Mob Rule Learning chapter 5: Unconference Case Studies
events where a range of participants can join in on various discussions about a variety of topics, these take different formats but usually consist of quick presentations followed by a chance for participants to discuss topics and meet one another.
- FooCamp– these cover many topics and professions always having two things in common: ‘a need to share information with others and a belief that everyone has something worthy to contribute’.
- a place where ‘people with interesting projects could gather and learn’, invitation only gathering of 250 people (new people are introduced every year but number stays the same).
- meet once a year for a weekend- everyone is expected to lead and take part by showing off work and asking questions about other peoples projects.
- included a range of spaces that are ideal for everyone’s work to be shown, also has a range of activities like music jams, games and drinks for connecting with others.
camps that came after looked to expand beyond the invited attendees and wanted to be as open as possible. this means being more online and enabling presenters to open up research for more people to see. ALA (American Library Association) created a vote to see what topics would be most interesting to discuss and participants were encouraged to create profiles on the wiki page and presenters to link their presentation for others who could not attend. BIGWIG encourages all participants and presenters to show work on Social Software Showcase where librarians can present a topic they deem to be interesting and put this onto wiki; this is also talked about on other platforms such as boards, blogs and twitter hashtags. Govcamp (open government movement) has a session online as well as a physical meeting to air Q+A sessions to include as many people as possible; also developed an app.
FORMATS
foocamp– schedule is determined on the day by participants, this is free with sponsors covering the cost of venue and technology needs. to sign up people need to share three words (tags) that best describe who you are and what you do.
bigwig– need to be invited, participants need to present a proposal a year in advance. consists of a room with multiple tables with topics printed onto cards- presenters give a pitch about their topic then participants can go table to table to discuss them. word of mouth, not advertised. changed to presenters give a 10 minute talk about topic and participants can rotate around the room.
ALA unconference– quick talks of 7 minutes then 5 minutes for questions. 75 participants chosen on first come first serve basis.
mashup– mix of predetermined presentations and participant-driven sessions as well as a mashup contest (application programming interface). first day (learn) talks and presentations, second day (hack) participant-led -a grid is filled out of what’s happening that day, last day (compete) show and tell session ‘where hackers show off their latest mashup’, campers then vote on this.
this format of holding events and workshops feels more democratic and open then talk-led events where participation is minimal. this feels like a good way to learn and also have the ability to determine how and what you would like to learn about.
