Instead of my usual class today I took the students to an unconference (a first for almost all of them). This was the third outing of Hyperlocal Govcamp West Midlands which is “for people working or interested in Local Government in the West Midlands to get together for a few hours and talk about their work.”
Given previous events featured discussions about how to make better use of Social Media it seemed a safe bet, and it was, that it would be on-topic for my students (all studying my Social Media as Culture module).
After the event we sat together and recorded some reflections about the sessions we’d attended and the ways in which social media was discussed by delegates. The cast of characters here is very international (three from China, one from Lithuania, one from Brazil and two from here in the West Midlands). Enjoy.
What was the target audience of the unconference? Was it intended to be mainly for ‘freelance consultants’ or ‘private sector’? Does that suggest developing a democratic process? Begs question – What influence is social media having and for who? How can we use social media to spread influence beyond a small audience?
Very interesting debate between your students, international perspective and around engagement with ‘citizens’ who seemed mainly absent from the unconference. Personally I’m very worried to still hear ‘silo’ term still being used when talking about people – see http://birminghamlives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/silo-thinking.html , and will look out for, and promote the gov unconferences to people I’m in touch with.