[Staff Post] The 2013 Brilliant.org Summer Camp has been Cancelled.
We have an important community wide announcement to make:
Since last September, Brilliant.org has rapidly grown into a community of thousands of problem solvers from around the world. Due to this growth, we recently decided that our energy is better directed toward improving the site for thousands of avid problem solvers rather than focusing on the 40 students selected for the summer camp. To this end, we have decided to cancel the 2013 Brilliant.org Summer camp to concentrate our efforts on developing new features and expanding opportunities.
We are extremely disappointed that we had to make this decision--we are very proud of what the Summer Camp was becoming. We also understand that you may have put a significant amount of time and thought into your application. However, we are confident that the decision we made was the right one for the long-term health of the Brilliant.org community, and will allow us to serve more people like you all around the planet.
All the best, The Brilliant Team
If I can answer anybody's questions, let me know, either in this thread or at discussions@brilliant.org-Peter
Note by
Peter Taylor
8 years, 3 months ago
Easy Math Editor
This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.
When posting on Brilliant:
*italics*or_italics_**bold**or__bold__paragraph 1
paragraph 2
[example link](https://brilliant.org)> This is a quote# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"\(...\)or\[...\]to ensure proper formatting.2 \times 32^{34}a_{i-1}\frac{2}{3}\sqrt{2}\sum_{i=1}^3\sin \theta\boxed{123}Comments
Bad move brilliant, the main reason for growth is because of the intimate situation with real interaction i.e. the master classes and the tour. But lately, it seems that brilliant is detaching itself from it's user-base Anyone can solve problems on the internet, but we did it here because we felt like there were real rewards and that we could be offered the opportunity to excel and grow through things like the summer camp. I get the feeling Brilliant is becoming generic and run by machines rather people, do not try and replace the personalized experience, it will only result in the disbanding of the wide support base you do have. This is disappointing.
Log in to reply
Daniel,
We understand your disappointment. Just like you, we had high hopes for the Summer Camp. In reading the applications, we have been inspired by the ambitions of those who dared to dream of a summer in which their own projects and ideas would blossom. We ardently looked forward to meeting each attendee and helping them reach their potential.
We agree with you that the best things we offer as a website are a personalized experience, real rewards, and the opportunity to excel. We would rather find a way for more of our users to achieve these real rewards and paths to excellence, than privileging 40 with an opportunity we could not feasibly offer to more of you.
In diverting our energies toward hosting an awesome summer camp, we feared we would drift out of touch with our user base. Striving to make a perfect week for 40 of you is not catering to our user base. Brilliant is a website that is continually evolving. There may be fewer opportunities such as master sessions available now, but we are committed to expanding the experiences and opportunities available through our site in the coming weeks.
Has Brilliant been taken over by machines? No, and we are sorry it feels that way to you. Brilliant is operated by the same people now that it was four months ago. We hire more people as we can, but our fingers and brains do not grow geometrically at the rate hungry minds like yours show up to our site. We are a small team, constantly striving to do our best with our finite resources.
We care a tremendous amount about making your experience on this site intellectually gratifying, tangibly rewarding, and communally inspiring. We hope our efforts in the coming weeks will restore your faith in our commitment to growing in a direction that caters to your personal experience. Every feature request submitted gets carefully considered, and general feedback on the website is always welcome. Do not hesitate to contact me at discussions@brilliant.org to discuss any concern you have about the website.
Sincerely,
Peter
i totally agree with u.we can do problems but there was a problem solving session done by calvin sir.which now it not there.it would help us clear our doubts.there are many sites which have weekly problems and answers.till today brilliant was not amongst them "because we felt like there were real rewards and that we could be offered the opportunity to excel and grow through things like the summer camp."-daniel
I agree with Daniel.
Log in to reply
me too
me tooo
Log in to reply
me too
Its OK ! but please start master classes by Calvin sir
Log in to reply
Will we start offering master sessions again? In the ensuing weeks and months we will be experimenting with new features, in an effort to see what is possible. We may start offering master sessions again, but will first experiment with offering more live events, and making more options in the website interface for:
In other words expect changes, and to be a part of an ongoing experiment where your feedback will shape the outcome.
Log in to reply
Awesome ! ! That's what we all want !
Log in to reply
I agree with Shivang. Especially the point that states more resources for learning than just the problem sets.
Log in to reply
Maybe something like the discussion forum,but for problems? :D
Log in to reply
That would be good.. Probably some video lectures in addition to the blog.
yes that would be nice
yes
One thing I can not understand is why problem solving is given so much importance. It somehow feels to me that we are just implementing the existing technology, nothing new is being created. I would be very glad if you could induce something that promotes creativity, imagination, make one enthusiastic about science. This was being very well done by Summer Camp. Now, it's been cancelled, undoubtedly thousands would be disappointed. It's not true that you were just focusing on 40 students, you inspired all those who thought they were created for research and made them do it. For example I benefited from the summer camp though it didn't happen. How? I finally gave try to a topic which I was thinking to study from a long time but never did because I thought it would do no good to me in school and would cost a lot of time.
Log in to reply
Just out of curiosity...are you a IFLSer ?
I do agree with Daniel, Diganta B and all. Even I feel so. But it is too early for brilliant.org and I think that this step taken is not a bad one. Brilliant.org must grow even more for a while. But will these summer camps be re-organised later when the right time comes? Is there any possibility that this be held in future? That is the main question i n my consideration. I also miss master's session as said by Shivan J. Will master's session be held frequently?
That would definitely make our experience better at Brilliant. Meanwhile in coming time, Brilliant will grow to a huge number. :)
Are you going to do this summer camp again?
Log in to reply
The Summer Camp is definitely still a strong possibility for the coming years. The summer camp was both a great idea and doable. It just was not the best use of our efforts this year, ensuing years will be very different from this one.
Log in to reply
I especially like the programming part. I like applied math in programming! P.S Although my math is not really strong
Actually I knew this would happen.Considering the age of Brilliant the summer camp was a bit too fast step for Brilliant.Brilliant should wait to grow more and then take such steps.
Log in to reply
Some people woted down my comment,so to them- I am not at all underestimating the team.They are really working hard to make this site better and I know this.I just said organizing a camp,bringing down 40 students across the globe,assembling them at a world leading university- this is too fast for brilliant.They should think of catering the user base and they are now doing just that. Cheers,way to go Brilliant.
i agree with you
Log in to reply
thats right but they should make master sessions more frequent....
Log in to reply
But unfortunately there aren't any now. :(
Brilliant is about 7-8 months old as of Feb '13 so I agree with you,the camp should be further down the list
Yes .... We must respect any move made by them .... sir ,will there be summer camp in the coming years?
I think you must first attract more student and have a larger base, the current level isn't suitable for the most students, even if they love those subjects, so it'll be cool to have "difficulties levels", you chose one, and level up throught it, and, once you finished it, you choose to stay ther or go to an other difficulty, so it develops the ones capacities more efficiently, personally, I was good at level 3, in the first week, the second week, I was at level4, but I did not understand (or solve) most of the questions, so it will be better to level up gradually, because there is a big difference between levels I think
It's actually very true and we do love the problem pool on brilliant. But I had bee working on a project on CS. A bit saddening but hey, atleast it's provided an impetus. Thanks for that. I got to learn a great deal in competition problem solving. Please keep posting new articles. I'll be writing my IMOs soon probably gulp
thats nice..... brilliant is really growing up .. but sir/ma'am .. arent you going to make some facebook community? just FAQ?! ^^ .. or do you already have facebook brilliant community .. i just want to be there ^^
Log in to reply
Hi Cliff, check out our facebook presence here