Assemblies on CCC Event Blog

40C3 is moving. Just around the corner. Come and help pack up

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0200

tl;dr: The Congress is staying in Hamburg, but is moving from the CCH to the exhibition centre. With the extra space, we aim to reduce overcrowding and support a return to decentralisation. The best way for us to achieve this is if you form tribes and alliances and help us design the new spaces for 40C3.

An Introspection

Having already rocked eight Congresses together at the CCH, we have to face up to a few realities: the Congress has clearly outgrown the building. We can see this in the people who’d love to take part but can’t get a ticket, or – if they’ve managed to get hold of one – can’t find space at the event for their installations or projects. In short: we’ve played through all CCH’s levels and successfully filled up nearly all creative vacuums.

The venue has been a real lifesaver, particularly after the COVID-19 hiatus: following the boundless freedom offered by the vast halls of the Leipzig Exhibition Centre – which required well-coordinated teams – we found the CCH once again equipped with ready-made stages, a continuous line of lockable rooms and all the luxuries that conference centres simply provide. This allowed us to focus fully on the community and the content once again, without being overwhelmed by the logistics. But now that muscle memory has returned to all our teams and we’re making use of every nook and cranny of the venue, the limitations of this location are also becoming apparent.

We have moved into a situation where we are now managing more than we are creating, and this has inevitably led to an increasing centralisation of decision-making – mostly involving rejecting proposals. But Chaos is a big fan of decentralisation, and all our events thrive on new and experienced members of the community who bring creative ideas and a burning desire to make things happen. We’ve found it increasingly difficult to give these important impulses, from both inside and outside, the space they deserve.

The Congress is now a flurry of activity in every corner. That’s brilliant, and anyone who fancies it can stock up on months’ worth of experiences in just four days. Yet at the same time, the Congress is a flurry of activity in every corner. This is also stressful; the space to take a breather, sit together in peace and make plans has shrunk. We can see that the density of people per cubic metre has risen to a level that is increasingly pushing parts of our community to their breaking point.

In order to maintain the familiar and much-loved structures and infrastructure within the community – which are already struggling to keep up well ahead of the Congress – following the move from the Leipzig Exhibition Centre, we’ve recently had to make cutbacks across the board: fewer lecture theatres, fewer quiet rooms, less party space and a lounge situated a little further away.

What now – and where to now?

Over the past few years, we have therefore been on the lookout for venues that could offer a fresh conference experience – all of which have to measure up to the CCH – and we have now made our decision for 40C3: we’re moving to the halls of Messe Hamburg, just round the corner.

We’ve grown fond of Hamburg as a city and want to stay there. Conveniently, the Hamburg Exhibition Centre is right in the heart of the city; we could already see it from the CCH, and we’ll have access to tried-and-tested infrastructure within walking distance. Getting there, accommodation, finding food: you’re already well versed in all of this. Organisational structures, logistical experience, support collectives: we’re already well versed in all of this.

At the same time, we want to put the wealth of experience we’ve gained at Messe Leipzig to good use to make the most of the new venue. We believe that Messe Hamburg offers the best of both worlds: radical freedom and the infrastructural advantages of a central location.

Leipzig’s lessons learned

We’re not just moving into larger halls; we’re packed with a wealth of experience from three years in Leipzig on how to creatively tackle the challenges posed by bare, grey exhibition halls. Because, as you know the character of the Congress, you’ll also know that we view bare walls as a ‘framework that simply hasn’t been sufficiently designed yet’.

In the same way, we want to structurally design the halls for you in advance, rather than simply filling them up. We deliberately create neighbourhoods that offer a sense of security on the one hand, whilst at the same time providing the freedom to encounter the community in all its facets as you wander around, without feeling lost in the halls. We don’t just want ‘more space’; we want to create deliberately designed open spaces, whilst enriching them with infrastructure that provides a framework.

Although the fair tempts us with many more halls and thus more space to let off steam, we’re deliberately choosing not to use all the halls at first, but to grow very gently so that the Congress can breathe, to preserve the spirit of our community, and to manage both the pressure from crowd density and the pressure from ticket numbers in a measured way. Because let’s be honest: simply welcoming more participants doesn’t in itself make a community.

We know that ‘more space’ can also mean ‘longer distances’, and we want to ensure that every journey becomes an experience worth having by providing plenty of space everywhere to sit down, meet up, relax and chat.

We don’t see the exhibition centre as an end in itself, but as a canvas for our ideas.

What lies ahead for us

One of the main goals of the move is to provide the whole community with a much larger playground: from winding nooks and crannies to huge, unoccupied spaces, there’s everything our decentralised groups could wish for. And from the individual soldering station to Speakers’ Corner, from the Habitat to the project table, from Erfa karaoke to Bobby Car races, it’s now up to you to turn participants into enthusiastic accomplices whom we can welcome back next year – but then as angels and upcoming hackers.

