WHYcast transcript episode 29

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Transcript 29

Chantal: Hi, and welcome to the WHYcast episode 29. I'm Chantal. Ad: I'm Ad. Chantal: And we are the hosts of the only podcast about a hacker camp in the universe. Chantal: This volunteer-run event will take place this year in the Netherlands, approximately 42 kilometers north of Amsterdam, from August 8th until the 12th of August 2025. Chantal: So, Ad, what are we talking about today?

Ad: Well, it will be no surprise that we will start out with the news. We have a very cool interview that Nancy did at the field day. We have some where-to-hack tips for you. We have the vacancy of the week. Actually, we have two vacancies. And we'll see if there are any messages from listeners. But first, let's start off with the news.

Chantal: Yeah, the news. This weekend, we had a very successful field day. Almost 80 Orga members showed up. Eighty people that were part of villages but also part of teams. And, yeah, it was very fun because we got to walk the terrain and map out some stuff and a lot of stuff got done. And of course, we did some drinks and had some food. The next in-person Orga meet is the 21st of June in The Hague at Revspace. So we hope to see as many people there as well.

Ad: Yes, and that is next to the regular online meetings every other Wednesday. All the dates and all the information is on the wiki. So if you are curious to check one of the online meetings out or get yourself registered for the next in-person meeting, go to the wiki—there is “Meetings” on the left in the bar—wiki.WHY2025.org. And what is also on the WHY website are tickets and merch. Please buy your merch this month because at the end of the month—maybe the start of May, but probably the end of this month—Team Merch will count the numbers of orders and start ordering at the manufacturer, because they need time to make the hundreds of items that you have ordered. From May onwards, there will be some extra stock ordered, but that's no longer unlimited. So if you want to buy some merch, do it this month, I would suggest.

Chantal: Pre-order it now so that we know how much we should order and don't waste anything.

Ad: Yeah, and important to note that the merch is pick-up only at the event. So you need to have a ticket to be at the event.

Chantal: Yeah, important stuff. Ad: Important stuff. But back to the field day, I wasn't there, unfortunately, but Nancy was and also Niels. Niels had some interesting information on health hacking and he talked about that with Nancy. I think we should go straight into the interview.

Nancy: Yeah. So we're here today at field day at the location where the magic is going to happen in a couple of months. Can you please introduce yourself and what you do for WHY?

Niels: Yes. My name is Niels—some people know me as Niels the Nerd. During the day, I work at ZCERT, which is the healthcare computer emergency response team for Dutch healthcare. In my free time, I'm also a member and board member at BitLair, the Hackspace in Amersfoort.

Nancy: Amersfoort! That's also a thing in the White House, by the way. But proceed.

Niels: I always say Amersfoort is the most beautiful city in the middle of the Netherlands. It's a rivalry, but yeah.

Nancy: And what kind of cool stuff are you going to do for WHY?

Niels: Well, this year we will host the second edition of Hack the Health. Last edition we did it for the first time because we wanted to give something back to the community—because our community is awesome and a lot of my coworkers are part of the hackerspace community. So we decided to do something back. This year will be the second edition: it will be bigger, better, with all kinds of cool things—healthcare-related things, of course. There will be medical equipment, workshops, maybe some talks; I don't know yet. We're trying to host some cool stuff again. The previous edition featured somebody who hacked her own pacemaker.

Nancy: Oh, no way.

Niels: Yes. She thought it was defective but couldn't prove it, so she hacked it to prove to her doctors it was defective.

Nancy: Wow.

Niels: That takes some guts. That's hardcore hacking—hacking your own medical devices that are implanted inside you and making sure you stay alive. That's next level.

Nancy: So awesome.

Niels: I organized it together with my coworkers from ZCERT, which we also tried to include some of our members, like hospitals. I know some people from a medical device manufacturer who are coming. We just try to create a healthcare-related village for people who work in or for healthcare—everything healthcare related.

Nancy: Is your village on the wiki already?

Niels: Yes, I created the Wiki page. As of recording this, it's not very filled yet; I'll try to get more info in the following week—some more content, some more cool stuff. It's called Hack the Health Village.

Nancy: Cool. So if you are interested in anything health related and haven't got your own village yet, people can join, right?

Niels: Yeah, please join. Subscribe on the Wiki. If you work for a hospital or a medical device manufacturer, please contact me—my email address from my hackerspace is on the Wiki page. Just send me an email; that's the best way to reach me.

