Network 11 Unconference

October 20, 7.pm. to October 23, 7 a.m.,

Norris Point, NL

Participants at the Network 11 Unconference have created a provincial network of community communications practitioners.

Click here for photos by Meaghan Phillipot.

Network 11 was a participatory communications networking event hosted by the Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital (Julia Ann Walsh Heritage Center), the Voice of Bonne Bay (VOBB), and the Bonne Bay Marine Station.

Everybody who attended the event was an active participant - all participants were asked to provide input on the schedule, mini workshops and mini sessions. At the beginning of the event participants signed on to self managing collectives or committees.

The format for the networking unconference was a community radio special event. Community radio groups were asked to bring examples of their programs and to participate in the community radio event.

The purpose of Network 11 was to support the initiation of an informal network of community groups interested in communication - specifically (but not exclusively) community radio enhanced by internet tools - that is - mixed media. The NL Rural Secretariat facilitated two deliberative dialogue sessions on networking and communications.

Mini sessions proposed for the event included Volunteers; Engaging youth; Community focused panel discussions; Community radio station application process; Funding or fund raising?, and Programming.

Proposed mini-workshops included Skype; Facebook; Remote broadcasts\webcasting; community interviews/flash recorders; From cassettes to edited computer audio; Photography/websites, and on air hosting.

During the October unconference Bonne Bay Search and Rescue hosted a Harvest Festival and participants supported a Saturday Night Music Concert to benefit the Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital Heritage Corporation.

It is hoped that participants' networking at the unconference will support the development of a vehicle for participatory communication processes designed to facilitate community development and community based research.

Community networking and sharing could help grow a culture which promotes collaboration, citizen engagement and self help.

The basic principles of participatory communications are all the voices; collaboration; inclusion; cultural celebration; positive mirroring, and youth engagement.

Food was also a focus of the unconference as participants cooked together utilizing local ingredients, such as salt fish from Fogo Island and Bonne Bay produce.

Network 11 was supported by the provincial Rural Secretariat, Memorial University Grenfell Campus and the Red Ochre zone board. Unconference Hyperlinks

Link 1

Link 2

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