This seemed to be the persuasive theme for two of the JHC staffers this past weekend. The John Humphrey Centre (and Racism Free Edmonton) presented the Indigenous Storytelling Event on Saturday afternoon to break down barriers. Once the event got underway, it ran more smoothly but it had a bumpy beginning.
On the other hand, MediaCamp, in my experience, went the other way. It had a smooth beginning but then dissolved into organized chaos because of the “unconference” style. Unconference, by the way, refers to the participants determining the program for the day by writing it down on cards then announcing them. Organizers then slot the sessions into a giant graph taped onto the wall.
The concept was interesting but I think it only works for small audiences. Under 100 people, this would have allowed for tight discussions (especially given the time limit of all the sessions to roughly half an hour!) on topics that were definitely interesting and could have been a great networking session. The event clocked in at over 200 people, which meant that the more popular sessions were three people deep in a circle (and for reasons I fail to understand, I’m not sure why organizers refused to allow the group to break into two or even three groups). With this many people, the discussion was hard to hear and even more difficult to participate.
But technical difficulties aside, both events apparently shared a sentiment in common with similar take-home messages: you need to have real relationships with people in order to gain buy-in.
Interpersonal Communications: Still There
In other words, media, whether it is social or traditional, requires interpersonal communications in order to be successful. This isn’t a world-shaking revelation but it does enforce the power of social media (which as all social media enthusiasts proclaim, is not a fad!) as an arbiter of democracy. For example, since the political system apparently no longer responds to the democratic concerns of its citizens, citizens have found another way to engage. They do it by talking to each other, discussing the issues, connecting with politicians in a more direct manner. I think any politician would be forced to respond if their Twitter accounts suddenly received thousands of angry tweets about an issue. Suddenly, the playing field is leveled.
Like all things in life, interpersonal communications is key to breaking down barriers, getting things done and learning new ideas from one another. If anything, that’s what we learned on Saturday.
If you want to see what MediaCamp accomplished, head over to twitter and use the hashtag “#yegmediacamp” to see all the updates. There was a LOT of discussion and a lot of it was great. Some of it was not. If you were there, let us know what you thought about MediaCamp or the Storytelling Event!
