Democracy is a game in which we all make the rules.  How do we make this  serious game more inclusive, more fair, and more fun?

This was the core question of Participation Camp <http://participationcamp.org>, an unconference organized in New York City on June 27th and 28th.  The scene for conferences and unconferences around Open Government and Gov2.0 has been growing rapidly in the U.S.  Earlier this year in Washington, D.C., we had Transparency Camp, e-Democracy Camp, Gov2.0 Camp, and even Privacy Camp.  Meanwhile, O’Reilly Media has joined the fray with its upcoming Gov2.0 Summit, and Personal Democracy Forum retained its status as the technology and politics scene’s red-carpet event.

In order to distinguish PCamp from the others, we sought ways to experiment with the unconference form.  This was reflected in our slogan: “Change the Rules”.  Just as we examined ways in which citizen’s could participate in changing the rules of their society for the better, we looked for ways to change the rules about how conferences are conducted.

Our first goal was to change the vibe.  A common saying about conferences is that the magic happens in conversations in the hallways between the sessions.  At PCamp, we encouraged presenters to present less and facilitate more.  Most sessions proceeded as open discussions and workshops.  During our wrap-up session and in conversations after the event, many participants commented that at PCamp the sessions themselves were where the magic happened.  Some of the highlights include:

The Noisy Idiot Problem: Catherine White, a student at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (which hosted the event), led a workshop on the problem of forum participants, both online and offline, who adhere to the rules yet derail the discourse by dominating the discussion and cleaving to an extreme position.  Catherine has conducted this research so far under ITP professor Clay Shirky, but has decided to take it to the next level after a unexpectedly intense brainstorm session at PCamp with over 20 participants.  The idea even bubbled up into Personal Democracy Forum (which happened June 29th and 30th, right after PCamp) when White House Deputy CTO for Open Government Beth Noveck used the term on the main stage.

NYC Open Data Legislation: New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer, who heads the city’s Committee on Technology in Government, recently introduced legislation making all public information available, accessible, and machine-readable online.  She led a discussion on Saturday which was attended by a number of leaders in the field, including Andrew Hoppin (CIO, NYS Senate), Noel Hidalgo (Director of Technology, NYS Senate), Steven Clift (Founder, e-democracy.org), Silona Bonewald (Founder, Legal of Technical Voters), Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist.org), and Peter Corbett (Organizer, Apps for Democracy).

We deliberately paired our event with Personal Democracy Forum (PdF), and this proved to be a winning combination.  Many great thinkers were in the city for the weekend, and they had the opportunity to mix with NYC’s thriving local open government scene.  Many new connections were made during PCamp, and participants were able to arrive at PdF with momentum behind their new ideas and proposals.

While some wished that PCamp had been better attended (60 on Day 1, 40 on Day 2), others tied PCamp’s “intimacy” to their feeling that more things “got done” at PCamp than at other conferences.  On top of that, while PCamp was physically small, it was virtually expansive.  Thanks to the innovative team at Radical Inclusion, we were able to involve dozens more attendees in our pre-conference and post-conference chat sessions.  Radical Inclusion also organized several virtual presenters, who were beamed into the main room at ITP from locations such as Vancouver, Netherlands, and India.  Many of the sessions were pushed back out to the web by our partner Livestream, who reported that almost 3000 unique viewers watched at least part of PCamp on Day 2.  Archived presentations are available at http://livestream.com/pcamp.

Participants also made extensive use of twitter before, during and after PCamp: 156 users tweeted about PCamp09, using the tags #PCamp (almost 100 tweets) and #PCamp 09 (over 860 tweets).

Perhaps the most memorable aspect of PCamp, however, was our participatory sculpture. Conceived and produced by PCamp co-oranizer Oliver Wellington, and facilitated by artist Andrew Wellington, the sculpture was built piece-by-piece by conference participants over the course of the two days.  Organizers supplied nearly 3000 ping pong balls and a lot of hot glue as the main ingredients, but participants quickly changed the rules to include coffee cups, dental floss, and business cards.

There’s a lot more to say about PCamp, and new developments are still underway.  During this process, we learned that there is great potential to be both inclusive and productive if the conditions are right.  Together with the team at Radical Inclusion, we are formulating a plan to create a persistent discussion space that can act as a common thread through the many events and camps in the arena of technology and collaboration. You are welcome to join our open discussion on this concept in the PCamp Skype chat.  It will take place Wednesday July 15th at 15:00 GMT (11am in NYC, and 8am in LA).  For an invitation, send an email with your Skype name and “Skype” in the subject line to [email protected].