Assessing Barcamps: Incentives for Participation in Ad-hoc Conferences and the Role of Social Media Sebastian Dennerlein Robert Gutounig Peter Kraker Graz University of Technology Medical University of Graz Know-Center Inffeldgasse 13 Auenbruggerplatz 2 Inffeldgasse 13 8010 Graz, Austria 8036 Graz, Austria 8010 Graz, Austria
[email protected] robert.gutounig
[email protected] @medunigraz.at Rene Kaiser Romana Rauter Julian Ausserhofer Joanneum Research University of Graz FH Joanneum Steyrergasse 17 Merangasse 18 Alte Poststraße 152 8010 Graz, Austria 8010 Graz, Austria 8020 Graz, Austria
[email protected] romana.rauter julian.ausserhofer @uni-graz.at @fh-joanneum.at ABSTRACT Keywords Barcamps are informal conferences whose content is not de- Barcamp, Social Media, Motivation, Self Organization, fined in advance, often referred to as ad-hoc conferences or Knowledge Exchange, Communities of Practice un-conferences. Therefore, the outcomes of a barcamp are largely unknown before the event. This raises the question of the participants' motivations to attend and contribute. To 1. INTRODUCTION answer this question, we conducted an exploratory empirical Barcamps are informal conferences whose content is not study at Barcamp Graz 2012. We applied a mixed-method defined in advance. They are often referred to as ad-hoc con- approach: first we used a socio-demographic questionnaire ferences or un-conferences. They aim at an open and demo- (n=99) which allowed us to characterize the 'typical barcam- cratic way of communication, and unconstrained exchange per'. Second, we conducted qualitative interviews (n=10) to of knowledge and information. Unlike traditional confer- get a deeper understanding of the participants' motivations ences, there is no strict distinction between the audience to attend, expectations, and the use of social media in that and the presenters, as everyone is encouraged to participate context.