How do we communicate at Camp? First, we test some technological solutions like a Mumble server for multiple audio channels, then having AI do live translation. But in the end, the best solution is human: to have another person by our side.
A lot of the Brazilian campers speak both Portuguese and English, so volunteers translate whispering next to us English-only speakers. It is incredibly phone number library humbling to have community members put so much energy into making sure we are included in the conversations and know what is going on.
Creating our session schedule through unconference
Next comes the fun part, the sessions and workshops! Sessions are organized through an unconference where everyone proposes sessions, determines their interests, and those garnering the most interest place themselves on what does the statistic reveal? the schedule. Workshops range from:
Learning programming with Scratch for kids and beginners
Working with a mesh network Marcela and Tomate
ODD.SDK – a local-first framework for app development
A presentation on Digital Democracy’s Earth Defender’s Toolkit
An analog map of the camp site and where routers for the mesh network will go
Campers gather around the firepit to share experiences working in cooperatives.
Luandro Viera from Digital Democracy shares the Earth Defender’s Toolkit.
One of my favorite sessions is with Ana, a Brazilian farmer and social researcher guiding us through a game called Sanctuaries of Attention. It happens on trust review the last day. It is impromptu and they just ask around for people to join after breakfast.
Ana is able to lead the session in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. We spend two hours sharing stories of how our attention changes in different situations and which situations feel safe for us — ”sanctuaries” that we can rest in.
The unconference style suits DWeb+Coolab Camp, because it allows the time and space for sessions like these to happen organically, without constraints.