Library Instruction Network?

About 10 years ago Johanna Anderson blogged about setting up a "Librarians as Teachers" network. I've a vague memory of it lasting a few years (with Helen Blanchett and Jo driving a lot of it?) and having a lot of TeachMeet-y type things on it, but it sort of slowly faded, probably being nudged out of existence at the same time as a few other networks I was part of also faded, thanks to the platforms charging increasing amounts (particularly as membership, even inactive membership, figures grew). My memory is a tad vague though on it...

 [You can see it on the Wayback Machine... sort of! Snapshot from 2012]

I've just (finally) refused to renew my CILIP membership for next year, so wondered if it was time to start something similar, but updated? Using what I'd have paid CILIP to help fund it. Plus after a thoroughly depressing 2020, I need something positive for 2021! 

I've been playing with possible platforms for other projects, and "Mighty Networks" seems a decent platform for doing this sort of thing on. It has a free level which seems a bit rubbish, a fairly standard charged level of membership that has most of the functionality I'd look for in this sort of platform. Plus a "premium" level that also includes stuff like the ability to run courses through it. The middle level that seems ok is a little bit more than I'd have been paying for CILIP membership - so I could pay for that, offer free membership to anyone who wanted to join, plus a "premium" membership for anyone who felt able to contribute (including some sort of extra to make it worth people's contribution). If enough people joined as premium members we could even bump the subscription up to the top level and run courses through it, but helping to cover the basic costs ($28 per month) would be first! 

So would anyone be interested in a "Library Instruction" type network? It'd be an online network to ask questions, have discussions, perhaps host / organise TeachMeets, build sets of resources, etc. Free to all, but I'd welcome a few people as "premium members" to share the cost and make it sustainable. 

Related to this... what would make it worthwhile joining as a "premium member"? I'm thinking $15 a year (the platform charges in USD), or less than £1 per month. The default would be access to a seperate group part of the site / network, so I could put resources in there (a PDF of one or more of my books maybe?), or it could be used as a decision making part of the network ("premium" members get increased access to shape the network / decide on topics / etc?), or something else... (BTW - It'd need more than 30 people becoming premium members before it covered costs at that token $15 a year.)

This post is largely thinking aloud for now, but if I decide I've enough energy to set something up properly, I'll edit this post to include a link to the Network...

Currently being set-up, aiming for all the basics there the first week of Jan 2021, but the Network will be at: https://library-instruction.mn.co

Adult Play Network

 

After pondering this idea for a while, I've just set up a Kickstarter to see if anyone else would genuinely be interested!  

The aim is to fund a network (on MightyNetworks, a commercial platform) of people wanting to bring more play into all aspects of their lives. It will be a social network (so lots of chances to share), as well as regular playful tips and ideas from play experts. 

It will also be a training platform, with play experts able to host courses and events through the network. 

The hope is that the training will provide funding for the platform - but instead of taking a large cut of course fees, a membership fee will be bundled into the course for non-members. So once you've taken one course, or subscribed to the platform seperately, all courses will be discounted by the membership fee.

I'll launch the Kickstarter either 21st or 28th August, but to be informed when it goes live, just click on the "Notify me" button on the upcoming project page.

Institute of Adult Play ponderings

Sample Logo for an "Institute of Adult Play"

I've pondered for ages ways of encouraging / creating more work in the field of play and adults for myself and some friends. Something that could pull opportunities for us together and enable those that want to escape from their existing jobs, or to gradually do so at least. Some of them joke about setting up a fun-versity or play-versity as an antidote to their work at universities. But what about something smaller? So I was pondering some options...

Sample Logo (2) for an "Institute of Adult Play"

How about something that is a cross between a provider of training and a social / professional network for adult play people? An "Institute of Adult Play"?
There are such a wide range of people who work with play and adults, so the first thing it would do is pull people together - provide a platform for cross fertilisation of ideas, for sharing opportunities for work, and to generally share stuff amongst themselves.
The second thing would be to provide training - partly training for those play professionals, but also a way of providing training to the wider public / organisations. Members of the "institute" could provide training on a shared online platform (which spreads out the costs of providing it) as well as linking to training where we have to be physically present (when we can eventually do so again!)- hopefully that would mean people would do one course, then come back to do someone else's, increasing the work for all of us.

Sample Logo (3) for an "Institute of Adult Play"

 

It would probably be a not for profit type membership organisation - with members paying a monthly or yearly fee (£5 a month maybe?!) which would let us pay for a membership platform with a virtual learning environment built in. Some of these platforms let you charge for membership, plus have the choice to charge for courses or offer them free for different membership levels, so could let people develop their own course(s) on the platform which we'd pay out for when people booked on the course. Or dish out the membership fee dependant on how many people had done each course? Or some other way of spreading the money!

This would be really risky to set-up. It'd need a small amount of seed money to set up as a company (maybe a Community Interest Company - a type of social enterprise?), but a much larger amount to run a platform / network.

Sample Logo (4) for an "Institute of Adult Play"

So I pondered a Kickstarter? If we risked a small amount of money to set up a business, it could be done in a way that it only started trading if the Kickstarter was successful, otherwise just got closed down again before it actually did anything. The Kickstarter would be a way of getting enough money to run the platform for a year, plus gauging if enough people were interested in becoming members to be worthwhile!

So... does this all sound completely ridiculous, or does it sound amazing and you'd all like to be directors and founder members? Should we take a gamble and try and set something up? Would anyone like to play along in running something like this? Let me know (preferably via Twitter...) @PlayBrarian with the somewhat long #tag of #InstituteOfAdultPlay