Survey on Social Media in Public Life E-Conference Idea

I'm a big fan of large scale, well managed, high quality e-conferences
that replicate many of things we love about in-person conferences. I
am drafting ideas here:

    http://pages.e-democracy.org/Social_media_in_community_service

While we can't all head to the pub after a day of conferencing going
nor completely avoid the day-to-day work when we are in the office,
I've felt for sometime that we completely fail when it comes to using
real-time online tools to connect peer to peer in groups. Why do we
settle for just connecting those who can afford to travel and leave
those on the front-lines who don't have permission to nob knob behind?

Anyway, I've been pondering the economics of hosting a large scale
multi-track e-conference on "Social Media in Public Life" where over
the course of a week there would be a mix of technologies and
approaches used for conference-style sessions and training as well as
peer-to-peer exchange.  Some elements would be live and use video
tools with Twitter and other elements would use everyday online group
tools.

The "Public Life" tracks I see at this point are Community
Service/Non-Profit, Government 2.0, and News Online ... it is possible
that a primary source of conference funding *might* be accessible via
the Corporation for Community and National Service specifically for
community service-related sessions, while the other tracks would need
separate support to move forward. As an e-conference it of course
could be international if sponsors in other countries step forward to
help open the doors to their citizens (or we charge more). Since I
straddle all three of these tracks which honestly seem to isolate
themselves in their various in-person conferences and online
communities, I think there is a great untapped opportunity for some
synergistic exchange a couple hours each day over a well crafted "be
there" week. As leaders in "public life" all working to engage the
public in what we offer online, it is time to learn from one another.

Below is a message I've been circulating through community service
circles. I honestly don't know if E-Democracy.Org has any practical
chance of jumping through the competitive government funding hoops,
but if the idea resonates with you, be sure to let me know -
clift@e-democracy.org - and answer the survey below. - Steven Clift


Greetings,

I'd love to get your input on whether you'd be interested in participating
or presenting at an "e-conference" on Social Media in Public Life with an
emphasis on community service.

The quick survey is here:

   http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=QSYia1RDJnulTuMZBIr_2bYg_3d_3d

We also ask about follow-up in-person community service "unconferences."

Context:

E-Democracy.Org, a volunteer-based community service and civic engagement
organization, with local online "Issues Forums" across 15 local communities,
is considering putting in a bid to become one of the Corporation for
National and Community Service's national training providers. We've done
webinars - http://e-democracy.org/webinars - helped with unconferences -
http://e-democracy.org/unconf - and over the last 15 years I've spoken/lead
seminars across 27 countries on using the Internet in civic engagement -
http://stevenclift.com - ... so submitting (or joining a bid) to bring
social media training online is a good fit. We also fairly uniquely deliver
community service using volunteers via the Internet itself and most recently
in the low income/high immigrant/diverse neighborhoods of the Twin Cities -
http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/172

We are more interested in "collabortition" than competition, so we've taken
an open source approach with our drafting. Details and links to the call and
an online group you can join to participate in our potential bid are all
available from:

   http://pages.e-democracy.org/Social_media_in_community_service

Please pass this on to those you think might be interested in attending or
presenting (our bulk of our budget suggests 30 paid e-presenters paid for 10
days of work with a laundry list of duties and deliverables released under
the creative commons).

Sincerely,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
clift@e-democracy.org
http://twitter.com/democracy

Received on Thursday, 11 June 2009 15:04:52 UTC