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  • Who is organizing?
    Hackmeeting is a yearly meeting of a community that communicates through a mailing list. There is no distinction between organizers and users. Everyone can subscribe and partecipate in the organization by visiting the site it.hackmeeting.org and entering the community.

  • What is an hacker?
    Hackers are curious people, always eager to discover how things are done. Whether it is technology or not, hackers reclaim freedom to experiment, disassemble and reassemble things or concepts, to understand how are they made, to improve them, and then to share how to do it again. Hackers solve problems and build things, believing in freedom and sharing. They do not like closed systems. Hackers’ forma mentis is not restricted to the field of software hacking: there are people that keep the hacker mentality in every existing field, driven by their creative impulse.

  • Who holds the talks?
    Whoever wants to. If someone wants to propose a talk, he just has to propose it on the mailing list. If the proposal is well received, it gets on calendar. If there are some problems, the community will be happy to help improve the proposal.

  • What’s in there, besides talks?
    There is a LAN space, as to say an area dedicated to the net: everyone can plug their laptop, forming a network with the other participants. In general, this is the right place to meet other attendees, to ask for help in installing Linux, to solve a doubt, or just to have a chat. Hackmeeting is an open-air festival, a meeting, an hacking party, a moment of consideration, an occasion to learn something together, an act of rebellion, an exhange of ideas, experiences, dreams, utopias.

  • How much does it costs?
    Traditionally, entrance in Hackmeeting is totally free: always keep in mind that organizing the event has a cost. Expenses are sustained through voluntary contributions, selling shirts and other gadgets and sometimes through the earnings of the bar.
    Please donate whatever you can, every small donation counts.

  • Sleeping
    Hackmeeting will be held in a large open green area, so it is necessary to bring tends and sleeping bags for camping. You can park your caravan or camper-van not too far away.
    There will no place to sleep inside, plan accordingly!

  • Eating
    There is a self-organized kitchen, and we invite everyone to participate. As for every year, alimentary restrictions of every type will be respected, so there will be vegetarian and vegan meals. We also try to respect any other necessity (gluten-free meals and so on), if this is your case please write it in the mailing list.
    You should bring your own crockery/plates and cutlery (you are going camping!). We have a few in place but they will not be enough for everybody.

  • What shall I bring?
    If you want to bring a computer, take a power strip too. Do not forget networking hardware (like Ethernet cables, switches, WiFi access points). Remember to bring the hardware that you will want to hack in company. We will try to get some internet connection for everybody to share, but we can’t really guarantee anything. If you think that you need it, bring a 3G/4G stick with you and the necessary to share it with friends! Try to be as independent as possible regarding your hardware.

  • May I arrive before Thursday?
    Do you want to arrive sooner? Wonderful! In the preceding days there is always much to do (prepare web infrastructure, prepare seminar halls and many other things) so any helping hand is well accepted. Maybe just let us know in advance by sending a message in the list!

  • May I take photos, make videos, post, tag, share, upload?
    We think that the freedom to choose the dimensions of one’s own private sphere and public profile must be guaranteed to every participant: in this spirit, photos and/or videos are admitted only if explicitly authorized by every person that appears in the media. Nobody should be photographed without knowing.
    Many people at Hackmeeting really care about their privacy, please ask before taking a picture.

  • How are people expected to behave?
    Hackmeeting is a self-managed space, a temporary independent space and whoever passes through is expected to behave according to the principles of antisexism, antiracism and antifascism. If you are victim or witness of an act of oppression, aggression, brute force, port scan, ping flood and other non-consensual DOS and you do not know how to react, always count on the community’s support and do not hesitate to attract attention and ask for help.

The location

The area where Hackmeeting will be held is split in two by a two-lane road with car traffic.

One side is called “Borgata 8 Dicembre”, and it has been defended from destruction thanks to the popular struggle, and it is now managed and offered from the Venaus town-council administration. There will be rooms there for talks and seminars to be held. These rooms will be have to be locked at night (after we have finished all the talks and seminars).

On the other side of the road, called “presidio” of Venaus, there will the sleeping area for tents, camping, caravans, and trailers, as well as a “relax area”, the kitchen, toilets, showers, the LAN space, and a bar.

In order for you and everybody else to have an enjoyable experience, you should follow some simple rules:

  • respect the environment
    Do not light fires and do not leave around any type of waste or rubbish.

  • respect the local people
    If you have a walk in the town, do not write on the walls of houses (as you will see by looking at the big highway pillars, in this valley we try to do so where it has the most meaning). Do not steal from the small shops (they are often run by families who support the popular struggle of the valley, not by big multinational companies). The same holds for the kitchen gardens you will find along the road.

  • respect people around you
    Please do not smoke in the closed areas where the talks will be held. You can smoke outside.

  • do not bring pets if you can’t control them
    If your dog/parrot/horse/cat/turtle comes along with you, remember that the area where the event is held is split in two by a road, which does not have much car traffic but does have some, so take care of your pets and/or children.