The idea of a conference that's only open to those who have something valuable to offer to everyone else is many things, most of them valuable to those who participate, but to those who are unlikely to ever be allowed, it is mostly just elitist. Especially when there's an emphasis, as there often is, on hallway discussions as the most valuable part of it. Presentations in such an environment, even when broadcast to the internet, are like pictures of food.
Google: you can do better, though probably not this year. For next conference, record everything, put software to work making meaningful presentations out of hallway conversations, and make the transcripts searchable. Find out what was really talked about and then let those of us who can't go know.
Take the idea of OpenCourseware to the next level.
:(. Hopefully the con comes back to the states next year. I was soo looking forward to attending. But I guess with the announcement not being public enough. I missed out. Maybe we will have a larger space for the con.
Actually a bigger space would make no difference for the conference. We keep it intentionally small to help facilitate discussions, and to keep the conference feeling personal.
Because we keep the conference small, we have to use an application system, but the way that "J" portrays that system isn't really accurate. We don't invite just "people who have something valuable to offer", but people who are going to participate in the discussion. So, when we review attendance applications, we are really happy to have new people who have only been testing for a short time, but have written really interesting questions or topics for discussion with the speakers.
If you aren't able to attend in person, then you will still be able to see all of the talks on YouTube within a few hours of the presentation, we also have a mailing list for people to continue the discussion.
The idea of a conference that's only open to those who have something valuable to offer to everyone else is many things, most of them valuable to those who participate, but to those who are unlikely to ever be allowed, it is mostly just elitist. Especially when there's an emphasis, as there often is, on hallway discussions as the most valuable part of it. Presentations in such an environment, even when broadcast to the internet, are like pictures of food.
ReplyDeleteGoogle: you can do better, though probably not this year. For next conference, record everything, put software to work making meaningful presentations out of hallway conversations, and make the transcripts searchable. Find out what was really talked about and then let those of us who can't go know.
Take the idea of OpenCourseware to the next level.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete:(. Hopefully the con comes back to the states next year. I was soo looking forward to attending. But I guess with the announcement not being public enough. I missed out. Maybe we will have a larger space for the con.
ReplyDeleteActually a bigger space would make no difference for the conference. We keep it intentionally small to help facilitate discussions, and to keep the conference feeling personal.
ReplyDeleteBecause we keep the conference small, we have to use an application system, but the way that "J" portrays that system isn't really accurate. We don't invite just "people who have something valuable to offer", but people who are going to participate in the discussion. So, when we review attendance applications, we are really happy to have new people who have only been testing for a short time, but have written really interesting questions or topics for discussion with the speakers.
If you aren't able to attend in person, then you will still be able to see all of the talks on YouTube within a few hours of the presentation, we also have a mailing list for people to continue the discussion.