This weekend at Ryerson University another "Unconference," an example of the BarCamp phenomenon, took place. PodCampToronto, as this one was called, was a two day extravaganza about all things related to podcasting and vloging. The user-organized conference model where a loose association of people gather without so-called "experts" to learn about what is going on in the community, is revolutionizing how we learn. Oh, and it may just put regular conference organizers out of business. Think disintermediation here.

The technology that provides the armature for these conferences is, of course, the Wiki. Here is what the WIkipedia says about the medium:

A wiki (IPA: [ˈwɪ.kiː] or [ˈwiː.kiː] [1]) is a website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change available content, typically without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.

People who have something to say book themselves as speakers. People who want to attend sign themselves up. This conference also added real-time video feeds online. Go to the link above and follow it to the calendar page. There you can link to videos of the event.

More about wikis and BarCamps later. Today, however, I'm off to a conference -- the old fashioned kind.