What is "thatcamp"

THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) is a user-generated unconference for technologists and humanities professionals, including university and college faculty, librarians and archivists, and museum staff. Participants set the agenda for work and discussion on the fly, in the manner of a BarCamp.

The THATCamp concept was founded at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University in 2008. In August, 2009, the first THATCamp held outside of the George Mason campus took place at the University of Texas in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists. The organizers of THATCamp Austin shared information on how they organized the conference, which served as motivation for the rapid development of additional regional meetings. By March, 2010 demand for assistance was great enough that CHNM received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to hire a coordinator for regional THATCamps. Regional THATCamps have now been held in Latin America, the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Some THATCamps have also organized themselves around themes such as accessibility, historically black colleges, pedagogy, games, and theory, instead of regions.