I recently discovered an old open-software activism activity called InstallFest.

InstallFest is a weekly or monthly informal gathering that connects amateurs with knowledgeable hobbyists to discuss and help install open-source operating systems. In the documentary Revolution OS, it’s documented that people preferred to meet in physical spaces to discuss Linux and open-source software because it was too difficult to find the same result in mailing lists. It was simply easy and enjoyable to find a helping hand at an InstallFest to get an installation of Linux working.

Here’s a quick clip showing how it works:

During the nascent period of Linux, InstallFests became incredibly popular and helped spread the adoption of Linux. This tradition still exists, though a lot less pronounced.

The same can be done to increase the adoption of Bitcoin. Reading through Reddit posts, bitcoin-dev mailing lists, and twitter is cumbersome. It would very interesting to use the existing framework for InstallFest and apply it to Bitcoin. Use cases can range from helping newcomers install a Bitcoin Point-of-Sale system at their local business, set up a secure wallet, or set up a full node.

Thankfully, the process for organizing and running an InstallFest is archived and well documented at the following link:

https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Installfest-HOWTO/introduction.html