plannecc2008 » Unplugged Backstory

Great comments so far. I'll try to respond as best I can.

1. I think the reality of planning where you're going to be when at NECC is hard, and I haven't worried about the lack of response so far because of that, and because I've wanted to allow for spontaneity. I actually have thought that many of the speed demos, etc. might actually get scheduled the day before or the day of...

2. I have worried a little about the balance between "scheduling" and "freeform" in the Bloggers Cafe, but after several discussions about this during Classroom 2.0 LIVE Conversations, it became apparent that many educators felt intimidated by the Bloggers Cafe, and were hesitant to even come in. The idea of having some "scheduled" sessions there was enormously attracrive to these folks because it would give a reason to be there.

3. I *think* that NECC is going to provide a side area with seating so that there can still be spontaneous stuff going on as well as the presentations / speed demos / etc.

4. The column for "mentoring" is an experiment to see if people might like to just let others know they will be in the BC at a certain time and are willing to help. Not sure it's a great idea. (Hey, there's a lot of spaghetti being thrown against the wall here!)

5. I really wish we could have one page that had columns for each of the lounges at NECC, so there was a greater sense of being LOTS of time and slots available--more than I think will actually get filled (?). But NECC was hesitant to have the schedule exist off of their own wiki site, and felt that all of the lounges on one page was too crowded (their white-label Wikispace is narrower than a regular one). This is part of what I want to figure out in the scheduled Elluminate schedule coming up.

6. Of Scott M's many valid responses, he's right about waiting until after EBC to see what didn't get said. Again, seeing only the BC area makes it seem like space/time is limited.

7. Again to Scott's points: I put in potential kinds of sessions, just to populate the sheet, but I think it can be changed. What's going to be interesting here is how much the "law of two feet" will apply. Unlike EBC where there is something of a voting process that will take place (the week before? the morning of?), what will happen if someone signs up to take an hour, and nobody is interested? (A nod toward David Jakes and concerns about the "tragedy of the commons" as well.) Also, the listing of "concurrent session" times is just to give folks an idea of what else is going on at those time in the formal conference.

8. Honestly, I have no idea how this will go. In the best case scenario, folks who didn't get accepted to present formally will have that opportunity, the Bloggers Cafe will be more inviting, and we'll have a LOT of fun but without feeling constrained by the schedule. In the worst case, it's a zoo. But even in the worst case, I think it's a win. We'll learn a lot about a very new idea: holding an unconference in the middle of a conference, supported by the conference organizers. I wish I had more time to really work on this in advance, but I've been busy and I've allowed myself to accept some looseness now so that it really can be more group-organized than stevehargadon-organized.

9. For the record, Clay Shirky's book is a profound masterpiece. I've written notes on literally every page of the book. I'm still studying the implications of it.

10. I think we have to be very sensitive to the need for people to lurk. Classroom 2.0 "works," I think, because of this. When we demand participation, we're not recognizing how hard a journey this can be for most folks.

Thanks for all the good feedback. If "NECC Unplugged" is a good idea (I think it is!), then let's build it together into something that really adds to the formal conference and is fun for us all.