Community, privacy and identity

Day one of the 5th Plymouth e-Learning Conference was very successful, and as usual, a very very long day. Our keynote speaker Josie Fraser did not disappoint with an eloquent account of communities, privacy and identity on the web. Josie talked about a number of potent issues around engagement with social media, and cited a number of key contributions to our understanding from the likes of danah boyd, Scott Wilson and Nicola Whitton. The ensuing question time lasted a full 30 minutes, during which we explored these issues thoroughly. Time does not permit me here to go into details, but a fuller report will follow, and there are of course, other, much more erudite commentators than me blogging as we speak. I will try to find their links and join them to this post.

Numbers of attendance at this year's event are slightly down on last year, with around 140 delegates present. Highlights so far have included two visits to the Vision Immersion Theatre, and excellent sessions, from amongst others, Simon Finch (Northern Grid for Learning), Dan Roberts (Saltash.net) and Tony McNeill (Kingston University). It's unfair perhaps to single these out, because the standard of papers and presentations at this year's event have been particularly good, but for me, trying to get around to all the papers, these three stood out as exceptional in both content and impact. More on this also when I have more time...

Today, Day 2, is dawning bright and clear, and the weather will hold. We are all looking forward to our second keynote speech, from Dave White, and various discussions and papers from delegates. We will close off today with a streamed plenary session where Josie Fraser, Dave White, Thomas Fischer (Erlangen-Nuremburg University, Germany) and I will tackle questions from all-comers. Should be fun.