I'm from a completely different country, never been to burning man, have no plans to visit, but I've been to other hacker camps and the most magical thing is being part of the build/clean up crews, because the 1 week camp is actually a 3 week experience. And those extra 2 weeks there is no bar, no lecture tent, no infrastructure, just you and a bunch of really fun people, in tents, in the wilderness, having a lot of cozy moments together.
replyAm I right to assume, that maybe this cleanup crew experiences something similar?
Burning Man culture draws a distinction between participants and spectators - one of the best ways to get the “participant” experience is by working and actively being a part of putting it on. This definitely includes build and strike. There are people (many paid by the Burning Man Org) who get there months before the event and stay for months after.
replyAt burning man you can even get early access if you’re working on an art installation. It’s really fun hanging out, drinking beers, assembling art, and watching a mini Vegas sprout of nothing but a trash fence over a week or two.
replyYeah, we definitely have a lot of great moments together, that's the biggest reason I come back. But otherwise, I imagine it's very different. We stay in the city and bus in each day. I had a dishwasher the year before last so doubt it's the same wilderness feel.
replyWhat are these hacker camps you speak of?
replyEMF, CCC, WHY
replyThose are a lot less focused on drugs and sex than burning man.
replyThat's really cool. Props.
reply> It’s a stupendous amount of walking, with no shade, a moop stick and a bucket
replyThat does sound taxing. Is it volunteer or do people get paid?
I'm a volunteer, there are both volunteer and paid roles
replyHave you tried any computer vision for automatic categorisation? Happy to take a look into the data if helps.
replyI had the same thought when reading this. Even a lightweight CV system that pre-sorts items for human review could save a lot of effort. Happy to help look at a small sample of the data if that would be useful.
replyAny kind of tech for this? Spreadsheets...?
replyWe use tablets running custom software for everything
replyWhat tablets?
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