In the spring 2010 issue of Access, Amanda Etches-Johnson interviewed Amy Bruckland. Their discussion explained the meaning of an unconference, plus some of the reasons why unconferences are beneficial to the library community. I’d like to expand on this introduction and suggest why your public library should host an unconference for your community. Hosting an unconference was a wonderful experience for the Windsor Public Library and it can be for you, too.

I was one of four organizers who hosted a ChangeCamp unconference on May 8, 2010, in the Central Branch of the Windsor Public Library. A ChangeCamp is an event format that was first developed by Mark Kuznicki and put on in Toronto in January 2009. Since then, there have been ChangeCamps held in Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, London, and Barrie. A future ChangeCamp is in the works for Sault Ste. Marie. ChangeCamps are gatherings that encourage small group discussions around an open-ended question. The most frequent question asked is the original ChangeCamp question: “How do we re-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation?”

The organizers of the Windsor-Essex ChangeCamp decided to broaden the question. We invited residents to join us in answering: “How can we re-imagine Windsor-Essex as a stronger and more vibrant community?” In response, more than 40 people spent their Saturday at the Central Branch of the Windsor Public library proposing and contributing to 18 topics of discussion, including: how to develop a local hackerspace, establishing a regional food policy, having more open government, and building a more inclusive community. WEChangeCamp received local media coverage and, more importantly, received several requests from participants asking if we could host a reunion or make the ChangeCamp a recurring event.

The Windsor Public Library was an ideal venue for the event for a number of reasons that I hope are shared by your own public library. First, it provided an affordable meeting space in a location accessible to most residents by public transportation. The library provided free WiFi and had a cafe that could supply coffee and snacks. The public library was also seen as less intimidating than the local university – it was “neutral ground” where members of the social services sector and the arts, small business, and technology communities could all call their own. The library was also a space belonging to those residents who didn’t think of themselves as part of any of these particular groups.

While I would wholeheartedly recommend your local public library host one, the ChangeCamp format is only one type of unconference that you could host for your community. There are several other unconference events that have been hosted around the world that you can choose from. The World Café (theworldcafe.com) uses a similar structure as ChangeCamp but its network of hosted events is not aligned with any given subject matter other than building community though conversation. Podcamps (podcamp.pbworks.com) do concentrate on a particular topic – specifically, new media such as podcasting, blogging, and YouTube. Since being established in 2006, there have been almost 90 podcamps hosted worldwide, including events in Toronto, Ottawa, and London. Recent podcamps in Halifax and Topeka, Kansas, were hosted in a public library.

Instead of an unconference, your library might be interested in hosting a franchised speaking event instead. Ignite Talks (ignite.oreilly.com) are associated with the publishing company O’Reilly Media. Ignite speaking events tend to have a technology bent to them. An Ignite Talk is a five-minute presentation in which the speaker can show no more than 20 slides. Ignite Talks were inspired by the Pecha Kucha speaking series (pecha-kucha.org), which started in 2003 as a means to showcase art and design work in a concise format. Speakers are to present 20 images, with 20 seconds given for each slide. The upside of these types of speaking events is that they are exhilarating and idea-filled; the downside is that they require a slate of dynamic speakers who aren’t afraid to take risks in front of a crowd.

It is because public speaking can be so intimidating that the public often misses out on the expertise that quietly resides in the audience. This is why the unconference format was developed: to engage an entire community in discussion about the issues they care about. When a public library introduces the unconference format to a community, it exposes its potential and encourages others to take it on and make it their own. But perhaps most importantly, events like ChangeCamp strengthen communities by the very act of being held – which is why the public library is a natural place to set up camp.

Mita Williams is the User Experience and User Interface Librarian at the Leddy Library, University of Windsor. She, along with her fellow co-organizers Nicole Noel (Centre for Studies in Social Justice, University of Windsor), Jean Foster (Windsor Public Library), and Art Rhyno (Leddy Library, University of Windsor) hosted the Windsor-Essex ChangeCamp in May 2010. mita@uwindsor.ca