On November 13th, 2008, I had the opportunity to attend the CTCNet Conference, care of the awesome CTC VISTA Project. Thanks CTC VISTA! It was a rather lightly attended conference, however we – as a conference – were able to generate something which I think might be of some value to the field of CTC as a whole: a conversation with some of the best thinkers in the field of CTC to discuss the future of CTCs and our role in it. Read on for the key takeaways of the conference or download the outcomes of the conversation at the end of this article.
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Download the report here.
A Small Turnout
I must say I was a little disappointed at the turn out, particularly in relation to my previous conference-going experience with CTCNet. The CTCNet network played a very important role in the early stages of my career as a young, non-profit technology professional. In deed, my panel there lead to a great job with NAMAC about a year later (thanks for the hire Jack and Helen!) and the relationships I cultivated at CTCNet still give me value and inspiration today . However, sessions at this year’s conference were small or under attended. Some sessions had more presenters than attendees. And some folks I’d been looking forward to seeing weren’t able to make it. Given, this year’s conference had a lot to live up to from previous successful conferences.
Opportunities and Challenges Facing CTCs
While attendance was small (around 70 people) something really wonderful happened: we convened a face-to-face conversation with some of the best thinkers in the field of CTC to discuss the future direction of CTCs. It was kind of like a groupmind strategic planning session.
Using ICP’s ‘Technology of Participation’ methodology attendees of the conference were asked: what are the opportunities and challenges facing the field of community technology? and proceeded to articulate a practical vision for the near future by:
- examining participant responses to Richard Chabran’s keynote address
- uncovering common wisdom about the needs of the community technology field
- identifying potential actions for national organizations to support local organizations and for local organizations to support the national movement
Our leading question further surfaced:
- What is our coherent message?
- How do we define ourselves
- How will white space be used and by who?
- How do we create energy around the community technology movement?
- How do we create community focus and engagement?
What struck me about this is that in NAMAC’s own strategic planning session (which I was lucky enough to participate in prior to attending) we asked some of the same questions.
Might this report indicate other large scale national networks having the same questions we do? Might it provide some fodder for future strategic development with CTCNet? What about the CTC field in general? Here’s another idea from Stephanie Gagne, current Executive Director of CTCNet: what if the ‘center’ part of CTC were to drop completely? How might we align our efforts as dedicated, community and media media technology supporters with current policy work happening nationally?
These are some questions which I think are interesting. What’s your take?
Download the report here.
