Netwar Con: A Psyops Hackathon
This September, we are calling for a temporary ceasefire to information warfare.
We are inviting influence operators from across the territories of the culture wars to the Distribution Hall in Austin TX Labor Day weekend to perform their psyops, while we all watch & livestream the process.
You should come to this event if you:
Already have territory that you operate in and are willing to let the world watch and learn
Have no experience, but want to learn how to conduct an influence operation, or participate in a live one
Are a researcher, builder, or journalist who wants to observe and document the people and techniques that actively engineer our society
Let's see if we can come together to counter the toxic wastelands of infohazards with disinfecting infoblessings.
WHO IS HOSTING THIS?
Omar Shehata, owner & operator of Prosocial Engineering. Previously computer graphics engineer on the Snapchat map.
Thank you to Commenta Projects for being the first sponsor on June 8th.
For questions about the event, including sponsorship & funding, reach out to: omar@prosocialengineering.org
Get weekly updates at https://psyop.report
HOW IT WORKS / SCHEDULE
Apply to attend by identifying your location in the noosphere / culture war
Join the Discord to warm up and prep your potential psyops for September
Arrive at Distribution Hall Friday September 4th. Doors open at 5pm. Livestreaming begins, players introduce themselves as they come in, reality TV style
Teams form Friday evening, they receive the "influence operators manual", and begin negotiating and executing one or more shared objectives
Teams work throughout Friday evening, all day Saturday, and get ready to present by Sunday noon. Workshops, talks, and opportunities to socialize throughout.
The final deliverable is a documented psyop (fully executed in the duration of the weekend, or in motion).
The general vibe of the weekend is like the offices of a presidential campaign, or a Russian troll farm, mixed with a hackathon or game jam. People are creating art, videos, memes, or designing & crafting targeted messages to influence specific targets.
A snippet from the influencer operator manual that players will receive with instructions at the event. Based on the Structured Process for Information Campaign Enhancement (SP!CE) 2.2 developed by The MITRE Corporation.
HOW TO WIN
The winning psyop is the most well documented operation that goes "the farthest", either involving a large number of people, or having positive real world impact.
Entries will be judged on both design & execution. If your psyop takes longer than a weekend to execute but has the potential to have global impact, it stands a high chance of recognition.
The success of this event will be measured by at least one team engineering a "containment breach" of an idea, meme, or narrative. Done in a way to show the world exactly how this is possible, and ideally involve the global audience watching the event + the "native" audience of each influencer present in the warehouse.
We want to give everyone a seat to watch the great narrative wars of our time, to see who is actually fighting who. And this keyfabe we're playing this weekend is meant to be easy to follow, towards making the real wars visible.
FEATURED PLAYERS
John Arquilla, father of the concept of "netwar", is advising and kicking off the event Friday night (remotely)
James "Pigeon" Fielder, wargame simulation expert, is advising on the design of the game & instructions given to players
[To Be Revealed] - representing twitter "tpot" / rationalists
[To Be Revealed] - representing the Milady's
[To Be Revealed] - representing Facebook boomers
[To Be Revealed] - representing Instagram normies
[To Be Revealed] - representing Reddit mods & astroturfing
[To Be Revealed] - representing Wikipedia Editors Battlegrounds
[To Be Revealed] - representing Youtube / Tiktok shorts
[To Be Revealed] - representing Substack / long form writing
[To Be Revealed] - representing 4chan & anonymous forums
[To Be Revealed] - representing the Discord backrooms
[To Be Revealed] - representing The Arabs
...?