Skepticamp and THATcamp defy entropy in upcoming conferences

Evolution_of_a_Cupcake_by_athaliahTwo interesting up-coming conferences share an unconventional approach to conference organsiation. The thing they have in common is their core focus on audience participation: Or cast in different words – their brave attempt to prove that entropy can be reversed.

Skepticamp Sydney 2013 is on this coming Saturday 12th of October 2013, from 10am until 5pm at UTS. It is free. Skepticamp sum up their approach like this:

Most conferences ship in big names and faces from around the country and around the world to talk, but one thing missing is participation from the audience. Many are often left thinking “But I have an opinion on that too” or “they should have covered this as well!” Well Skepticamp is your chance, because the audience IS the speaker list! Prepare your own talk on any topic you like! It is kinda preferred if it’s at least somewhat related to science and skepticism, but this is by no means essential.

Skepticamp is also accompanied by a parallel event, CupCakeCamp, where people bake and contribute cupcakes. I’m still musing over the Venn diagram of skeptics, free-thinkers and cupcake creators – prizes for the best cupcakes that have no recipe? The other conference coming up is THATcamp Sydney which is being held at the State Library over two days: 30 and 31 October. This one is described as:

THATCamp stands for ‘The Humanities and Technology Camp.’ It is an unconference: an open, inexpensive meeting where humanists and technologists of all skill levels learn and build together in sessions proposed on the spot.

This is the first time that a THATcamp has been held in Sydney, although they have been held elsewhere in Australia. If you’re passionate about the humanities, technology or operate at the nexus, the digital humanities, then this is for you. Places are limited so early registration is essential. Sadly there are no reports of cupcakes at THATcamp.

For all the gory details on Skepticamp see here; for the same on THATcamp see here.

Image: Evolution of a cupcake by athaliah.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.