The MetaCurrency Project is sponsoring a Collabathon to work on NextNet ideas, and tools!
What is the NextNet? A computing/protocol stack for operating a distributed Internet which enables individuals and communities to transact, self-organize, self-govern and empower themselves to build resilience, sustainability, and thrivability.
When: October 21-23 (the days following ContactCon)
- Friday: 6pm - 10pm
- Saturday: 10am - 6pm
- Sunday: 10am - 4pm (maybe 6pm if the group decides to go longer)
Where: Tranzact: 2200 Fletcher Ave, 4th Floor, in Fort Lee, NJ, just across the George Washington Bridge.
Who should come: Anyone who wants to collaborate to build the NextNext.
Reserve your Seat Now! Cost: You choose! The Collabathon is limited to 50 people. We are taking reservations by accepting your donation to help cover snacks and drinks (the venue space is being donated).
Event Format: After an initial context-setting session, we will be using OpenSpace format.
Getting Here: From NYC you can take the Express A Train Uptown to 175th St. and walk a few blocks to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal. There are cheap ($1.50?) shuttle bus rides across the GW Bridge. From the first stop across the bridge you'll need to walk a few blocks to the office building. BTW, if you're a morning person with an early start, the walk across the bridge is pretty, but fairly long. Also, let us know if you want us to facilitate some sort of ride-sharing board.
Even more information for the detail oriented folks
Background: We started out just wanting to have a Metacurrency work session following ContactCon because we're encouraging a bunch of Metacurrency folks to come to the event. But it turns out there are so many other people coming to ContactCon that we want to collaborate with, so we decided to expand the context and make the time/space available for all NextNet related projects. This is a narrower focus than ContactCon, but still inclusive of NextNet projects other than Metacurrency.
Intention: We do not intend to have Metacurrency dominate the agenda, but rather to have sessions, tracks and working groups for whatever wants to emerge among the attendees. You could say the "cost" of admission is the donation for drinks/snacks and having to sit through a 30 minute overview of Metacurrency, because we do want to give a little bit of background about us, our project and why we're inviting everyone to come collaborate with each other. This will be a part of the context setting at the beginning of the three days before switching to Open Space format.
Sessions: We may create a place for people to start posting sessions and marking which ones they'd like to attend (similar to this approach). Please let us know if you feel this is important to do before the event.
The Meeting Spaces
- Gathering Room (Capacity 60): This is the large room we will start in together to kick off the Open Space sessions and to post the evolving schedule on the wall. We will probably have a couple of the breakout sessions off to the side of this space as well.
- Three Conference Rooms (Capacity 10 - 30 each): Open Space Breakout Sessions will be in these rooms.
- Reception Area (Capacity 25): This is the reception room for the company and will be another space for Breakout Sessions during the Open Space format.
- Cafeteria/Dining Room (Capacity 35): A place for snacks, drinks and random meetings. People can work there or gather a handful of people around a table to talk.
This gives us at least 6 breakout spaces for sessions or workgroups plus the cafeteria for general unstructured hanging out.
Parking and Building Entrance
Accommodations and Lodging
People have been asking about places to stay. The hotel that is in best walking distance (where you don't have run across lanes of freeways to get to the meeting space) is the Best Western Fort Lee. Also, within walking distance is the Econolodge Fort Lee. Just across the freeway (on the wrong side of the freeway) is a DoubleTree and Holiday Inn.
There are also AirBnB options just across the GW Bridge in Manhattan.
And there are some couchsurfing options nearby.
The Agenda