And at its core, the Congress will remain what it is: you’ll still search in vain for sales stalls, hawkers’ trays with free samples and marketing spiel, and all creative displays – except billboards – are welcome.

We’re delighted that, with the space available at the exhibition centre, the central organising team’s space requirements no longer compete with those of the decentralised groups: On the one hand, more stages will give the main stage programme more breathing space and allow it to cover a broader range of topics. At the same time, Habitats can reclaim their freedom and design their own spaces – both physically and, crucially, in terms of content – with their own programme full of workshops, talks and parties.

The teams of volunteers, who in recent years have had to ‘dance ballet in a straitjacket’, will be given space to flourish and retreat so as not to burn out. And finally, there will be much more scope for art, culture, and both official and unofficial discos.

Keeping things possible

Keeping our events open and accessible does not simply mean increasing ticket quotas. We are aware that traditional trade fair prices are unaffordable for many of us. As we consider the diversity within our community to be of immeasurable value, we have been able to preserve the unique spirit of the Congress over the years through a combination of ‘Friends’ and ‘Solidarity’ tickets.

That is why it was clear to us from the outset that moving to the exhibition centre must not result in higher admission prices. For this reason, we have fought hard in negotiations with the exhibition centre to secure terms that ensure the move does not lead to any price hikes. We can therefore expand our venue without having to pass on the costs to the community.

That said: having done everything in our power over recent years to cushion the impact of rising costs and not pass them on to you, this leeway has now largely been exhausted. However, we will not increase admission prices beyond the rate of inflation.

So let’s get started: start preparing now to play a bigger part in shaping the event once again. Form groups that want to shine at the Congress with their own neighbourhoods, projects, activities, stalls and glorious, exquisite Fug.

Later in the year, as usual, we’ll be opening calls for participation for visual artists, DJs, VJs, bands, workshops, angels and speakers. But if you already have ideas for your space and want to create something exciting with the extra room available, get in touch with us at 40c3-assemblies@cccv.de!

Image CC BY-SA 4.0 Mitch Altman

39C3: Call for Assemblies

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 16:00:00 +0200

tl;dr: please register your assembly over at the Hub no later than Sunday, 23 November, 23:42 (CET).

There will once again be tables, chairs and spaces in several areas and on several floors of the CCH during 39C3 waiting to be filled with your ideas, topics, and projects. Bring along whatever excites and inspires you in your communities, hackspaces, Erfas and Chaos spaces. Collaborate on projects and ideas, get in touch with interested parties, teach and learn, show, explore, and discover new things – and rediscover old ones.

In keeping with this year’s motto, Power Cycles, there will be some adjustments in the Assemblies department this year.

Shared Tables

Individual tables spread across the entire assembly area will be marked as “Shared Tables”. These tables are intended for the quick impulses that pop up in the moment and keep Congress moving. Workshops and sessions, discussions, joint crafting and hacking … These tables are explicitly not intended to be permanently occupied, but rather to be used for a limited time. Paper lists will be available on each of the tables for “reserving” them. These will be renewed daily.

The issue of available space

In recent years, the number of registrations for assemblies and thus the requested space has continued to rise, exceeding the space available at 38C3 by forty percent.

Perhaps you had reserved space in your assembly for workshops and sessions, but only used it for a few hours each day? All of these things can now take place at the shared tables (see above).

Maybe you only met for a few hours at your assembly because there was so much exciting stuff to discover at Congress? Here, too, meeting at a shared table instead of your own assembly could be an option.

Until now, seating has been allocated based on the number of seats specified during assembly registration. We know that it is not always possible to make a realistic estimate during registration, and that requirements often change until shortly before the event. In order to allocate seats more fairly, a statistical survey will be conducted at a later date in collaboration with the pre-sales team. The ticket system will give you the opportunity to assign yourself to an assembly. Everyone who is part of an assembly and is going to spend a lot of time there, can and should assign themselves to their assembly. Once detailed planning begins on site, the Assemblies team will receive a list of assembly names and the number of assignments. This number should help to find a more realistic and fairer allocation of seats. However, assignment does not guarantee a seat.

Additional Important Information & Fine Print

Please do not bring large structures without consulting the Assembly Team first. Rule of thumb: the larger the structure, the earlier you should consult us. Larger structures will be subject to a building inspection.
Register your assembly before 23 November 2025, 23:42 CET (UTC+0100) at the hub.
Any questions? Email 39c3-assemblies@cccv.de.
If you need help with storage/logistics or have questions about material deliveries, please contact the logistics crew via 39c3-logistik@cccv.de.
Check the hub and your emails regularly. We may contact you if we have any questions.
Don’t forget to get your Congress ticket.