Nancy: You have an awesome way of meeting new friends in healthcare who love hacking. What an amazing opportunity, right?

Niels: I always say healthcare reaches all of us—most people are born in a hospital or have to go to a doctor sometimes. Healthcare is pretty important for everybody.

Nancy: And safety of data as well, of course—medical data is next level. It’s rated as one of the most important pieces of data under the GDPR.

Niels: Yes. And the sad thing is that the healthcare field in the Netherlands is still the top scorer each year for data leaks.

Nancy: That could mean two things: either we actually report them or everything is just not good enough yet.

Niels: We see there is high awareness of data leaks and a high willingness to report them, which is a good thing—they're willing to say “we did something wrong and this is how we're going to improve it.” It's also good that they are honest about it, because then people can learn and improve the whole field. That's the whole reason our organization exists: to learn from other people's mistakes and hopefully help others learn from them.

Nancy: And let's say someone who has never been to WHY before, who has no clue what villages are—what is the added value for them to be part of a village like Hack the Health?

Niels: Meeting like-minded people, whether it’s Hack the Health or something else you’re interested in—you know? There are so many awesome things: hardware hacking, food hacking, even an Italian Embassy village with excellent pasta.

Nancy: And grappa.

Niels: Let’s not talk about the grappa. But pasta during the day is great; grappa in the evening is also great.

Nancy: We also saw the Milliways and numerous other villages. There are so many cool villages; that’s the reason to go in person. It’s like a festival but with talks and all kinds of awesome people with different knowledge. It’s amazing. And it’s always good to volunteer—that’s how I got my current job.

Niels: Yes. I was a shuttle driver at SHA2017, met somebody who turned out to be my future employer. Next thing I knew, I got an internship, and now I’ve worked there for five and a half years.

Nancy: So you can have career opportunities there. Networking is collateral gain.

Niels: Whether you want a new job or want to find like-minded people, being here on location and meeting new people is good.

Nancy: Do you have any other favorite memory from former camps?

Niels: I know one great story from SHA2017. One evening I heard music and saw a car tent driving across the street. A car tent is a cardboard tent—if you can’t bring your own tent, you can buy cardboard tents. The German hardware hacking village brought some defective self-balancing boards—those two-wheeled electric boards—and mounted them under a tent so the tent could drive across the terrain. Then they put a couch on one and drove that around too. Things like that you can only see here.

Nancy: A driving car tent—so cool. You’re really looking forward to this summer and all the fun at field day and, of course, at BitLair.

Niels: Yes.

Nancy: Thank you so much for this interview, and have fun preparing.

Niels: And thank you, Nancy, for organizing.

Ad: Very cool to see this interview. We did get a message from Niels saying it was Veronica Schmidt who hacked her pacemaker. If you want to look her up, she has a blog on her website with all the adventures.

Chantal: Next up we have “where to hack.” Each week we share where you can find us.

Chantal: It’s an Easter event in Germany, from the 18th until the 21st of April. We heard that some people from WHY are also going there. It looks like a very cool event with a lot of workshops—four days of workshops where you can learn about techy stuff and a little less-techy making workshops. Although it is sold out, there is a ticket exchange, so you may still get a ticket.

Ad: And if you’re wondering what to do next Sunday—the 13th of April—at Forum in Groningen, the Maakplek is organizing a BattleBots event called BullyBots. You can’t register your bot anymore officially, but maybe there’s a quick spot. You’re very welcome to show up as a visitor. Information is on the wiki; the link is in the show notes.

Chantal: And for the rest of the year until the event, Team Parking might be interested in you helping out as a coordinator. Team Promo could use help making social-media content, and Team Content needs reviewers. If you want to look at CFP submissions and rate them from home, send an email to content@WHY2025.org.

Ad: For Team Promo, we need someone who likes to write short social posts in English, engage with followers, and schedule posts. A few hours or even an hour a week would help a lot. All info about Team Parking, Team Info, and Team Content can be found on the wiki and in the show notes below. Other vacancies are at wiki.WHY2025.org/vacancies.

Chantal: We checked mailboxes, socials, and YouTube comments—no messages from listeners this week. Don’t be scared to write in; we’d love to read your questions or comments. You can contact us under social posts, on YouTube, or via email.

Ad: Yes, send feedback to WHYcast@WHY2025.org. With that, I think we’re at the end.

Chantal: Thanks for listening to us, and we hope to see you next Friday for another WHYday.

Ad: And cut. Thank you.