On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 2:51 AM, Risker <risker.wp(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 15 August 2013 00:03, Samuel Klein
<meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> Wikimania should have less parallel sessions,
> >< longer sessions with more time between the sessions
> >> and an "open space" as an additional track.
> >
> > I've been wanting fewer sessions at Wikimania for a long time.
>
> I agree totally. We can rethink the traditional program entirely.
>
> Imagine a Wikimania where
> * the only "talks" or presentations are Plenary sessions
> * all other sessions [ share docs in advance, have discussion in advance,
<< are group discussions + interactions, have a facilitator, produce output
]
I dunno. That sounds fundamentally unwiki, and an awful lot like the
professional annual meetings that everyone hates attending.
You may be reading something else into my suggestion.
The only docs shared in advance would be those that the presenter
would otherwise 'broadcast' to the audience.
A session that was already designed as a discussion might not have
anything more than the talk-abstract to share.
This should not privilege experienced presenters. It does encourage
people to start conversations and provide knowledge-dumps online. That
way the time spent together can focus on collaboration, and developing
new ideas together.
quite a few [sessions] included "up to the
minute" information and data.
Yes. The presenter and any interested parties could update the wiki
page of materials with the latest data, up until it starts (or even
during the session).
What I'd like to see is live-streaming of sessions
with moderation that
could include online questions for the sessions.
This is important, and one of the reasons to have moderators.
Some sessions are of professional quality, some others
gain their energy
from the presentation itself or the perceived importance of the topic, and
others simply by being presented by sincere and caring community members.
True. Presenters should be welcome to give a half-hour speech if
that's what they want -- it can be fun and energizing -- but this does
not need to be the default. Many sessions would benefit from spending
the bulk of their time in discussion rather than broadcasting.
< The best session I saw this year... was about the Javanese
Wikipedia, and it was
the one that was so full of hope and joy at the
prospect of sharing knowledge freely
that the few of us who were in the room walked away with a refreshed sense
of what our movement is all about.
You can't capture that with slides or plenary sessions or expert moderation.
You need to be in the room.
This sort of hope and joy is indeed the heart and soul of Wikimania. I
think Sophie picked up on the hope in my suggestion: that we find
a different way to amplify and share such joy, and help more people
have this experience.
Our community moderators did a great job this year; they aren't
"experts" : just people who enjoy that role. The presenter need not
be responsible for tracking live, online, and wiki questions, unless
they want to be. They should be focused on sharing their ideas, and
responding to feedback. It is enough to ask one participant in each
session to take on the role of moderator; and another to take on the
role of the recorder - capturing the outcome of the session and
posting it online.
Sam.