Image CC BY-SA 2.0 Karol Roller

38C3 Hub / Wiki / Assemblies

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 06:00:00 +0000

We have opened the 38C3 Public Wiki – which we generally call “Hub” by now. The hub is meant as the central place for getting information about content at Congress: It aggregates the events from the main stages (Fahrplan), community stages, assemblies, as well as self-organized sessions into one schedule which is then also used by the mobile apps.

You can view the registered and accepted assemblies in the Assembly list. Please note, the Assembly team has not yet processed all registrations and the list will fill up over the next few days.

If you miss your Assembly in the list, please check the status of your registration in the backoffice first before sending an email to the assembly team.

Additionally, you can present your projects, share knowledge in the wiki, put your stuff up for grabs, look for ride-sharing options, and find like-minded people to start projects with.

All features are described in more details in the respective sections of the info pages.

As of now the hub’s search only includes information managed by the hub – which right know does not include the info pages, nor the phonebook, nor media.ccc.de, nor this event blog.

The hub project is still in development, and we’d like to hear about your ideas on what should be included! We have several ideas planned but are a bit short-staffed – if you like to help, the source is available. You can contact the team via Matrix #hub:events.ccc.de or email.

38C3: Call for Assemblies

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 06:00:00 +0000

tl;dr: Register your assembly now at https://events.ccc.de/congress/2024/hub/backoffice/, but no later than Sunday, 24 November, 23:42 (CET).

Hacking and shaping the world together seems more important than ever in light of current developments. Show us how you do it in your Chaostreffs, Hackerspaces or in your basement at home. Get stuck in together in Hamburg! Develop projects, form networks, connect, prepare sessions and workshops … Use light and colour for wonderfully glittering sand in the gears of so-called normality.

Do you just need a few tables to hack on? Or would your assembly like to present itself with more complex constructions? Both is possible at the Congress Center Hamburg! (Editor’s note: as far as the small print, especially the CCH’s technical guidelines, allows :P) Let us know what you are planning so that we can organise everything together and find a suitable space for you.

Other important small print:

There will be an inspection for larger structures. Please do not come with larger structures without having discussed them with us beforehand.
Register your assembly at https://events.ccc.de/congress/2024/hub/backoffice/ by 24 Nov, 23:42 UTC+0100 at the latest.
If you still have questions, write an email to 38c3-assemblies@cccv.de.
If you need help with storage or have questions about material deliveries, please contact the Logistics Crew via 38c3-logistik@cccv.de.
Don’t forget to get your congress ticket(s).

So: put your heads together, hit your keyboards and plan your creative chaos for the big chaotic whole in Hamburg. We can hardly wait until it’s time to say: Is this actually B1?

PS: The hub will support badges again. Here is the documentary from 37C3 if you want to prepare something.

Image CC0 Katti

37C3 Call for Assemblies

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

tl;dr: Register your assembly as soon as possible but no later than December 3rd 23:43 CET at https://events.ccc.de/congress/2023/hub/backoffice/.

Each year we call on you: Come, gather, build, hack and be great! This time we are returning to our home for the 29th to 33rd Congresses: the Congress Center Hamburg. That means a little less indoor camping and more of a “hack center” feeling. In a total of 6 areas spread over 3 floors, assemblies will find places to show projects, hack together, discuss, exchange knowledge and network.

The huge exhibition halls in Leipzig gave your creativity (almost) free rein in terms of structures and installations and you built some fantastic things. This year in Hamburg it’s all about finding the right balance between table spaces and structures. Of course the following applies to all assembly areas: make the tables nice, bring projects and things to touch - whatever you can think of, as long as it doesn’t block the escape routes and isn’t flammable (B1… 😉 ). As far as structures are concerned, especially larger ones, we do need to coordinate. There will certainly be room for one or two larger installations, but larger dome cities would take up too many tables and seats. Five of the rooms for assemblies with a height of around 4m are less suitable for large structures. The largest assembly area will be found in parts of Hall H. This is the best place for larger assemblies and larger self-designed areas.

Please let us know exactly what you are planning when you register so that we can work with you to find the space best suited for you.

Workshops and sessions have taken place in many assemblies in recent years. We look forward to your contributions to the program again this time. Please let us know whether and to what extent and size you are planning something and if a shared session table in your area might be sufficient for your plans when you register.

Important!

There will be a building inspection for larger structures. Please do not come with larger structures without telling us first.
If you need help with storage and have questions about material deliveries, please contact the LOC via 37c3-logistik@cccv.de
Register your assembly at https://events.ccc.de/congress/2023/hub/backoffice/ by 23:42 CET on 03.12.2023 at the latest.
If you have any questions, write an email to 37c3-assemblies@cccv.de.
Don’t forget your congress ticket.

