As the lockdown rules may change, it came up in the last techshed meeting that some participants would like to imagine what future techshed sessions could look like.
There was some discussion about the value of both online and offline meetups. Different things are possible in different formats. And we may not have to choose between them. We could do a blend of real world meetups and online.
We really want to hear your thoughts, ideas and feedback on what you’d like to see and do in techshed. What would you like to see more or less of? What do you want to do in Techshed Frome?
I’d like to be sure we have a mixture of things: a mixture of interests, and a mixture of modalities. So, zoom, in-shed meetups, walks or picnics, the forum, and any small-group collaborations which arise.
As we noted, zoom has to be fairly well-structured, and is serialised communication, and it’s quite tiring too. In-person allows people to mix into different huddles, but the premises will cost us money which we need to raise.
The keyword for me is community - we’re cooperating in trying to build something which suits many purposes. We will have friendships and collaborations, but probably not everyone with everyone, and that’s fine. We will be friendly and cooperative with each other.
I would like to see IRL meetups return as I believe this is where the best collaboration can occur. At my previous Makerspace, we would tinker with whatever project we were working on and that naturally sparked conversation around the topic. It also gave specific times to a project, even if it wasn’t the most intense work it would ensure progress was made.
I agree there is a place for online meetups though as these are more accessible to more people. I could see these working similar to how they are now with project updates and spotlights but dedicated to showing what we are working on instead of trying to include the social aspect of them. (Not saying they wont be friendly and welcoming but we would be there for a purpose. Which would lend nicely to the “serial” communication style.)
There is also the telepresence option to blend the two styles. I would say it worked successfully for the social last year but that was one user dialling in which made things simpler. We would have to trial multiple users but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work for the size we are.
Finally, I think there should be a transition as we slowly move out of lockdown and social distancing. We should remain mainly online except to run a couple of offline trials to figure out what we can achieve/want. Then gradually transition to whatever mix of online and offline we decide.
I’m also looking forward to real-life meetups again, whilst also wondering how long it’ll be before I feel comfortable in a smallish enclosed space like the Remakery at Welshmill.
I’d be happy with it being less frequent – say once a fortnight or once a month, or maybe a longer real-life session once a month with shorter online catch-ups in between.
I’m very much looking forward to in-person meet ups as well. I can see there being a space for zoom meetings going forward but for me, they are a means to an end