Meet Ups

5th Birthday, chrystie, Community Building, Meet Ups, Next WJ, Online Collaboration, Online Learning
sneaky peeky
May 16th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments Off

I thought it might be fitting to end the Happy Birthday celebrations this week with a link (right here? from the blog?) to a clandestine view of the new WebJunction home page. Cleverly titled “sneaky peeky” this is the view that WJ staff have themselves been playing with in our “sandbox” for the last couple of weeks. It’s not nearly ready for beta release yet, but as you can see, My WebJunction is right there at the top of the page, along with our fancy new brand, just waiting for me/you/us to populate it with whatever i/you/we care about. It’s gonna be rockin’ and we can’t wait to start evolving this with more than just a few of us with our eyes on it.

Next week we get together with all of our current community partners for some good old fashioned f2f training, and this will be our first chance to show off and gather input on the new system with people outside of the WJ staff. Next? Our WJ Advocates will get a sneak peek and they’ll tell us what they think. Then? Well, by that time I think we’ll all be ready for a broader audience. And that’s where we all get to tell each other what we think. And it will grow from there.

Stay tuned…
chrystie, Community Building, Conferences, Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Web 2.0
connecting with old friends at WJ Arizona
November 15th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off

My last fall trip is just now over. I’ve been sitting in my house for, I don’t know, twenty minutes or so, and I’m very happy to report that the trip and the talk went very well. For the first time I tried pulling together some of the ideas and research for my (extra-curricular) Libraries Build Communities project into a talk about the community building we do at WebJunction – the two are obviously very connected for me but not necessarily for everyone. But guess what? It worked! I was relieved and pleased that it seemed to be the right mix of community building for library staff and community building for patrons. Viola! Connections made!

I left out the Putnam stuff I’ve been talking about in some of my recent presentations and instead focused on our community building roots and how in-person community building and online community building share the same principles and practice; then I connected what our patrons are doing with web2.0 tools to what library staff are doing with the same, and with projects like WJ.

I was a little nervous about the mix, with only one hour for a joint presentation with my co-presenter, Mala, the team lead for WebJunction Arizona, but at the end of it all, one of our audience members come up and says something like: thank you for your overview of social networking and what it means for WebJunction; now I understand why this stuff is important. I work in a rural library and I’m trying to help my community understand how to use this stuff and understand what it’s all about; this was really helpful.

Does it really get more libraryland luscious than that? Maybe. I’ll be here for it if it does. I only posted a few pictures from this very short visit, but you’ll find them here. Many, many thanks to the organizers of AzLA for having me. I had a great time and it was wonderful meeting and talking with so many of you and your library staff in Arizona.

(reposted on Libraries Build Communities)
chrystie, Community Building, IL2007, Meet Ups, News
IL2007 & WebJunction Job Opps
October 30th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off

Whew! What a whirlwind! Libraryman and I had a great time with our program yesterday (thoroughly documented, so I won’t go into it, other than to say…) We’ve heard from a number of people that they liked what we talked about! Yay. Community building is really behind so many of the tools and best practices at place here; it was really rewarding to start the day off with a conversation about ‘why’ and ‘how’ we do social networking (online and off). IL has a great audience and it’s a lot of fun to be here and share ideas and projects with everyone.

Otherwise, IL2007 has also been fabulous – I’ve had a great time connecting with people that I haven’t seen for a while, as well as spending time with people that I know online better than I do in person. I always take a chunk of breakfast/lunch/dinner slots while I’m here at this conference to talk in person specifically with people that I’ve known or met online over the year before – it’s fun! This year I’ve met with Amanada, Jennifer, Josh, David, Robin, and a few others that I’ve maybe seen around before but really became ‘friends’ with in the last several months – either through facebook, twitter, or the WJ. Not to mention the folks that I know well, but don’t see very often – great connecting with these folks as well. Heck, even the people I see every day, I end up having inspirational conversations with. It’s such a wonderful source of new energy and innovation to get away from daily activities – get out there and talk to people (even the same people!) in a new context. THANK YOU to OCLC and WebJunction for making this an important part of our roles in the cooperative; it really makes a huge difference! “I love my online community” (and it gets bigger all the time) is the only thing I have to say about that!

One project I’m working on now (also with libraryman, and with cindi trainor (current WJ member spotlight) and michael sauers (traveling librarian)) that I’m super excited about is a series of interviews with “veteran” library professionals – the innovators of earlier times – that we can publish as primary resources (oral histories) and excerpt as a popular series, beginning sometime next year. It’s the most exciting project that I’m currently involved in, really, and it’s great to be here with colleagues – gathering new ideas (and names) for those interviews. Stay tuned for more info … I think there will be a lot of ways the WJ community can get involved in this project once it takes off.

I’ve also been encouraging anyone who’s interested in working in the social networking, community building, or learning areas to check out our open positions right now (on OCLC’s career site). See something you like? Please apply. Three positions are currently open in the Community area; we’d love to hear from you!