Image CC0 Katti

DiVOC Bridging Bubbles – Call for Expertise

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

tl:dr:

The CfP has been extended until 20.3.2022
We’re making Putins Ukraine war the topic for a whole day (Saturday 16.04.)
Looking for: qualified contributions about help for refugees, OS intelligence, fact checking, open flow of information, protection against cyber attacks, hacker ethics, reconciliation
Contributions to other serious and fluffy topics still welcome!

We are devastated by Putins military invasion of Ukraine. We could have never wanted our theme - bridging bubbles - to be as urgent. Because we will need to build bridges between Ukrainians, Russians and the international community; for the sake of every peaceful creature that has suffered due to the war.

This is why we will be dedicating Saturday, 16.04.22 to this topic.

We are looking for qualified reporting on the information and power bubbles that are shaping the conflict.

We stand in solidarity with out Ukrainian friends and the reports leave us restless. But many technical aspects are also on our minds.

We are a collective of hackers. What does that mean when there’s a war happening right at our doorsteps that is also being fought on the Internet?

What are constructive contributions we can make as civilian hacktivists for the people of Ukraine? How should we debunk propaganda? Can freedom of information help in the process of reconciliation?

If you can contribute a talk or a discussion on Saturday, we’d be happy for your proposal in Pretalx in track “Resilience and Education” or a mail to our content team via divoc@neanderfunk.de until 20.03.2022!

We are also looking forward to performances and works of art dealing with the topic. You can also contribute to an educational short on hacker ethics and debunking “cyber war”.

But by dedicating a day to this topic, we deliberately chose to not make it a theme for the whole event. There’s other subjects needing to be addressed and bunnies wanting to be illuminated with LEDs. These submissions will always be welcome.

Be excellent to each other! бути відмінними один до одного! Будьте замечательные друг к другу!

DiVOC Bridging Bubbles – Call for Participation

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

tl;dr Talks, art projects and music for the stream of DiVOC bb3. Deadline for submissions: 13.3.2022, Event 15.–18.4.2022.

During the pandemic, the bubbles and echo chambers all of us inhabit seem to have gotten even tighter and more impermeable. We look forward to your talks about technology, science, politics and society. We’re particularly interested in talks addressing current social debates, questions of participation, accessibility, science education and science denial, and “fake news”.

And this time we would like to try out a new format: each day, we want to a have panel on a range of topics, with experts and different viewpoints. You are an expert and you would like to contribute? Or you have a suggestion for a topic and know people who are specialists? Then submit your suggestion, please!

Talks can have a length of either 30 or 60 minutes (plus a Q&A). If you have something special in mind, we can diverge from that. Art projects and music are coordinated individually.

All formats are streamed live and are recorded for later viewing; if you prefer, you can pre-record your talk. In any case, we would love to do a live Q&A with you. If the situation permits and you’re game, you can hold your talk from one of the participating spaces. We’re happy if you appear in front of the camera, but we’ll find creative solutions if that is not appropriate. We’ll discuss all details with you in time for Easter.

Submissions: https://pretalx.c3voc.de/divoc-bb3
Deadline: 13.3.2022
Event: 15.–18.4.2022
More Info: https://di.c3voc.de/bb3:en:start

DiVOC Bridging Bubbles – Call for Collaboration

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0000

tl;dr A hybrid event: online and in your hackspaces. Do weird things to coax people out of their bubbles and to connect them with others. Contribute on the Wiki and IRC #divoc-bb3, to help plan this. From 15.-18. April 2022.

During the pandemic, the bubbles and echo chambers all of us inhabit seem to have gotten even tighter and more impermeable. We want to interact and merge the bubbles. DiVOC has to replace Easterhegg for the third time, but this time around we hope that the situation allows for small groups to do things together in person. So let’s use the chance to network the bubbles worldwide. Hack the new normal!

Build a Jitsi corner in your club, stream a talk from your space (we’ll help with the technical setup), network with other spaces, connect Workadventure avatars to the real world. Add your ideas to the Wiki, discuss your projects on the Hackint IRC channel #divoc-bb3, and join our mumbles that we’ll host to help everybody coordinate. Let’s build a better world together!

In the usual DiVOC manner we’re relying on self-organisation. Use the wiki to promote your ideas and offerings and find collaborators. We’ll have a Workadventure you will be able to add your own map to, and we’re looking forward to your extensions to connect Workadventure with the physical world. And all the BBB and Jitsi servers at CCC and elsewhere invite everybody to have spontaneous or planned sessions and workshops.

We’ll also have a talk program and a lounge stream, but for now, we want to spur you on to create crazy and cool ideas for a hybrid event!

[rC3 2021 - NOWHERE] Besiedelt das Neuland!

