Hello all,
Here's a format that an organization I worked for tried in a
symposium they held several years ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology
I can't remember now how successful the approach was, but it
certainly seemed to address the more immediate interests of
participants.
Diego
On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Marlon Barrios Solano <unstablelandscape@xxxxxxxxx
> wrote:
Hello Armando et all,
this is Marlon.
I share the same impression.
In the past 4 years I have attended to a different kinds of event
and I have had a blast. They propose a bottom-up approach, they are
highly democratic and based on self-organization ( user generated
conferences ): They are called un-conferences and barcamps
Unconferences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference
Barcamps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp
There is even the sharing know how sites:
http://barcamp.org/
They have an amazing wiki site on how to launch or organize one
in several languages
http://barcamp.org/OrganizeALocalBarCamp
For a dance and new media gathering this model would be excellent
because these kinds of events have emerged as part of the digital
culture and the potential of convergent technologies to coordinate
collective actions, collaboration and share knowledge. Some barcamps
are sometimes organzed before the "real" symposium. Of course always
the rummor is that the best was the barcamp,
Cheers,
Marlon
www.dance-tech.net
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:13 PM, Armando Menicacci <armando@xxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hello all,
I've been tired of symposia for quite a long time. Of course as a
researcher I go to listen, I go to speak and I organize them all the
time (the next 3 I'll organiza will be in Tunisia in may, in Paris
in May and in Rio de Janeiro in July. But nevertheless I'm tired of
the form they seem to be crystalized in. Don't you?
Missed encounters, just short glimpses, tight and tiring schedule,
fake (if existing) question and answer session after the
presentation...... the list of the things lots of people don't like
(but rarely dare to say) is great. The best moments in the
symposiums? Almmost everybody agrees: the coffe brakes! Where you
can really, even for ten minutes smoking one cigarette after the
other you drink the tenth coffe of the day but have some quality
time with your favourite speaker.
To make a long story short I think that the ideal symposium is JUST
a long coffe break.
But I'd like to ask something: in our field, digital performance/
installation etc. etc. what woud you think an appropriate, pertinent
contemporary form of a dance-tech knowledge sharing gathering would
be? Just to kick start (hoping that a discussion will follow) I'd
like to propose that a postcolonial approach to a symposium would be
a form of dialogue with the place in which the event (should we
still call it symposium?) would be.
Suggestion 1) Listening (good exercise for a speaker) to local
realities and do a work of calibrating level and topics of the
speech in order to create a dialogue.
Another thing that always strikes me is, generally, the little space
dedicated to questions. For me it is as important as the paper.
Suggestion 2) "Real" question-dialogue-exchange section
Who would like to go on?
If we come up with something we could implement this in the dance
tech symposium we are organizing in may in tunisia and you'll all be
credited for the suggestions that become real. (By the way, maybe
this is already the beginning of a different way of organizing
symposium: asking what form this could have from scratch and
thinking it in a wide dialogue....)
All the besto to all of you
_______________________________
Armando Menicacci
Dierector of the Mediadanse Laboratory
Dance Department, Paris 8 University
--
Marlon Barrios Solano
Network Creator and On-line Producer
Social Media Specialist
www.dance-tech.net
--
Diego Maranan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Faculty of Information and Communication Studies
University of the Philippines Open University
www.upou.org
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some
kind of battle."
