Mathemagenic

Just in time: Events: wikis, blogs, podcasts and a diagram for how they might fit together by Piers Young (and I checked Codewitch before Monkeymagic :)

Technorati: BlogWalk, BlogWalkSeattle, unconferences (I hate adding tags manually...)

These are more "notes to myself" from the discussions at BlogWalk Seattle on the nature of (un)conferences; not a coherent text.

The world is changing:

• opportuniy to connect with and to meet far away people
• being there (physically or online) costs more (energy, time, money) - also because now we can connect with those far away

Getting together f2f:

• critical mass is important to make sure interesting things happen
• you want to be sure in that to get into what it takes to be there
• it's more about opportunities, than problem, which is always difficult to justify
• so, what are the attractors powerful enough to attract "right crowd"?
  • shared goal / topic
  • strong connections with others
  • authority trusted enough to rely that the previous two will be there

Events attention models

Two extremes:

• centralised/authority - "star performers" who can hold attention of big groups with finely crafted messages and engaging interaction style
• distributed/community - "open space" - designed so everyone can attract as much attention as it's worth in a particular group  

Backchanneling - something that happens during an event designed with the centralised model in mind, but without "star performers" who can hold attention - so it's diverted into other channels. Those "other channels" would be legitimate conversations in the "open space" case, but they are not in the centralised model - hence authority challenges and resistance.

Logistics

• Centralised attention events are easier to plan
• Distributed attention events are challenging - how to make sure that those who have something to say have an audience?
  • Enough attractors (critical mass)
  • Visibility of attractors (knowing whom to talk/listen to)
  • Movement around (being there at the right moment)

Technology actually enables a lot of that :)

More:

• inspiration - backchannel modes by Liz
• edit it as eventAttentionModes wiki page

Technorati: BlogWalk, BlogWalkSeattle, unconferences