Tech

We want to hear what you make. Because the people who make stuff - the artists, business owners, entrepreneurs and dreamers - are the people who actually make up the larger economy.So this year we began recording stories about what you make in our listening booth. You can hear them below, and subscribe to our "Makers" podcast series on the right.If you'd like to host the listening booth at your event, drop us a line.

Join us at #BarCampRoc on Saturday!

WXXI News | By Rachel Ward, Editor

Published October 28, 2011 at 9:27 AM EDT

Innovation Trail editor Rachel Ward (left) and managing facilitator Juan Vazquez (right) are inordinately proud of figuring out how to set up the "Makers" listening booth.

Do you make stuff? Do you care deeply about arcana? Was your college schedule littered with electives, completely unrelated to your two or three majors? Is "geek" a badge of honor, rather than an insult? Are you vigorously nodding your head?

Then you're a BarCamp Rochester type.

BarCamp Rochester is an "unconference" - that means whoever shows up is who's presenting and attending the sessions.

Here's how the organizers explain it:

BarCamp Rochester is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. BarCamp Rochester is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. All attendees should give a demo, a session, or help with one. All presentations are scheduled the day they happen.

So why are you reading about this on a website dedicated to upstate New York's innovation economy?

Because the Innovation Trail will be rolling out its "Makers" listening booth, to find great stories about what people in Rochester's geek/tech/smart community are doing. Along the lines of StoryCorps, we'll be asking BarCamp attendees to join us for 10 minute conversations about what they make, literally or figuratively.

We'll use some of the stories we find in an upcoming radio series, and on our website.

Are you in? Follow @innovationtrail and the #rocmake hashtag, where we'll be tweeting available slots throughout the day tomorrow. We'll be recording between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., in the lobby at the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Can't make BarCamp? Follow #barcamproc to stay tuned into what's going on all day.

Hope to hear from you soon!