The i3 Conference, Siena 1999

 

The Concept

The i3 conference brings all people involved in i3 together into one large, collective event. Spread out over three days, it offers people the opportunity of demonstrating results, participating at workshops or contributing to performances, or making new friends. It aims to foster a vibrant and growing ‘culture’ for a large community of researchers, encouraging debate and the exploration of new ideas. This years’ event is also open to contributions from outside of the i3 community.

The concept of grouping activities in this way is being continually adapted, and so far is based on the previous experience of earlier events at Nyborg ’98 and Sitges ’99. The aim is to continually explore how to most effectively share results and experiences, assess work done, as well as set new directions for the future.

The conference is also designed to provide a setting for the assessment of projects on an individual basis as well as offering the possibility of assessing the i3 initiative as a whole. The remainder of this document focuses on the assessment process, to make it clear to everybody involved.

 

Assessment

From the point of view of assessment, the event in Siena can be described as follows:

  • Presentations, performances and workshops
  • An exhibition area
  • A team of reviewers
  • A group of viewers
  • One-to-one meetings

Presentations, performances and workshops

Details of the presentations, performances and workshops will be described elsewhere as part of the conference programme. Participation at these events follows an open call for contributions, and a selection will be organised independently by the i3net coordinating group. Projects or i3 participants are thus not guaranteed participation at these events.

The Exhibition area

Every project is guaranteed an exhibition place and is required to contribute. Each project will be attributed a space in which it can organise an exhibit describing

- what a is a project doing
- what it has achieved
- its future plans.

The exhibition area is designed to be an informative and interactive place, encouraging the live demonstration of results, as well as discussions and exchanges amongst a range of different people. There is no prescribed format for the exhibits, which can include posters, videos, demonstrations or other material. Specific space requirements will be issued by the local organisers and will appear on the i3net web site.

Reviewers

Reviewers are experts in particular fields and will look at the specifics of what a project has achieved, the problems encountered, and will offer advice on future action. At the event, reviewers have the active role of finding out as much as is needed in order to form their opinions and give feedback to projects at the one-to-one meetings. Typically there will be a team of two reviewers assigned to each project.

One-to-one meetings

These are scheduled meetings between a project team, the reviewers assigned to it, and the EC project officer. At this meeting the assessment of the reviewers is presented to the project and discussed with the project representatives. It is the project that decides how many members they need to have present. The EC project officer has the overall role of presiding the meeting and is responsible for concluding what is agreed upon.

Viewers

As a complement to the reviewers, a group of viewers, will consider the event as a whole. They may look globally at all the contributions or may focus on ones that catch their interest. Viewers include a broad spectrum of people, including community members, children, journalists, teachers, or others. The reflections of the viewers will be made available to the i3 community at large.

 

Information specific to projects

  1. Projects should send their project programmes, annual reports, and deliverables due to the assigned reviewers at least two weeks before the event takes place. A table of reviewer-project attributions, as well as addresses and contact points for reviewers, will be made available on the i3net web site in due course.

  2. Each project will be required to prepare a project exhibit, that will highlight achievements through posters, demonstrations, videos, or other material. An exhibit should be an active one and should be manned as much as reasonably possible during the event.

  3. The reports and the exhibit form the basis of the review material for a project. However, as many projects members will be contributing to presentations, performances and workshops, they can invite reviewers to attend these as appropriate.

 

Information specific to reviewers

  1. Reviewers should read the material sent to them by the projects prior to attending the event.

  2. During the event, reviewers will have an active role of finding out as much as is needed in order to form their assessment. Reviewers should view demonstrations and exhibits and talk to project partners at the exhibition stand as needed. They may also wish to attend presentations, performances or workshops to which a project has contributed. Typically two reviewers will be assigned to each project.

  3. Before the one-to-one meeting, the pair of reviewers assigned to a project should consolidate their views. This should be in the form of a small number of highlighted points of what a project had achieved as well as advice about the future.

  4. Following the one-to-one meeting, the two reviewers should write a short report of the main issues discussed and conclusions arrived at. This should be sent to the project officer, who can then verify the report and then forward it to the consortium.

  5. There will be a briefing meeting for all reviewers the evening of the 19th of October. Location to be defined.

 

Information specific to viewers

The role of viewers:

In contrast to reviewers (who assess individual projects) a group of viewers will consider the i3 event as a whole. Viewers may look globally at all the contributions (project exhibits, workshops, presentations, discussions) or may focus on ones that catch their interest. Viewers include a broad spectrum of people, including researchers, community members, children, journalists, teachers, and others.

The purpose is to make an assessment of how the i3 initiative is doing at a global level, by giving live feedback, discussing points of view, and making suggestions for the future. Viewers will be able to express their views about what they see in a number of ways and these will be presented to the i3 community at large.

Here are the main events that concern viewers:

  1. Viewer Briefing meeting.
    The main aims and roles viewers will be presented, followed by questions and discussion. 'Guides' who will act as contact point for viewers will be present.
    Time: Tuesday 19 October 19:00-20:00

  2. Live Exhibit.
    Viewers are asked to contribute to an exhibit during the event, on which they can write or draw and paste material in order to express their views.
    Time: throughout the event

  3. Video impressions.
    Some of the impressions of viewers will be recorded by the i3 video team
    Time: throughout the event

  4. Voice for all Session.
    This is open to everybody at the conference. At this session, some of the views of the viewers will be presented. This will be followed by an open discussion, that will later focus on overall conclusions.
    Time: Friday 22 October 13:30-14:30

 

Jakub Wejchert for the i3 team