An open plea for people to share
flickr photo shared by mrkrndvs under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license
As I ponder and reflect on another DigiCon Conference, I was astounded by the lack of sharing. Very few people seemed to publish their resources for their sessions. I am not sure if people were sharing in spaces where I wasn’t looking or if they simply forgot to use the conference hashtag when sharing, therefore getting lost in the ever flowing stream that is Twitter.
I really would like to go to ten sessions during each block, but there is only one of me. However, a part of me would like to catch a glimpse of what was on offer.
Personally, I put in hours preparing for my sessions. If someone from ‘across the pond’ can benefit from what I make so be it, maybe I might benefit from their feedback in return?
In regards to sharing openly, Doug Belshaw recommend s creating a canonical URL. The intent is to provide a starting point for people to engage with and build upon your work and ideas. This could be one space in which to share everything or you could have a separate link for each project. What matters is that it is public.
When it comes to creating such a space, here are some ideas and possibilities:
- Padlet: A digital pinboard that can be useful for capturing a range of media files.
- Google Apps: Maybe it is Docs or Slides, but the cloud based nature of Google Apps means that it is easy to share out.
- OneNote: Like a Google Apps, OneNote allows you to collect a range of content in the cloud and share it out.
- Adobe Spark Page: An easy way of quickly making a website in which to share links, images and text.
- Slideshare: A space to upload and share presentations, whether it be a PowerPoint, PDF or Google Slides.
- Storify: An application which allows you to easily curate a wide range of content.
- Blog: Whether it be in the form of a post or adding content to a static page, blogs offer an easy means to collate content in one space.
- GitHub: Although this involves a bit more effort, GitHub provides the means of creating a static site or a repository.
- Docs.com: A space to share Microsoft Files and resources.
Maybe in the end the answer for canonical URL is something more communal, a collection that you can re-purpose. Maybe it is about using collaborative tools like Docs and collaborating with others across the whole conference? Maybe, like with #GAFESummit, it is about having a central space where all the resources can be found? Whatever the solution, surely there needs to be a better way of sharing than clambering to copy down link after link throughout a session. Oh, and don’t start me on URL shorteners.
So what about you, what are your thoughts? Maybe I am wrong? Maybe you have another space which people could use? As always, comments welcome.
For those interested, here is a collection of links that I have curated from the conference. Feel free to copy, add, re-purpose as you like.
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Can You Share the Link, Please by Aaron Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Totally agree with you and Doug. If the process and the information is good enough for 30 or 300 people, then it’s good enough for 30, 000, or more. The modern, one-room school house extends aroung the world. Taking your suggestion to another level, the tools are available to engage audience across distances in real time. Skype, Google Hangouts, Facebook Live, and YouTube are all quality options for connecting conference presentations to a wider audience. Any tool offering real-time collaboration and an HTML embed code rank highest on my list. I like ThingLink for creating an interactive canvas for session participants, and for that extended audience you and Doug mention above. #Share
Possibly the reason why people do not share is that they are a bit over being used by conferences. They are happy enough to share their work, but hate conferences making money out of their hard work. Then some like digicon actually charge you to attend when you are presenting. That is a bit harsh. Without the presenters, conference would be boring, but do they get enough in return? They may just feel that they need to keep their material theirs to use in a printed publication where they may pick up $50 or on their own blog where they get a bit of credit for it.
Thank you for the comment, good to have a different point of view. If that ownership is the problem, I would recommend people publish via a blog then they own their content.
I understand your point though in regards to cost. Not too sure the answer to that other than not to speak.
I have seen people do similar sorts of things with Google Slides. I really like the idea of applications like OneNote for sharing ideas and resources, although I am not sure I would trust it as a canonical reference.
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