Category Archives: Geekery

BarCamp Vancouver 2009

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On October 3rd, I attended my 2nd BarCamp. Last year’s BarCamp – I can’t believe it’s already been a year! – was my first ever “un-conference.”

What the heck is an un-conference? (Am I right?)

Well, it’s basically an event that doesn’t get organized until you show up. Although, it is planned by a small group of people who actually attend BarCamp, my brother being one of them. Anyone who attends has the opportunity to pitch an idea for a session, in under 30 seconds, and then it gets scheduled into the day. There were 5 rooms with 5 sessions happening at once, in the Discovery Parks building on Great Canadian Way, and you just got to choose which ones you would like to go to.

Last year, my brother shot a short video of me as we were leaving BarCamp, to ask what I thought of it. Check it out below.

This year, I think I was a little more into doing my own thing, and not just following Jordan to whatever sessions he wanted to go to. In the morning, I went on the photowalk session with a bunch of photographers whom I know and admire, and after lunch went to the photography-related session that talked about using programs like Aperture and Lightroom to manipulate your photos. Now, of course, I need to out and buy one of them, because you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with your photos, and tag them and organize them in so many different ways. It’s nuts.

There were many other great discussions yesterday, and I learned a lot from some very cool people who are doing amazing things in the tech world.

I will leave you with a few photos I took yesterday during the photowalk.


I was amazed at how few cars were there. Most people chose to carpool, cycle, or take transit.

Thank you everyone, and hope to see you all next year at BarCamp!

Who is Janis Behan? A series

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I took on a little personal project awhile ago, and I am glad to say I have finally finished it! I started out thinking I was going to make just one video, but it turned into two. The first one is an interview with myself on “Who is Janis Behan?” The second one is a selection of testimonials from some of my best friends with the same theme. I would like to thank these lovely girls for agreeing to participate in my geeky little project. It was a lot of fun, but I am very happy to have completed it. Editing video takes a lot out of you!

Well, without further adieu, here is “Who is Janis Behan? Part I”:

“Who is Janis Behan? Part II”: featuring Jerra Pexton, Emily Ingram, Carly Martin, Diana Caldarone, and Elizabeth Betteridge is below. I cannot thank you girls enough!

BarCamp Vancouver 2008

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by Janis Behan – Geek in Training

This past weekend, I attended my first ever BarCamp. It was held on beautiful Granville Island, with the venues scattered about the island. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. It’s too bad we were inside for most of it, geekin’ it up… jk.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for my first BarCamp experience. It was a lot more social than I had predicted. I met a lot really cool people the day of BarCamp, and the night before at the Reception held at Workspace in Gastown. Some interesting sessions I attended were: “Marketers for a Cause,” where 3 groups were formed to come up with a social media campaign to help a cause (Hands up for Africa <chip in here>, Union Gospel Mission, or Kiva), and “Laptop Bedouin,” learning how to live abroad and work remotely. I also really enjoyed the PhotoCamp session, as I have a new Pentax K100D, and I’m still discovering how to use it to its full potential.

Rather than bore you any longer, I will leave you with the wrap-up video my brother shot of me, just as we were leaving Granville Island. You can also see this video and others at UnderTheCoverage.com – “Events, News & Lifestyle in Vancouver, BC.”