This year, many Hackeriet members attended the 39th Chaos Communication Congress. It was a blast! As part of our efforts to improve how we organize these trips, we held a lessons-learned meetup afterward. Around 15 people joined the meeting, and there was good engagement and a strong willingness to contribute.

There was broad agreement that this year’s congress worked well. Notes were prepared in advance and added during the meeting; these are available at https://pad.hackeriet.no/40C3. The pad is now read-only unless you are logged in. The discussion itself went far beyond what makes sense to fully document. This post focuses on concrete decisions, with the intent of making it easier for others to join in and contribute.

We agreed that we need to be better at planning for these events. At the same time, there was general satisfaction with the current voucher process. It is important to stay aware that we are managing vouchers on behalf of the broader Norwegian community, not just ourselves. We decided to set up the voucher list for 40C3 early. Foxboron volunteered to take responsibility for the voucher process as a whole.

We also agreed to introduce a more explicit “padawan” or second-hand model for roles in general. This lowers the barrier for learning and participation, and helps reduce the bus factor. Xorgic volunteered as voucher padawan, with the primary role holder acting as the elder.

Another point of agreement was the need to better separate informational communication from general chatter, memes, and noise. Important messages are easy to miss and hard to push through in busy channels. The decision was to create separate Signal groups to address this.

In addition, we decided to create a dedicated Signal group for people who want to take on organizational roles and actively contribute.

We also agreed that clearer documentation of how things actually work is needed. This makes it easier for new people to understand both the process and where they can plug in. This blog post is one small step in that direction. A corresponding wiki page has also been created at https://wiki.hackeriet.no/projects/chaos-congress to serve as a more permanent home for this information.

Atluxity volunteered to take responsibility for planning meetups, likely virtual. The rough idea is to start with wider intervals and then ramp up: March, June, August, and then monthly closer to the event. This role currently lacks a padawan.

Finally, we want to pursue sponsorships and other financial support. Bilkollektivet, NUUG Foundation, and Hyperion were mentioned as potential supporters. There are also commercial actors in Norway that may be relevant to approach.

As always, hack the planet.

kthxby