DWeb Camp 2026: Root Systems

DWeb Camp 2026: Root Systems is a five-day gathering in nature for builders and dreamers dedicated to building a decentralized web (DWeb).

Come help co-create DWeb Camp at an all-day meet up on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at c-base in Berlin.

In the morning, we invite you to brainstorm, dream, and plan what DWeb Camp can be. We'll move into the afternoon with an unconference to surface shared goals and interests and to seed the conversations and activations we want to build on.

The evening will culminate in a fireside chat between Internet Archive founder, Brewster Kahle, and Senior DWeb Organizer, Wendy Hanamura, followed by opportunities to meet other organizers and share your ideas and offerings for Camp.

This event is co-hosted by the Department of Decentralization, Internet Archive Europe, and DWeb.

We'll share more information in the weeks ahead and DWeb Camp tickets will become available the week of March 9, 2026.
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Questions? Write us at [email protected]

We believe in building a web that is private, resilient, and beyond the control of a few central powers. Like forests, decentralized systems derive strength from what lies beneath the surface: dense networks of roots, sharing resources without hierarchy, and coordination that persists even when individual nodes disappear. DWeb Camp invites participants to build technologies that–like living ecosystems–adapt, regenerate, and endure.

What Connects Us is Mostly Underground.

Real power doesn't announce itself on the surface. It spreads quietly through mycelial networks, through interconnected nodes that share resources and information, peer-to-peer. Roots don't compete—they collaborate, creating resilient ecosystems that survive when any single tree falls.

The decentralized web is our mycelium. Our protocols are the invisible threads connecting tree to tree, community to community, spreading nutrients where they're needed most. We build infrastructure that can't be seen from above. It can't be easily surveilled, nor can it be pulled up by autocratic hands.

DWeb Camp is dedicated to building tools for real world problems, including censorship resistance, identity for the stateless, and sovereignty over our data. Since 2016, DWeb an independent project founded by the nonprofit Internet Archive, has gathered thousands of builders, researchers, activists, artists, educators and families to connect deeply, learn together, and have fun as we build systems that actualize the principles of trust, human agency, mutual respect, and ecological awareness.

Why Here. Why Now.

In July 2026, DWeb Camp leaves Northern California to gather at Alte Hölle, Germany in an ancient forest an hour southwest of Berlin—not to disconnect from the world, but to rethink how it’s connected.

The landscape matters.

Around us will be networks that have existed long before modern technology: roots, mycelium, and ecosystems that thrive without a center, without permission, and without a single point of failure. These systems are resilient not because they are optimized, but because they are distributed.

From nature, we find inspiration for the week.

Our Origins

The idea for DWeb and DWeb Camp originated with Brewster Kahle, founder of the nonprofit digital library, the Internet Archive. He challenged us to fuse the creative energy of Burning Man with the hacktivist vision of Chaos Computer Camp to establish an enduring gathering near the Internet Archive’s San Francisco headquarters. In 2019, we held our first DWeb Camp at an abandoned mushroom farm an hour south of San Francisco. While camping under the stars, hacking in an old warehouse, sharing inspiration around the campfire – something magical happened.

Today, DWeb connects a loose network of builders and dreamers around the world. From Vancouver to Berlin, São Paolo to San Francisco, self-governed DWeb nodes have sprung up to support like-minded hacktivists. We agree upon a set of guiding principles that allow you to judge for yourself if this is a group you want to invest in. If you agree, we invite you to endorse the DWeb Principles.

What to expect

DWeb Camp brings together people with different types of expertise to solve real world problems. Whether it’s Awana Digital co-creating peer-to-peer, local-first mapping applications for Waorani tribe members defending their territory against loggers, or the leaders of Bluesky meeting at our first summit for decentralized tech, DWeb Camp creates new pathways for those creating technology that makes the world a better place.

Over five days, you can explore Root Systems in mesh networks, root directories, and peer-to-peer architecture. You might dive into grassroots organizing strategies and questions about cooperative governance. Makers and farmers can explore regenerative roots, and children can listen to stories about ancestral roots. We invite you to bring your family to DWeb Camp, where one of the world’s most talented arts educators leads a rich program for children under 12.

We’ll activate about a dozen tracks and spaces that you can help to co-create: from a hackers tent to an unconference in the meadow. Lightning talks, hands-on workshops, and discussion circles proliferate. We host a Demo Night Market for tools that are ready for public consumption. Our talent show and late-night music jam are camper favorites. And you will find so many topics to explore, including: Public AI, Cooperative Funding for Agroecological Tech, Design Principles for Decentralization, P2P Local-First Protocols, Democratic Governance and Ownership, and DWeb for Creators. We invite you to submit a talk, panel, workshop, demo, or activity just for fun (juggling, yoga, tai-chi, meditation, improv, dance are some camp staples.)

We invite you to volunteer! Be an “Link” volunteer (our version of Angels), lead a weaving (small) group, DJ a dance party, set up tents, or make friends by supporting the catering team. We create a dozen ways to meet new friends in small groups, whether it’s as a volunteer or discussing your passionate hobby during the unconference.