LibraryTechtonics

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…

Weather permitting, I’ll be heading to Social Media Breakfast 4 (which is totally sold out, btw) on Monday morning to hear Geoff Livingston weigh out whether people are trying to target audiences, stakeholders, or community members using social media. Geoff posted a really interesting preface to his talk on his blog, outlining the differences between the three types of “targets” (complete with pics as visual stimulators of thought, and dictionary definitions for clarity), and a really interesting bit on the types of relationships each target represents.

Reading the comments so far (I’m guessing there will be more), this statement from Geoff’s response this morning really struck me:

…I’m not seeing it as a battle of semantics, more one of attitude. To me having the attitude that you can use social media to talk to audiences indicates that you think you are in control, that the people you are communicating with cannot make good decisions (Keen), and that it’s your stage to perform on. The audience can only cheer or leave depending on your performance. This approach seems to be one for other media forms.

- Geoff Livingston, 15 Dec 2007

To me, this is where libraries still teeter, which was evidenced by some of the comments and questions I heard at the Rhode Island CE presentation I did last week (more in on that in another, overdue post), and what I’ve heard at presentations and events before. Librarians still want a serious amount of control, and by this definition, that means we are still treating our patrons as an audience, not as an interactive community or even as decision-influencing stakeholders, going by Livingston’s definitions.

Libraries will need to see social media from the patrons’ perspective, and apply it mostly on the patrons’ terms to really be effective in that arena, and that means allowing access in a way that is inherently uncomfortable behind the green library curtain. And while libraries and librarians are trying, and are making some progress getting feet wet, it won’t be a real, participatory paradigm shift until we all get past that audience mentality and really get into the community and stakeholder mindset of application.

I think it’ll be a really interesting talk. Until my new laptop arrives, I won’t be live blogging anything, so I’m hoping to write up my notes shortly after.