In withdrawal from the THATCamp experience?  Longing for radical humanities and technology collaboration?  Wanting to learn how to organize a great unconference?  Now’s your chance to get involved in THATCampLite Bay Area, a one day THATCamp experience to take place in the San Francisco Bay Area some time in February.

The event will be contingent on volunteer organizers (I’ll be one of them), who will need to find a suitable space, arrange a date, determine if there should be a theme, publicize the event, and deal with logistics.  The event will be of the first come first serve variety.  As an organizer, you will enjoy rockstar status for a full day.  At least.

I propose three optional face-to-face organizing meetups, from 9:30-11am 11/17, 12/15, and 1/19.  These are really just for fun.  Most of the work can be done via email and conference calls as necessary.

I’ve heard some great ideas for this already, now’s your chance to get involved.  Post a response here, drop me a note (jon at lookbackmaps dot net), or email the Google Groups list if you want to help change the world with THATCampLite Bay Area.

A very good and comprehensive overview of some of the issues discussed at some of THATcamp, as they affect museums, can be found in this report: www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Museum.pdf. The report identifies and describes the 6 new technologies that are likely to have an impact on museum education in particular, over the next 5 years, including augmented reality and the semantic web. Major trends and challenges impeding adoption are discussed and benchmark projects incorporating the technologies and key readings etc. There’s a free webinar on Monday that may be useful to participate in. midea.nmc.org/event/horizonreportmuseumwebinar and go.nmc.org/midea-connect-signup.

During the Saturday night festivities, we’ll be doing live Dork Shorts, or 2 minute talks in which participants can wow the crowd with their projects, in whatever form they like. You’ll have access to a mic, a projector, the a/v system, and the dance floor for exactly 2 minutes. Bring it!

Sign up to present your Dork Shorts here, and view the lineup of presentations and links to more details here on Saturday night.

Photo: Robert Bejil Photography on Flickr.

If anyone would like to roam the aisles and scout the shelves of Prelinger Library while the jets scream overhead, we’d be delighted to welcome them for an extremely informal tour and visit. Bring cameras and flash drives! We’ll figure out the best time together at the meeting.

Fleet Week 1919, from Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbook, The Bancroft Library

I may have neglected to mention that Columbus Day Weekend (this weekend) is also Fleet Week in San Francisco.  The majority of the festivities are on the Fisherman’s Wharf side of the Embarcadero, but Piers 30/32, near us, will have ships docked and open for tours, so please expect a bit more traffic than usual.  If you’re driving, you may want to look at the lots closer to the ball park (good news is the Giants are in the playoffs, but NOT at home this weekend!).

We’ve also pulled some strings with the US Navy and have a very special immersive multimedia presentation for you from 3-4pm Saturday.  We’ll tell you more about that Saturday morning.

My archives is located at 2 Folsom which is on the waterfront near Automattic Lounge (Google Maps says 1 Muni stop, .7 miles, 12 minute walk).

Since it’s a corporate archives that is not open to the general public. But I would be willing to do a tour for THATCampers this weekend if anyone is  interested in popping over.  I can just do a general overview tour or focus on some specific aspect of our archival/records program – whatever people are most intested in.

Not sure what time would work best…maybe Sunday after lunch? Or some other time that works for the most people?

Let me know.

I’m excited to announce that camper bios for the Fall 2010 THATCamp Bay Area have been posted on the site.  I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of sessions and bootcamps will come out of this group, but I’ve no doubt they are going to be incredible.

Applications are now open for THATCamp Bay Area. Unfortunately, we can only facilitate about 75 people for THATCamp Bay Area, so we’re asking prospective participants to fill out this short application. If you’d like to attend, please complete the application, and keep in mind that your name, website, twitter handle, affiliation, and short bio may be visible to the public on an attendees page on this website. Based on applications and availability, invitations will be emailed no later than September 9. If there is a waitlist, invitees will have a limited amount of time to accept before the spot is offered to someone else. We will do everything we can to accommodate as many attendees as possible.

Please print, post, email and otherwise disseminate the Call For Participants for THATCamp Bay Area, October 9-10, 2010. Applications will be open from August 1 – September 1, 2010.

A PDF of the CFP may be downloaded here.

We’ve added an About and Logistics page to the site, and have announced that applications will be open from August 1 – September 1, and everyone will be notified no later than September 9.

THATCamp Bay Area will be held at the Automattic Lounge on Pier 38 in San Francisco, October 9-10, 2010. Stay tuned for more information here, and follow @THATCampSF on Twitter for updates.

Special thanks to Automattic, the people behind WordPress.com for sponsoring THATCamp Bay Area and hosting in their space!