DWeb Vancouver Year end roundup — 2025
In its third year DWeb Vancouver (DWebYVR) has not only grown to reach a lot more folks in our region, but is also one of the most active nodes in the DWeb movement globally.
Starting with just a handful of organizers a few years ago, we have welcomed many more and been able to launch all sorts of new projects, workshops, events, and other convenings as we contend with what is happening in our world and how we can apply the DWeb Principles, which include:
Distributed Benefits
Mutual Respect
Humanity
Ecological Awareness
(Read more about the Principles at getdweb.net/principles)
Some quick numbers for you:
- The DWebYVR newsletter has grown to nearly 200 subscribers (we encourage you to subscribe!)
- On Bluesky (🦋 @dwebyvr.org) we are at 180 followers
- DWeb note: the PDS for that account is hosted on a tiny computer in the co-working/studio/community space Z-Space, our gracious host for many an event and where many of our folk are members. You can also follow us on Mastodon @dwebvancouver@dwebyvr.org
- On Luma, where we run our events calendar, we have 524 subscribers!
Speaking of events…
🗓️ Events! Events! Events!
In the past year more than 30 events have run under the banner of DWeb Vancouver. In addition to bespoke events like the Localfirst weekend, hack days and an electronics bazarre, we also collabed and cross-promoted many other events with groups like CoSocial.ca, goodbot, Fedicon, Hardware Unconference, VanLUG, Van Techies, and the Internet Archive Canada.
This event count also includes six general planning meetings (that anyone can join, including you dear reader!) and three gatherings in the CoFood Collaborative Garden while sharing a meal under the trees.
Our calendar is a BUSY one, and DWeb Vancouver is becoming a hub for many other community organizations. In fact, several of our organizers are involved in the Vancouver regional Meetup for Organizers Meetup, which aims to further connect the local meetup scene and level up everyone's event game. If you are an organizer in the area and keen to leverage our collective intelligence, sign up for their newsletter at meetupmeetup.com
Of course, the biggest event of the year for us was DWeb Camp Cascadia…
🏕️ DWeb Camp Cascadia
More than 60 campers joined us on Salt Spring Island in August for some hacking, food, nature, and connection with one another and to the land. It was a grand time, but don't just take our word for it: senior member of the DWeb Core Team, one of the organizers of the global DWeb Camp, and steward of the DWeb Principles Mai Ishikawa Sutton came all the way from California to be with us. Their reflections are posted below:
mai ishikawa sutton
As the organizing team took some deep breaths after Camp, we commissioned a retrospective process which invited all participants and vendors to complete a survey and join a real-time call to reflect on what worked and what can be improved for future Camps. Our retrospective facilitator Ember Buck published the retrospective report on the Internet Archive, you can read that here:
Camp was a huge learning and relationship-building opportunity for the core crew from DWeb Vancouver who got the event planning started, and who were joined by others in our region to pull this off. We're excited with the energy gained and some seed funding to make a DWeb Camp Cascadia happen again in 2026!
📝 New projects, new friends
Other than running our own Camp, members of DWebYVR also initiated and contributed to a number of other running projects this year, including:
- Mesh Curious which has been exploring mesh networking tech like Meshtastic and Meshcore and communicating with one another through their alternets
- DWebYVR Bookclub an in-person reading group tackling topics of governance and technology
- Folk Technology which runs in-person and online sessions focused on making software people-centric
- DWeb Global Node Gatherings, a quarterly virtual call for node leads across the planet to come together and share knowledge and inspiration
🙋 Calls to Action
As the seasons turn and 2026 approaches, we're reflecting on our calls for opportunities to convene and connect in the coming year.
Firstly, we are looking for planners to get the next regional DWeb Camp for summer of 2026 off the ground. If you're interested, stay tuned to this site for updates as planning gets underway next year. Since Camp planning transcends Vancouver and environs, planning calls will be online.
If joining the Camp project interests you, or you have other ideas, or you would like to simply find out how to get involved, come out to the next in-person planning meeting in January!
What else do you think we should do? Come out and have your say!
Finally, the real CTA that the whole movement is speaking to on some level is: be intentional about the tech you use. Ask questions. Surround yourself with others who can discuss those questions with you. If you can't find those people, come help us to organize something to help you find those people to connect in person. Events matter because people come — so come!!
📸 Photos
To close out the year, here are just a few snaps and memories 😃
🔖 Addendum
Check out DWeb Core's 2025 roundup with shoutouts to DWeb Vancouver and many other nodes around the world!
mai ishikawa sutton