LibraryTechtonics

BIL is…an open, self-organizing, emergent, and anarchic science and technology conference.Nobody is in charge.

If you want to come, just show up.

If you have an idea to spread, start talking.

If someone is saying something interesting, stop and listen.

This free, two-day meeting of “minds set free” will be happening March 1-2, 2008 in Monterey, CA (you can register on the wiki). It’s bittersweet that the open house at my library is on March 1, because even if I could wrangle the plane ticket to get out there, I wouldn’t be able to attend.

If you can get out there — librarians in the area should road trip together! — it should be awesome. I think our profession could learn a little about the benefits of the occasional healthy serving of organized chaos with a dash of anarchy thrown in for good measure. The whole thing is basically a BarCamp on steroids, and I can’t wait to read the blog posts and Tweets.

This is also an excellent example of taking a big, expensive concept conference (in this case, TED, which is six grand a head; if you use Miro, you can subscribe to the TEDTalks channel), and making it affordable as well as accessible. Imagine what you could do on a local level just by inviting local Thought Stars to your library for a day, an afternoon, an evening.

So, if you head out there, let me know, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the experience.

What is NewBCamp? It’s a one day conference to introduce people from all professions and walks of life to emerging technologies, as well as provide primers for how to get started in those technologies. Everything from web design to blogging, podcasting, video on the Internet, and social networks will be discussed and shared. Unlike a regular conference, everyone is encouraged to participate and speak!

From the makers of PodCamp comes NewBCamp, the unconference where people who “don’t speak geek” can go to steep themselves in basic technology context, from the actually technology to the culture behind it. This is the first NewBCamp ever, and I’m very excited about its existence, and it’s a total bummer that I can’t attend (I’m working a Saturday shift that day). But, if you can be in Providence, RI on Saturday, February 23, 2008, and you can spare the fabulously bargain price of $10 for registration, you can have all the fun in the world for me, and definitely report back!

This makes me think of what Katherine Gould, Director of the Palos Verdes Library District in California wrote in her blog post:

We can develop and nurture a deep sense of what is unique about what we offer and what we do. We can immerse ourselves in new concepts, ideas and technologies so that we understand them at a gut level – to paraphrase Andrea we can “become Roman”. Those of us who weren’t born into the world of online communities and networks will never be natives, but we can be fully integrated immigrants.

Librarians need educational events like NewBCamp to aid in becoming “fully integrated immigrants.” Barcamps like NewBCamp are open, hands-on, full of helpful people who know a lot of different things and who understand thinking from the user’s perspective, because that’s really the focus when it comes to developing and understanding successful technology. It’s not about us or how we do or could do things, it’s about grokking where the user is coming from.

I have been inspired by NewBCamp, Kathleen Gould, and the Social Media Breakfast on Wednesday morning (I’ll write that up soon, it was too good to let go too long), to commit to a series of “Me: The User” posts. I will write about how I use different services as a user (not a librarian), my experience with Joe and Jane Users in those services, and hopefully I’ll be able to get non-librarians to add their thoughts and experiences in the comments. Hopefully this will help bring some insight into how the Romans do what they do…

In March, I’m offering a 3-class series on digital cameras, which will basically be my Geek Out, Don’t Freak Out! class on steroids.  All attendees will be required to attend all 3 sessions of the class, since the classes build on each other.

• Session 1: Standard Geek Out class, all hands on with the camera and manual, in the Conference Room.
• Session 2: Downloading and organizing photos on library Windows XP machines, patrons use their own cameras and cables, in the Computer Lab.
• Session 3:  Editing photos using Picnik, attaching photos to webmail, possibly playing with Flickr (time permitting), in the Computer Lab.

Problem:  I like to teach hands-on classes, because in my experience, people learn best that way.  I suspect this class will be popular (everyone who’s ever come to a Geek Out! class has asked for something like it).  I can usually take up to 15 people in the Conference Room for a Geek Out! session.  However, there are only 6 stations in the Computer Lab, and we don’t have enough laptops to do more people in the Computer Lab or in another room (yet).  This means that the class limit would sadly need to be 6 people, which is disappointingly low.  And, I won’t have time to offer this series again (or the classes as individual sessions) until September at the earliest.

Ultimate Question:  So, do I limit the class size to 6, and try to offer it again as soon as humanly possible, or do I have 12 people share 6 computers?

Addendum:  In the event of computer sharing, there will be “switch” time, so that each person can try the same thing on their own (which, incidentally, could make the lesson plan much simpler).  I’m figuring the pairs will be able to help each other out, so that the non-driver will have something to do.  However, I also know that there are people who don’t like to share machines for anything.  If I go the shared machine route, it’ll be plastered all over the promo materials that patrons will be sharing computers, so that patrons can decide if this is the right class environment for them.

Thoughts?