The Internet was inevitable once ubiquitous computing became a reality. After all, the "Personal" in personal computing made for a lot of lonely computer users after Apple and Microsoft had put their operating systems into almost every first-world home. When consumers had mastered their PCs, they then wanted to share all the new ideas the nascent technology spawned. This caused a huge, unsatisfied demand for connectivity. Hello AOL.

Many in the academic community saw the Net as the manifestation of Teilard de Chardin's "Omega Point." In fact, from a less academic perspective, Wired Magazine escaped from the university and owes its genesis to the vague, innate yearning we harbour for a "wired consciousness." Whether inspired by a quasi-religious need to unite the globe or not, soon Internet users were changing the world - until their bubble burst. When that happened the euphoria died.

I have good news: it's back. How do I know? BarCamp is its Phoenix.

Talking with BarCamp champions Tara Hunt and Chris Messina, I was reminded that innovation is driven by an irresistible human need for recognition and community. In this case, it's the need to connect with people and learn from them without having to negotiate layers of bureaucracy. That's the human desire BarCamp thrives on.

We all know that markets are driven by unsatisfied needs and big markets generate a momentum all their own. In the last five years developers created easy-to-use, open-source, ubiquitous content management tools. New markets were bound to follow. For example, "Press" disintermediating bloggers, it turns out, have a lot they want to say to a global audience. In fact, they won't shut up no matter what the main stream media does to quiet them. Hello Web 2.0 and, by extension, BarCamp.

Tara and Chris are fun. Don't misunderstand that. They are (...read more...)