Cliff October 29th, 2006
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been to the best conference in my expierience.
Unfortunately, I missed the first day due to my travel insanity (thank you Delta & Hartsfield-Jackson). I arrived late Monday night and was up early the next morning to dive in. I attended:
Challenges of Cyberinfrastructre & Choices for Libraries
Podcasting & Videocasting
MySpace & Facebook (presented)
Partnerships in Archiving
Web Presence for Internet Librarians
Technology Training in a Library 2.0 World
Training Tutorial Tour & Tips
Comparing Book Search Engines
Social Computing & the Info Pro
Rather than do a blow-by-blow of all the sessions I attended, let me tell you what I gleaned from this experience:
- If possible, plan out every last little detail of your trip the moment you know you’re going. Get flights, hotels, restaurants, wifi access, and all that jazz done as soon as possible. And then immediately throw out all the plans (emotionally, at least), because it will all change the moment you leave your house.
- The conference is about learning things, yes. But more important than that is meeting cool people–of which there were an abundance at this conference. I was able to walk up to any group of people and immediately start carrying on conversation about what we are doing well, what we want to change, and where we think all this stuff is going.
- I’m not the only one with my attitudes/thoughts/opinions. A lot of folks share the same ideals about usability, accessibility, user-centered service, and the future of technology in libraries.
- The vendor representatives will listen if you gripe about their databases–most of them gave me their cards and an opportunity to contact them for more support. They should be listening to us, their users, for what would be useful in their databases, and which parts of their interfaces suck.
- There are a lot of non-librarians who are interested in our work, our needs, and our services.
- There are a lot of awesome librarians doing some amazing things to provide users with tools and services that they need in innovative ways.
Videos are up on YouTube and pics are on flickr.
Everyone smile and say “Promotion & Tenure!” Go to flickr and note yourself in this photo!
Cliff October 20th, 2006
The days are counting down till I leave for IL2006! I’m working to get everything finalized (hence the lack of posting). The biggest difficulty with a trip like this isn’t speaking in front of a crowd, or even fear of flying–it’s paralysis at being unable to decide which presentations to go to! I’m interested in ALL the topics, so I hate that I have to pick from the selection! But since I have to pick, a preliminary schedule is available on my page at the IL2006 wiki.
I’m reading the IL2006 wiki to get familiar with Monterey, and finding where I need to post my blog entries for my review. I’m kind of intimidated/excited that so many techie librarians are going to be there. I don’t want to seem like some fanboy doe-eyed front-row librarian geek, but somehow in my heart of hearts, I know that’s what I am, and will be.
- Wrapping up things at home:
- I’ve cancelled swing dance class for next Wednesday (and realized that the class wasn’t liking Lindy Hop, so we’re returning to East Coast after I get back from the conference).
- Things at work are covered. I even have someone to water my dinosaur plant!
- Must clean the house so that I don’t come back to insanity.
- I’m taking along massive amounts of reading that I need to get done.
- I am going to carve pumpkins for the Reference Desk upon my return…
Cliff October 2nd, 2006
I presented at the Southeastern Scholarship Conference on E-Learning this past weekend. This is a regional conference to talk about the distance education, educational technology, and similar themes:
The drive up was quite entertaining, listening to NPR, watching the sunset, and laughing at the irony of billboards. Then January and I went out for some food and were quite entertained at her new blow-up bed.
