Comments on: Uncontrolled Vocabulary #9 – On the level of what Einstein did http://uncontrolledvocabulary.com/2007/08/24/uncontrolled-vocabulary-9-on-the-level-of-what-einstein-did/ A weekly live interactive roundtable discussion of all things library, every Wednesday at 10 PM Eastern Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:28:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Stephen Francoeur http://uncontrolledvocabulary.com/2007/08/24/uncontrolled-vocabulary-9-on-the-level-of-what-einstein-did/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Stephen Francoeur Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:31:00 +0000 http://uncontrolledvocabulary.com/2007/08/24/uncontrolled-vocabulary-9-on-the-level-of-what-einstein-did/#comment-26 I wish I had been able to join the conversation on this session, mostly because of the discussion about unconferences and libraries. As one of the organizers of <a HREF="http://librarycampnyc.wikispaces.com/" REL="nofollow">Library Camp NYC</a>, I would have liked to contribute the following.<br/><br/>(1) As far as documenting the event so that the information shared could be more widely disseminated, we found that during the event attendees were sending out messages on Twitter, adding content to the event wiki, and taking lots of photos. In the days that followed, we started to see a number of attendees do write-ups on their blogs or on the event wiki. With the exception of the Twitter messages, all of that content can be accessed via the event wiki now.<br/><br/>Capturing the information shared, though, is challenging in an unconference environment. The events of the day are characterized by open discussion and not presentations (as far as I know, there was not a single slide presentation in any of the 21 sessions). In every session that took place, one person volunteered to be a note-taker. Some took their notes directly on the event wiki while others did so on their laptops and then later uploaded their notes to the wiki. Capturing a conversation by note-taking is not the easiest thing. In organizing the event, we had discussed trying to record the audio and or video of each sessions, but the logistics of getting equipment for each breakout room and getting signed release forms from attendees seemed to be too overwhelming for us.<br/><br/>(2) In planning this event, we always envisioned unconferences not as a replacement for traditional conferences but as a means of complementing them. What we wanted to recreate were the informal conversations that take place at conferences among attendees in social events, before and after sessions, in hallways, in the exhibits areas, etc. I think we succeeded quite well at this, as we had library school students as well as librarians with extensive careers exchanging ideas with each other throughout the day.<br/><br/>I would like to see more library camp events for a number of reasons:<br/><br/>- they are affordable for attendees (usually no or minimal fees are charged)<br/><br/>- they allow for up-to-the-minute topics to be proposed as sessions (something that made big news the day before can be on the program)<br/><br/>- the lowered expectations about conference formalities makes planning them easier than putting together a formal conference<br/><br/>I hope that anyone thinking of planning an library-themed unconference will visit the <a HREF="http://librarycampnyc.wikispaces.com/" REL="nofollow">Library Camp NYC wiki</a>, as we tried to document the organization and the planning of the event as well as the day's activities. In the coming weeks, we hope to be posting more notes about what did and didn't work on the day, as well. We are also planning to survey attendees and put the results of that survey up on the wiki. I wish I had been able to join the conversation on this session, mostly because of the discussion about unconferences and libraries. As one of the organizers of Library Camp NYC, I would have liked to contribute the following.

(1) As far as documenting the event so that the information shared could be more widely disseminated, we found that during the event attendees were sending out messages on Twitter, adding content to the event wiki, and taking lots of photos. In the days that followed, we started to see a number of attendees do write-ups on their blogs or on the event wiki. With the exception of the Twitter messages, all of that content can be accessed via the event wiki now.

Capturing the information shared, though, is challenging in an unconference environment. The events of the day are characterized by open discussion and not presentations (as far as I know, there was not a single slide presentation in any of the 21 sessions). In every session that took place, one person volunteered to be a note-taker. Some took their notes directly on the event wiki while others did so on their laptops and then later uploaded their notes to the wiki. Capturing a conversation by note-taking is not the easiest thing. In organizing the event, we had discussed trying to record the audio and or video of each sessions, but the logistics of getting equipment for each breakout room and getting signed release forms from attendees seemed to be too overwhelming for us.

(2) In planning this event, we always envisioned unconferences not as a replacement for traditional conferences but as a means of complementing them. What we wanted to recreate were the informal conversations that take place at conferences among attendees in social events, before and after sessions, in hallways, in the exhibits areas, etc. I think we succeeded quite well at this, as we had library school students as well as librarians with extensive careers exchanging ideas with each other throughout the day.

I would like to see more library camp events for a number of reasons:

- they are affordable for attendees (usually no or minimal fees are charged)

- they allow for up-to-the-minute topics to be proposed as sessions (something that made big news the day before can be on the program)

- the lowered expectations about conference formalities makes planning them easier than putting together a formal conference

I hope that anyone thinking of planning an library-themed unconference will visit the Library Camp NYC wiki, as we tried to document the organization and the planning of the event as well as the day’s activities. In the coming weeks, we hope to be posting more notes about what did and didn’t work on the day, as well. We are also planning to survey attendees and put the results of that survey up on the wiki.

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