In a spirit of experimentation, innovation, co-operation and friendly competition, teams had less than 48 hours to develop and prototype completely new servicesinspired by a shared theme. At the end of the weekend, their collection of brand new services will be published to the world.

What a Jam is...Imagine a Jam session in music. You come together, bringing your instruments, your skills, your open mind. Someone sets up a theme, and you start to Jam around it. You don't overanalyse it, you don't discuss it to death, you Jam. You bounce your ideas off other people, and play around with what comes back. Together, you build something which none of you could have built alone. And at the same time, you are learning new ideas, discovering more about how you work and whom you best work with, sharpening your skills, and having a great time. And who knows, maybe there are one or two ideas there which might make it to the next album. Or maybe you Jammed so well, you decide to form a band...
The Global Service Jam works in just the same way. But it's not music you are Jamming - it's ideas. You'll be working with people you might never have met before, bouncing ideas off one another and building on what bounces back. And it's not just talking - you are here to turn your ideas into a concrete design, prototype and plan of action which you or somebody else might want to make real. Can you prototype and plan it in a way that someone could go out and make it real, knowing what resources they would need, what they should do, and who they should talk to? That's the challenge of the Jam.

What a Jam isn't... We love conferences. But a Jam isn't one of those. You are not here to lecture, or to listen, or just talk (though some local Jams might include some theory input). You are here to work together, to design and plan something which has the potential to become real.
We love networking groups and "design drinks". But a Jam isn't one of those. You're not here to show off your skills, to chat about what's happening in your field (although those things might happen). You'll be making contacts and sharing knowledge in the best possible way - by actually working through ideas, plans and problems together.
We love discussion groups, barcamps and unconferences . But a Jam isn't one of those. Although the Jam might be free form, there is a clear goal for the weekend - finished designs and plans which have the potential to become real, and which will be published to the world at the end of the weekend.

http://www.globalservicejam.org