Sunday, 31 October 2010

Are you ready to participate? Reflecting on Like Minds

Scott Gould used the word participants when addressing the audience to close the Like Minds Conference in Exeter on Friday. As he pointed out, the Like Minds website, (note participatory URL wearelikeminds.com), magazine and literature use this term in preference to words like delegate and attendee. Alternative words but not interchangeable. Participant illustrates that everyone at the conference played their part and was actively involved in some way. This could have been through taking photos, shooting video, blogging, tweeting, networking or contributing to an immersive workshop or lunchtime discussion. Plus of course there were the organisers, facilitators and speakers. This is a great approach and helps break down the barriers that traditionally separated the delegators - organisers and speakers - from the delegates.

Those who couldn't physically attend the Like Minds conference could also participate by watching the live feed, following the #likeminds hashtag and engaging in conversation on Twitter and other social networks.

Such participation reflects the fact that in this digital age everyone can contribute. Have something to say? Then you can podcast it, blog it, video it, tweet it or post onto social networks. Want to comment on a Sky News story? Then you can tweet the broadcaster or put a comment underneath the website article. Contrast this to the previous broadcast age in which we simply absorbed the news and information and were pretty much limited to 'letters to the editor'.

The participation of viewers during a broadcast was a theme explored at Don Boyd's 'How to Make Great Films in the YouTube Age' workshop I participated in on Friday morning. With video accessible via the internet there are great possibilities for the viewer to engage with other viewers and even the performers. Don Boyd pointed out that porn websites are ahead of the mainstream in this respect. In the true spirit of participation, a number of people promptly offered to help Professor Boyd with further research.

In January, YouTube live streamed the Hope for Haiti Now concert which enabled viewers to participate by donating to help the relief effort whilst watching the performance. Last week, the photo and video sharing site Flickr launched a People You May Know feature which like Facebook feature of the name helps you connect other viewers which will facilitate discussions around photos and videos.

With the merging of broadcast, internet and social network technology through Apple TV and Google TV, with Internet TVs now on sale, plus the ability to check-in to programs with apps like GetGlue, participation by the audience will certainly increase in the same way that it has at conferences like Like Minds. It's our natural instinct to join in, to participate. The positive title of Robin Wight's concluding keynote talk summed this up neatly, 'The Future is Bright, The Future is Social'.

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