Fixfest UK unconference - Saturday, 6th Oct 2018
This is a space where participants of Fixfest UK, which takes place in Manchester on 6th October, can propose and request sessions for the unconference which will form the bulk of the programme for this year. The day will run from 10:00 registration and end at 18:00 with the plenary. Then move to a social in a local pub. The full programme will be posted soon!
[Tickets have now closed]
Help build the programme. Read on!
Everyone can contribute. You can add ideas to this document by clicking the edit button at the bottom of the page
How an unconference works
The whole point of an unconference is to break through the rigid structure of a regular conference allowing participants to collaboratively generate and deliver the content they want to see. The beauty of this is it can open up space for discussions and activities which might otherwise never have made it to the programme and which reflect the ideas, skills and interests of the participants. We want you to have fun and get creative with the Fixfest programme. Donāt be afraid to put forward ideas that might seem niche, or discussion topics that are tricky. We believe everyone has something to contribute so please donāt be afraid to share your ideas weāre a friendly bunch.
Theme
This year we have just one key theme and thatās hope - we figured we could all use a bit of it right now. Most sessions will fit into this theme because community repair is an inherently hopeful activity. So here are some ideas to help you drill down on what youāve like to contribute:
Practical / how-to sessions
Collaboration / working together within groups, regions, nationwide & internationally
Activism / responding to policy and political change local, national & Brexit
Improving Community Repair Spaces / exploring best practices for creating safe inclusive learning spaces
Length
45 mins for a discussion style workshop
1h30 for a practical workshop
Number of people
Session capacity will depend on the space youāre allocated (see below), however its good to be flexible. Try to plan a session that could be adapted to accommodate + or - 10 people. We definitely recommend recruiting a co-facilitator.
Materials and rooms
Cinema Room Capacity: 32
Network Support Room Capacity: 12
Makers Workshop Capacity: 18
Exhibition Space Capacity: 20
- All spaces have wifi
- The Cinema Room and Network Support Room have AV
- Makers Workshop has loads of tools, equipment and workbenches
- We can provide you will flipchart, pens and post-its galore!
Quality
There are no hard and fast rules for what makes a great session but whether itās discussion-based or activity-based, make it interactive. Please go easy on slides with text - tell stories and show photos instead.
Documentation
Itās important to record and share the insights of your workshops so participants have something to refer back to and people who couldnāt make it can still get something from it. So have a think about how you will document the session, perhaps you want to appoint a note-taker or record it on a phone.
You can see our latest version of the programme here
Confirmed sessions:
Running listā¦
Building an online repair community & tracking our impact - @james @neil
(Better) Restart Parties for neurodivergents and anyone lacking spoons - @Panda, @benski @Dave
Intro to Circuits and Building Circuit Boards @nikhita
Hope and repair (Guest post: Hopeful repair, repairing hopefully)
How to Set up a Community Reuse Enterprise @Sophie_Unwin
How to solder @benski(?)
The Right to Repair and International Repair Day @ugo, @isabel
Using media for repair education/ skillshare - radio, youtube, etc @isabel
Workshop offers/requests:
Session(s) you would like to see - please add your ideas here:
Networking session for Fixers in the North & Midlands
How to solder
Addressing gender imbalance in electronics repair
Community repair in Brexit Britain
āRight to Repairā in Europe
Building a local network: schools, councils & commercial repair
How to tear down a smart phone
Collaborating with Hackspaces and Makerspaces
Safety and risk in community repair settings
Hosting Restart Parties/ Repair cafes - getting over nerves, sustaining momentum
Organising community repair in areas that are struggling economically
3D printing
Thermal fuses
Wiki editathon
Avoiding organiser burnout
Using endoscopic cameras for fault detection
Celebrate International Repair Day on 20 October
Using media for repair education/ skillshare - radio, youtube, etc
How to grow you community repair group: managing increasing demand
Partnering with refugee and newcomer programmes
Mini-Restart Party - a chance to fix our own stuff at last!
If you could run any of the above workshops stick your name next to it
It is not so much intended as a sales pitch but to inspire others as to what is possible. But I do hope the learning Iāve had can be useful to others to create more impact- thatās the whole point of creating the network. I could also see if someone from Glasgow repair CafĆ© wants to do the workshop together as we are collaborating in Glasgow - what do you think? Open to all feedback!
. Iāve been researching 3D printers and repair for my MSc and one of my findings from speaking to makerspace members is that these groups would like to collaborate with restart project groups and repair cafes to repair stuff. From emails to repair centres and restart project groups I understand digital fabrication tools arenāt really used. So, two thoughts - if anyone would be interested in chatting to me about this Iām happy to hear more from the restarters or repair cafe folks. Second, I see thereās a request for collaboration with makerspaces, and I would be interested in running workshop where we could generate ideas on how the different communities could collaborate to encourage repair and extend product lifetimes.