The backchannel and the 'oh shit' moment.

[gmh]

I attended a fun session at Eastercon last weekend titled 'SF/F and the Social Media'; which essentially turned into a fine demonstration of what was referred to as 'the backchannel'; where a real-time or near-real-time social channel forms a silent part of the dialogue

Comments

[hypatia]

I'm only surprised that they are surprised at fellow members using this. Backchannel discussion has been part and parcel of pretty much every sizeable meeting I've been to for years now. More recently I'm seeing it reep into smaller groups as well with varying degrees of self conciousness. For MPs in the house it offers a handy supplement to the lobby briefing notes if they haven't done their own homework.
Considering the alacrity with which politicians take up 'The Internet TM' for advertising purposes its amazing how few grasp the other opportunities. (and it isn't an age thing, increasingly they are younger than I am :()

[silly_swordsman]

I'm very ambivalent with regards to the backchannel in public discussions, simply because it's differently public. For instance, had I been at that session at Eastercon, I would have missed a lot, since I'm not in possession of a powerful enough personal terminal

[surliminal]

This is small world in operation - was sent over here by gominoukitai cos he knows I've been following the DEB too - then read this - I was at that social media panel too, and indeed, I was the one who said she felt left out because her phone wa dead as her phone charger was broken!! Any way, hi. (And yes I've also been writing about the disconnect between representational democracy as hideously discredited by the DEB and the recent power of one-to-many twitter.)

[gmh]

Hi! - my apologies for referring to you as 'he' - the acoustics in the room weren't all that. Nice to meet you and I'll update the post above ;)