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

TL;DR

Assembly registration is open. Please register at https://maschinenraum.rc3.world/

In the beginning, the maschinenraum was desolate and empty. To fill the rC3 World with life and color again, we need you!

As with all Chaos events at the end of the year, your Assemblies are a central part of the event. We want to combine your digital creations into a world of pixel decoration full of surprises big and small. To manage your masterpieces you will need an Engine Room account

Assembly registration is open from now until 14 December. The earlier you register, the more time our busy angels will have to link your Assembly in the rC3 World.

How does the registration work?

You can create a user account for the Engine Room and apply for your assembly here. To do this, an Assembly member creates a personal account, which you use to register for the Assembly once. After confirming your assembly registration, you link other members’ personal Engine Room accounts to your Assembly. This way you can administer your Assembly as a team. Please note that you still need a ticket to participate in the event!

In order to make rC3 a pleasant experience for all entities, all Assembly registrations will be checked before they are activated. To make this easier for us, please provide a first description of the Assembly when registering, which will be publicly visible later. In addition, please describe in the “Internal comment” field who you are, whether you have already registered as an Assembly at other events, whether you belong to a space or a Chaos-related group, etc.

What to expect

You already know the software and features from last year (see “Engine Room” in last year’s advent calendar) - but there are some cool new features in the Workadventure that give you even more options for world building. In the coming weeks, the documentation for the different features will be published bit by bit. Test systems, e.g. for the World, are also planned and will be available later. Links will follow as always here on the blog - stay tuned.

If you have any questions or would like to clarify anything in advance, please contact the Assembly Team by email at rC3 at c3assemblies.de.

We are looking forward to your creative ideas!

rC3: virtueller Aufbau

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 21:28:52 +0000

Welcome back, this time we’re in “serious Saturday” mood, presenting the latest info on #rC3 participation.

We bring you this message while hard at work with the digital build-up. Oldtimers among you might wonder where the Wiki is, when the “Fahrplan” (schedule) will be available and what you can already prepare with and for your assembly.

The short answer is: yes.

Tickets

The most pressing question probably is if and when more tickets will be available. Our volunteers are working hard trying to solve this problem, a big Thank You to them for that. We’ll get back to you as soon as we have additional news on this topic, in the meantime you can find all available info in this blogpost.

What is the ticket actually for?

As usual at Congress, no ticket is required to access the #rC3 streams, you’ll be able to watch those on media.ccc.de.

The customary Fahrplan for the streams will soon be published here.

Merchandising is also available without a ticket this year, but be aware that the webshop can only guarantee everything to be available until Sunday Dec. 6th, so hurry up and finalize those orders until then!

What do you need a ticket for, actually?
Your ticket will contain credentials for all the #rC3 services (SSO in nerd parlance). Starting point will be the new platform we’re just finalising, it will be available under https://rc3.world. The link might still be worth a look now and a bookmark as it will contain an overview and additional links until then.

Wiki, Fahrplan, Hello World

Everything’s different this year, so #rC3 is running on a new and different software as well. This platform contains all info from the Wiki, the Fahrplan and more, all with a single login. Participants will have one place to look for official events as well as the assemblies, their projects and self-organised sessions. This means that the community content as well as access to workshops and voice/video-chats will all happen on this platform. This will be completed by the assembly-spaces in the “rC3 World”, an online 2D world.

Assemblies offering free content on their own infrastructure will be able to link to those and inform ticket-holders through the rC3 platform.

The rC3 platform will offer badges as a replacement for the usual sticker-swap tables, we hope this will satisfy your hunter-gatherer instincts. Assemblies can offer 2 types of badges:

Sticker mode: showing up at the assembly gets the user a badge
Achievement mode: the assembly decides what a user has to accomplish in order to get a badge, for example solving a riddle.

The rC3 platform will keep track of a user’s badges, the user can then decide which of their own badges should be visible to other participants.

Engine room

Back to our build-up session! As in previous years we’re looking forward to all this wonderful and diverse content you and your assemblies will create to enrich and participate in this event. Assemblies will have access to a back office courtesy of our software angels. There you will be able to:

offer events and workshops (online, streaming, …)
announce your own projects
manage the members of your assembly and invite them to your back office
create your own assembly rooms (in the #rC3 World, in the voice/video-chat and so on)
upload and manage badges for your assembly

The engine room is in essence the organiser’s corner of your assembly, where you can manage the content your assembly plans to offer and which will then be available to participants. We will launch the engine room shortly and update this space with a link when this happens.

Virtual build-up in the #rC3 World

If you would like to design your own space for your assembly in the #rC3 World keep reading.
Our software angels have written a how-to for designing your own #rC3 World-compatible map in https://howto.rc3.world/maps.html .

