The Lodewijk’s proposal puts me in mind of the FOSDEM’s organisation with
semi-decentralised programs: there were "main tracks" organised by the
main organisers, and "developer rooms" organised by third-party organisers
(whose a "wikis" room organized by Quim Gil and others). See the schedule
<https://fosdem.org/2014/schedule/> for details.
I guess it could be an interesting way to organise future programs because
1) it lowers the load of the main organisation, 2) it empowers people to
manage small parts of the conference (more wiki way and more specialised
organisers), 3) it could advance submission period (more people review
only smaller parts of the program, similarly to Lodewijk’s proposal), 4)
it can more easily scale. From this point of view the proposed Discussion
Room would be an experiment of such a program organisation.
~ Seb35
Le jeudi 3 avril 2014 22:49:14 +0200, Alice Wiegand <[email protected]> a
écrit :
I understand Lodewijk's idea as an option to include more substance
discussions as a kind of addition to the speaker/audience situation we
have
in most sessions. And that should be worth thinking about. The larger the
conference becomes the harder it is to find session formats that are
different from typical conferences but better reflecting the wish to have
discussions like those on our mailing lists. But face to face.
I think it's worth a try. There is nothing risky in it. If it is not
attractive for the attendees, the room will stay empty. If it is, we'll
see
vivid interaction. This is something we can't assess from our personal
preferences.
Alice.
On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 10:32 PM, Andrew Lih <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Lodewijk, I like the idea of discussions that are more structured and
well-known before the conference.
Re: Taiwan, which open space idea were you describing that didn't work?
Was that the lightning talks or something else?
-Andrew Lih
Associate professor of journalism, American University
Email: [email protected]
WEB: http://www.andrewlih.com
BOOK: The Wikipedia Revolution: http://www.wikipediarevolution.com
PROJECT: Wiki Makes Video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wiki_Makes_Video
On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 3:57 PM, Lodewijk
<[email protected]>wrote:
Hey Edward,
sorry for the delay in responding - I was a bit overflowing with stuff
that needed to happen irl. Sorry to see too that there were so few
other
responses at all to my questions for input (two on the talk page).
In some way, my proposal is an experiment of course. This isn't meant
as
'unconference' or anything as drastic, but rather as a way to offer a
set
of structured and facilitated discussions without fixating it too much
in
advance. Your suggestions go much further even than my proposal - I
don't
want to let it come to serendipity, I would really like to help ensure
somehow that we can include the discussion topics in the program
material
printed - so lets make sure we communicate those deadlines with each
other.
I would be happy if you (or anyone) would help to populate the room
with
good discussion topics. However, I feel we need a dedicated space /in
the
program/ for this - I don't have good experiences with the open space
kind
of idea that was experimented with in Taipei.
I hope we can make this work together!
Best,
Lodewijk
2014-03-26 9:06 GMT+01:00 Edward Saperia <[email protected]>:
I am told that, historically, there's a massive rush of submissions in
the last day or two. Let's wait and see what the quality of the
submissions
is like, we may be surprised.
I am keen to innovate in programming with this event; an unconference
track is a nod towards this, but there may be better formats, so I
will
ensure that space is carved out for some alternative programming
style.
Otherwise, there are large open discussion areas available during the
event anyway. Traditionally the purpose of an early programme is
mostly to
promote topics of interest to encourage people to attend the
conference,
but with online discussion we could easily discuss the topics to death
between now and then, and travelling all that way just to hear it in
real
life audio seems like a bit of a waste of time.
Then, for a live event, perhaps the value is in the serendipity of
dipping in and out of sessions and finding out about topics you
didn't know
you were interested in. Or maybe it's just in seeing faces, shaking
hands
and breaking bread.
*Edward Saperia*
Chief Coordinator Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org>
email <[email protected]> •
facebook<http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia>
• twitter <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572
133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG
On 26 March 2014 16:52, Lodewijk <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Edward,
not entirely, but it would be a step in the right direction. I'm
volunteering to help run that process and lead the discussions on
the day
itself (if certain conditions can be fulfilled, which I dont expect
to be a
problem). But also, I'm suggesting to turn the process around a bit.
If
there are no proposals for discussions, lets find discussions and
bring
them to the table. Lets reserve a full day worth of discussions and
just
make sure we find the discussions worth it :)
Thanks for thinking along!
Lodewijk
2014-03-26 8:44 GMT+01:00 Edward Saperia <[email protected]>:
The programme submissions process we're using is one that we
inherited
from previous Wikimanias, but given that this event is not
considered a
formal, research-led event, and also frankly the rate of change of
the
world, having people submit sessions six months in advance seems
surprising.
Lodewijks, I interpret your submission as basically a plea to run a
submission process again but closer to the conference date. Would
you agree
that this is the core of your proposal?
*Edward Saperia*
Chief Coordinator Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org>
email <[email protected]> •
facebook<http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia>
• twitter <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572
133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG
On 26 March 2014 16:27, Lodewijk <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi,
with the submission deadline approaching, I wasn't able to find
many
discussion proposals (not counting panel discussions) where the
audience is
the main participant, and there is no particular speaker or
expert. In a
wiki-conference, that is always a surprise to me. I recall from
past years
it was always particularly hard to find people who are interested
enough in
a topic, expert enough, willing to lead a discussion, certain to
visit
Wikimania and able to think of it months in advance all at the
same time -
in other words: people who could propose a discussion session.
So on Wikimedia, we say then: so fix it. Well, that is what I tried
with an unconventional proposal: reserve a room for a full day,
give me
some flexibility and help, and together with a co-discussion
facilitator I
would be happy to volunteer to organize a full day of discussions
around
community topics.
I would really like your input on this idea. You can find the
proposal on
https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Discussion_Room.
Especially input would be welcome on:
* Suggestions on more/better good example discussion topics
* Suggestions how to organize this consultation
* Suggestions on the discussion format
* Whether this should be one full day, or two half days
* Who would be a good second discussion facilitator :)
Looking forward to your thoughts,
Lodewijk
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