Instructions for curators

I am putting here the mail sent to curators for the benefits of documentation.

Good morning all, and thanks for agreeing to curate Living On The Edge 4. My name is Alberto, I believe you all know or have heard of me. Together with Natalia Skocylas (in cc) I am standing in for Ben Vickers as curator liaison (Ben is recovering from a minor health problem).

First of all, thank you for taking the leap. We never had curators at LOTE events before: there is no book to do it by, so you are very much pioneers here. What follow are some suggestions, but of course you are welcome to try different approaches if you wish.

  1. We encourage you to think of yourselves as a team – and I promise you there has never before been a team as this. We handpicked you aiming for the maximum diversity we can get away with, because we are trying to get at a notion of stewardship that incorporates the points of view of hackers (Matthias), activists (Caroline, Nadia), policy makers (Fabrizio, Amelia), entrepreneurs (Robin). Normally people like you find it difficult to work with each other: but we believe Edgeryders' culture of constructive radicalism will allow you to enjoy each other even as you disagree. The point is not agreement: the point is learning from each other and mutual respect. 
  2. Curation happens in pairs. LOTE4 has three tracks: the idea is that each track would be curated by two people, one from the Edgeryders community and one from without.  The pairs are as follows:
    • Fabrizio and Caroline on communities stewarding physical assets
    • Amelia and Matthias on communities stewarding digital/cultural assets
    • Robin and Nadia on communities stewarding communities
  3. We suggest you go through the sessions proposed by the community (currently 22) and offer some guidance. We grouped them by track for your convenience:
    • https://edgeryders.eu/en/topics/lote4-physical
    • https://edgeryders.eu/en/topics/lote4-digital
    • https://edgeryders.eu/en/topics/lote4-communities
  4. Next, you could coordinate amongst yourselves. It could be interesting to have one (just one!) online meeting (Google Hangout) with all of you before the conference. Natalia will put up a Doodle so we can agree on the date and time. If this becomes too difficult, you could also just coordinate with your fellow track coordinator.
  5. Based on that interaction, you would do three things:
    • Give session proponents feedback on how to better shape their sessions so that we all can learn as much as possible about  stewardship and how to do it.
    • Let me know if you think something is missing – some key topic  not covered by a session. We will do our best to plug the gap!
    • Get ready to participate in LOTE4's opening panel (more on this below).
  6. Finally, we would like you to take part in two plenary sessions in Matera. We have tentatively allocated 90 minutes for each as per the tentative day-by-day program; let me know if you want more time, no problem at all. 
    • Opening panel, at 10.00 on Friday 24 October.
    • Wrapping up panel, at 15.30 on Saturday 25 October.

As a final word, we ask you to be open-minded in Matera. LOTE4 is not your usual conference. It’s pervaded by unMonastery mystique; it runs on almost no money; participants clean the toilets and prepare food for each other. You are welcome to share into this as much or as little as you want: what matters is dialogue.

Let me know if you have any further question; please, always keep Natalia in cc. Very much looking forward to seeing you in Matera!

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