TransportationCamp, the free “unconference” on the intersection of urban transportation and technology, is coming to DC on January 21. Whether you like to build software around open transit data or are interested in how technology can help transit agencies and riders, we hope you will join us.

TransportationCampDC builds on similar events in New York and San Francisco in 2011.

Our event is cosponsored by OpenPlans, organizers of the other 2 camps; Mobility Lab, part of Arlington County Commuter Services; and Greater Greater Washington. (Disclosure: I’m working part time for Mobility Lab on a number of projects, including helping to set up this conference.)

And to help make the conference more accessible to people outside Greater Washington, this event is happening the day before the massive annual Transportation Research Board conference, spanning 3 hotels and 5 days.

But TransportationCamp is very different from traditional conferences like TRB. Instead of organizers or juries picking the sessions, TransportationCamp is an “unconference” where the attendees shape the sessions. Anyone can propose a session at the start of the day, and add it to a big board with all the other proposals. Organizers then slot the ideas into a number of rooms, and people go to the session they most want to attend. This guide explains how unconferences work.

Sign up here. We’re still working on finding the ideal location (and let us know if you have an in with a space that can handle a few hundred plus a number of breakout rooms!) In the meantime, please register so that we can get a good estimate of the number of people.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.