Workshops for HacktionLab Autumn 2025
The following is a list of ideas for workshops, talks or other activities for the forthcoming HacktionLab Autumn 2025 taking place in October in Nottingham, UK. The *Nerd gag* measures how technical and jargony the session might be, from "on tight" being accessible to all, to "ungagged" being no-holes-barred tech talk. In the middle there's "breathing room" and "rather loose".
Session times
In spite of any advance programming, which we try not to do, we generally work out the schedule during the event, though this may change for this one, in order to have some semblance of programming. Watch this space!
Facilities
See this page for details of the facilities we have at HacktionLab 2025
Types of Sessions
- Talk: 30-60 mins - please say if you need a projector / screen etc
- Workshops: typically 60 mins - let us know your requirements
- Skill Share Sessions: typically 60 mins - hands on in collaboration with others around a theme
- Round Table Discussions: typically 60 mins - around a theme
- Lightning Talks: typically 5-10 mins - these may be themed together or at random
Example
Title of workshop?
- Format
- talk / workshop (interactive) / skills share / round table / lighting talk
- Proposed by
- Your name
- Length
- 30-60 minutes, 5-15 for a lighting talk
- Equipment
- projector, speakers, paper, pens, posits, chairs, etc
- Description
- a description of the workshop
- Nerd gag
- How much technical background will people need to be able to follow the session? Nerd gag measures how technical and jargony the session might be, from "on tight" being accessible to all, to "ungagged" being no-holes-barred tech talk. In the middle there's "breathing room" and "rather loose".
Proposals
- Format
- talk
- Proposed by
- Gremble Bean
- Length
- 45 minutes
- Equipment
- Projector if possible. Flip chart and pens.
- Description
- We'll explore what people think consciousness is and attempts to figure out how it works and what it is. We'll cover attempts to make machines that do thinking stuff and how that relates to sense of self. We'll look at perception of agency and artificial people. We'll have an open discussion with a focus on personal action towards survival.
- Nerd gag
- We'll use the common usages of English words and define terms at the start for difficult ones. Nerd gagged medium tight.
- Format
- introductory talk and short workshop
- Proposed by
- MaRk
- Length
- 30-45 minutes
- Equipment
- projector & speakers; participants will need a laptop running linux and wired headphones, if they want to do the practical bit
- Description
- Talk giving an overview of the history of linux audio, followed by a workshop aiming to get people running the jackd audio server and some musical application software.
- Nerd gag
- Rather loose; we'll start talking in general principals but may get into technicalities if there's interest
My off grid solar boat electrics
- Format
- mostly talk, maybe some practical skill share + knowledge sharing?
- Proposed by
- Nick
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Equipment
- projector
- Description
- I live on a boat with a DIY LiFePO4 Lithium battery, connected to a lot of fancy electronics and automation, and I can tell you about it! I think it comes in 3 layers: physical/electrical layer, low level canbus integrations, high level automations mqtt/home assistant/zigbee.
- Nerd gag
- Rather loose; I will try and cover general views, but I think a bit unavoidable to go into some deeper technical details
The joy of knots
- Format
- interactive workshop and skill share
- Proposed by
- Nick
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Equipment
- rope/cord! (bring your own + I'll bring a selection along)
- Description
- I love knots! let's share our favourite knots, and teach them to other people. My knot knowledge is focused around on camping/tarping.
- Nerd gag
- On tight; come all
Uncommon Ground (how can we listen and communicate outside of our comfort zones?)
- Format
- interactive group workshop working in pairs
- Proposed by
- Mike & Naomi
- Length
- 90 minutes
- Equipment
- flip chart or projector/laptop or nothing
- Description
- Nerd gag
- on tight, open to all
Resources from workshop
Synopsis of workshop and how to run one at https://mbharris.co.uk/workshops-and-talks/uncommon-ground.html
- Format
- talk with interactive musical demos
- Proposed by
- Mike & Naomi
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Equipment
- flip chart or projector/laptop or nothing
- Description
- Ever tuned your guitar so your B and E strings sound good, but then play a G major chord and something sounds awry? Isn’t that pesky B string a little sharp? In this talk we’ll introduce musical scales and keys and the widespread use of equal temperament (ET) in modern Western music, why this is and how it came about, and look at alternative scales, both contemporary and historical. With live analysis using a variety of fretted and non-fretted instruments and computer-generated music.
- Nerd gag
- this one is going to be pretty nerdy, but in a good way; with some maths, but also some sounds and practical demos
APCC - Anarcho Primitivist Computer Club
- Format
- talk with input and general hand wringing
- Proposed by
- mickfuzz
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Equipment
- projector/laptop
- Description
There is a pad for this workshop to share and collate ideas and links here - https://pad.riseup.net/p/apcc-keep
For people who used to love the non-corporate nature of the early Internet but now think the world would be a better place if we moved towards turning them all off.
When did the Internet go bad. It used to be nice. Was it when the infrastructure stopped being based on academic resources and became driven by corporate funding, probably. But that's another talk. This one is in part nostalgia for 90's internet culture. We can share nice stories. At some point we'll descend into how Gen AI is being misused, but only for a little bit hopefully.
I'm getting back into doing community / youth workshops again so would like to share ideas about how to share some of those low power, low band width practices with new generations.
Here are some related ideas. But I suppose just it's mostly about applying the principles of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology to current situation.
- I really liked finding out about Tilde Club - https://tilde.club - I would like to lead workshops on using that set up for email, simple websites, and usenet! :) - Really simple static website workflows - Craft Podcasting - recording audio podcasts with old equipment and hand writing RSS files - Give up your computer for a while - and have a email set up on a USB stick you carry around and borrow other computers
Service blueprints - simplifying the complex
- Format
- Talk
- Proposed by
- Meglet
- Length
- 30 minutes
- Equipment
- Projector/Screen to plug laptop into to show slides
- Description
- Service Blueprints can be really useful for understanding complex services and for making changes. They are used by service designers in large organisations as communication aids, to ensure collaboration with other teams and organisations, and to take a high level view of interconnected items. : I'll chat through the concept and show some examples.
- Nerd gag
- Fully gagged nerd
Peeping on culture using websites
- Format
- Lighting talk - could be followed on by a skillshare if interest
- Proposed by
- Meglet
- Length
- 10 minutes
- Equipment
- Projector/Screen to plug laptop into to show slides
- Description
- Organisational or team culture can manifest itself subconsiously. I find it fascinating to learn about team or organisation dynamics by examining websites to explore the hidden. It can reveal things like power inequalitities, collaboration vs individuality, equality. I'll explain a few concepts.
- Nerd gag
- Fully gagged nerd
Usability and user experience skillshare
- Format
- Skillshare
- Proposed by
- Meglet
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Equipment
- Depending on numbers this could be done one to one on individual computers or shared on a screen as a group.
- Description
- If you have a project or website or service and you'd like to improve the usability, we can look at what you have so far, and discuss ways to improve things. I can show techniques you can use and chat through some of the theory behind user centered design.
- Nerd gag
- Fully gagged nerd
- Format
- talk
- Proposed by
- Ceolah
- Length
- 45 minutes
- Equipment
- flip chart
- Description
- A look at the term Permacomputing and attempts to make that term make sense. Going through the 12 design principals of permacutlure and the 3 ethics statements. Trying to get it applying to computers.