[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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