unconference as post-modern agora

In ancient Greek city-states, the agora was a 'place of assembly' that served as a marketplace for ideas, politics, and commerce.

(Agoraphobia - the fear of being in public places - tracks back to Greek Ἀγορά .)

Earlier today, the Greek agora came up in conversation I had with @DayJobView at a local unconference called Congress Camp.

A lecturer in Greek and Roman Literature and Civilization, she offered some insights into the cultural station of the Greek agora the possible overlap in social function with self-organized unconferences that have been gaining traction in tech circles.

The resonance has got me thinking of unconferences as post-modern agoras, augmented with computer technologies  facilitating new channels of interactivity and communication.

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A recent Benjamin Barber piece in The Nation adds some z axis:

The ancient agora, or civic marketplace, of democratic Athens and the covered arcades of nineteenth-century European towns exemplify a spirit where public things (literally res publica, the origin of our word "republic") become paramount. Entertainment and commerce are necessary and important, but they "work" because people are drawn into public spaces for other reasons: to play in the company of others, to watch one another and see others with fresh vision (here the fabulous red stairs atop the TKTS booth at Forty-seventh Street make a splendid start), to interact with strangers, to get out of private space and into common space.