourself to a traditional discussion session. One of the most successful sessions in the past was ‘Interface Off’ that was held at InfoCamp 2007 where the Zaaz team presented a design challenge in which session participants were asked to satisfy the needs of a ‘client’ and design a user interface to meet the client’s needs. Other ideas include:

• gather people to discuss a common interest
• solicit feedback on a design
• demo a half-baked product
• organize a panel
• present research findings
• set up a debate on a controversial topic
• start a conversation group
• discuss solutions to a problem
• brainstorm an idea
  

Schedule

Each session is 45 minutes long, except for one lightning talks session where we’ll have four 8 minute presentations around two core themes: information governance and policy, and human-centered interaction and design. Our keynote speaker is the brilliant Erin McKean, lexicographer and dress analyst extraordinaire who will talk about what it’s like to be in the presence of so many new words. After we end the event with prizes and final session madness at 5pm, we’ll saunter down the road for a not-to-be-missed InfoParty.

Registration is $20 and tickets are limited — register online now.

For more information, see the conference website, find us on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter.