CIL from a distance
This is the second year in a row I’m not attending the majority of Computers in Libraries. I leave tomorrow for a very quick trip to teach a post-conference on AJAX in Libraries with Jason Clark but the rest of the conference I’ve been observing from a distance. This is something I don’t typically do because:
- My days are chock full
- There isn’t a good way to observe exactly real time
However, this year I’m trying something new for me. I’ve been following people blogging the conference but I’ve also been following people at the conference Twittering. While some of the Twittering is inane, some of it is actually interesting. Little tidbits like “learning about Twine” introduce me to new tools, which is very helpful.
I really kind of wish there was a CIL IRC channel though. Maybe it is because I’m not particularly fond of Twitter or haven’t quite figured it out yet. But I miss the banter that I saw in the #code4lib channel at the conference. Another thing that code4lib SO does right is videoing and putting up the presentations. This is the kind of thing that makes it easy for people to participate virtually, not the SWIFT stuff that ITI is trying out currently. 3 years ago there may have been a need for a SWIFT to provide this functionality but there are plenty of places for non-techies to share and collaborate virtually now.
Jason Clark and my workshop was done in GoogleDocs as was the accompanying handout. It seems ironic to me having done a presentation with Michelle Boule on E-Learning on a Shoestring that people think they need to pay big $$ for this sort of thing. It just isn’t true. There are lots of free or cheap solutions out there.
Case in point, last week I was catching up with Jason Griffey via text chat and decided I wanted to show him my new hair cut. Yes frivolous and vain, but also cheap and easy. I suggested video iChat, he suggested video Skype and within 5 mins we were video conferencing using Skype. I showed Jason my cute hair, he showed me his office at UT Chattanooga.
The point of this story is that participating from a distance isn’t difficult anymore. The key requirement is kick-ass connectivity. Without this everything sort of goes to hell. People + Connectivity = some really cool conversations, participation and presence without physically being in a place. Keeping that in mind, CIL from a distance is a pretty cool thing.
The reality is at CIL WiFi is down quite often, and I noted they broke Twitter as well today. I do find it hard to get a real time impression from CIL as well.
I agree on the IRC. It’s not something this crowd takes to and I am sort of resigned to that. However, it’s not impossible… mibbit.com makes irc easy. I think another issue is that CiL may not be the right venue for you at this point–you may be more c4l/Access/LITA Forum. And nothing wrong about that!