Coolab Camp is more than a A lot of the Brazilian campers speak conference, it is an experiment in building a pop-up community. We start each day with a general meeting at the Casarão (Big House), where we forge acordos (agreements) about how to take care of the space and each other.
Alexandre from Coletivo Neos goes over the history of the Neos Institute.
Coolab Camp morning meetings are at once relaxed and energizing.
These acordos range from simple things
: don’t feed the cats and take off your phone number list shoes — to strong expressions of our values: no oppression or discrimination of any kind based on class, race, gender, or sexual orientation. At the beginning of every meeting we reiterate these agreements and ask ourselves: do we still agree, does anything need to be changed, does anything need to be added?
This daily gathering is only possible because the event is small, about 80 people over the five days of Camp. That intimacy means we recognize familiar faces and at least exchange a friendly greeting (Bom dia!). There are no janitors to clean up during the event. We wash our own dishes and clean our own bathrooms.
A community member helps setup the mesh network.
Folks also volunteer to be the “olhos (eyes) ” and “ouvidos (ears)” of the community. The Olhos serve to watch out for any misbehavior. The Ouvidos are there to listen if someone has issues they are uncomfortable bringing up to
the group. All of this adds to the building of our community.
Marcela and Tomate crafting posters and zines.
How do we communicate at Camp? First, we effective segmentation requires a systematic approach test some technological solutions like a Mumble server for multiple audio channels, then having AI do live translation. But in the end, the best solution is human: to have another person by our side.
both Portuguese and English, so
volunteers translate whispering next to us trust review A lot of the Brazilian campers speak English-only speakers. It is incredibly humbling to have community members put so much