Maths Jamifesto

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Advice For New Users

This is a suggestion for what to point people at if they use the #MathsJam tag for something that's not a MathsJam ...

Way to go, maths lover!

But you tweeted something about education with the #MathsJam tag.

MathsJam is a monthly meeting of grown-up maths enthusiasts. It's not about education or helping kids, because there are already plenty of venues for that; it's about adults having fun with maths for its own sake. While it's true that it's brilliant CPD for teachers, and excellent at finding and exploring enrichment activities, those are side-effects, not the main purpose.

So, we'd rather you didn't use #MathsJam when sharing something for education or kids. It means adults have a place to talk about maths at their own level. Besides, the vast majority of our attendees are not educators, so it's not fair to make them wade through non-#MathsJam related tweets.

Hashtags are a great way of reaching people on Twitter, and we'd encourage you to find one that best suits your target audience. There are plenty to choose from: #mathchat, #mathed, #mathsed, #mathschat, #mathematics, or even #scichat.

This is a firmly tongue-in-cheek attempt to capture
what it is about the MathsJam that makes it different,
and the ideas we have to try to keep it that way, and
give it its own, distinctive identity.

Maths Jamifesto

People ask:

Why just adults?

Well, most of the people who get involved with the
MathsJam are enthusiasts, and when there are kids
around they start to tailor their explanations to
them, to help encourage and enthuse them. But we
figure there are already lots of initiatives to get
kids into maths, and we wanted one just for us.
That's why the meetings are generally in pubs, places
for adults to relax with each other.
0. Maths Jam is an informal opportunity for people interested in Mathematics to socialise and share any things of mathematical interest. It is a non-commercial and un-affiliated organisation catering to adults.

[Monthly Maths Jams take place once a month in cities around the world. There are also annual Maths Jam conferences covered by their own Maths Jamifesto. The name "Maths Jam" cannot be used for any other activities.]

Monthly Maths Jamifesto

1. Maths Jams meet on the second last Tuesday of every month, during the evening hours of the local time-zone.

2. Maths Jams meet in pubs, or a similar venue where adults would normally go to socialise and is not associated with anything educational or academic.

3. Maths Jams are inclusive gatherings, open to any adults with an interest in mathematics, regardless of ability. Even chemists.

4. A Maths Jam cannot charge a fee to be involved, or any other barrier for entry other than a willingness/ability to go to the pub.

5. Maths Jams cannot be affiliated to any institutions or organisations and are run as the personal project of a volunteer (or group of volunteers).

Practical Running

0. If any organisers have any problems, issues or simply cannot continue running a MathsJam please let us know so we can help-out.

1. Organisers should inform us if they change venue, hand-over to a different organiser or any other details so the main website can be changed.

2. If the organiser cannot make the Maths Jam, it can still go ahead. Ask a different regular attendee to make sure they're there instead. If you take a month off, we need to put it on the website in big letters.

3. If a MathsJam has its own websites, facebook pages or twitter accounts, please let us know so they can be linked to from the main MathsJam site.

4. The list of contacts for a local MathsJam must be maintained using the official MathsJam email account. Please check the account at least monthly for any new enquiries (and out-of-office message, to say their email has been received, is optional but recommended).

5. When emailing, put all email addresses in the BCC field so the contacts are not disclosed to everyone else.

6. Please send out at least one email a month with the details of the next MathsJam (but no more than two) to all members of the mailing list. At least one reminder email should be within the Monday-Friday of the week before the MathsJam Tuesday.

7. The monthly reminder email can contain extra details such as what happened at the previous MathsJam or bonus information about the next, but make sure the main details are prominent and near the top. You can mention other local events which may be of interest in the email, but keep them down "below the fold".

6. The MathsJam contacts list cannot be used for any other purposes or passed on to any other people/organisations. If anyone asks you to send something out to the MathsJam attendees, put it on the bottom of the monthly email iff you think it's appropriate.

7. If you can, please have someone at the MathsJam on twitter to send out any interesting bits of maths or at least let us know that all is well at your MathsJam. One tweet at the beginning and end is much appreciated.

Additional

The North/South divide of the UK is exactly Latitude: 52.477507

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