Face-to-Face Goes Web 2.0: Enhance in-person events with these social tools
Enhance in-person events with social tools
By Steve Hargadon -- School Library Journal, 8/1/2009
Every year, right before NECC, I hold a free, one-day event for educators interested in using 2.0 tools called EduBloggerCon. This unique conference is organized by the attendees (the 2009 class pictured above), who, using a wiki, sign up to lead a discussion of their choice. Sound like chaos? It’s not. Many say that this is the best day of professional development they get all year. Other 2.0 elements help make EduBloggerCon more collaborative and meaningful for all involved and can do the same for your event. Here’s what we used:
Social networking allows event participants to engage in rich conversations and to share ideas and resources. For EduBloggerCon, the network is our “attendee” directory and pre- and post-event discussion area. (www.ning.com)
Wikis are one-stop shops for brainstorming, organizing, scheduling, and note-taking. Classroom 2.0’s 26,000+ members also use wikis to organize free mini-conferences all over the U.S. (www.wikispaces.com)
Real-time communication during an event, namely via Twitter, constitutes the “back channel.” Think of it as a virtual message board, which enables participants to discuss the event at hand, share their own expertise, and build a collaborative record of resources. (www.coveritlive.com)
Once the domain of the media elite, live streaming video from a conference or meeting is available for free and easy to set up. Essential to accommodate those who need to participate remotely or want to view later. (www.ustream.tv)
Set up a tag for the event, invite participants to upload photos to a sharing service, and voilà, you have a group-generated photo album of your gathering. (www.flickr.com)
| Author Information |
| Steve Hargadon is the director of the K–12 Open Technologies Initiative for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and founder of the Classroom 2.0 social network. |
