On becoming more unorganised
20th May 2009
Talking and blogging at JEECamp. Pic by Kasperbs
I can’t recall a time when there was so many events related to digital media and social media happening in Birmingham. The first half of this year has seen a frenzy of activity both by those whose job it is to organise such events and those who take it upon themselves to organise stuff for the hell of it. And as someone who had previously only ever attended formally organised events I’ll be off to my third ‘unconference’ in as many weeks at the end of this month.
What makes a conference ‘un’ or not can be difficult to identify. At the Digital Britain unconference organised by Birmingham City University there seemed to be a clear structure with individuals leading on key questions related to Lord Carter’s interim report. Timings weren’t proscribed so once one panel ran out of steam the next started.
At JEECamp, an unconference about online journalism held in Birmingham, there seemed to be a lot less structure. It had a keynote speaker but after that it seemed to be a bit of a free-for-all with ad-hoc panels being pulled together and plenty of informal chatter between small groups. It culminated in a panel discussion for which panel members were chosen at random from the audience. This worked really well and resulted in a useful cross-section of views being heard.
One of the most recent events of this kind was brought together as a reaction to an official event. As a number of West Midlands companies were networking over at the South by South West Interactive Festival in Texas, USA, a group of active bloggers put on their own West by West Midlands in a room above a cafe in Kings Heath. that event is to be repeated at the end of May in reaction to the ‘official’ South by South West dissemination event not having any places left.
When Birmingham hears what Lord Carter has to say about Digital Britain when he comes to Birmingham on June 17th I suspect that event will feel very conference-like so don’t be surprised if someone, somewhere rustles up an unconference at the same time. The more the merrier I say – it’s all part of telling the story of Birmingham as a leading digital city.
“For the Hell Of It” is a nice phrase and I’m glad each and every one of these gatherings is happeing, but I don’t think it reflects why people organise ad-hoc groupings or unconferences. It’s partly a reaction to the stuffy nature and structure of conferences, party a reaction to the perceived “closed nature” of a lot of this stuff, and partly because people who care enjoy getting together and acting with others who care.
Many traditional conferences only allow access to those either “paid to care” or “care enough pay” — the National Digital Inclusion Conference that I attend recently cost around £500 to attend (without travel & accommodation) — so independents, third sector or SMEs are excluded on financial grounds. Unconferences are usually free (with sponsorship) or charge as little as possible so there’s that aspect too.
I think in the future we’ll see a blending of methods so the best of both types are used when appropriate, and that’s got to be good for Brum (especially with so much conferencing going on here – FlashCamp and LocalGovCamp both coming up).
I did hover over the ‘hell of it’ phrase as you’re right, it doesn’t adequately reflect the range of reasons people self-organise and create these events. What’s particularly exciting is that whatever the reasons, the sense that it’s getting hard to keep track of events in Birmingham is really quite exciting.