Ephemerisle Adventures

[nasu_dengaku]

Epehemrisle is truly maturing.  I recently came back from our four-day floating-city-building adventure with a warm glow from new connections, new accomplishments, and the excitement of an ad-hoc community coming together and *working well*

Some thoughts in no particular order:

- I love the people who showed up.  The people really made the event.  We

Comments

getting more houseboaters

[ext_669183]

I've been thinking about this a lot since last year. TSI put in a lot of time and effort reaching out to various houseboat communities, and while we think we reached people's eyes and ears about Ephemerisle (finding the correct mailing lists was key), we really didn't make a dent in their consciousness.

I think the correct outreach message has not yet been found, and it's largely because we still don't have any "typical" houseboat people in the Ephemerisle or seasteading crowds. This matters a lot if we really want the houseboaters' attention, because they seem to be a little suspicious of (or perhaps mostly nonplussed by) the whole Ephemerisle "thing".

"Oh, yeah, we do that. It's called a raft-up."

Trying to convince them it has a vision behind it, that it stands for something bigger, appears to be counterproductive. It seemed to me they were hearing a lot of pointless intellectualism that had no bearing on the kind of events or lives they wanted to be a part of.

Getting houseboaters' involvement will take some cultural sleuthing. Or it may simply be more trouble than it's worth, at least at this stage.

It's useful to note that many Reno-ans (Reno-ites?) I've met have seemed basically uninterested or even opposed to ever going to Burning Man...

Re: getting more houseboaters

[crasch]

Thanks for the info, Naomi. If they're not private, perhaps you could put the mailing lists of the boating communities you contacted on the wiki?

That said, I'm personally not too concerned about marketing for Ephemerisle. I think it will grow organically, as friends of friends find out out about it. In fact, I don't want to see it get too big, too fast, as it gives us time to learn how to handle various issues (anchoring, Triton/medics, inter-boat conflicts).

I do think there's value in seeking out training and advice from the boating community, and inviting like-minded boaters to come to the event. I think there's a lot we could learn from them. One of the reasons I'd like to go out on the fourth of July (or similar event) is so that I can see how experienced boaters "raft-up". For example, it'd be cool if we could build a raft-up like this one next year:

http://fhayden.com/rockhallfleet/raftup.htm

It would also give us a preview of what it will be like when Ephemerisle gets much bigger (and the problems we may have).

Re: getting more houseboaters

[crasch]

Here's a preview of what Ephemerisle could become: a 1651 boat attempt to beat the Guiness Book of World Records for largest raft-up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49479493@N06/4898083337/in/photostream/

Re: getting more houseboaters

[nasu_dengaku]

I think it's okay that the houseboater community hasn't engaged. I think if we get too popular among casual boaters, we'll simply turn into a big houseboat party, and there's nothing special about that.

We're trying to create something different. The small number of people with actual boating experience who were engaged this year is sufficient to help us tackle our challenges.

I think we should not pursue houseboater lists / marinas and instead focus on organic growth via people we know personally and enthusiasts who read about seasteading online.

Re: getting more houseboaters

[maradydd]

Shorter version: it is easier to teach a skill than an ideology.

Did I see you post something a while back about not-Ephemerisle 2012, btw? I'm starting to work on my travel schedule for next year.

Re: getting more houseboaters

[nasu_dengaku]

June 6-10 https://www.facebook.com/events/275470455830635/