Connecting the Bits has always had two objectives:
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To provide members with a face to face networking opportunity, facilitating good productive chat and knowledge exchange
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To gather information from members which will inform the development of a program of DPC activities for the following year.
Conscious that the growth of the Coalition meant that a large proportion of the members would be unable to attend in person and contribute to either of these objectives, last year we trialled an online version of this process. While the information required by the DPC was gathered successfully, members missed the opportunity to network and share ideas with each other – so we had grand plans for a return to the face-to-face networking unconference event(s) for 2020!
Unfortunately, the spread of COVID-19 and measures to limit this mean that face-to-face events are not currently possible.
However, never to be deterred, and following the success of some of our other meant-to-be-face-to-face-but-ended-up-being-online-events, we are taking Connecting the Bits online again… but this time with a difference!
Expect less of this (for now)…
And more of this! Online fun and games are the ‘new normal’
The program for our Connecting the Bits event on 23rd June is published here.
The afternoon session will probably look familiar to those members who have participated in a Connecting the Bits event before. It’s the part where we talk about what you’d like us to do over the next 12 months. We’ll hear about some of the trends emerging from the DPC RAM submissions and we’ll work through and prioritise suggestions from Full Members about required areas of support.
Full Members: if you have not done so already, please email sarah.middleton@dpconline.org
with upcoming topics or challenges you would like the DPC to provide support on, as part of its 2020 – 2021 program.
But the morning is where we are doing things a bit differently.
This year, prioritizing networking, interaction and knowledge exchange between DPC Members, we’re asking you to tell us which topics you’d like to hear about and/or whether you have a topic or work you would like to share. Taking inspiration from the iDCC Unconference, we are handing the morning session of Connecting the Bits over to you!
So how on earth is this going to work?
Whether you have a task you want to work on with others, a fresh idea or solution you want to demo, or topics you want to discuss to learn from others’ experience, this Unconference section of the day provides a space for you to achieve all of this.
There are three different types of interactive sessions that can take place:
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Discuss: pick the collective digital preservation hive mind and start a discussion about a topic
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Learn: Demonstrate and share solutions or workflows so that others can learn from your experiences.
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Share: Show and tell presentations of recent work, new ideas and achievements (or failures)
We’ll be using Zoom breakout rooms in order to facilitate small group working and networking so once we have your ideas, we’ll fill in the (currently blank) program for you to make the most of the Coalition’s collective digital preservation expertise.
We’ll start the morning in ‘plenary’ while we welcome you all, remind you (and ourselves) of the plan, and confirm the program developed from your suggestions. The current – very rough and very empty program – allows for three lots of three parallel sessions, each 45 minutes long, but depending on the number of ideas we receive and participants on the day we can certainly have more or less as the mood takes us! There are no rules… really. And then we’ll divide into groups and start sharing, learning, exchanging and getting on with that good productive chat!
A day is a long time to be online, so we’re keeping the sessions short and we’ve factored in lots of breaks and chance for you to move around (physically, as well as on zoom).
We know that you will have projects that you want to collaborate on, cool tools and workflows to show and share, or things you want to teach others. So get your thinking caps on!
Please suggest the topics you would like to see on the Unconference program by 0800 (UK) Monday 15th June.
Find out more and share your ideas
If you have any questions about the Connecting the Bits Unconference please contact sarah.middleton@dpconline.org