Oddbean

I’ve got a question for folks here. The definition of unconference I’ve used for a couple decades before getting involved in nostr is something similar to what we see the Wikipedia page. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference When people arrive at the event they propose sessions and put them on post it notes and then there are many many rooms where discussions happen. There’s no schedule ahead of time, stage, presentations, or big screens. Sometimes there’s a mic and speaker that’s passed around if the groups get too large for every to hear. It’s something similar but much better organized than what we did the second day at Nostriga in the DIY space. To me there are things these open space style unconferences are good at, discussions, connections, networking, hashing out issues as a community, forming working groups on specific topics. They’re not great at informing where one person is trying to communicate a topic or project. A talk on a stage can do a better job of that. I was expecting something more conversational where many people might have come to the event with topics of sessions they’d like to do, but there was no fixed schedule ahead of time. I’ve heard many people say nostr* is an unconference. So clearly this word has the meaning of an event like nostr* events. But from the communities I’m coming from what we’ve been having in Nostr are conferences with talks, panels, and workshops. And a bit of open spaces discussions. So my question is what is a conference if Nostriga was an unconference, what’s a conference? How is it different and what makes the one a conference and the other an unconference. To me, I’d like us to have closer to 50/50 time and space between speakers on stages conference and group discussions unconference. I get a lot out of the talks and panels and enjoy doing them. So. What’s a conference is Nostriga was an unconference?

For me the real unconference part of Nostriga was at the Proof of Concept "stage" where I saw (and joined) the collaberation between people with sharing thougts and ideas. In general Nostriga felt like an conference, but in a very informal way within a (still) small community.

Leveraging the strengths of both expert-led presentations and DIY-style unconference spaces would prolly be the best of both worlds. At our Bitcoin meetups, we have a specialist talk followed by 'lightning talks' (soapboxes) where anyone can speak impromptu on a Bitcoin-adjacent topic for five minutes, followed by a Q&A session, which allows those who might not usually have a platform, to share their ideas. This opportunity encourages discussion and networking, which is good for community building. I’d love to see both formats at the next nostr - an un/conference.

Very interesting 🤔 I never knew the origins of this, and assumed that it was a loose unscripted approach towards a conference, but with some organization. This approach reminds me of the kaizen systems originated in Japan for manufacturing, something I’ve used often in this type of setting for generating new ideas for work cell layouts and such. Appreciate you sharing this. A great tool for creativity, and we should strive to apply this format more into these type of events💡

That’s my understanding of unconference as well. I still find value in having some stage presentations. It would be cool to try 50/50 as it would make for a more engaging event where more people can participate and discuss things that are interesting to them. When you proposed it this time at Nostriga, I had some hesitancy to fork off due to FOMO of the majority scheduled talks.

For me Unconference would be more what happend in Tokyo, Nostrasia with the tuna and sake tasting. More lifestyle and culture. I like to learn from new tech but also ‘new’ cultures. In Riga unfortunately I did not experienced any culture aspect. I feel nostr connects us in a bigger way. Freedom of mind (spirituality) Freedom of health (Sport/ food) I hope these aspects will we see more and more during events.

Also been thinking about this a lot .. the crux is whether the communication slight is one way or two way If you want information dissemination then presentations (broadcasts) are more effective - and as others argue that can be done digitally .. my pushback there would be the analogy of live music v recorded music .. there’s a quality in the live face to face delivery that can’t be replicated .. and that’s ok .. Much simpler to record and publish, but that isn’t the same as live .. but can reach a far wider listener audience and is therefore more effective at dissemination The value for me in attending conferences like Nostriga and Honeybadger has been both the sessions and the one-one/small group discussions in the corridors, courtyards and tables .. connecting with people, sharing learnings, perspectives and viewpoints Definitely small group and small event focused now .. prefer two-way