After giving my “groundrules” speech for a third THATCamp on Saturday, I realized I hadn’t published it anywhere for broader dissemination and possible reuse by the THATCamp community.
So here they are, THATCamp’s three groundrules:
- THATCamp is FUN – That means no reading papers, no powerpoint presentations, no extended project demos, and especially no grandstanding.
- THATCamp is PRODUCTIVE – Following from the no papers rule, we’re not here to listen and be listened to. We’re here to work, to participate actively. It is our sincere hope that you use today to solve a problem, start a new project, reinvigorate an old one, write some code, write a blog post, cure your writer’s block, forge a new collaboration, or whatever else stands for real results by your definition. We are here to get stuff done.
- Most of all, THATCamp is COLLEGIAL – Everyone should feel equally free to participate and everyone should let everyone else feel equally free to participate. You are not students and professors, management and staff here at THATCamp. At most conferences, the game we play is one in which I, the speaker, try desperately to prove to you how smart I am, and you, the audience member, tries desperately in the question and answer period to show how stupid I am by comparison. Not here. At THATCamp we’re here to be supportive of one another as we all struggle with the challenges and opportunities of incorporating technology in our work, departments, disciplines, and humanist missions. So no nitpicking, no tweckling, no petty BS.
12 responses ↓
1 Amanda French // May 24, 2010 at 10:24 am
Hey, thanks — I was going to ask you for this anyway, so I’m very glad it’s here.
2 THATCamp New England » Blog Archive // Jun 20, 2010 at 6:50 am
[...] Tom Scheinfeldt of CHNM has published a list of three THATCamp ground rules on his blog. If you want an introduction to the ethos of THATCamp, read his post. [...]
3 A brief welcoming speech to THATCamp Canberra | THATCamp // Aug 27, 2010 at 7:05 pm
[...] are the ground rules for THATCamp, as beautifully expressed by Tom Scheinfeldt: THATCamp is Fun, Productive, and Collegial. It’s fun, which means you are [...]
4 George // Feb 3, 2011 at 7:14 am
Awesome. This part has been stuck in my head ever since I heard you say it at THATCamp 2009:
And that phrase–plus the collegial spirit of THATCamp–is what led to ProfHacker.
5 Challenging the Presentation Paradigm: Publishing Scholarly Presentations - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education // Feb 4, 2011 at 1:29 pm
[...] fini: We’re not here to read or be read to, as Tom Scheinfeldt notably wrote in his “THATCamp Ground Rules.” Nevertheless, I’m by no means anti-presentation. Presentations have their place, and [...]
6 lauren's library blog - #THATCamp Southeast begins: Less Yack, More Hack // Mar 5, 2011 at 4:58 pm
[...] discussions from a program or work on something. But first: we started with a discussion of ground rules. A note on the process: we’re using a lot of whiteboards. I have found my [...]
7 TECHStyle | Blog | Why I Love THATCamp // Mar 8, 2011 at 10:49 am
[...] that matters (or doesn’t matter) is anathema to THATCamp. It is a philosophy expressed by Tom Scheinfeldt in his collegial rule for THATCamp (shared with us by Brian Croxall at the beginning of the weekend): At most [...]
8 THATCamp SE 4: Making Digital Collections Work for the Scholar « Becoming a Classics Librarian // Mar 10, 2011 at 9:16 am
[...] allow the organizers to assign sessions to appropriate sized rooms. We had a brief rundown of the THATCamp groundrules (below) and we were [...]
9 Changes | Dave Lester’s Finding America // Apr 20, 2011 at 12:35 pm
[...] to. I only have positive things to say. My experience so far can most-easily be summed up by the THATCamp groundrules: fun, productive, and collegial. I can’t wait to see what opportunities these changes bring. [...]
10 THATCamp Kansas Welcome Session » THATCamp Kansas // Sep 23, 2011 at 9:19 am
[...] THATCamp “groundrules” http://www.foundhistory.org/2010/05/24/thatcamp-groundrules/ [...]
11 Why I Love THATCamp - TECHStyle // Oct 14, 2011 at 12:38 pm
[...] that matters (or doesn’t matter) is anathema to THATCamp. It is a philosophy expressed by Tom Scheinfeldt in his collegial rule for THATCamp (shared with us by Brian Croxall at the beginning of the weekend): At most [...]
12 3 Groundrules of THATCamp | THATCamp Iowa City 2012 // Dec 1, 2011 at 10:04 pm
[...] rules are written out on Tom Scheinfeldt’s Found History blog. This entry was posted in General. Bookmark the permalink. ← Announcing THATCamp Iowa [...]
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