It sounds like those of us interested in meeting over coffee at the Black Sheep Deli at Open Square, in Holyoke, can do so on a weekday, which is great to hear.
Chime in here to let me know if any of these dates work for you:
Friday, June 2
Monday, June 5
Wednesday, June 7
I imagine meeting at about 10:30 am and see if we can hang around until noon or so, maybe grab a sandwich on the way out.
6 comments May 24th, 2006
A conference format could take many shapes. Should the hierarchy be totally flat, à la Conversation Cafés? A series of informative talks? Simultaneous panel discussions followed by Q&A? Some mix of these?
How long should the conference run?
To how many people should we limit attendance?
3 comments January 25th, 2006
We need ideas for people who are making marks, blazing trails, finding new avenues or simply sharing some wisdom. Email suggestions or post ideas.
Add comment January 25th, 2006
There’s a lot of important, relevant information out there to discover about grassroots media and technology issues. What have you run across that you think people should read, learn and discuss?
Add comment January 25th, 2006
Initial goals for topics include: diversity of subject matter; items of strong interest to participants; reasonable number and scope; satisfying range of depth and breadth. What ideas do you have?
Ideas suggested thus far:
Others?
2 comments January 25th, 2006
Welcome to a blog site that will hopefully facilitate the planning of a citizen media conference for western New England and the region. This is an open grassroots effort intended to include anyone interested in participating.
Since the idea for a conference has emerged I have been in touch with a variety of people in the region in and around Springfield, Massachusetts. There appears to be some enthusiasm for a conference focusing on blogging and/or citizen journalism and media for our region. Professionals, students and volunteers across disciplines all have a stake in emerging forms of technology for community building, blending various elements of the arts and sciences.
A conference planning group is forming and we have set a date for an initial face-to-face meeting: Monday, January 30, 7:00 pm, at the Barnes and Noble café in Holyoke. Anyone is welcome to drop in, although we’d love to know if you are coming. First steps include simply getting to know who’s interested and becoming familiar with each other.
I have begun soliciting ideas from people about potential conference topics and panelists. My vision for a conference is workshop style, with as many meaningful panel discussions and skill-building sessions as we can reasonably fit into a one-day schedule. I imagine it would also be nice to feature a keynote speaker to start the day off on the right foot. Ideas for a keynote are needed.
Regarding skill-building, are there any tools you’d love to learn but haven’t figured out how to use? New techniques you’ve adapted and are yearning to teach others? Approaches to blogging that you have observed as successful, and you’re interested to develop?
Part of the challenge is determining a purpose or focus for a conference as we begin planning. My solution is to make the purpose broad while allowing for focus and very specific topics in the context of the panel discussions.
For example, the conference is not just about journalism; however, we could have a great panel on journalism in the region and its relationship with blogging. Content management systems are a hot topic for discussion for journalists, gear-heads and artists alike; why not have a panel discussion about open-source software developments and related issues? Other topics of interest include technology and blogging related to low-income, minority and female populations; political blogging; and philosophical concepts behind “us vs. them” in the media and blogosphere as well as how we discern truth from falsehood.
This is just a taste of what we might cover; my hope is to include topics that are of actual interest to the people participating in these discussions, and we can all walk away feeling as though we truly learned something, and contributed as well.
This blog is an attempt to begin that very process, as preparation for a conference necessarily entails community-building. Please take a moment to post your ideas here. If you have any questions or suggestions that you hesitate to post, email me.
Add comment January 24th, 2006
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