The document discusses why some technology enthusiasts enjoy camping. It suggests that camping allows geeks to balance their energies by disconnecting from technology and connecting with nature, providing opportunities for contemplation and experiencing the sublime. Some camping events for technology communities, like FOO Camp, encourage creative truancy by removing distractions of daily life.

1. WHY DO GEEKS GO
CAMPING?
FOO &
other brushes with nature
Nature and Cyberspace: Stories, Memes
and Metaphors
(forthcoming 2012)

2. Professor Sue Thomas
De Montfort University
FutureEverything
Manchester 2011
www.thewildsurmise.com

3. Early Geek
www.thewildsurmise.com 3

4. Technomads
Chris Dunphy & Cherie Ve Ard
www.thewildsurmise.com 4

5. Jon Postel (1943-1998)
God of the Internet (The Economist)
Go where you may within
the bounds of California,
mountains are ever in
sight, charming and
glorifying every
landscape.
John Muir,The Mountains of
California,1894
www.thewildsurmise.com 5

6. John Muir & President Roosevelt
1904
“Creative truancy in
the wild heart of
the New World”
Frederick Turner
www.thewildsurmise.com 6

7. Creative truancy: FOO Camp 2003
www.thewildsurmise.com 7

8. Google OpenSocial 2007
www.thewildsurmise.com 8

9. www.thewildsurmise.com 9

10. Surfing on the internet
www.thewildsurmise.com 10

11. Koa wood for typing and surfing
www.thewildsurmise.com 11

12. Zillions of tiny rivers
www.thewildsurmise.com 12

13. Howard Rheingold’s Outside Office
www.thewildsurmise.com 13

14. SO WHY DO GEEKS GO
CAMPING?
•Balancing energies
•Contemplation and the sublime
•Creative truancy