Slideshow: Barring None, Geek Camp Rocks

An impromptu gathering draws a big crowd -- and some big names -- as disenfranchised geeks convene an alternative to O'Reilly's exclusive Foo weekend. Ryan Singel reports from Palo Alto, California.
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Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble (center) talks RSS with Kevin Burton (left), who wrote Newsmonster, a newsreader that runs in Mozilla browsers.Ryan Singel

See related story: Barring None, Geek Camp Rocks

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Socialtext CEO Ross Mayfield, who donated his office for Bar Camp, relaxes outside his new office next to a Bar camper's tent.

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Bar Camp may have been made possible by internet technology, but scheduling turned out to be simplest on paper.

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Participants, including Sean Savage of Placesite (fourth from right) and Mary Hodder (second from right), cram into a small conference room for a seminar about tags.

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Geek humor, bathroom-style.

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Ryan Junell, right, spelling out Nutriaster on Dogster founder Ted Rheingold's one-of-a-kind wiki T-shirt.

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Bar Camp organizer Chris Messina sets up an outdoor lunchtime video feed after remote participants chided him for not letting them watch geeks eat.

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Software engineer Jonathan Boutelle (seated center) and cryptographer Zooko O'Whielacronx (right) stretch out in front of the silent auction in the main lobby of Bar Camp.

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stake out floor spots and a makeshift desk.

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Dav Coleman, a programmer and two-time Foo Camp invitee, modified an old Foo Camp T-shirt into a Bar Camp shirt.

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