[okfn-discuss] [Save the date] OKFest will feature a community-dedicated afternoon!

[Rayna]

Dear all,

I am very thrilled to announce that a community-specific session has been
added to the forthcoming OKFest :)

*tl;dr* Save your July 15 from noon onwards! As this is a community
session, get your pens/keyboards ready and think of the most crucial and/or
pressing topics the OKF community should discuss ahead of the OKFestival.
Discussion and input happens on this very list (okfn-discuss) starting now.


*Longer version*
The past weeks have seen a great deal of discussions revolving around
funding, refurbished mission and vision, restructuring the OKF network
organization. These sometimes lively and always enriching and insightful
exchanges have showcased the need for the community to (re)connect. We are
indeed growing organically and online discussions aren't always enough to
give a voice to each and everyone.

I am thus delighted to see that my suggestion has been given a green light.
Indeed, with different people from both OKF staff and the wider community,
we have had a chat or two since OKCon 2013 regarding the need to
better/increasingly involve the community and hear from the most of us more
often. When we started setting up the program for this year's Festival, I
saw a great opportunity to bring the question to the table again. And...
here we go :)

The session is still being fine-tuned. Christian (Villum) and Katelyn
(Rogers) have enthusiastically jumped in and we are currently plotting how
this session, *our* session, will unfold.

*We are thus expecting a great deal of ideas, proposals and topics to
discuss.* We have decided to let the discussion going for the next week or
10 days in order for everyone to chime in. We'll then organize the input
and set up a community call to finalize and strategize the program.

There have already been one or two topics set:
* follow-up and closer interactions with Ambassadors and Local Groups;
* mentoring across the community;
* how a group "upgrades" to Chapter: different challenges depending on
local contexts and more globally how do we root more of some shape of
organized effort in the Global South.

These are all somewhat interconnected as they reflect a demand for greater
interconnectivity and for a more specific focus on outreach, especially in
places where the Open Knowledge values are yet to become mainstream.

Ideally, *the community session at OKFest will run starting around noon on
15 July and will finish around 5pm latest* this same day. This is in order
for everyone to have a break, a chat and to get to the hall for the
Festival's official launch.

Thanks much for reading ;)
Looking forward to hearing from you with ideas and suggestions,
Rayna

-- 
"Change l'ordre du monde plutôt que tes désirs."

http://me.hatewasabi.info/
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