The goal of the event, called Social Undergroup Programming for the friendly 'SUP? acronym, is to learn by doing using co-working and competition. Each night one person challenges everyone else to make something. For example, last Friday we made music visualizers in processing (http://processing.org). The challenge runs from 8pm to whenever the challenger wants to make a call and award a goofy prize. Judging criteria are up to the challenger. In the above example, all participants were new to processing, so as the challenger I helped keep everyone rolling. I think even advanced hackers can have fun doing this, and of course the challenge changes every night!

Challenges can cover anything: web mashup, data mucking, scripting, game making, ai, microcontrollers, etc.

I'd love to hear ya'll's challenge ideas, though of course I'm hoping ya'll will show up in person to test your mettle. If you want to throw down the gauntlet for real and challenge in person let me know ([email protected]).

M-F Jan 19th-23 8pm to whenever the challenger wants to call it mitERS http://miters.mit.edu/node/4

ps - Originally I tried to organize regular weekly meetups--Friday night SUP challenges--but I couldn't muster enough interest. I realize I could set up a blog and do this all through the internet but I'm hesitant to completely give up on human contact (though the blog would be a great way to get people interested and encourage more SUP gatherings). So, if you're interested in getting this off the ground with me, or have feedback on how to better get this organized, please let me know.

Thanks.