Campus Party
Campus Party is a conference and hackathon.
Founded in 1997 as a technology festival and LAN party, the event was first held in Málaga, Spain, and has since been run in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Singapore, Spain, the Netherlands, Uruguay and USA.
The event has evolved into an annual week-long, 24-hour-a-day festival involving online communities, gamers, programmers, bloggers, governments, universities, companies and students and covers technology innovation and electronic entertainment, with an emphasis on free software, programming, astronomy, social media, gaming, green technology, robotics, security networks and computer modeling.
History
In December 1996 EnRED, a Spanish youth organization, wanted to found a small, private LAN party held at the Benalmádena Youth Center in Andalucía, Spain. Paco Regageles, then director of Channel 100, suggested they expand the event, and promoted it as a LAN party under the original name, the "Ben-Al Party" in reference to the event's location in Benalmádena.File:Hemispheric Twilight - Valencia, Spain - Jan 2007.jpg|thumb|Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain
In April 1998 the second Ben-Al Party was held, attracting 5 times the number of participants and national media attention to the gaming event. EnRED abandoned the project as it grew, and in April 1999 Paco Regageles along with Belinda Galiano, Yolanda Rueda, Charles Pinto, Pablo Antón, Juanma Moreno and Rafa Revert founded the non-profit organization E3 Futura, with the broader objective of making technology in all forms more accessible to society. Asociación E3 Futura founded Futura Networks to organize the Campus Party festivals, Campus IT Summer University and the Cibervoluntariado digital inclusion movement.
In 2000 Manuel Toharia, a speaker at previous Campus Parties, and director of Príncipe Felipe's Museum of Sciences in Valencia's City of arts and Sciences suggested that Ragageles expand and make the event more international by moving it to the famous museum. That year, Campus Party doubled in size, attracting 1,600 participants to the 6-day festival.
Futura Networks
Futura Networks was founded by the non-profit E3 Futura in 1999 to create forums and educational programs, such as Campus Party, to promote innovation and responsible participation in digital culture.Their headquarters are in Madrid, Spain with satellite offices in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, London. Futura Networks employs 87 people, and hires approximately 20 local organizers and hundreds of volunteers for each Campus Party event.
Content and focus
Something Better
Something Better is an initiative announced on January 17, 2011, at Campus Party Brazil by CP co-founder Paco Ragageles and José María Álvarez-Pallete, President of Telefónica Latin America. Its goals are to promote the idea that the "Internet isn't a network of computers, but a network of people" and to encourage responsible and proper use of the networks. Paco Ragageles said that the new initiative aims to start a movement of civic and social responsibility on the web that promotes innovation and collaboration, and addresses common issues such as Internet privacy, piracy, spam and cyberbullying. One of the reported objectives of Something Better is to create an Internet use education program through Ministries of Education globally.The first development of Something Better is Geeks Sans Frontières, a volunteer ambassador program which is based on the concept of Médecins Sans Frontières. Their goal is to help foster growth of technology infrastructure and access to information in developing countries in order to facilitate the exchange of ideas between all communities and cultures. The first destinations for the project are Colombia and Ghana.
Green Campus
Campus Party's Green Campus initiative began in 2007 with the goal of making the technology and construction of the event focused on green technology and improving the environment. The organization has made the commitment to reduce CO2 emissions, and to encourage innovation through sponsored competitions in the sectors of green tech. In 2007 Futura Networks planted a tree for every Campusero who attended the event with the Nature Foundation. Al Gore has attended the event twice to lead discussions and debates about climate change and responsible energy use. The Green Campus initiative asks for participation in their green tech projects and proposals for future programs.Innovation
Software development
Campus Party is a hub for programmers and developers to share ideas and code. Participants have the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in software, game and application development through workshops and demos, and have the opportunity to present their own projects with programming enthusiasts.Network and security
Campus Party holds debates, roundtables and talks related to network security vulnerabilities, new protocols, such as IPv6 and content privacy online. Ex-hacker turned computer security expert Kevin Mitnick has spoken at several editions about system vulnerabilities and how to protect content and systems, and Joaquín Ayuso, co-founder of Spanish social networking site Tuenti will present on ownership of personal information and security concerns on social platforms in Valencia in 2011.Competitions
Each Campus Party edition has various competitions ranging from start-ups and multimedia presentations to app and game development. Campus Party Spain awards over $300,000 in prizes at each event.Digital Inclusion
One of Campus Party's main missions is to bring the Internet to every citizen, and to bridge the digital divide in communities and countries most effected by lack of access. They hold activities focussed on addressing unequal access to information including "digital baptisms" for low-income groups, seminars, debates and about digital inclusion. Campus Party considers itself a "nucleus for digital inclusion" for less privileged populations through a program created with Telefónica and local public institutions. So far they report that the program has initiated over 30,000 people from Brazil, Colombia, Spain and Mexico in the use of information technologies since the program's founding in 2008.The program works with educators to create programs addressing digital inequalities and training in information technology systems for companies, primarily in Ibero-American countries.
Organization
Campus Party is typically held in large indoor arenas and split into 3 areas: the "Arena" area, - a 24/7 meeting place for talks, workshops, challenges, hackathons, call for ideas and special activities -, the "Experience" area - a place for startups and makers, games, simulators, robots and drones, virtual and augmented reality, academic projects, and more -, and the "Village" area which includes camping, restaurants and a dining hall, and a relaxation zone that has couches, bean bags, TVs and gaming consoles, free massages and in Valencia, a sport arena with basketball and football fields.The stages are split into areas of concentration
- Science: astronomy, modeling and simulations
- Creativity: design, social media, photography, art and music
- Innovation: programming, security and networks
- Technology/Coding
- Entrepreneurship
- Digital Entertainment
Most participants camp out on site for the seven-day festival in the Campus Party Village where they can be part of the event 24 hours a day. The tents are included in the price of admission. The village features restaurants, microwaves, showers, lockers, gaming and sport arenas and rest areas with couches and beanbags for those needing a break.
The event is live streamed and videos are posted on YouTube, and it is also covered on blogs and social media.
Speakers
Campus Party has had a wide range of speakers in its history, including ex-US Vice President Al Gore, scientist Stephen Hawking, the inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google, the hackers Kevin Mitnick and George Hotz, Akira Yamaoka, Ben Hammersley, Nolan Bushnell, the film directors Alfonso Cuarón and Víctor Pérez, Federico Faggin, the physicist who invented the touchscreen, the touchpad and the first commercially produced microchip, Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas, the first people in the world to be recognised as cyborgs, Don Tapscott, etc.The focus on astronomy at the event has drawn astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jean-François Clervoy, Ellen Baker, Buzz Aldrin, Marcos Pontes, and Rodolfo Neri Vela to Campus Party.
The organization's work with bridging the digital divide has attracted politicians and government figures, including High Commissioner for the United Nations for the Millennium Objective Eveline Herfkens, Neelie Kroes, Brazilian Presidential candidates Marina Silva and Dilma Rousseff, Gilberto Gil, a Grammy Award-winning musician and former Brazilian Minister of Culture, and ex-Mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani.
President of the Robotics Society of America, David Calkins, video game industry icon Tommy Tallarico, founding member of Blizzard Entertainment, Frank Pearce, media theorist Don Tapscott, and Linux International Executive Director Jon "maddog" Hall have all spoken at the event.