UKOLN
Raising Awareness

"The IWMW event provides an opportunity for those involved in the provision of institutional Web services to hear about institutional case studies, national initiatives and emerging technologies and to actively participate in a number of parallel sessions."

IWMW 2011 is the fifteenth workshop.
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Institutional Web Management Workshop 2011:
Responding to Change

Event Amplification

This page provides information about the event amplification which took place at the IWMW 2011 event.

About the Event Amplification

The term 'Event Amplification' is used to describe use of technologies in order to enhance discussions amongst participants at an event and provide additional support for event organisers as well as maximising the benefits of an event by allowing a remote audience to participate in the event and by providing access to resources after the event is over.

Purpose of the Event Amplification at IWMW 2011

Event amplification at the IWMW 2011 was provided at the IWMW 2011 event to provide the following benefits:

Enhancing discussions at event
Based on event amplification at previous IWMW events we are aware that participants make use of an online back-channel to discuss the contents of the sessions as well as communicate with other participants and the event organisers.
Engaging with remote participants
Based on event amplification at previous IWMW events we are aware that there are people with an interest in the topics being discussed at the event who will be willing to view the talks remotely and discuss the issues raised.
Maximise the impact of the ideas and resources
We wish to ensure that the ideas and experiences shared by the speakers and workshop participants are made available as widely as possible.
Enabling resources to be accessed after event
Based on an analysis of usage of slides used at previous events after the event is over we are aware that there is a demand to access speakers' slides after the event is over.
Support community-building
Based on experiences at previous events we are aware that participants value the opportunities for participants to expand their community of practice.
Supporting event organisation and administration
Based on experiences at previous events we are aware that there is a need to provide a means of communications between participants and the event organisers for issues such as lost phones, keys, etc.
Providing access to discussions of the benefits (and weaknesses) of the event
Based on experiences at previous events we are aware that archives of online discussions can help the event organisers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the event.

Technologies Used

The following technologies were used to address the requirements list above:

Twitter
A Twitter event hashtag was used to support an event back-channel. In addition a Twapper Keeper archive of the tweets was used to provide an archive of the tweets so that we could analyse the content to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of the event as well provide evidence of the usage of Twitter through use of the related Summarizr service.
Adobe Connect
The Adobe Connect service was used to provide a live video stream of the plenary talks.
Vimeo
The Vimeo service was used to host videos of the plenary talks and interviews.
Slideshare
The Slideshare service was used to provide access to slides from the plenary talks and workshop sessions after the event was over.
Shhmooze
The Shhmooze app was evaluated as a means of facilitating connections between participants and providing a communication channel with event organisers.
Lanyrd
The Lanyrd service was used to provide a social network for speakers and participants at the event as well as enhance access to slides from the plenary talks and workshop sessions after the event was over.
IWMW 2011 Blog
The IWMW 2011 blog, hosted on an in-house WordPress platform, was used to provide information about the event as well as publish summaries of the sessions and interviews with participants.

Resources

The provision of the event amplification had the following resource implications:

Event Amplifier
A dedicated event amplifier had responsibility for providing a Twitter summary of the plenary talks, publishing summaries of the plenary talks and carrying out and publishing interviews on the event blog.
Event Video Streamer
A dedicated video streamer had responsibility for providing the live video stream of the plenary talks and publishing the videos of the talks and the video interviews.
Event Organisers
The event organisers had responsibilities for monitoring the Twitter and video-streaming channels and responding to comments and queries.
Sponsors
The licensed Adobe Connect service was sponsored by Collaborate.

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment, which covers use of third party services, is available on the IWMW 2011 Web site.

Evaluation

The effectiveness of the event amplification was evaluated as follows:

Monitoring of Twitter, Shhmooze and video streaming systems
Monitoring of the various online channels enabled the event organisers to respond to any concerns which were raised. In addition an archive of the channels will enable the content to be analysed.
Evaluation form
An online evaluation form provided feedback on the event and of the provision of the event amplification.

Metrics

The usage of the event amplification was measured as follows:

Twitter statistics
Usage of the Twitter event hashtag was provided by the Summarizr service and has been summarized in a post on Reflections on Technologies Used at IWMW 2011.
Video-streaming statistics
A record of use of the Adobe Connect video streaming was kept and is available on the IWMW 2011 Web site.