About CyborgCamp
What's a CyborgCamp?
CyborgCamps are small, in-depth unconferences about the future of the relationship between humans and technology. Attendees discuss a variety of topics such as the futures of identity, privacy, surveillance, hardware to wetware, drones, 3D printing, cyberpunk, human augmentation, constructed reality, the second self, ethics, robot rights, sexuality, urban design, and anthropology.
Topics are discussed the morning of the conference and scheduled into the conference grid by attendees themselves, making it a DIY conference experience.
In addition to the above, the following has been discussed at CyborgCamps around the world: cyborgs, wearables, prosthetics, sensors, control systems, assistive tech, transcendence, transhumanism, technological singularity, artificial intelligence, intelligence amplification, utopia / dystopia / weird topia, identity, quantified self, exocortex, ubicomp, robots, sensory augmentation, steampunk, philosophy, ethics, intelligence, the borg, hackerspaces, telepresence, science fiction, DIY, cryonics, cybernetics, open source, nanotech, augmented reality, brain-computer interface, artificial life, functional electrical stimulation, and neural science.
Each CyborgCamp has its own mix of topics created by what the attendees want to discuss. All CyborgCamps follow a Code of Conduct.
CyborgCamps are Small
CyborgCamps generally have fewer than 100 attendees, making it easier to have more in-depth discussions with people across different fields. The small format increases the chances of really getting to know your fellow attendees.
CyborgCamps are Diverse
Every CyborgCamp welcomes people from different backgrounds, including social, business, academic, and trade-related. Just as cyborg studies sit at the crossroads of multiple academic disciplines, we invite people at the crossroads of different disciplines and boundaries as well.
CyborgCamps are Designed by Attendees
At CyborgCamp, attendees make the conference. Some come prepared with ideas of what they want to talk about, and others come to listen and learn. Some have relevant experience and prepared talks; others just have a woolly idea needing discussion. At the start of the conference, attendees write their ideas up on a board and the conference begins.
Attendee Feedback
"To say CyborgCamp changed my life is an understatement. Together, the event, participants and organizers create a unique space where time and humanity can give pause to our common good.
"I'd been searching for an event that was intimate and united people that were seeking a kind approach to our relationship with technology. My research led me to tech conferences, academic conferences and even transhumanist conferences, but nothing really seemed to capture the human-technology relationship in a way that didn't feel commercialized, fetishized or pathologized. Every event seemed forced.
"I signed up for my first CyborgCamp in 2012. The format was clean, the speakers were approachable, but more importantly the topics presented didn't hit the mainstream for another two years. CyborgCamp creates a safe place for people to share their beliefs and dreams for how technology can be used in a way to shape and nurture life. CyborgCamp creates an environment where the human condition is the platform and participants are taken on a journey that included them, not just what was presented to them."
— Chris Dancy, 2014
History
CyborgCamp started in 2008. The first speakers were Ward Cunningham, inventor of the first wiki; interaction designer Bill DeRouchey; and a real cyborg connected to an insulin pump 24/7.
It's an unconference, but it's also a conference. It has some official speakers and then some open sessions — a big board of sticky notes where you can write down the session you want to lead. If you don't like a session, you can leave. The unconference model allows one to really determine what they're interested in learning, versus going to a conference and expecting to be taught something. Everybody in the room gets to teach each other what their expertise is.
Past CyborgCamps
- CyborgCamp Portland 2008: the first CyborgCamp, organized in Portland, OR.
- Joe of Blaze Streaming Media gets his breakout start in real-time event livestreaming at CyborgCamp Portland 2008, going on to officially livestream SXSW and O'Reilly conferences.
- Wiki inventor Ward Cunningham speaks at CyborgCamp 2008.
- USB Drive designer Hideshi Hamaguchi speaks at CyborgCamp 2008.
- Attending CyborgCamp Portland 2008 inspires EsoZone to become an unconference.
- Amber Case and Willow Bl00 meet in Seattle. Willow Bl00 begins organizing CyborgCamps in Seattle.
- CyborgCamp Portland 2010.
- Nikolas Badminton and Kharis O'Connell attend CyborgCamp Portland and are inspired to run their own CyborgCamp in Vancouver, BC.
- Eric Boyd organizes CyborgCamp Toronto.
- CyborgCamp Seattle 2011.
- Cryptocurrency developer Kyle Drake gives his very first talk on Bitcoin at CyborgCamp Seattle 2011.
- Mike Merrill speaks at CyborgCamp Seattle about community capitalism and being a publicly traded person — going on to be featured in The Atlantic, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal.
- CyborgCamp Portland 2012.
- Klint Finley and Chris Dancy launch the Mindful Cyborgs podcast series after meeting at CyborgCamp 2012.
- Chris Dancy, the world's most quantified man, is discovered at CyborgCamp Portland, and goes on to keynote stages around the world.
- CyborgCamp organized in Vancouver, BC by Nikolas Badminton and Kharis O'Connell.
- CyborgCamp becomes an officially sanctioned MIT Media Lab event.
- CyborgCamp takes some time off. Amber Case creates the Web 1.0 Conference instead, and runs it at Media Lab and in Portland, Oregon from 2015 to 2016.
- CyborgCamp returns with a mega-event at Pacific Northwest College of Art!
- CyborgCamp hits the East Coast with a twice a year conference series at a private home nestled with a view of the Adirondacks.
- CyborgCamp East.
- CyborgCamp East.
- CyborgCamp occured in Denver, Colorado at a friendly coworking space on a Sunny Saturday morning!