Bloggers, podcasters meet in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH --Scores of Internet technology professionals and enthusiasts are expected to gather over the weekend at PodCamp Pittsburgh, an informal meeting to trade tips on creating blogs, Web sites and podcasts, an organizer said Thursday.

The free event is among several being planned in cities from San Francisco to Berlin to pair established Internet media producers with newcomers "to improve the quality of our creations together," said Justin Kownacki, a Web video producer.

"It's a completely grass roots effort," he said. The meeting's unconventional format allows participants to help shape the agenda and "blow past all the formalities of a conference and get the brain trust in the room," Kownacki said.

Guests scheduled to attend the event at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, a media arts center, include Andrew Baron, co-producer of the New York-based videoblog Rocketboom, and Brian Conley of Alive in Baghdad, a site that features raw footage shot by Iraqis.

The cast of Tiki Bar TV, a Web-based video series that revolves around cocktail recipes, and Jeff Pulver, creator of the online TV guide Network2 and co-founder of the Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp., are also expected to join in.

The tentative program includes sessions on creating a successful blog or Web site, making money from a blog or podcast, producing a Web series and using blogs for community or business development.

Subjects covered in discussions and presentations at the so-called "un-conference" will shift according to the wishes of participants, who may change the agenda through an interactive Web site, Kownacki said.

About 350 people convened for the inaugural PodCamp event in Boston in September. PodCamp Pittsburgh is expected to attract between 150 and 200 people, he said.

Similar events are being planned over the next seven months in San Francisco, Berlin, Philadelphia, Toronto, Atlanta, New York and Boston.

"It's meant to be a localized phenomenon," Kownacki said. "There's really no hierarchy of people. If you're brand new, you can get face-to-face answers" from more experienced people.

"It's not like there's a large barrier to entry," he said.