BarCamp Bangalore, which entered into its sixth edition over the weekend, was one of the best so far. It was different from the previous camps in one aspect—one could not just register for attendance, but had to register a topic to speak on, to ensure active participation of all present. Despite this precondition, more than 400 people turned up, talked and had a blast.

The sessions were broadly divided into four tracks— product demos, Internet, citizen talks, and mobile and gizmo talks.

In addition to these, the Corridor Sessions & Daris were also a great hit. These were essentially smaller, impromptu discussions initiated on the spot by the participants.

(pic credits: Swaroop CH)

Social networking site MySpace launched its developer program for India at the camp and had several well-attended sessions.

Another area that saw intense discussions was Rich Internet Apps (RIA). Some of the popular sessions included ‘Open social’, ‘Tweaks for high performance websites’, ‘Democracy and how to get your voters list’, ‘VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol)—some misconceptions in India’ and ‘Problems start-ups face’.

Social media gatherings such as the Bangalore Tweet-up (meet-up of users of microblogging service Twitter) and Blogathon meet-up for bloggers were also well attended. BarCamp even saw sessions on lighter topics such as ‘Dating tips’ and ‘Sun signs’.

The product demo sessions had several start-ups showcasing products they were working on. This included RangDe.org, a microlending start-up, CommonFloor.com, social networking for daily use, and Mantis, a GDS (global distribution system) for bus agents and operators.

There were also sessions from Kickstart (organizers of Headstart and Start-up Saturday) and incubation cells of Indian Institutes of Management, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

This barcamp was distinctly ahead in terms of participation and confluence of multiple domains. What could have been better is campers taking up more hands on sessions and hack hours. All said and done I had a good dose of ideas & innovation.

This article can also be found on LIVEMINT