- The KeyNote Lunch. What a brilliant idea! Dr. Joel L Hartman (Vice Provost for Information Technologies and Resources, University of Central Florida in Orlando) presented “What Do Our Net Generations Students Expect From Us?” Hartman discussed a lot of the expectations Millennials have from the educational system, and as the slides progressed, I noticed that a lot of the behaviors applied to me. I also noticed the distressed head-shaking that many of the older faculty members were doing as each point was explained. Of course, being the loudmouth that I am, when it came to question and comment time, I pointed out that I am a NetGenner, as well as a faculty member, and that the two are often beneficial when paired together, especially since we’re teaching this generation. I also pointed out that I often have more differences in perspective with my peer faculty members than I do with students. Even if students do appear lazy/technology focused/uppity/whatever, I can tell the difference between generational culture and individual stupidity. Alas, that’s a whole other post…
- Harold Powers’ presentation, “Georgia VIEW: Selected Online Programs Overview & Vista 4 Features Preview” was a short history of the University System of Georgia’s use of WebCT and other online course management software, and a preview look at the new Blackboard Learning Systems’ Vista 4.1 (the replacement to our current WebCT Vista). I’ll be honest, it’s impossible for me to offer a favorable review until I’ve gotten into the nitty-gritty of it and seen how it works. There are a whole pile of problems in the current Vista which make it difficult to use–my number one being file management. Until I get my hands on the new one, I can’t cast a vote either way. However, Vista 4.1 appears to have some nifty new tools, such as blogging and journaling, with the ability to have students do double-blind peer reviews (This of course begs the question of having to teach the students how to do proper reviews, but I remain hopeful…).
- I was pleased to see some librarians getting some presentation time–Robin Grant and Felicia Haywood of Macon State College presented, “Scholarly Research: Only a Link Away.” I got some excellent ideas in this presentation for our library’s subject guides, as theirs seemed simplified and…well…helpful in comparison to our own.
- “Can I “Make” my Students Learn?” by Janet Orr was quite cool. She discussed her informal research into the effectiveness of using online quizzes to teach macroeconomics. She found that the addition of graded quizzes increased test scores 1-9%, but that student effort increase 39-112%. As an economist, she states, this is bad since the effort doesn’t match the reward. Following her presentation (pictures here, and video clips here and here) was a lively discussion about ways that she can improve her research and her classes–she appreciated the constructive criticism, and everyone was impressed with her research.
Friday evening was a relaxing evening with January. We talked a lot about friends over Japanese food (with some warm sake to help!). Then we went back to her apartment to watch TV until she passed out. But watching her TV recorder (it’s not Tivo, but some knockoff) I realized that not having TV means that I miss out on a lot of the cool TV technologies–oh well, you can’t have it all!
Just in case I forget to mention it elsewhere, Macon State has a beautiful campus and beautiful buildings. I can see why folks at Macon State would be happy to work at a smaller university.
- After I got some Burger King coffee in my system, I went to Jane Zahner’s presentation, “Billboard Wild Adventures: Managing and Caputring Online Discussion Groups.” She’s an engaging presenter, and discussed with the audience different techniques for creating and managing discussions in WebCT (and other online forums). I will definitely keep my notes from this talk handy for the next time I teach an online class. A short video clip is here.
- The last presentation I went to was “The Case for Online Technology in the Music Curriculum,” by PK Ebert. She emphasized that learning is multisensory, and presented different ways in which music could be enhanced with distance learning and online tools (such as online rehearsals, etc.). She also demonstrated different tools that could be found online for free, and we had a demonstration of high-end karaoke!
I took some good notes that will serve me in the future, got some good swag, and met some interesting people. All in all, a good conference and an uneventful drive home.
Cliff September 27th, 2006
Wednesday: The drive up, after wrapping up my presentation powerpoint that morning. Had dinner with the Social Networking folks that evening.
Thursday: Woke up at the ass-crack of dawn to chair the Reference Services Interest Group meeting, and then hand over my chair-hood. I rushed off to give my presentation on MySpace and Facebook in libraries that morning (Pictures of the crowd here. Standing room only!). Then I sat in on Brian and Sarah’s wiki presentation, and took some pictures. Had lunch with the Social Networking crew, which was fun. That afternoon I went to Brian’s Ubiquitous Enterprise presentation. And then it was time for “Outreach for Academic Libraries: Promoting Your Message Outside the Library.” After all was said and done, it was a little shopping (I got a new hemp wallet) and beers with the guys, and then dinner with the girls.
Friday: One last panel session - “How to Get Published in the Academic Library World”. Then it was time to pack up and head home.
