An invitation to an all On-line Unconference
elderbob
My name is "elderbob" and unfortunately, I have been a bit of a lurker
on the "unbook" list. I have a lot of things going on right now, and
will talk about some of them later in this email.
First, I am fascinated by the whole learning concept of
Unconferences. I am currently the coordinator of something called
Open Weekends @ Knowplace (http://knowplace.ca). Our efforts are
focused on providing provocative exploration of variety of open
source, educational venues free to anyone who would like to
participate. I have also been an active member of an unaffiliated,
English as Second Language instructors group, interested in using
technology to further their educational efforts; the Webheads in
Action (http://webheads.info/).
Next weekend, the Webheads, Knowplace and several other leading edge,
open source, educational entities will offer the second annual
Webheads in Action On-line Convergence (http://wiaoc.org/). During
the three day convergence, Michael Coghlan, an experienced
educator from Australia, and I have been asked to host a completely on-
line Unconference. I am calling the sessions (if you can even label
them sessions) "..." an UnConference - The Webhead/Knowplace
Swapmeet. This is my first such effort and I am starting to feel what
unconference must mean.
I would also like to invite everyone on the Unbook list to come and
join with us. We have a great line-up of speakers and we will be
operating out of Learning Times Elluminate room (http://
www.learningtimes.org/), TappedIn Text Chat (http://tappedin.org/
tappedin/), Alado text and audio (http://www.alado.net/), two
different Moodles (http://www.opensource.idv.tw/moodle/ and
http://knowplace.ca/moodle/index.php), DimDim Open Source
Webconferencing (http://www.dimdim.com/), DiscoverE Web Conferencing
(http://www.compued.com.au/discovere/) and most of the sessions will
be webcast via WorldBridges (http://worldbridges.net/). The
convergence will be held almost continously over three days, and will
essentially involved a world-wide audience.
The actual unconference part is still being fleshed out in terms of
times and venue (isn't that they way it's supposed to be), but the
schedule will soon reflect our plans. The idea will be that some part
of our venue will be open continously to at least text and forum chat
with several 2 hour asynchronous live sessions held on a variety of on-
line platforms.
I am wondering if there are any of you who would find it possible to
be interviewed via Skype one day this coming week and then podcasted
to the Knowplace Moodle, so that folks could listen to your take on
Unconferencing as a means to generate new understanding on their part.
I would also like to encourage your participation in the
unconference....if you could log in to one of the several live session
(times are still being negotiated), I am sure you would be an asset.
I cannot think of a more knowledgeable group wihen it comes to this
subject matter. Your help would be awesome.
I have probably left something out here, but it is late tonight, and
maybe I will remember it in the morning.
In trade for your participation, I would be willing to take a shot at
writing a chapter for the "unbook" based on this completely on-line
experience. I don't believe that this has been tried too often in the
past, so I think this is breaking new ground. Let me know what you
think.
Elderbob Brannan
Coordinator, Open Weekends @ Knowplace
SKYPE: elderbob
PS. All suggestions are encouraged.
Lisa Heft
Hi, elderbob --
Welcome to the conversation. I shall reply to the rest of your email as soon as I can in these busy days I am having.
You wrote:
< This is my first such effort and I am starting to feel what
unconference must mean. I would also like to invite everyone on the Unbook list to come and join with us. We have a great line-up of speakers ... I am wondering if there are any of you who would find it possible to be interviewed via Skype one day this coming week ... In trade for your participation, I would be willing to take a shot at writing a chapter for the "unbook" based on this completely on-line experience. I don't believe that this has been tried too often in the past, so I think this is breaking new ground. >
The most important thing is for you to know that there already exists an on-line 'unconferencing' tool. Unconference was inspired by the process / method / format called Open Space Technology. There is a world Open Space community of facilitators - one of these facilitators, Gabriela Ender of Germany, created the online tool several years ago - and it has been used very successfully ever since.
http://www.openspace-online.com/
(a side note that this tool has won a "Top 10 World Changer 2006" Award from the World E-Gov Forum and PoliticsOnline - this award recognizes pioneers, organizations and companies having the greatest impact on the way the Internet is bringing democracy online.)
I write that because if there is a chapter in this book to be created about an online approach to unconferencing perhaps I can invite Gabriela (and perhaps some others, see next paragraph) to do so and if you like you could share with her your thoughts and experiences to co-create that chapter. I say so to honor you both in your furthering of the online approach and also to say she has some years of experience with this used around and across the world. Currently there is a mention in one of the chapters, I believe, of the online tool so it may be already something within an existing chapter that can be enhanced - but sure it is possible that the group feels this should be its own chapter.
There are others in the world community who have included an online component during a face-to-face meeting - my own experience is via wiki but there are I am sure other approaches - Michael Herman and Gabriel Shirley are early innovators in that arena - my own first experience with an online component was in 2002 or 03 but I am guessing their first work with this was earlier than that.
Elderbob, it seems a very short time before your event however you may wish to actually use this tool for your part of the event - just an idea.
If you can tell us more what you are looking for in a guest speaker (facilitators of this process? Originators? Of an online process specifically? Face to face? In the tech world or in other industries and uses?) perhaps that will give some of us an idea of who would be a great guest for you - in our group or in the greater group of world facilitators of Open Space or particularly tech unconference events or whatever is a fit, yes? By the way, the originator of Open Space Technology (Harrison Owen, who originated it in 1985) has a website that may be of interest to you - http://www.openspaceworld.com
Thanks for your passion and for jumping right in there to bring these great elements to your conference,
Lisa
___________________________
L i s a H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g S p a c e
Sudhir
Firstly welcome on board.
This is truly fascinating. Please do confirm when you would like to schedule the interview and one of us would certainly like to do it. Perhaps Kiruba or myself, could take part.
Please do write about your experience on the wiki Bob. This sounds really interesting!
Sudhir
Hello all,
My name is "elderbob" and unfortunately, I have been a bit of a lurker
on the "unbook" list. I have a lot of things going on right now, and
will talk about some of them later in this email.
First, I am fascinated by the whole learning concept of
Unconferences. I am currently the coordinator of something called
Open Weekends @ Knowplace (http://knowplace.ca). Our efforts are
focused on providing provocative exploration of variety of open
source, educational venues free to anyone who would like to
participate. I have also been an active member of an unaffiliated,
English as Second Language instructors group, interested in using
technology to further their educational efforts; the Webheads in
Action ( http://webheads.info/).
Next weekend, the Webheads, Knowplace and several other leading edge,
open source, educational entities will offer the second annual
Webheads in Action On-line Convergence ( http://wiaoc.org/). During
the three day convergence, Michael Coghlan, an experienced
educator from Australia, and I have been asked to host a completely on-
line Unconference. I am calling the sessions (if you can even label
them sessions) "..." an UnConference - The Webhead/Knowplace
Swapmeet. This is my first such effort and I am starting to feel what
unconference must mean.
I would also like to invite everyone on the Unbook list to come and
join with us. We have a great line-up of speakers and we will be
operating out of Learning Times Elluminate room (http://
www.learningtimes.org/), TappedIn Text Chat ( http://tappedin.org/
tappedin/), Alado text and audio (http://www.alado.net/), two
different Moodles ( http://www.opensource.idv.tw/moodle/ and
http://knowplace.ca/moodle/index.php), DimDim Open Source
Webconferencing (http://www.dimdim.com/ ), DiscoverE Web Conferencing
(http://www.compued.com.au/discovere/) and most of the sessions will
be webcast via WorldBridges ( http://worldbridges.net/). The