[Reader-list] What The Hack - pricing policies

[patrice at xs4all.nl]

Re Valentina Messeri's post, April 1st:

And who'll pay for 150 euros ticket? you?

And who/what is organizing this "large hacker's festival" ?

(which seems to be an alternative way to make money?, or not?)

best regards



Valentina's formulation definitely falls in a category the Dutch call
"cutting  thru the curve" but the questions themselves, asked many times
over by other people certainly merit some consideration. For sure, 150
Euros is not a small sum. For people not enjoying (west) European incomes,
it is even a huge amount. The festival however takes place in Europe, and
the amount charged for participation must be seen in context.

This is a four days long event featuring a lot of activities and a rich
programme. In geek/ nerds/ techies/ and other IT culture interested
peoples' terms you can compare it with a big pop festival. These are not
cheap either, in fact they cost the same amount of money - for a lesser
number of days (remember: you can stay & camp for at least 4 nights, and
up to 9 or 10 if you come before or stay after the beginning/ the end of
the event).

This is also an 'official' happening. It means that all necessary
permissions have to be obtained, and all requirements as per law met with
regard to safety, sanitation, security, etc etc etc have to be met.
Charges for waste disposal (which are meticulously assessed), for example,
run in thousands and thousands of Euros. Then a lot of technical
facilitation is provided to the participants. Some of it may be sponsored,
most have to be paid for. Connectivity at Dutch 'H' events for instance,
is famously extensive - but comes at a price. And so one can go on listing
all the features that make such events expensive to organise and hence
need to carry an entry fee, which looks hefty, but still does not cover
all the costs being made - by far. So much for a 'commercial operation'.

But I think Valentina's grudge is based on something deeper, that is a
misunderstanding of the nature of these events - I am talking here of the 
4-yearly 'Dutch' gatherings, the 4-yearly Chaos Computer Club Summer Camps
 in/ near Berlin, and the HOPE bashes in the Pennsylvania Hotel in New
York, done on alternate years by the 2600 Magazine crew. All of these
carry an entry price comparable to WTH. These gatherings are _not_
hackmeetings as are  taking place regularly in Spain and Italy. They are
much bigger, and   their constituency, for the better or the worse, is
much larger than such  meets.

The reason for that is a difference in culture and circumstances in which
various 'hackers scene' operate in different parts of Europe, and the
world. This result is a difference of approach with regard to the kind of
events they organise. I think it is fruitless to debate whichever scene is
more 'genuine', and represents the 'hackers spirit' better than the other.
Both have their merits, and so have their gatherings. Attendance to
neither of those is compulsory, and myself, I enjoy going to both.

The big advantage of an event like What The Hack is the diversity of
publics one can meet and have talk with there. It can lead to surprising
initiatives  and interactions, but again, nobody forces you to do so. This
year's structure, based on ...less structure and more self-organisation
along the 'village' model, offers even more opportunity to 'do your wown
thing' (yes, it also makes life for the conveners easier ;-), so I'd say
make use of it.

And finally the organisation is working hard at providing some kind of  
sponsoring/ assistance to people who are genuinely not able to be at WTH
on their own means. It would appear that this facility will be more
available than at previous events. But let it be clear on the other hand
that nobody can feel 'entitled'  to a free ticket on basis of whatever
kind of ethical/ moral/ political status. It has even been a hallowed
tradition of 'H' events that the organisers themselves pay the
participation fee.