Kinnernet 2007 – a camp like no other
I believe that the best things in life transcend definition and Kinnernet is definitely one of those things. I’ve seen several definitions of Kinnernet – “un-conference”, “geek camp”, “user generated conference” but they really don’t come close to conveying the camp’s unique atmosphere and it’s amazing experience.
Some facts – Kinnernet is a camp organized by Yossi Vardi and many volunteers. It takes place annually at the Ohalo resort on the Kinneret – Israel’s Sea of Galilee.
Some highlights from this year’s Kinnernet:
- Supermarket 2.0 – a really funny video created by Lior Katz from Wishood and Gil Rimon from UrbanSeeder
- Guitar Heronoid – an android that plays the Guitar Hero, created by Rafael Mizrahi and Tal Chalozin
- How to become a Kinnernet Cult Master Warrior – a great video by Eyal Gever and Gideon Weiler from Gizmoz created using their amazing “Talking Heads” technology
- WikiPic – a project by Michal Geva, in which camp participants create a collaborative paining of Jesus Walking On The Water by drawing one tiny square at a time
- Power Tool Drag Racing – various power tools turned into machines racing against one another in an insanely creative competition
- Funny Google Code Searches – Nimrod Lehavi demonstrated some hilariously weird stuff people insert into their source code – stuff like “fucking user” and “hate my job”
- Fire shows – juggling, burning men, fire eating
- Music – a lot of live music throughout the camp, from a great band playing on the first night, to Amit Jurgenson playing the guitar with us singing The Beatles and Paul Simon until 5am.
- Great workshops and discussions – things like “How to disrupt an industry and make $100 million on the way” by Jeff Pulver
- People, people, people! Lots of amazing, smart, creative people.
I’m sure I forgot to mention a lot of cool stuff that happened, and I’m sure I missed a lot of great events – after all, when you attend one event at Kinnernet you can be sure you’re missing 10 others happening simultaneously throughout the camp.
My humble contribution to this year’s camp was the KinnerMap project created together with Shira Miasnik. The idea is that each participant enters a few ‘tags’ specifying areas of interest or hobbies and the system finds other participants that share the same interests. The goal behind the project is to allow participants to meet even more like minded people and make sure they don’t miss great discussions and panels that might interest them.
That’s it for now, I’m really looking forward to next year’s Kinnernet!