Some pixel-pushing angels and assemblies have already created some building blocks and additional material, hoping to provide you with inspiration for your own map. We’ve created a tiles repository, already filled with lovingly crafted compatible pixel graphics and to which you will be able to add your own. It wouldn’t be a Chaos event if you weren’t able to bring your own decorations, would it? The current collection is available at the #rC3 tiles repository.

As the #rC3 seems to have a knack for attracting controversial topics (or the memes you made of them) from events past, we’ll simply do the #Aufbauleaks (build-up leaks) ourselves this time around. If you don’t want to peek (and keep the surprise momentum) please shut your eyes and keep scrolling!

The #rC3 is just being realised, please stand by.

New: Chaosmentors are going Digitally Distributed!

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 06:49:05 +0000

As an experimental run, we will see what we can set up for Push To Talk. We are inviting you to join us as BETAmentors or BETAmentees, coming up with new creative ways of mentoring together. Additionally, we welcome input from everyone, if you have suggestions how we can make new visitors more welcome at a digital event :)

Who are the Chaosmentors?

Are you a member of an underrepresented group in the hacker community and unsure if you will feel comfortable at DiVOC? Do you have specific needs that make it more difficult for you to participate? Are you interested in topics such as privacy, security, hardware hacking, or network policies, but have so far had little-to-no connection to the community? Perhaps, you’re curious to try out a DiVOC, but you have the impression that you are not one of these “hackers”, feel you don’t quite fit in, or are not sure how to get involved beyond the video streams?

Then we will try our best to make you feel welcome at DiVOC (as mentioned, we are in experimental mode…).

How does it work?

At localized events we assigned chaosmentors to small groups of mentees, however for this short notice, experimental event we cannot implement this. As a start, we will be there for you before and during the event, for your questions, concerns, needs, or wishes.

You can get in touch with us before the event via email. During the event, we will also offer a “Virtual Assembly” to hang out and get to know some other mentees and mentors in the form of a BigBlueButton meeting room that is open for you (we will make every effort to make this room available with an experienced ChaosMentor around the clock…).

You can find the most up-to-date information about what we are offering in the wiki. We will also tell you about our newest features in the Rocket Chat and the BigBlueButton room!

Why are we doing this?

We ourselves have had a great time at CCC events for 1, 2, 10, or 30 years. But we know from our own experience how difficult the first step can be – many Chaosmentors were Chaosmentees at their first event. Thoughts like “A big hacker conference, do I even belong here?” are not foreign to us. But do not worry – once the first step is done, great people and the opportunity to learn a lot about yourself await. But the exchange is not a one-way street: the community can learn a lot from you as well and thrives from the diversity of the participants. That’s why we want to encourage those who would otherwise hesitate to get in touch with the Chaospatinnen. We focus on people who are not part of the mainly represented group cis, male, and white. Of course, we will not exclude anyone.

For Chaosmentors

Of course, we are again looking for the enthusiastic support from friendly, experienced, and reliable mentors, and for this event especially for mentors who are creative for finding new ways of welcoming mentees to a fully digital event. It would be great if you already have DiVOC experience, but that is not a requirement. If you feel like answering questions, helping find answers to questions, and helping out in the Rocket Chat or the BigBlueButton video chat, please join us there.

Your Safety

Even as we switch to the digital realm, we are committed to always providing a safe haven. So from the get-go, if you need any help beyond what we offer, or feel unsafe at any point during the event or with the chaosmentors, we want to make you aware that there is also help.ccc.de; please do not hesitate to use the safety nets offered there!

Feedback and Suggestions

Since we are running in Beta, we are explicitly asking this time for your input. We are sure that many of you will have great suggestions. We think the best way to collect these ideas is a pad, where you can see if someone already suggested something similar, and maybe add your own notes to existing ideas.

36C3: Call for Assemblies

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 16:25:06 +0000

Tl;dr: Read at least the “Important” part and register your assembly on signup.c3assemblies.de as soon as possible, but not later than Sunday, November 24th.

[Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V]

This year we want to apply as much as possible of what we have learned in the last two years in Leipzig. We want to seize the opportunity to consolidate and share experience and knowledge. Therefore, we would like to make as few changes to the previous year as possible. If you’ve been organizing an assembly last year, please expect the same space, requirements, and infrastructure as last year. Even supposedly small deviations sometimes lead to a large overhead in planning and preparation, which we simply can’t afford this year.

As a reminder:

For now, most of the exhibition hall is void. Calm. (Mostly) Unwritten. It’s up to us to create spaces, to fill it with lights, sound and atmosphere, with hacks and gear and people. Make it alive and let the chaos-magic happen. Bring projects to show, ideas to amaze, furniture to lounge – manifest yourself and create a diversity of habitats to connect all the people that make the dream real. Get up, little groups of friends as well as huge amalgamations, and come to Leipzig again. Show your projects, share your ideas, bring your stuff, pose a question, host a session, do workshops and maybe, finally, sit down and listen.

