Eclectic Tech Carnival

ETC logo, one of the many, made by Nancy Mauro-Flude, ~2004.

The Eclectic Tech Carnival (/ETC) is a gathering of feminists who critically explore and develop everyday skills and information technologies in the context of free software and open hardware. /ETC chew on the roots of control and domination, disrupt patriarchal societies and imagine better alternatives. To do so /ETC prioritise the participation of women and female identified, transgender and queer persons who want to learn from each other and amplify one another's voices.

The /ETC started with a group of women who felt the need to learn technical skills in their own spaces, unimpeded by the typical competitiveness of male geeks, trying things out and working through all our questions together with an open mind. Since 2001, the network of feminists who help organize the /ETC has grown both far and wide, responding and adapting to new contexts. /ETC are geographically diverse and have varied experiences and expertise in computing, technology, art and activism. Their long history of activity informs what, how and why /ETC do what they do in different times and different places. (2024)

The story of /ETC in english

"In 2001 a group of women going under the name The GenderChangers Academy (GCA) were giving workshops in the ASCII (Amsterdam Subversive Center for Information Interchange), one of the first hackerspaces in The Netherlands.

Ivana from Croatia heard about it and invited the group to give their workshops in Pula. They agreed and to do this they picked up glasses at a local bar to collect money. With the money they hired a large car and drove to Pula. There they gave presentations on Free Software and the Open Source movement, on how a computer works and on how to make your own website in HTML. One participant had travelled from Athens to follow the workshops. At the end of the weekend she asked the group if they wanted to do the same in Greece the next year.

When this was accepted the group thought: we need to give the event a name. After much lateral thinking, brainstorming about the Linux file system and so on, the name Eclectic Tech Carnival aka /ETC was borne.

Many of the Genderchangers had been to HAL (Hackers at Large) in Enschede in 2001. They loved it, but there were very few women at the hackers camp. In fact it was generally difficult to get their female friends and family as enthused about GNU and recursive acronyms as they were.

They decided they wanted the /ETC to be similar to HAL but for women only. Another difference between the GCA workshops being given in Amsterdam and the /ETC was that the first was ongoing and in one place. The latter was in a place to which the group was invited, and was limited to a short period of time.

Over the years each /ETC developed its own particular character. In the beginning there was an attempt to have a specific theme each year.

The defining characteristics of an /ETC are: skill sharing, with free and open source technology, are women* only workshops, diy." (2019)

Editions

• 1. 9-11 August 2002, Pula, website

• 2. 30 June-6 July 2003, Athens, website

• 3. 11-18 July 2004, Belgrade, hosted by Women at Work, website

• 4. 11-16 July 2005, Graz, hosted by ETC, website

• 5. 4-8 September 2006, Timisoara, hosted by H.Arta and D Media, website

• 6a. 11-16 July 2007, Linz, hosted by Servus.at and MAIZ, website

• 6b. 2007, Salvador/Brazil, hosted by G2G, website

• 7. 25-31 May 2008, Amsterdam, organized by the Genderchangers and EYFA, website

• 2009, Umeå, hosted by HUMlab, website

• 2009, Istanbul, hosted by Haymatlos, website

• 2010, Brussels, hosted by Interface3, La Compilothèque and Pianofabriek, website

• 6-10 March 2012, Ljubljana, held in conjunction with the Red Dawns festival organised by Kiberpipa and Red Dawns, website

• 8-13 October 2018, XM24, Bologna, website

• 9-13 October 2019, Athens, website

• 5-9 June 2024, Berlin, hosted by Heart of Code Hackspace & New Yorck, call

Articles

• Aileen Derieg, "Things Can Break: Tech Women Crashing Computers and Preconceptions", transversal, 2007.
  • German, Spanish trans.

Links

• Website
• Old website
• https://systerserver.town/@etc (Mastodon)