Science Foo Camp (scifoo) is an annual interdisciplinary scientific unconference organized by O'Reilly Media, Digital Science, Alphabet Inc., based on an idea from Linda Stone.[1] The event is based on the spirit and format of Foo Camp, an event focused on emerging technology, and is designed to encourage collaboration between scientists who would not typically work together. As such, it is unusual among conferences in three ways:
- attendance is by invitation-only
- the delegates come from many different areas of science rather than one subject, such as physics, chemistry or biology
- the meeting has no fixed agenda; the invited scientists, technologists and policy makers set the conference program during the conference itself, based on their shared professional interests and enthusiasms, aka unconference
 Some delegates at Science Foo Camp in 2009 | |
| Venue | Googleplex |
|---|---|
| Location | Mountain View, California |
| Type | Foo Camp Unconference |
| Theme | Interdisciplinary |
| Organised by | Google Digital Science O'Reilly Media |
| Website | www |
The first event in 2006 was held under the Chatham House Rule. The policy at the second event was to allow open reporting by default; attendees were expected to indicate if their comments were off the record. Science Foo Camp has taken place annually at the Googleplex campus in Mountain View, California, United States.
Organization
editAs of 2022[update] scifoo is organized by
- Tim O'Reilly and Marsee Henon of O'Reilly Media (FOO stands for "Friends of O'Reilly")[2]
- Daniel Hook and Amarjit Myers of Digital Science[3]
- Magdalena Skipper of Nature[citation needed]
- Cat Allman of Digital Science, formerly with Google [3]
Previously Timo Hannay and Chris DiBona were also hosts and organisers.[4]
In 2024, SciFoo was held for the first time outside of the US. It took place 26–28 July 2024 in Cambridge, UK.[5]
References
edit- ^ O'Reilly, Tim (March 24, 2009). "It's Always Ada Lovelace Day at O'Reilly". Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ Sci Foo: intense intellectual, interdisciplinary interaction for influencers - July 17, 2018
- ^ a b Haklay, Muki (July 25, 2016). "Science Foo Camp 2016". Po Ve Sham – Muki Haklay's personal blog. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ "Timo Hannay: Founding Managing Director, SchoolDash; Co-organizer, Sci Foo Camp". edge.org. Edge Foundation, Inc.
- ^ "Sci Foo - Digital Science". July 7, 2024. Archived from the original on July 7, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.