Refactor Camp
Refactor Camp was an annual unconference held by the Ribbonfarm community from 2012 to 2019 — seven editions over eight years (no event in 2017). Each year centered on a theme, with short talks followed by open discussion. The format was deliberately low-key: no panels, no recordings until 2018, no badge hierarchy. Thanks to the many people who helped organize over the years: Joe Kelly, Darren Kong, Zhan Li, Megan Lubaszka, Nick Pinkston, Toby Shorin, and others.
Talks from 2018 and 2019 are archived on the Refactor Camp YouTube channel.
Year by Year
The first edition. Seven talks and a long beach walkabout down to the Pacific Ocean.
Second year at the Zoo, expanded to a full weekend. The walkabout theme leaned into the Jailbreaking motif.
The move to the Computer History Museum gave the event a new scale and a natural backdrop for the computing theme. A map-drawing exercise produced some memorable hand-drawn atlases.
At Plethora's fabrication studio in Dogpatch, with a mix of makers and writers. The narrative theme connected process documentation to storytelling.
The first (and only) fully online edition, spread across four evenings on Zoom. Surprisingly good energy for a distributed event — the chat became part of the content.
Back in person after a year off, at GasPedal Ranch outside Austin. The blockchain moment was cresting; the event tried to think clearly about it before the crash arrived.
The largest and last edition, at ~120 attendees. Gracie Wilson drew a live chalk mural over the weekend. A fitting close.