CyborgCamp started in 2008. The first speakers were Ward Cunningham, inventor of the first wiki. There was interaction designer Bill DeRouchey, and a real cyborg. The cyborg was 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. So we have a big board of sticky notes, and you can write down the session that you want to lead on the sticky notes, and you can lead a session. If you don’t like it, you can leave a session. You can offer constructive points.
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. And if somebody wants to learn about something, they can put something up on the board that they want to learn about, instead of being tied to a very stringent conference agenda. So if you want to learn more about that, there’s a Twitter account. @cyborgcamp.
The traditional way to say it is: It’s a conference on the future of humans and computers. Humans and technology. So that’s about it. And then, if you want to learn more about cyborg anthropology, I’m building a wiki at cyborganthropology.com. It’s new, so if you want to contribute, or you want to learn more, you can email me at case@cyborgcamp.com, and I would be happy to tell you more.
