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Event Amplification Using Social Media

Brian Kelly gave a talk on "Event Amplification Using Social Media" at a JISC Services Marketing and Communications meeting. The meeting was held from 10.00-15.00 on Thursday 20^th October 2010 at the JISC offices, Brettenham House, London. The talk was given from 11.15-11.45.

Note that the Twitter hashtag for the event was #jiscsm (short for JISC Social Media).

Abstract

Brian Kelly was the co-chair of UKOLN's annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, IWMW 2010 which was held at the University of Sheffield in the UK on 12-14^th July 2010. In addition to the 170+ participants at the event a remote audience viewed the live streaming video of the plenary talks, browsed the speakers' slides which were hosted on Slideshare and participated in the 'back channel' discussions on Twitter and Coveritlive. There was event an online barcamp which was held alongside the event barcamps which provided an opportunity for informal ad hoc discussions to take place.

Such event amplification, to use the term coined by Lorcan Dempsey and described in a Wikipedia article on Amplified conferences, exploits the potential of WiFi networks, which are widely available across many University campuses, and the popularity of mobile devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and other devices with WiFi capabilities. Amplified event also appear to be particularly appropriate at a time when institutions and individuals are concerned about the environmental impact associated with travel to events and when financial cuts in the public sector are resulting in difficulties in obtaining funding to travel to events.

But can amplified events really provide a useful and scaleable solution to such concerns? What of the participant or the speaker who may feel that use of devices at an event is distracting and perhaps also rude? And isn't there a danger that the popularity of event amplification could adversely affect the sustainability of traditional events?

This talk will explore these issues and provide advice for those wishing to host and participate in amplified events. The talk will outline a number of the key technologies which can be useful in supporting amplified events and will provide suggestions on approaches which seem to work well - and those which don't!

Slides

Event Amplification Using Social Media

[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]