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December 7th, 2024 |
Where did the name "SkeptiCamp" come from?
SkeptiCamp is one of the several "unconferences", which is a format of open conferences that started with a specific event called Foo Camp. Its name reflects that heritage. Here is a brief history of how it came to be:
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First, there was Foo Camp.
"Foo" is an acronym for "Friends of O'Reilly", referring to
Tim O'Reilly,
founder of O'Reilly Media, a publisher of computer and technology related books.
"Camp" came from the fact that
everyone literally camped out overnight, when it first took place in 2003.
Tim continued to run them for many years. However, unlike its successors, this original "unconference" remained invitation
only.
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Mitch Lampert, founder of SkeptiCamp NYC, briefly met
Tim O'Reilly, founder of Foo Camp, on September of 2010.
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Then, there was BarCamp!
Unlike its
predecessor, this "unconference" was open to everyone!
Anyone can join and give presentations! And, BarCamps have since taken place all
over the world, practially every year. Most of them focus on technology, just as Foo Camp
did. But, a some of them have branched out into other specialized areas,
including (but not limited to) banking, interactive media, and real
estate. The first one took place in August 2005.
BarCamp has nothing much to do with bars. Though, sometimes they meet in them.
The pair of names: Foo Camp and BarCamp, is actually a play on the word "Foobar", which is a term commonly used
by software engineers as a placeholder for incomplete elements
in their projects. (The word Foobar has its own rich etymology you can look into,
though it might not be safe for work. Hint: The letter "F" was part of an
acronym.)
It is relatively rare for people to camp out overnight during BarCamps.
The last part of its name is now simply an artifact from its heritage. |
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Now, there is SkeptiCamp!
SkeptiCamp is very much like BarCamp, but it focuses on science and skepticism.
As the popularity of science and critical thinking skills emerge, more such "camps"
are bound to pop up across the world.
This "third generation" of "unconferences" was founded in 2007 by Reed Esau. About 14 of them took place in 2010,
all around the world. More than 10 have taken place in 2017. |
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New York City held its first SkeptiCamp on December 6th, 2009. And, we continue running them every year.
For the year 2020, SkeptiCamp NYC was entirely live-streamed, for the first time, due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns.
It is common for regional BarCamps and SkeptiCamps to develop their
own logo. Almost all of them use the BarCamp flame in some way.
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Other Camps
Many other unconferences now exist, for a wide variety of topics. Most of
them are technology related. But, not all of them. These were just a few:
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