F-Alt – a quick (if belated) reflection
So much seems to have been written about F-Alt – the fringe conference organised at ALT-C this year – that it almost pointless to say more (see links on the F-Alt wiki and on the #FAlt08 Twemes page). But I would like to add some words about the learning processes.
First of all the organisation. F-Alt did not have any formal organising body in the normal sense. But it did have organsiation and leadership in the sense that individuals took responsibility for doing things. This relied on a high degree of community and of trust and possibly refects the emergence of a community of practice aorund the use of ICT for learning which has perhaps been lacking before. Maintaining community openess and willingness to remain emergent are challenges for the future.
Th technologies worked pretty well. The Wet Paint wiki offers a quick way to develop a collaborative organising platform. Twitter was pretty useful for getting the word out although it would have been better if Twemes had been restored earlier and we had been able to publicise our tag.
The big success fo me was the format. Running short, sharp and issue focused sessions – no speakers were allowed more than three minutes – allowed both a focus n those topics particpants wanted to discuss and also, critically, highly participative events. None of us knew the venue in advance and we expropriated public spaces. Whilst this did pose problems in terms of people knowing where events would be and in somewhat distractive background noise levels (30 of us discussed e-Portolfios around a poolt table in the corner of a pub!) it also kept us focused on the wider conference and communiy environment in which we are working. Perhps there is a learning lesson for organsers of ‘official’ confernces. There are plenty of formats other than the stand and tell – or stand and powerpoint – followed by three or four questions. Lets try and innovate. I would also like to see experiments with ‘blended conferences’ where presentations can take place online and face to face sessions used to discuss, debate and challenge around the issues and possibly produce new resources and outcomes.
I am sure that others will replicate the sucess of F-Alt and we will see more such fringe happenings in the future. This raises the question of the relationship between conference organisers and the fringe. In many ways F-Alt was all the better for being not associated officially with Alt-C. But, I believe F-Alt provided added value to the conference and thus such events should be encouraged by confernce organisers. But raher than endorsing or officially supporting such Fringe activities, better could be to provide open spaces where such activities might take place. In other words, to accept that unconferencing is what is says and is not part of the conference, but a useful, complimentary and parallel activity. As such it could be good if conference organisers were to provide times and spaces where such activities could take place – not just for F-Alt bu for anyone with a burning issue to discuss.
Great reflection on F-ALT.
I totally agree with the comment “There are plenty of formats other than the stand and tell – or stand and powerpoint – followed by three or four questions. ”
The formats were enjoyable, different, fresh and I liked the fact that they did not follow a traditional conference format.
For me it was a Web 2.0 approach to conferencing.
Who is the conference for? The conference organisers or the delegates?
To this end conference organisers should be providing spaces for F-ALT kind of events, networking, show and tell, etc….
heartily endorse the value of fringe events. I think the issue is one of finding and paying for space. The venues we had were free.
I guess in manchester next year we might be able to find a few places we could appropriate which would give use the space and sound levels really needed. Maybe the conference committee could think about networking spaces, and perhaps some could be found which are condusive to ad-hoc meetings and fringe events. Otherwise we may find ourselves passing round the hat (or busking in picadilly;-) to meet the cost. Alternative venues are good in many ways, they give a clear fringe message, and may not be subject to the extortionate fees which conference venue people are prone to charging. That said, if we are in the manchester conference centre, my memory is that they have some very good public spaces.