Mob Rule Learning: Camps, Unconferences and Trashing the Talking Head

Citation

Stuart, D. (2012), "Mob Rule Learning: Camps, Unconferences and Trashing the Talking Head", Online Information Review, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 933-934. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521211287990

Social media have not only brought a change in way organisations and individuals create content, but also have encouraged a change in attitude to traditional organisational hierarchies as tools are put into the hands of every user. In Mob Rule Learning, Michelle Boule introduces the reader to the unconference movement and the adoption of these ideas in learning environments, where top‐down “talking head” hierarchical approaches are replaced by an attempt to tap into the wisdom of the crowd. The latest social media technologies provide the opportunities for more informal structures and vibrant backchannels of communication.

The book consists of 12 chapters split evenly into two parts: the first six chapters discuss unconferences, whilst the last six apply the lessons of unconferences to the learning environment. In the first half of the book Boule takes the reader from the limitations of the traditional conference structure, through the history of the unconference movement, to the planning and executing of an unconference. It also includes some unconference case studies and musings on the future of unconferences. The second half of the book applies a similar structure to the area of learning: from the limitations of the traditional learning environment, through harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, to education case studies and the future of the self‐educated mob. The book finishes with a manifesto, a list of tools and a glossary.

There are sections of the book that will undoubtedly be useful for those being introduced to the unconference movement – for example, the discussion of the various flavours of unconference organisation and the unconference and learning case studies. However, the one‐sided nature of the discussion quickly becomes tiresome, and when the glowing reports of open space technology are followed by the intricacies of the Fishbowl Method, uninitiated readers could be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled onto some sort of cult. It is a book by an enthusiast, when what is needed is something more objective, embedded in research rather than opinion (although references to either are decidedly thin). There is no doubt that unconferences have their place, but so do traditional conferences: timely folk wisdom is not a substitute for considered academic rigour, however “mind numbing” certain elements find it. It is an important subject that would benefit from a more balanced discussion.