Do you have a skill to share? Want to host an online discussion/debate about an Open Knowledge-like topic? Have an idea for a skillshare or discussion, but need help making it happen? Some of you hosted or attended sessions at OKFest. Why not host one online? At OKFestival, we had an Open Matchmaker wall to connect learning and sharing. This is a little experiment to see if we can replicate that spirit online. We’d love to collaborate with you to make this possible.

photo by Gregor Fischer

How to help with Online Community Sessions:

We’ve set up a Community Trello board where you can add ideas, sign up to host or vote for existing ideas. Trello, a task management tool, has fairly simple instructions.

The Community Sessions Trello Board is live. Start with the Read me First card.

Hosting or leading a Community Session is fairly easy. You can host it via video or even as an editathon or a IRC chat.

  • For video, we have been using G+. We can help you get started on this.
  • For Editathons, you could schedule it, share on your favourite communications channel and then use a shared document like a google doc or an etherpad.
  • For an IRC chat, simply set up a topic, time and trello card to start planning.

We highly encourage you to do the sessions in your own language.

Upcoming Community Sessions

We have a number of timeslots open for September – October 2014. We will help you get started and even co-host a session online. As a global community, we are somewhat timezone agnostic. Please suggest a time that works for you and that might work with others in the community.

In early October, we will be joined by Nika Aleksejeva of Infogr.am to do a Data Viz 101 skillshare. She makes it super easy for beginners to use data to tell stories.

The Data Viz 101 session is October 8, 2014. Register here.

Community Session Conversation – September 10, 2014

In this 40 minute community conversation, we brainstormed some ideas and talked about some upcoming community activities:

Some of the ideas shared including global inclusiveness and how to fundraise. Remember to vote or share your ideas. Or, if you are super keen, we would love it if you would lead an online session.

(photo by Gregor Fischer)

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Heather is Community Engagement Director at the Open Knowledge Foundation, based in Toronto. She's passionate about global storytelling, citizen voices, excellent software, crisismapping, collaboration, localization and open everything. Learn more at @heatherleson or textontechs.com