[Icommons] iSummit Programme Planning
James Cairns
maczomba at mac.com
Wed Jan 30 10:35:46 EST 2008
Hi All
My name is James Cairns and I facilitated the planning workshop for the
iSummit in Johannesburg. iCommons has asked me to take care of the
programme planning for the summit - among other things. So, in light of
the above, please peruse the below and excuse the length...
There is concern over how things are going to be divided up for the
summit (content and sessions). Is it going to be by subject track? Is it
going to be in done in terms of what form a session takes? Is there
going to be peer review? Are regional moderators going to exclude things
they don’t like? Are there even going to be regional moderators? How are
we going to avoid silos? etc.
It appears that various communities within the commons have differing
needs in this regard. There is an academic research community that
clearly believes that peer review is necessary in some form. This will
necessitate the transparent setting up of a transparent peer review
system. There is a need for regional (let’s not call them moderators)
leads (maybe?) to *motivate* for content as opposed to *vetting* content.
There is a need for people who have work to share, but don’t have the
academic credentials and won’t make it through an academically based
peer review system to gain access to slots at the summit. A large part
of the community is made up of cultural producers who have very valuable
skills and experiences to share with the broader community - they need
to be given a platform and also sought out, because many of them are
commoners without knowing that they are. This would be the function of a
regional lead.
The issue of the choices presented to delegates came up at the planning
workshop in Johannesburg. If there are tracks that run constantly
throughout the summit that are dedicated to one subject area, then it is
very difficult for delegates to take part in the cross-pollination
between disciplines that is mentioned in two of the goals for the
summit. This is something that we will only be able to address when we
have an idea of what and how much content we will be dealing with. It is
a question of time and logistics - there will be a given amount of
content, an as yet unknown taxonomy that will define the arrangement of
said content and a given number of spaces in the venue. Let’s cross that
bridge when we come to it.
The suggestions of tracks and subject fields up until now have not been
made out of a desire to box content into predetermined categories, but
are rather an attempt to draw out those who may have something to offer,
but are not sure where they might fit in. Again this is also directed at
commoners who don’t know that they are commoners yet. You do not have to
stick to them and obviously it is possible to reactively rant against
all of the suggestions - please do, as it provides valuable feedback,
but try and propose options to whatever it is that you are shooting down
- even if you feel that it’s not your area of expertise.
The iSummit is six months away.
James
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