History
According to Tim O'Reilly, the first unconference (reducing the usual emphasis on formal speeches and emphasizing informal connections instead) was organized by Alexander von Humboldt in 1828. The term "unconference" first appeared in an announcement for the annual XML developers conference in 1998. Unconferences often use variations on Open Space Technology, the format/method developed by Harrison Owen in 1985. Owen's 1993 book ''Open Space Technology: a User's Guide'' discussed many of the techniques now associated with unconferences, although his book does not use that term. The term was used by Lenn Pryor when discussing BloggerCon (a series of conferences organized byFormat
Typically at an unconference, the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. Some unconference sessions (for example at FooCamp or BarCamp) are led by the participant who suggested its topic; other unconference sessions are basically open discussions of the session topic. An "unconference" is particularly useful when participants generally have a high level of expertise or knowledge in the field the conference convenes to discuss.Facilitation styles
An unconference can be conducted using a number of facilitation styles. Some of these are: * Birds of a feather * Dotmocracy * Fishbowl * Ignite * Knowledge café * Lightning talks * Open Space Technology * PechaKucha * Speed geeking * World café (conversation)Notable unconferences
* BarCamp * FooCamp * EdCampReferences
{{Unconference * Meetings Social information processing Articles containing video clips