Have in mind that there will be thousands of people in one big hall. Too much noise or light can become an issue. So lets make it a warm, welcoming, and comfortable situation which will be a source of energy for all of us. Considering this, very much anything is possible: You never leave the house without your good old Cray 90? No problem, heavy current is available. Always wanted to build a dome for your assembly? No problem, just keep it “B1 flame resistant”, stay below 30square meters roofed and let us know in your registration. You might have guessed it, there are some technical regulations. Check them first, before you plan big. And no worries, we provide tables and seats as usual for all groups who come with a backpack and smaller things to show and hack. Bring what you have, take a seat, create, get feedback, meet others and team up.

Important

Build-up approval for larger structures will happen. Please don’t arrive with larger structures without telling anyone.
If you need storage space assistance, have questions about build up or delivering your stuff, you get guidance from the LOC via 36C3 [at] c3loc.de.
Music: you’ll get asked while registration if you want to play music (are you sure?!?) in your Assembly. If yes, the Assemblies Team will contact you with details about GEMA registration.
Register until 24.11.2019 on signup.c3assemblies.de
For all questions about assemblies, contact us at 36C3 [at] c3assemblies.de.
Pack your ticket.
So, go call us for a place! Assembly registration ends on Sunday, November 24rd. Better register soon.

C3 Assemblies Team

Ah, one more thing: Please bring your hackspace/community stamp, there are a lot of hacke passports waiting to be stamped :)

Chaosknoten Kit / Bausatz

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 09:23:58 +0000

In the past 16 years the BlinkenArea, has not only implemented light and media art installations. In addition, we have taught soldering and enabled access to microcontroller programming at several events. During the brainstorming what to do at Camp 2019, we realized that the official Logo of CCC, the “Chaosknoten“, does not exist yet as soldering kit. As Wau Holland has created the logo, we obtained permission to provide a Chaosknoten soldering kit from “Wau Holland Stiftung”. We just have to provide the hardware design and the firmware under a free license and are not allowed to make profit – which has anyways been our plan.

After getting the permission, we started working at the kit and less than a month later, there is a working prototype. The “Chaosknoten” consists of 42 LEDs, the printed circuit board and 6 other parts. The LEDs can be individually addressed and show 16 different brightness levels. The default firmware shows a few animations. The pins required for changing the firmware are available as pads on the back side of the board, so programming new animations is possible. A coin cell of type CR2032 supplies the power to the kit. It usually lasts for multiple days of operation until the LEDs do not light up any more.

For being able to estimate how many boards and parts we should order and to Camp 2019, we need your help. Based on our current calculations, we estimate the kit price to be ~~15 €~~ 10 €. As we usually receive a number of requests for complete devices (i.e. everything soldered already), we also did the estimation for this variant, which resulted in a price of 25 € for a completed device. There will be only one option for the color of the LEDs: these will be orange, because of the optimum the price performance ratio of those LEDs. ~~In case you would like to get a “Chaosknoten” kit or a completed “Chaosknoten”, please write an email to camp2019@blinkenarea.org.~~

For Camp 2019 there is a waitlist for kits not picked up by day 2 and/or if you want a pre-order for the 36C3, please write an email to camp2019@blinkenarea.org.

Note: Bulbs{.external.text} are still available.

~~Please write us only how many kits / completed “Chaosknoten” you would like to get and if you want to reserve them bindingly.~~ We will keep reserved “Chaosknoten” until day 2 of the Camp. After this, they will be for sale to everybody. Please do not write wishes or questions in you email, we only want to count the number of “Chosknoten”. Feel free to post questions in the comments at the BlinkenArea blog post, so other people, who might have the same question, will be able to read the answer.

Photos: BlinkenArea

Wir sind in der Natur, deal with it

Fri, 24 May 2019 06:10:54 +0000

Hello camp visitors,

there is general camp planning going on for several weeks so far. Now we need information in terms of your villages in order to do concrete campsite planning. If you want to create some big stuff we need to know. You can find the contact details below in this post.
For your orientation we gathered some facts that are clear so far:

water:
The watersystem we build up for the camp is limited in its capacity and unfortunately won’t be very high due to local supply limitation. This means that we need to watch our water consumption a little bit. From the overall capacity we need to supply all of the sanitary and gastronomic infrastructure, e.g. the showers, dish washing stations, drinking water supply, heavens kitchen and so on. That means we cannot manage to supply running water in individual villages. So please plan to get water from the closest water station and find a workaround with water tanks. It’s also planned to limit the showering time to several hours a day to reduce the amount of water consumption.
Please be thrifty with the water and for example take a dip in the nearest lake instead of having a massive water fight on the campsite.

