We've chosen an audience!

The class is moving along their project. Look at their wiki as they work through the planning stages of the conference. We chose an audience in class yesterday: the nano-technology industry. As UAlbany has an internationally recognized school of nano-technology, we thought we could identify experts, topics, and partner organizations internationally that would make this a better conference.

We also would like to welcome students at the Università degli Studi di Padova who will be working with us on this project.

If you are interested in participating (either as an expert, partner university, or participant) leave a message here. We will be setting the dates of the conference at the end of the semester if we feel we have enough interest.

We've chosen an audience!

The class is moving along their project. Look at their wiki as they work through the planning stages of the conference. We chose an audience in class yesterday: the nano-technology industry. As UAlbany has an internationally recognized school of nano-technology, we thought we could identify experts, topics, and partner organizations internationally that would make this a better conference.

We also would like to welcome students at the Università degli Studi di Padova who will be working with us on this project.

If you are interested in participating (either as an expert, partner university, or participant) leave a message here. We will be setting the dates of the conference at the end of the semester if we feel we have enough interest.

How the groups will work

We had a very productive meeting online on Friday. The logistics group will act like the glue for the conference, interfacing with each of the other groups and making sure that there is coordination between groups. In order to work in the groups, students will need have goals, tasks, and schedules for their groups.

Perhaps the most difficult work will be for the Partners and Sponsors. We have only heard from one potential partner in the US. Getting international participation has been difficult. I hope we will be able to identify some contacts soon.

The class was bit disappointed we were closed out of the online conference put on by the University of Manitoba (copyright/copyleft). However, we were able to access the discussion area and students have been asked to review the elluminate recording so they can get a sense of what an online conference looks like. In addition, I am hoping we can get some direction as to what the legal parameters are to a conference such as this. What content can be posted? Are there copyright laws concerning artifacts left by the conference? Who would own that content? Will copyright laws require that we get "contracts" for presenters? Are these types of online conferences restricted due to copyright laws?

Group meetings

As you get into your groups, I want you to address the following within your meeting:

How is your group going to work? What roles will each take on?
What tasks are needed to accomplish your group goals? Do you need any clarification on what your group goals are?
A tentative schedule of your group's work (meeting time and place-virtual or face to face), deadlines for work/tasks.

Once your group has decided on this, you will be expected to write up the results on your group wiki page.

Project update and new wiki link

I just discovered that the wiki I linked to in my previous posts may not have been viewable to the general public. I hope that we will soon get some contacts to participate in the planning of our online conference project. We have a number of native language speakers (especially Spanish). We are coming up with a list of best practices for online meetings (after our first try on Friday). We are still working on how to use a wiki, and even defining how a wiki can be used. We will probably use Vicki Davis's post as a guideline. However, as this a global communication course, we will probably explore the cultural modifications that need to be made within a global context (i.e. defining the group, defining roles in the writing process, language use, who should be allowed to edit and how).

Where are we?

We had our first online meeting to organize the conference. Some groups did a good job of organizing using this media, but others had a very difficult time. We have decided that it would be a good idea to add a page to the wiki on guidelines for conducting online meetings.

We have several students that are native language speakers (Korean, Spanish, and a couple of the Philippine languages) with access to other languages on campus (we will be discussing this on Monday).

Update on Project

I have heard from two contacts, one in the US and the other in Slovakia showing some interest. Our class began discussions on the conference, and we will be conducting an online meeting on Wednesday to iron out details. They will use a class wiki, which will be updated on a regular basis. The wiki has a home page with a common document, then each working group will have their own page to update their progress.

If you or a colleague are interested in participating, please post a message here (which will be private) or e-mail me at vy6198@albany.edu.