OpenSym 2014 is proud to announce one of the conference’s invited talks!

Title: How You Run a Meeting Says a Lot About Your Values: Participatory Practices for Open Communities

Speaker: Laura Hilliger and Michelle Thorne, both of the Mozilla Foundation

Abstract: Live events are some of the best ways to see the power dynamics and philosophical bent of a community. Many communities, open and closed, glorify sitting in a darkened room and being inspired by a sage on the stage. And then there are events about participation: making and learning with fellow participants around shared passions and interests. The session argues for the use of participatory methods at events as a way to manifest open values. We’ll unpack some techniques and case studies, as well as practice ourselves.

Biography: Michelle Thorne is the Senior Director of Mozilla’s global Webmaker Mentor program. She trains communities of geeks, educators, makers and passionate people who want to help others learn not just to consume the web, but to make it. Through mentoring, live events and connectivist learning, she helps people level up their web literacies. Thorne embraces the spirit of “less yak, more hack” and believe that making drives learning and deeper participation. She organizes Mozilla’s largest public-facing event, the Mozilla Festival, which takes place in London. Previously, Thorne was the International Project Manager at Creative Commons, coordinating teams in over seventy countries (jurisdictions) worldwide to localize Creative Commons tools and to promote legal sharing and Free Culture. She co-organized the Free Culture Research Conference, an academic event dedicated to exploring the commons and hybrid economies.