electricity:
As for the 2015 camp we will bring generators for the electricity supply because we can´t get enough power from the Ziegeleipark. As usual for a generator powered grid interruptions are possible.
It’s the same as for the water: please be thrifty and leave hungry consumers (e.g. old fridges or likewise) at home.
If you want to use your own solar power infrastructure to supply your village or if you are bringing big power consumers (>2kW) you necessarily need to speak to our power team (camp2019@c3power.de). Due to necessary fire protection, environmental and noise issues, please leave own generators at home. Nobody likes stinking two-stroke engine generators.

tents and buildings:
Due to safety reasons on the campsite you need to involve the village team in the planning of your village. If you want to bring big tents or build up something special, you need the village team’s permission. Tents for example are limited to the size of 75 square meters and must not have a second floor. Please don’t bring materials that are easily inflammable to build up your village. Cars and similar vehicles can not be parked in the villages.
Don’t dig holes and pits. There are several undocumented cables and pipes in the Ziegeleipark which are suspected to lie low under ground. The ground is not fun to dig in either. Also please don’t bring big pegs and don’t drive your tent pegs deeper in the ground than 20cm.
Please answer the village registration (https://signup.c3assemblies.de/) and speak about your plans. You also get the possibility to order tables, chairs, big tents and wood via the village team. Only register your planned village if you already got a ticket for the camp!

fire and cooking:
There definitely won’t be the possibility to have open fires or campfires on the campsite and the whole area due to fire safety. The same goes for barbeque grills on the campsite. As in 2015 there will a defined area where barbeque grills can be used. If you want to use a gas cooker make absolutely sure that it is based on some non inflammable ground and that it stands solidly and is not likely to fall over. The operation of a major village kitchen is only possible after permission of the village team.
Please be aware that the fire safety rules need to be adjusted if there is a change in weather oder dryness and can become stricter.

vehicles:
If you want to bring your vehicle please take care of the ground, yourself and the people nearby. The campsite won’t have a continuously bright illumination and a black dressed person or a pothole can easily be overlooked in the later evening. Please leave your battery powered vehicles at the chargers after dusk and please leave vehicles running on any kind of fuel at home. The noise and exhaust for other camp visitors exceed the individual fun. Also if your vehicle is leaking fuel it will damage the environment around.

water protection and environmental protection:
The Ziegeleipark Mildenberg is based in a water protection area (Wasserschutzgebiet). Please make sure that your cars, campers, motorcycles etc. are not leaking fuel.
Please leave any kind of chemicals at home. The opportunity of producing a new circuit board versus the possibility of damaging the closest drinking water reservoir is definitely not worth it.

music and noise:
If you bring PAs please limit the volume in sense of your neighbors on the campsite and outside the Ziegeleipark. Background music is totally fine in your village but constant party volume in some parts of the campsite was a problem in 2015 that we don´t want to have again.
There will be a major party area that is designed to produce a low noise level to the outside.

be excellent to each other:
In 2015 we got major complaints from neighbors outside the Ziegeleipark about noise, trash thrown in private gardens and damage to private property. We assume that this won´t happen again. Be excellent to each other!

dont forget your towel:
Have in mind that we are outside in the actual nature in midsummer. Bring sun protection, bring sunscreen, a big hat, create yourself some shady space. Have in mind to drink enough and also have in mind that in case of rain it can become quite muddy.
Bring a chair including a backrest and don’t forget your towel!

questions?

Village coordination, village buildup, village placing and questions
about villages: cccamp19@c3assemblies.de
Village registration: https://signup.c3assemblies.de/

Power supply, solar powered infrastructure, questions concerning your needed supply: camp2019@c3power.de

Logistics, deliveries, mail, moving heavy objects on campsite and so on: camp19@c3loc.de

Assembly Arrival

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 11:36:09 +0000

Dear Assemblies,

please be aware that you need to have your congress-wristband to enter the premises starting from 27.12. Furthermore we need the number plates of the cars with which you intend to deliver stuff. Please send them as a mail to 35c3@c3loc.de or call us at 0341 39294864, the gate will only let declared cars pass.

Entry to the premises has to happen via Gate “Süd 1”, from there you’re able to drive directly to the halls. You can look up which hall your assembly is placed in using c3nav. Please use the logistics area in front of Gate 5 and 6 of each hall, i.e. Gate 2.5, 2.6 and 3.6 to unload. There you will find Angels with pallet trucks which can help you transporting your stuff to your assigned space. Please occupy them as little as possible, a good many assemblies will arrive in short order.

Additionally do keep in mind that your vehicle must at most spend 45 minutes on premise, afterwards the Messe will charge you fees.