Difference between revisions of "The 2019 BarnCamp Inquiry"
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=== How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019? === | === How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019? === | ||
Revision as of 02:32, 19 June 2021
In order the better understand the issues surrounding the failure of BarnCamp 2019, we want to kick off a relatively informal process of opinion and perspective gathering, with a strong emphasis on what we can do in the future to make our event not just happen, but also totally kick ass.
The deadline for submissions was Friday 13th September.
We've compiled a list of questions below:
- What went wrong?
- What could we do to prevent those things going wrong again?
- How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019?
- Would you be willing to try to help organise next year in 2020?
- Anything else to share?
All entries will end up on this page, copied from the other media, unless request them to be kept private. References to particular people who performed tasks has been avoided. All personal references will be removed.
Stephanie "Example" Jones
Cut and paste this section, then add your own info. Remove this paragraph, and anything involving mogwai, unless your issue was in fact mogwai related. Don't use your real name if you don't want to.
What went wrong?
Someone fed the mogwai after midnight.
What could we do to prevent those things going wrong again?
Don't bring mogwai.
How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019?
It was great.
Would you be willing to try to help organise next year in 2020?
Yes, based on a no mogwai solution.
No, I'm trying to ignore the horrific memories.
Gremble
What went wrong?
Essentially we were almost there. We lost touch with a core member who couldn't drive due to injury, and so couldn't get the kit there. This would normally have been MH's role.
What could we do to prevent those things going wrong again?
It's been suggested that we have a lock up in Bristol or nearer to the site, so that kit would be nearer. If possible this would be for a lot of valuable equipment. In any case, have things in a much more limited set of locations would make taking equipment to site easier.
Having backup operators for core tasks is essential, and that should be built into the organisation process.
How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019?
Fine, but a bit late.
Would you be willing to try to help organise next year in 2020?
Yes, based on a no mogwai solution.
No. But maybe I'll add something later.
thebrentc
What went wrong?
Perhaps short time to organise, and failure of critical tasks (e.g. power).
What could we do to prevent those things going wrong again?
Gremble says it well: "Having backup operators for core tasks is essential, and that should be built into the organisation process.". I would add documenting key kit requirements such as the power equipment could provide for contingency arrangements. The lockup is worthwhile idea.
How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019?
Good to meet up online.
Would you be willing to try to help organise next year in 2020?
Probably, but depending how it goes.
No. But maybe I'll add something later.
MarkR
What went wrong?
- most of the people who expressed an interest in helping, either on the HL mailing list or in the survey we did at the end of BC2017, did not help even when sent a personal email suggesting how their skills would be useful
- I tried to provide what I though would be enough structure to enable people to form themselves into task-related working groups. The plan was that each group would work independently and send a spoke into the weekly jitsi meeting. Based on the initial expressions of interest, there should have been 4-6 people in each of 6 groups, but it turned out that there were only 1-3, and some weren't represented at the weekly meetings so we had to ask for 2nd- or 3rd-hand rumours about what was happening.
- this lead to an impression in the meetings that things would be OK when they weren't
- two people took on critical roles and didn't let the rest of us know that they were struggling until it was too late
- I assumed that our email account was configured well, but it was less than perfect, which caused several important emails not to be delivered
- I assumed that all members of the group would be good at using jitsi and irc, but a few struggled
www.google.com
I have a small question for you
How did you feel about the process of trying to organise Barncamp 2019?
Fun at times and a good feeling of working together, but also very frustrating because it was hard to find the optimum level of slack.
Would you be willing to try to help organise next year in 2020?
I would not want to be part of the bootstrapping / structural organisation process, but I would join a working group or similar.
I'm unsure whether starting earlier would have helped. I imagine that with less of a sense of time-pressure, things might have been even more slipshod than they were.
Michael
As long as there is still comments on this topic I’ll chip in. I always thought Barncamp was great fun and that brings some people- but for me there are lots of techie camps so Barncamp when it reaches out to more than techies is more valuable. Being able to invite other people and having something useful for them – lots of new people workshops, basic security workshops, political workshops that aren’t directly about techie stuff, how do we support movements more broadly (I’m thinking of some of the work in the past like Tech Tools for Activists, or linking with mobilizations, etc) were what made Barncamp different. The original hacktionlab event and several after that had this emphasis. How the movement uses tech has changed now (for better or for worse) so I’m not certain how we are linked-in now in the same way. Getting the non-techie activist world involved takes a lot more early-planning and inviting, not last minute invite to go to the Wye Valley. I wonder if some low difficulty to organize small events- a hacktionlab in a local city that has at least one introductory workshop (security for activists for example) advertised in the local scene and a discussion more broad about the role of tech in our movements would be an easier way to build up some momentum, maybe another one to happen a couple of months later in another city. Help link the activist techie community to the broader activist community and give a bit more feedback on what the role is for hacktionlab now. Barncamp might come out as a priority, or it might not, but a Saturday with a discussion hour and one or two workshops is a lower bar to get things going and bring a few people together.
Just a thought,
Regards, michael
And ps, good work on effort to organize this summer and also quite thoughtful to have an inquiry. Sorry I haven’t commented earlier even though I meant to