The  Internet Archive led DWeb Camp took place on the coastline of California, around 40 miles south of San Francisco -- hosted by a majestic organic farm community focused on regenerative solutions. While previous DWeb events have occurred, not much was known about exactly what would unfold at what was ultimately a highly intentioned camp  experience. Without this prior knowledge, we dedicated our full effort to prepare and participate in forging new connections and relationships.

Our team arrived to the event on Monday 15 July to a highly capable, energized event staff, and joined the volunteer effort to help finalize preparations of the activity spaces and campgrounds. From preparing the glamping option tents, helping with meals, organizing traffic flows & parking, to putting the final touches on the various rooms made available for participants to gather, the work was made easy by many hands. By Thursday afternoon the setup efforts were nearing completion, and the arrival of 400+ participants began to turn from a trickle to a steady stream.

To provide some context to our participation, Drew O’Meara, Brandon Wallace, and Jeff Garrard co-founded PLAN Systems to help people overcome significant challenges in privacy, logistics, accessibility, and self-organization of networks. PLAN is an integrated software platform with an interface built for realtime productivity, spatial planning, and data visualization. The work and mission of the Internet Archive has long been an inspiration to us, so we immediately saw DWeb Camp as a chance to connect with a solutions & knowledge accessibility oriented community. At the heart of PLAN is a community’s archive and shared knowledge space, so we see a profound mutuality in our approach as non-profits.

From our team’s perspective, DWeb Camp was the backdrop of a decisive accomplishment on our development roadmap. During the event, Drew O’Meara (Director of Engineering) worked tirelessly to instantiate the prototype architecture and client interface layers of PLAN. Meeting this critical milestone allowed us to demonstrate our core technology for the first time. We could not be more pleased that this took place at DWeb Camp. The seemingly painted setting of the pacific ocean, the farm to table meals, and access to intimate collaborative spaces offered inspiration to share and discover with a broad cross-section of experts, artists, and organizers.

From Thursday to Sunday we engaged in countless conversations, demonstrations, and were witness to so many complementary projects in various phases of development. From discussions on humane technology and decentralization, to immersive virtual reality environments, the depth of character, professionalism, and concentrated brain power was quite simply off the charts. The event was an experiment in sociological development, technologic expression, and (my own personal take) was a canvas for exploring solutions needed for people to thrive.