What is the Room of Your Own?
by Elisa Camahort

One of BlogHer's guiding principles is that this is a do-ocracy. If you want something to happen, then do it yourself!

That principle led us to introduce a concept at least year's BlogHer called the Room of Your Own session. Last year Lisa described it in this post. Here's a key excerpt:

How do you subvert the dominant hierarchy?

You give up control. That's one of the things I want to do at BlogHer's July 30 conference.

Here's how: Welcome to "The Room of Your Own" a part of BlogHer's conference run by, for and of women attending.

Why? Because being audacious enough to suggest we hold this thing, doesn't mean I think I know what you want. So the room of your own is a testament to BlogHer's mission to community-based education and exposure.

Yes, we're still planning a full conference with speakers and trainers and an uber-schedule. But in this way, BlogHer is a do-ocracy. As in do-it-yourself. Is there something you want to talk about at BlogHer's Conference '05? Do it! Do it here. Tell the community and they'll come. Or help!

The Room of Your Own concept proved to be so popular that we had to reserve a second room for Room of Your Own sessions. Some of last year's most popular sessions were put on by the community, including sessions about MommyBlogging, Teen blogging and feminist hip-hop blogging.

Room of Your Own sessions have the same infrastructure as any other session: power, WiFi, strong coffee. Room of Your Own sessions are promoted the same as any other session in all Conference schedules and communications. Room of Your Own sessions are the embodiment of the BlogHer mission!

We have six open Room of Your Own slots, and we are taking proposals now!

Submitted by Elisa Camahort (view blog) on Fri, 01/27/2006 - 12:10

Comments

 

The Emergent Virtual World

How about a fun b.s. session/brainstorming session on speculation about the emergent virtual world?   Web 3.0 to the Nth.  What will the metaverse look like in ten years.   20 years?  What will blogs morph into?  Will we have avatars speak our blogs or will we use images or ourselves, some combination of both?  Will this mean something like limitless channels on a combined TV Internet 4th Wall?   Where should we aim?  Where are current trajectories headed?   What is the cutting edge down the path likely to be given best guesses?    

Nancy 

aka Artpax aka Ana Herzog 

Build Peace
Virtuality
My Life As An Avatar

Submitted by artpax on Fri, 05/23/2008 - 14:22
 

Social Media Sites and How They Fit In With
Your Blogging World

I would love to have a room to discuss how social media is helping BlogHers to connect with other bloggers from tech, marketing, publishing, etc. in order to network.  I'm specifically interested in interactive social sites like Twitter and Friendfeed, etc.

Thanks! ~Viv 

 

www.coolmomsrule.blogspot.com

Submitted by vbruss on Mon, 05/26/2008 - 19:38
 

Animals and livestock

I'm uncomfortable that both of my blogs are a subsection of Mommy and Family. The catblogosphere is bigger and more beautiful than just the family. AND, I compete in an Olympic sport (no it's not under sports) that both men and women compete in -- equally. Riders tend to be older than other athletes and so are the horses. Horses are not pets, they are livestock and in my case, dancing partners. Let's get an animal category at Blogher out of a discussion on animals and livestock blogs. 

 

 

Cato
http://www.creaturesoftheearth.com

http://www.teddyatcenterline.com

Submitted by aella on Thu, 06/12/2008 - 18:26
 

ArtPax and ViV: Email me with your session
name & time slot pref

HI there:

What I need you to do to get these ideas on the schedule is:

Review this post to understand the process, then commit to lead a session yourself by:

1. Reviewing the agenda

2. Sending me an email with:
a. Your top 3 preferred time slots for your session
b. Your name for your session

There are still slots open, so I say: "Go for it!"

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Fri, 05/30/2008 - 16:09
 

proposal

Hey there was a thread on the mailing list a while back about Opensource software and feminism and I just grazed this post by Sour Duck http://209.59.186.51/~blogher/?q=node/863

and i think it would be great to do a ROYO about the implications/cross-overs between OS Application and philosophies etc..for feminists projects and feminist projects

Another example would be this whole portal being run on Civicspace and the attendant pleasures and frustrations for community building in that.

I realize as a discussion it is going to be most interesting to the techie/academic/industry wimmins, but if we get a nice cozy room it could be very rewarding

lemme know if it's something that I could get the ball rolling on - I would definitely ask someone else to help moderate.

And yes I think I am taking on too much - ; )

Miriam Verburg
The Flink
"like harnessing a unicorn to harvest potatoes"

Submitted by mir on Sat, 01/28/2006 - 10:26
 

I would love to see a room

I would love to see a room focusing on some of our earlier conversations regarding race, ethnicity, culture and blogging. There are so many directions it can go, and as you know we all had a lot to say ! Further input would be invaluable.

Surly and Passionate
Knotty Yarn

Submitted by Danielle Henderson on Mon, 01/30/2006 - 13:05
 

race, ethnicity, identity etc.

Thanks Danielle:

We will have at least one BlogHer sessions around these topics, and perhaps a Room of Your Own that tackles it from another angle. It's definitely on the agenda one way or the other.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 13:22
 

Elisa, We have been talking

Elisa,

We have been talking about the fact that arts and craft blogging is different in some ways from other blogs. And I think I'd like to reserve for discussing it. How to write about art and craft, how to show it. tools to use. I'm not sure exactly what.

Could we please have a room?

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Simple Still Life

Submitted by debra roby on Mon, 02/20/2006 - 00:46
 

Stay tuned for Day Two

I think you might be pleased with a couple of the sessions on the schedule. Not to be all cryptic or anything, but...I'm being cryptic :)

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Mon, 02/20/2006 - 14:56
 

A ROYO about Women Bloggers and Disability

The Blogosphere is one of the places where having a disability is not immediately apparent. Where descrimination may exist at first sight, blogging is a free space that is unbiased. There are so many great blogs out there by disabled persons and parents of disabled kids that shed light on what it really means to live with a disability and what it doesn't. I would love a room of your own discussing disability and how blogging allows people, who have been denied access to more traditional venues, to get heard.
Kathryn
Link Text

Not all those who wander are lost. J.R.R.Tolkien

Submitted by Ryn Tales on Sun, 11/19/2006 - 11:40
 

Three subjects of interest

I love the Room of Your Own idea but I don't know that I have the time to put together any presentations for them. That said I do have three topics that are of interest to me. Are these being covered in the primary conference or is someone interested in taking them on in Room of Your Own?

They are...

1. Cyberstalking
2. Protecting your identity
3. Dealing with HATERS in your comments box

KathyHowe
Kazoofus

Submitted by KathyHowe on Thu, 01/18/2007 - 09:12
 

Kathy: Safe Space

Hi Kathy:

We have had a topic suggested that might encompass all of that: how to create your own safe space online. nothing's really been decided for summer programming yet, but that is one proposed topic that resonates with a lot of BlogHers.

Thanks,

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Thu, 01/18/2007 - 09:32