ChurchCamp is go

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So, this is happening.

Spurred on after a recent conversation with Benjamin Welby, and Nick thinking up something similar, I’ve decided to just get on get things moving – there’s not much to do after all.

What/ An unconference/barcamp-esque thing to talk about anything and everything related to that broad church that is, well, church. Probably with a primary focus on digital stuff, because that’s who usually turns up when these things are still fairly new.

Who/ Anyone that wants to come along. Any denomination. Any digital persuasion or skill. Any idea what on earth an unconference is.

Where/ I think to enable most people to get to it, it needs to be in London or the Midlands. I’ve got a lead on a venue in London, and I live here – so to be honest, if I’m finding the venue, it’s most likely to be here.

When/ Probably June or July at a push. Depends on the venue and when my other current camp interest happens.

Cash/ This event will be free. There will be no discussion. It would be really nice, however, if we could give people lunch – if you want to buy lunch, please email me.

That’s about it really. Watch this space for news on when I get a venue confirmed and as such when you can buy a ticket. The Google Group is probably the best thing to subscribe to if you want to subscribe to something. Website coming soon though.

Let’s do this thing.

This Week // 4th-10th Feb 2013

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On Monday I started a new job at Thames Valley Housing Association. I’ll be interning in their comms team, working on a new social intranet and welfare reform.

Also on Monday, Cllr Alison Hernandez published this great article on The Guardian Local Government Network about her new podcasts. It’s so so good to hear of this kind of think starting because of Councillor Camp – one of those ‘that’s what it’s all about’ moments for sure.

I got an email from the guys at SXSW this week – how is that only 4 weeks away?! I’m on SXSocial here, by the way.

I’ve just finished reading Cognitive Surplus – Clay Shirky’s excellent follow up to Here Comes Everybody. This is a must read for anyone working on social or civic-impact projects.

Some stuff I’m reading this week:
Encouraging Innovation. Use some Naive Experts, Belbin Resource Investigators and send them ‘back to the floor’.
Would You Pay Facebook For An Ad-Free Experience?
Tower blocks should be demolished, says Tory thinktank

Guardian Live Discussion on The Future of Local Councillors

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Live discussion: the end of elected membership as we know it?
A recent report into the future of councillors concluded that we need more diverse representation, and fast. So how can we make it happen?

The Guardian Local Government Network ran online discussion to discuss the future of the elected local council member. As well as myself, other panelists included Dr Thom Oliver, Cllr Peter Fleming, Cllr Catherine West, Cllr Neil Coyle, Cllr Florence Nosegbe, Jane Roberts, Jessica Crowe,  Jenna Collins, Cllr James Denselow, Cllr Rowan Draper and Susan Masters.

Read online here →

 

An Unconference For Techy Commsy Churchy Stuff

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Yesterday I went to the Christian New Media Conference, it was the second I’d been too and the third that’s ever happened.

While the conference was great fun, like last year, I came away with a sense that we needed something that worked better to share what we were all doing, talk about the practicals of it, and well – just have a bit more of a conversation about what’s going on.

Now I’m quite a fan of openspace stuff – I’ve lost count of how many unconferences and barcamps I’ve been too, and I’ve even run one or two myself – and I reckon it would work pretty well for this group.

The Grid at #localgovcamp 2012

Chatting in the pub afterwards, Paul (better known as @watfordgap) and I decided to, in unconference language, JFDI (just flipping do it). Using the things like #localgovcamp, govcamp and the wider openspace movement that we’ve both been part of as inspiration, we’re hoping to hold ‘ChurchCamp’ sometime in 2013.

If you’re wondering what on earth I’m on about – an unconference is a gathering of people with no agenda and no line-up of speakers. The day usually starts with an empty grid of sessions that can take place throughout the day. Attendees with something to talk about pitch their sessions and stick it somewhere on the grid. A session can be based on anything – an idea, question, concern, experience, discovery, case study, whatever – they’re basically just conversations. Openspace legend Andy Mabbett explains the whole thing much better than me – you should all read his guide. (Also see Wikipedia articles here and here.)

How does that sound then? If you’re up for getting involved, please do join the Google Group – and you can watch this blog/me on Twitter for news.

Photo credit: Grid by Mark Braggins on Flickr

FutureGov Weeks 6-11: Whoops

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Ok, so I thought this might happen – just not quite so soon – 6 weeks without a blog, oh dear. But never mind, hopefully back on it now. Been having loads of fun the past few weeks and added to a million other things going on with me at the moment – this has just got pushed out. I’m now spending lots of my FutureGov time on our Here To project – rethinking how the people of Islington can volunteer and help out in the Borough.

I’ve spent the past two days at MAKE:shift in Wolverhampton, an ideas festival that we ran with the City Council. On a practical level, I think I reminded myself that it is always impossible to do as much social reporting as you’d like. In this case I was also coordinating the workshop sessions, so didn’t get a chance to do any AudioBoos or video interviews :(

I also had a conversation that made me think about what I might want to do when I graduate from the angle of looking for the things that feed in to a particular area. So – if I’m thinking about government as a thing – what are and what will be the things that support that. So off the top of my head – stuff like mutuals and co-ops for delivering services, social enterprise and third sector, and new policy areas required by technological advances most of us haven’t even heard of yet. Interesting….

Thanks to the assets panel on Saturday, I think I now fully get the whole 3D printing malarky, and so am now convinced it is the next industrial revolution. Infinite personalisation near instant prototyping are incredible – but I think only the tip of the iceberg, I hope Amazon are working on one for ‘instant’ make-at-home delivery. And as a half-Scot I also need to say how awesome the name of the Maklab in Glasgow is – genius.

And finally, at the beginning of the week I went to an evening class on “Design Fundamentals for Non-Designers”, made ten pages of notes and learnt an awful lot. I’ve also borrowed this book from Carrie, which I’m gonna start reading this week. I also heard about this MA in Service Design, hmmmm…..