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

I read this book in hopes of helping organize an unconference or library camp, and it was helpful and inspiring. ( )

A primer on the concept of unscripted but not un-directed learning: the conviction that knowledgeable and interested people sharing ideas is sufficient for genuine learning, at times richer learning than would arise from an orthodox pedagogy.

By orthodox is meant an established curriculum based upon (a) an expert's subjective decisions on what to teach and how to teach it, (b) a canon of defined knowledge as vetted through peer-reviewed research / arguments, or most likely a mixture of the two.

Unscripted learning begins from the premise that knowledge is attainable without defining it beforehand, but by gathering like-minded people with skills and knowledge bearing upon the topic, and allowing their interaction to generate both learning and knowledge. Boule references Open Space Technology (OST) as a working description of the unconference movement, though OST evidently is a general construct of anthropological theory. The unconference concept seems to have arisen specifically from professional education, especially involving IS or library science.

Boule lists four models of information sharing / knowledge building:
- marketplace of ideas (competition by vote)
- bulletin board (an information commons)
- circle (flat organization / minimal hierarchy)
- breathing (disrupt negative feedback loops arising from personality conflicts)

And identifies four guiding principles:
- who shows up, is the right person / people
- what happens is the only thing that could
- when the interaction starts, is the right time
- when over, it's done (accept whatever outcome is on offer)

Boule doesn't distinguish between learning and knowledge, though does briefly refer to information versus knowledge. Though she does not, her framework easily incorporates all three distinctions, to its own advantage. An intriguing concept not examined rigourously: a knowledge ecosystem, an attempt to schematise the network of interactions arising from an unconference and which may be sustained thereafter. Here is where the distinction between learning and knowledge, even information and knowledge, is weak, but the premise is intriguing.

Boule's focus also is on a formalised learning approach, though OST need not be. There are basic and interesting linkages between OST, Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and non-coercive politics (NCP). Also evident are applications for everyday learning situations such as parenting or counseling, of interest to a wider audience than Boule addresses herself to, or would be interested in pedagogical theory. ( )

I was chosen as an early reviewer for this book. I did not get it for a few months and then it shows up on my doorsteps. I am pretty glad it did. The book, while not perfect, holds the distinction as being the one that introduced me to the formalized mob learning concept.

Michelle Boule is kind of a pioneer since this is the first book that I know of which covers the subject. She does so in a very comprehensive way. Even so, it left me hanging for a few things, partly my fault though. I will explain.

The author comes from the library science area, as such the people she deals with are much more likely to accept these ideas of having unstructured conferences and I guess are much more eager to try out some of these more adventurous ideas. I am an engineer, as such I had a very hard time trying to get something concrete from the book. Again, not the author's fault, I am just not the usual audience that would read this kind of book. She did convey, quite brilliantly, the excitement of discovering new ways to communicate and problem solve. I think she was able to convey a necessarily amorphous concept in a very strong way to the audience. In essence the idea is to let people come up with a way to learn and communicate and come to decisions organically, something that is very hard for people to do. i think the author did a very good job of making her points and relating her own excitement to the readers.

The book is ordered in a very logical way, her emphasis is actually on the practical aspects of utilizing the mob rule methods. Her examples are all very practical and goal oriented. The methods she listed were all very interesting and sounds like they will be very useful. BUT, this is not a how-to book, and I think that is by design. The author's intent is to allow those who read the book to experiment and come to the right ways of accomplishing things by reaching for the solutions ourselves.

I am still grasping with some of the concepts, but this is a challenge that is very interesting and allows me to really think about how we can best convey information AND create a space for productive and innovative discussions, I am planning a conference for 2013 and the book has been a very interesting read, it certainly has sparked many discussions amongst those who are on my organizing committee. I believe we will be using some of the concepts introduced in the book. More importantly, we will follow the spirit of the book and come up with our own way of doing mob rule learning, by using mob rule learning.

I would recommend this book for a variety of reasons, I found it most helpful though in dealing with my own conference planning task. ( )

Boule wrote a comprehensive book that makes faculty, practitioners, and associations contemplate on how conferences are held. The book is recommended for academic and professional collections; especially those serving researchers/faculty and professional/practitioners. ( )

Michelle Boule has written a good introductory guide to learning communities. Her over-arching theme is that the distributed knowledge of crowds is an untapped resource for professional development and learning.

As someone who both attends and helps plan conferences on a regular basis I came away with a number of new ideas for tapping into participants' interests and passions and will be putting these ideas to use in the near future. Anyone who has an interest in professional development and learning will come away with something from "Mob Rule Learning." ( )