31C3 – 31. Chaos Communication Congress

December 27th–30th 2014, CCH, Hamburg

The Event

The Chaos Communication Congress is the yearly conference and hacker party of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC). For four days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, thousands of hackers, techies, hobbyists, artists, and utopians meet in Hamburg to learn from each other, chat, meet and greet, or simply to party. We engage in topics focused around information technologies, computer security and safety, the maker and breaker scenes, the critically-constructive intercourse with technology and its implications on our societies.

We’d love to see your submission for these tracks:

Arts & Culture

Ethics, Society & Politics

Hardware & Making

Security & Hacking

Science

Apart from the official conference program, the 31C3 leaves room for community-villages (called “assemblies”), developer- and project-meetings, art installations, lightning talks, and numerous workshops (called “sessions”).

Arts & Culture

One can create art and beauty with any technology, including computers. This track awaits submissions that address from an artistic perspective the societal changes and contradictions caused by computers, robots, and general digitalization.

We’re open to art installations, performances, concerts, readings, etc., that involve past, contemporary, or upcoming technologies.

Ethics, Society & Politics

We’re looking forward to submissions that (without citing Deleuze) address present and future societal, ethical, and political questions that arise from the technization and digitalization of all areas of life. What will the future bring? Which commercial and political interests are in the way of a utopia worth living?

Activistical, fantastical, solidary and commerce-free ideas and concepts are welcome here.

Making & Crafting

In this track, it’s all about tools that allow the digital sphere to produce a physical impression.

We are looking forward to all submitters that make it rain when they engage in cloud-hacking, view e-bikes as a transport-layer, and joyfully forward viruses from their inbox to their DNS-Sequencer.

If you design or abuse PCBs or firmware, or modify your 3D-printer to spit out something other than plastic, and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, this is your track.

Security & Hacking

For this track, we’d like to request submissions that focus on how IT security can be improved. Topics may cover exploitation of hard- and software-issues, or a combination of both. If you have found vulnerabilities in weird machines, or want to share your 0-day with 10,000 fellow enthusiasts, or if you’ve developed new solutions to previously unsolved problems, then this is the right track for you.

We of course do not just value destruction or exploitation, but also value clever creations of software and hardware for breaking, fixing or enhancing things. However, think about this: If you break stuff, you should try to fix it as well.

Science

We have science to thank for our blinking computers, but not just that—nearly all progress in society and technology is facilitated by science in one way or another. This track features talks that look into progress from a scientific point of view and evaluate what has been achieved by science, whether it happens in research institutions, in universities, or in your back yard.

Besides topics in the social sciences, such as the history of secret services, research of alternative coexistance, or alternative economies, we are also interested in pressing questions of humanity’s growing need for energy, drug-resistant pathogens, or access to drinking water. Furthermore, the big questions are also relevant: Are we alone in the universe? How does life work? How do can I detect an infinite loop?

Assemblies

Assemblies are places where communities of interest can meet in the core of the congress. They are comparable to villages at the various hacker camps. We will have lots of space again, so larger installations will be possible. The assemblies will be organized in the public wiki.

Submission Guidelines

For talks and workshops:

Please send us a description of your suggested talk that is as complete as possible. The description is of particularl importance to the selection, so please ensure it is as clear as possible. Quality takes precedence over quantity. Due to the non-commerical nature of the Congress, presentations which aim to market or promote commerical products or entities will not be entertained.

As it is likely that that there will be multiple submissions about the same topic, please show us exactly why your talk should be part of the conference. Please write something about yourself, your environment, and your motivation. It does not matter if the talk has been held at another conference as long as it is up to date and relevant.

Talks should be no longer than 45 minutes plus 15 minutes for questions and answers. Longer slots are possible in principle. There are 20-minute slots as well. Please tell us the proposed length of your talk at the time of submission. In addition, there are 5-minute short talks (so-called Lightning Talks) for small ideas, projects, or rants. These will only be organised during the event.

For projects, installations and other fun things:

A formal submission is not required. Once again there willl be a wiki where needs for space and other resources will be collected. Simply start considering now what you would like to make, bring, or show when that wiki goes online. We have a lot of space and we are open for crazy and surprising stuff.

Language of the presentation:

Although 31C3 is an international conference and a lot of content is being presented in English, this year there will again be a translation team which will simultaneously translate most German talks into English. So if you are not completely comfortable with presenting in English, please feel free to present your lecture in German. Please also use the language of your presentation for its title, so as not to confuse any visitors.

Publication:

Audio and video recordings of the lectures will be published online in various formats under the license CC Attribution 3.0 Germany (CC BY 3.0 DE). This license allows commercial use of excerpts by media institutions as part of their reporting. If you do not wish material of your lecture to be published or streamed, please let us know in your submission. Note: As German law (and therefore the license) might differ from the law of your country please let us know if you should have any issues or questions regarding the exact implications. Unfortunately we can’t provide a bullet-proof translation.

Travel, costs & visa

As a speaker, you will have free admission. Chaos Communication Congress is a non-commercial event where neither the organisers nor the speakers are being paid. If necessary, we are however able to provide some support regarding travel costs and accomodation.

If you need help applying for a visa, such as an official invitation to present at the German embassy, please let the content team know well in advance. Please be aware that the visa application procedure may take up to six weeks.

Dates & deadlines:

September 14, 2014 (23:59 UTC): Deadline for submissions

November 16, 2014: Notification of acceptance

December 27–30, 2014: Chaos Communication Congress

Online submissions only:

All submissions of lectures and workshops have to be entered into our conference planning system, which is located at the following URL: https://frab.cccv.de/cfp/31C3. Please follow the instructions there. If you have any questions regarding the submission, you are welcome to contact us via email at 31c3-content(at)cccv.de.