The Clark campaign just opened their new weblog. More announcements from Clark at BloggerCon on Saturday. One of the editors of the weblog is Cameron Barrett, who I've known and respected since 1997. It's very cool that they've got his experience as part of their campaign.

Earlier, the Dean campaign made a series of announcements about the Internet, covered on David Weinberger's weblog. The Dean campaign is participating in BloggerCon as well. The Graham campaign and the Democratic National Committee are also participating on Saturday.

# Posted by Dave Winer on 9/29/03; 5:27:57 PM - --

If you are an experienced IRC user, join the #bloggerCon channel at irc.freenode.net.

If you're a newbie.. On Windows, install a shareware app called mIRC (of course there are others). Enter the information into the configuration dialog.

On Macintosh, try X-Chat Aqua.

If you need help, look for Kevin Marks. He's the official IRC list-mom for BloggerCon.

You can read the IRC channel in a Web browser on this page.

# Posted by Dave Winer on 9/29/03; 10:41:11 AM - --

For dinner on Day 1, we're doing what I described in this DaveNet piece, borrowing a tradition from the World Economic Forum conference at Davos, which also, it turns out, is a tradition at Berkman.

On Saturday night, after the reception at the American Academy, we'll have dinner at one of several local restaurants, each one a discussion hosted by one of the presenters at the conference. So you get a chance to follow up and meet others who find the subject interesting.

Wendy has a sign up form for Saturday night dinners. If the experience at Davos is any guide, you must do this quickly because some of the dinners will fill up. It's first-come-first-serve.

# Posted by Dave Winer on 9/29/03; 8:56:02 AM - --

In December of last year I wrote up some ideas for a conference, which turned out to be BloggerCon. One especially important idea, which guided the development of both days of the program was the notion of Adhocracy, which is explained thus:

Adhocracy: "The key is to decentralize so that every attendee has a good chance of meeting and talking with all the people they want to talk with, and so that stars can rise, so if the planners don't know who has the most interesting things to say, the users can still find them. There's got to be an element of adhocracy to it."

Unlike many conferences, we expect juicy stuff to happen in the hallways and on walks, and over meals; and therefore have put considerable energy to making sure there are many opportunities for such.

# Posted by Dave Winer on 9/29/03; 8:48:32 AM - --

I want to clean up some loose ends today and every day this week, until, by Friday, as if by magic, there are no more loose ends. Part of the magic is deciding to let the rope slip through your hands, and trust the universe to either provide, or not.

I know this much. There will be a projector in the main room on Day 1, and projectors in each of the rooms on Day 2. There will be Internet access at every seat on Day 1. To be sure you get on, bring a cable. There is Internet access in each room on Day 2, but not at each seat. We're waiting on the university to give us the green light to bring WiFi routers with us. It's not a certainty. As an officer of the university I am required to care what it thinks about WiFi. Harvard has been very generous to the bloggers this year, and along with our tasty meal (I just watched Pulp Fiction last night) we have a nice glass of lemonade. We could have a discussion about it, we probably will.

I'm raising my glass of lemonade right now in a toast that this subject doesn't dominate the discussion at The Con. The sweetness is that the art of face-to-face may get a revival on Saturday and Sunday. We may learn to communicate with a smile and a handshake, even a hug and maybe a kiss.

Nuf said. Your questions and comments are more than welcome.

PS: Day 1 and parts of Day 2 will be webcast. Stay tuned for details.

# Posted by Dave Winer on 9/29/03; 8:06:25 AM - --