This afternoon, my excitement about PodCamp Boston 2 was shattered. I received an email that the PodCamp Boston “master schedule” was released, and minutes later I downloaded the PDF, only to discover that my proposed session on Teen Podcasting was not included. For weeks I’ve been in talks with Matt Pippen, the vice president of the Teen Podcasters Network, about how I should lead this session, what information to include, and we were even thinking about setting up a live audio/video link so he could be “present” during the session. I told everyone that I may be leading a session at the event; some people from Pownce even said they would come from afar to see me present.

Now, I know that the organizers of the event had a lot of sessions to deal with. Leading an UnConference can be a big deal, since you open your doors to everyone. But the part that truly makes me mad, is the fact that sessions from the wait list made it onto the “master schedule”, yet mine was excluded. I wasn’t even consulted about this decision. So, I contacted Whitney Hoffman to see if this was simply a clerical error. She said that “there were several things on the wiki with no attribution and we couldn’t even track down those people to verify they were attending”. Huh? My email is right on my session proposal, here’s a screenshot.

The bigger issue here for me is the fact that the grounds under which PodCamp Boston was created to support new media makers of all ages and a diversity of voices. On the PodCamp Boston website, they say, “PodCamp Boston 2 is the new media community UnConference that helps connect people interested in blogging, podcasting, social networks, video on the net, and new media together for three days to learn, share, and grow their new media skills.” So, why in this “community” conference are teens excluded? In the guide to the conference, they tell people to “carry Government-issued photo ID with you at all times”. What about 13-16 year olds? The opening event Friday night is at “Tequilla Rain”, which is a 21+ bar in the Boston area. So, right off the bat, teens are excluded. All the after parties, by the way, are also at 21+ venues.

I hope you will support me by contacting the PodCamp Boston crew, and ask them why teens are time and time again shut out of this “community” event. You can use the form on their website here, or post on the forums here. There is still time for them to correct this inequity, so they can truly show that this is a community.

The adults are scared, ladies and gentlemen.

(via kabrenlevinson.com/blog/) Posted 4 years ago with Notes