BARCAMPS AS ONLINE EVENTS
The organisers of the JugendPolitCamp initially did not have an exact picture of how an online version could work. With great curiosity they took the plunge, gathered ideas and started plan- ning. To ensure that all participants knew what awaited them, an agenda and guidelines with technical instructions and requirements were sent out in advance of the online event.
The sessions were planned using the Camper barcamp tool and held using Zoom (in parallel, using several accounts). Discord – which had been proposed by a young participant – was used to communicate both with participants and within the organisation team. All announcements and discussions, tech support, informal communication and the introductory session for participants took place there. The icebreaker session took place in small groups in separate “breakout rooms”, as they are called on Zoom. Unlike a conventional barcamp, session ideas had already been collected in advance using Camper. Sessions were planned every morning in plenary, with participants expressing their interest in a session using the thumbs-up function. All sessions were then trans- ferred to the session plan in Camper. Spontaneous sessions were also incorporated. There was a pass- word for the breakout room sessions to ensure that the youth barcamp would not be entirely public. Each video conference room was supervised by one person from the organisation team and passed on to the pre- senting participant at the beginning of the session. The JugendPolitCamp lasted six hours at a time, with opinions on the duration varying widely. A session length of 60 minutes proved suitable, because it took some time until everybody found their way to the room and all technical issues were resolved. In addi- tion to the topic-based session rooms, there was an informal session room where participants could meet up for lunch or in the evening. There was a short wrap- up session every day to collect feedback.
Participants were invited to get actively involved in planning the evening programme. Evening events included a streamed reading. Over 50 participants from all over Germany attended the barcamp, with the majority reached via past participants and multipliers who had recommended the event.
TOOLS
» Camper, the barcamp tool ( k p. 51)
» Videoconferencing tool: Zoom ( k p. 31)
» Communication tool: Discord ( k p. 32)
WHAT IS A BARCAMP
» The original German text was adapted by Leonie Kaiser from Jugendbarcamp – Leitfaden für ein offenes Veranstaltungsformat ’ by jugend.beteiligen. jetzt, via www.ijab.de , licence: CC BY 4.0 ( creative - commons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.de ). A barcamp, also known as an “unconference”, is an open event format where participants develop the content at the beginning and throughout the event. During the “sessions” (akin to a workshop or discussion), people come together to exchange ideas.
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Contributions from practitioners
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