[OSList] What's the difference between BarCamp and OST?

[Martin Roell via OSList]

Eva P Svensson via OSList wrote:
> Dear friends,
> Today I heard a woman talking about setting up a meeting using BarCamp as a method. I asked her to explain to me what it was and when she did that I had a hard time finding the differences between that and Open Space. One thing was that, as she explained it, the time slots were 45 minutes then 15 minutes pause then new 45 minutes and so on. Otherwise it seemed more or less like copy and paste from Open Space. Anyone who knows more about it?
> :o)

I have attended a good number of Barcamps and OST meetings, and I
believe I even vented my frustration about BarCamps on this list before. :)

To make a long story short, a few points of how BarCamps are different.
(This may be just my limited sample of Barcamps held in Germany in the
last 4 years.)

* No circle at the beginning
* A ritual "say your name and your three #tags" instead before things
start (stopping the flow, boring the hell out of everyone, etc etc)
* When announcing a session, one asks for a raise of hands to gauge
interest.
* The "Facilitator" then allocates you a room ("thank you for announcing
your session so cutely. Here's a room for you.")
* and sometimes STICKS THE PAPER INTO THE SCHEDULE FOR YOU (you don't
get to choose the room for yourself: they do it for you!)
* Facilitators generally make looong remarks about BARCAMP before things
start and ask for a raise of hands, how many people have attended
BARCAMPS before, and how many (more is better)
* Facilitators inform people that BARCAMP is AMAAAAZING because: YOU GET
TO PARTICPATE! WOW!!1 They make the event more amazing by talking about
how amazing it will be (preventing anyone from getting to work).
* Much of the butterfly conversation is about BARCAMP and how AMAZING it is.
* There is usually no issue, but a "theme" for the event; what gets
posted are not "issues" but "sessions". (In the Barcamps I attended, not
a single session was posted that had a question mark in it.)
* "Sessions" are often teaching, delivered by extroverts

One a more serious note:
Barcamp differs from OST culturally, in the sense that it is often used
for what I'd call "participatory teaching / knowledge sharing events":
In Germany, they seem to become popular with companies now, as a way to
save education budgets ("our staff can now share knowledge with
eachother! Using BARCAMP!! ITS CHEAPER THAN SEMINARS!!!!"), whereas OST
functions... hm, better? more naturally? - as a problem solving...
thing. Or so.

Or, very simply and more personal: Everytime I hear someone say
something along "Barcamp is not so different from Open Space, is it?" I
get quite mad, because I have often seen amazing things happen in Open
Space events, and never seen anything amazing happen in BarCamps.

YMMV.

Martin

-- 
Martin Röll, Görlitzer Str. 25, 01099 Dresden, Germany
+49 178 4984743, @martinroell, http://www.roell.net