Concept of an informal conference for internet specialists of Blogcamp - planned to be changed to Spot, is changing. New conference will be devoted to online media projects, switching of traditional media to digital format and publishing business on the internet. Mediacamp Kyiv 2009 will be a new name of the conference in this renewed format. MediaCamp participants are journalists, editors, media managers, publishers and those bloggers that use blogs for publishing business purposes. MediaCamp will have representatives of both online and offline media - press, TV, and radio. Media specialists from both spheres will be able to learn from each other’s experience. The conference will accommodate 250-300 participants.

Organizers of the Mediacamp Kyiv 2009 conference are Internet Initiatives a civic organization that served as an organizer of Blogcamp CEE 2008, as well as Internews-Ukraine, an international civic organization that helped to organize the first Blogcamp CIS & Baltics 2007 and now is implementing MediaNext - a project aimed to develop new media.

Mediacamp Kyiv 2009 will take place in the first half of November in Kyiv. The exact date and place will be announced in August or September. A separate web-site will be set and it will inform on the preparation process for the event. The organizers believe that Mediacamp Kyiv 2009 will be one of the most remarkable event in the Ukrainian media community in the second half of 2009.

Why did the event change its format? It takes a lot of efforts and time to organize an event of such large-scale international bar camp as Blogcamp. The market’s financing situation is not conducive to comprehensive implementation of events of international format. We have put already much effort into planning and initial event preparation, but realized that carrying out a quality conference of the conceived level requires full-time commitment and much more effort than we could offer. Mediacamp Kyiv 2009 for media specialists continues tradition of Kyiv barcamps.

Less than two years ago, in October 2007, Blogcamp CIS & Baltics 2007 took place - the first "unConference" in a barcamp format in the ex-USSR's territory. Such innovative format of conducting informal conferences rapidly spread out the region - Almaty, Bishkek, Baku, Yerevan, Minsk, Moscow, Riga, Saint-Petersburg, Tbilisi and many other cities became sites for both large barcamps and small "minicamps" and "minibars". Barcamps rooted themselves in Ukraine -CodeCamp, DrupalCamp, EduCamp, iPhoneDevCamp, SocialCamp and others took place and are being organized in different parts of the country. The barcamps have shown that an industry specific local event could be organized by a small team of enthusiasts ready to work hard. The informal barcamp format helps to promote exchange of both ideas and experience in a chosen filed, and in this way expedite its development.