BarCamp Nigeria Just Launched Website!
After several weeks of a sluggish approach to getting things done, the BarCamp Nigeria team has finally launched a website for the event: just about 10 days to the event scheduled for February 13th, 2009.
Update:
The site was done by Temi of Antigravity Inc., and he writes:
February 6th, 2009
By Temi Kolawole
Welcome to the new BarCamp Nigeria website. I apologise on behalf of the organisers for the late website, as I was only asked to build this 2 weeks ago and did my best to get it done quickly even with an extremely tight schedule.
I hope everyone (or almost everyone) likes the site.
From my findings, Temi bought the domain name, hosted and designed the site for free. My guess is that Temi also created a twitter account, since the organisers have been completely lax about creating a buzz about the event. (The BarCamp Nigeria wiki was last updated 2 months ago). From the sponsors page, you’ll also find that Sturvs is the only sponsor of BarCamp Nigeria.
I’m yet to decide if I’ll attend the BarCamp, as I’m not certain that the event would hold at all. Don’t take my word, though. If you can attend, please do.
Update: 23/03 - I hope to attend the BarCamp Nigeria 2009.
Visit the website here
I don’t really know how to start. I guess keeping silent over the first negative post about Barcamp Nigeria was not a good move.
I am among the team of individuals working to make Barcamp Nigeria a reality and when I saw the first negative post about Barcamp Nigeria, I wasn’t pleased at all. It was negative publicity as far as I’m concerned. The decision to have Barcamp Nigeria is laudable and should be supported as much as possible not torn down because we are unable to meet up with our planned dates. Whatever your reasons are, it’s not appropriate.
Here are some facts that are quite contrary to what you’ve written:
The website domain wasn’t bought by Temi; neither is the website being hosted by him. He offered to design the site and we welcomed his contribution. It is true however, that Temi did create the Twitter account.
If you recall, our initial plans was to have Barcamp Nigeria in January 29th and then it was shifted to Feb. 13th. We had made plans, gotten a venue and so on but we are still yet to tidy up some loose ends. Barcamp Nigeria will hold; the date, we cannot ascertain at this moment but publicly making damaging remarks about the event or the organizers is something that doesn’t speak well.
Hope these clarifications were enlightening.
@Tim - Thanks for your comments…
I’m happy that you admit that (someone) from the Barcamp Nigeria team should have clarified things before now. That way, I won’t even bother about the issues around the event and would somehow defend it when a non-nigerian asks me about the event.
By the way, I’ve been asked so many questions about the event and I needed to get someone from the team to explain things. Apparently, my requests for an interview with someone (anyone) from the BarCamp Nigeria team has not been attended to. Wonder why this is so.
So let me be fair:
Is the team going to accept an interview to tell the community what’s been planned for and when Barcamp Nigeria is really coming up?
We were informed that you requested for an interview and I thought you’d have had the interview with the person you contacted. The wiki is there and if you weren’t able to get an interview with one person, you could have contact any of the others.
If you contact me, I can give you the contacts to the person you need to have the interview with.
Tim - I’ve emailed two persons from the BarCamp Nigeria Team and yet no response. Will they possibly respond after the Barcamp is over?
Lets be truthful please. I bought the domain and the website is being hosted by me. Not like thats any achievement, but stick to the truth please Tim.
http://whois.domaintools.com/barcampnigeria.com
Loy isn’t putting BarCamp down…he’s just telling the truth. Even since I put the site up nobody has posted to it or anything. And I’ve given access. Not cool.
Gbam! Loy Okezie, you read my mind and have expressed my exact views. I don’t live in Nigeria but I would have gladly packed my luggage to attend “Barcamp Nigeria” if I had seen some more seriousness from its organisers. I would have gladly had my company be a sponsor. You have no idea how eager I was to see a functioning website that would share useful information about the event. Aside a Facebook page and a wiki that is not up-to-date, there was no other source of info. The mere fact the date is shaky, creates room for more scepticism. I pushed Tim Akinbo specifically and his response was not convincing enough.
The impression I get from the organizers is that of a lackadaisical attitude. Coming events they say, cast their shadows. Based on this, I simply made up my mind not to attend or participate in anyway. I cannot reckon travelling to attend an event only to witness some shabbiness. Case in point: the barcampnigeria.com website (preamble page) still shows the event date as 25 January 2009. There is no big buzz about the event, online. You don’t need big bucks to create a big buzz so be up-and-doing. If you can’t commit enough time to organize these event properly, outsource the organization to people who will be compelled to give it a 100% commitment.
Take this in good faith my Dear Tim, and put some more commitment into making this a great and worthwhile event. I know thou art busy with thine projects but the sacrifice will be worth it in the long run. Remember what you witnessed when you attended BarCamp Ghana. Exceed that. I expect nothing less from you and your team. Keep the green-white-green flag flying high.
@Temi - You have done a good job by buying barcampnigeria.com but as a matter of fact you were not supposed to use *.com in the first place because we had since bought barcampnigeria.org (http://whois.domaintools.com/barcampnigeria.org). We decided against *.com for reason we all know.
Am also afraid if your comment on barcampnigeria.com is professional.
@Temi my apologies please. My thoughts were that the .org was what was registered. To my knowledge, I didn’t know a .com was registered and I know that Kenny was the one who registered and hosted barcampnigeria.org.
The journey of Gadzillion miles has began, please guys more team spirit is needed.
Kill the negative feeling. BARCAMP NIGERIA can and will be a success.
Amen
Hi guys im Al from Kenya and interested in the Tech scene in W. Africa. Just looked at the sites, and was wondering if the BarCamp Nigeria event ever happened both sites (.com and .org) are empty.
Any updates about how it was or what was discussed.