Back to conferencing …
Conferences, Gaming Presentations, IL2007, Meet Ups
Games, Presentations, Info, Pictures and Friends: mid-IL2007
October 29th, 2007 | Permalink | 4 Comments

Oh Internet Librarian, you are the best! Actually the people that are here and the things they are doing and talking about are the best (and let’s face it, Monterey doesn’t hurt either). For the majority of folks reading this though, Monterey is a long way off. Happily we’re trying to share the experience of being here this year as best we can. Along those lines, some pretty spiffy photos have started to show up already (check the WebJunction flickr photo stream or do search on flickr for the tag IL2007 to see more). Here are a couple WJ related shots that might be fun to take a peek at:

Last night Jenny Levine, Aaron Schmidt, and myself (Michael Porter) co-hosted an open gaming event/flickr and/or twitter meet-up, which was a total blast. It felt great to be able to say: “this even brought to you in partnership with ALA, WebJunction and ITI“. Collaboration abounds! As does some gaming night competition. Here are the two Guitar Hero competition winners David Free and Michael Sauers proudly standing in the project’s glare with their fabulous prizes:

*Just a side note, this event was held right after Jenny and Aaron’s “Gaming in Libraries” pre-conference which was SO worth the time and money. Gamer and non-gamer librarian alike are encouraged to seek out this type of content and these two speakers in particular to understand the importance and value of gaming in Libraryland. The connections are surprising and VERY real. Thanks Jenny and Aaron for your excellent work!*

But that was yesterday. Today the morning started off for Chrystie and I in a pretty public way as we gave this presentation together:

Here is a shot of the audience (can anybody spot themselves in this pic?):

Here is Chrystie in action during the presentation:

While those are fine shots, in my mind there is already stiff competition for fave IL2007 photo between these to pics:

and…

What’s your vote?

For now, it’s back to the conference sessions and the wonderful people here at this years’ Internet Librarian conference. I’ll look for you here or online!

-Michael
Meet Ups, Seattle, Sustainability, WebJunction Staff
Meeting To Meet Your Needs
March 15th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off

Kannan (his hand anyway), Chrystie, Anna, Dave, Jeff, Joe, Doug, Clayton, Dale, Mike and Janet….toasting WJ in the middle of a big ole’ planning meeting.

Here is a very happy shot of a nice hunk of your friendly neighborhood WJ team members during a recent meeting we had in Seattle. Three days of very productive meetings were held in the always visually impressive main Seattle Public Library. We worked and thought very hard, focusing like lasers on the tasks at hand and getting lots and lots done. Heck, we even sang a song along the way. In fact, we were singing when I took this shot! While I can’t repeat the words to this particular song, suffice it to say that Jeff was hazing me by leading the group sing-along of this particular ditty. Don’t worry, for the greater good of the community legal action will not be forthcoming.

In addition to singing, we really did work very hard. Trust me when I promise that you’ll see result springing up as we move forward (cool, cool stuff!).

While we’re talking about being at the Seattle Public Library here is a shot of one of Libraryland’s very favorite Chrysities, Chrystie Hill. She was on break from this meeting in the hallway, on her cell phone, in a separate meeting! Between that and the reflection on the floor, we’ve got some seriously recursive action going on here! Enjoy!
Meet Ups, Technology Planning
See you in Albuquerque?
March 9th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off

We’re hoping to meet some WebJunction members at the upcoming joint conference of the Mountain Plains Library Association and the New Mexico Library Association, going down at the Albuquerque Convention Center next week.

A couple of folks from WebJunction World HQ in Seattle will be joining our Community Partners from Arizona, Kansas, and New Mexico. You can find us in booth numbers 57 and 58 (one booth alone will not do!) in the exhibit hall.

Better yet, please consider joining us for a presentation on Overcoming the E-Rate Hurdle on Friday, March 16 from 1:30-2:30 pm. For those of you who can’t make the presentation, the MPLA folks have been kind enough to post our materials to the conference handouts archive.

But if you are going to be in Albuquerque next week, we hope to see you there!
Meet Ups, Online Collaboration
on the road
February 19th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off

Check out this travel schedule (as of this moment) for Jan, Feb, March, and April.
Jan: Seattle – ALA midwinter (does this count? it’s not like i was really at home); Montgomery, AL (state library visit)
February: Dublin, OH (meeting our new dev team, looking at some new systems); Springfield, IL (state library visit)

March: Dublin, OH (again, this time for a product manager meeting); Portland, ME (state library visit)

April: Dublin, OH (again, again, this time for community partner training) …

And so, I won’t likely be going to Computers in Libraries this year. As much as I would love to go, especially since the focus is on Community Building, I just can’t see myself getting on a plane again in mid-April. There will be plenty of other folks from the WJ there to connect with folks, and also bring back conference highlights. Looks like a great conference. I hope everyone has a great time!
(Even though I set down to write this with firm resolve not to go, now I sort of feel like I’m in high school again, about to miss out on prom. Maybe I should go. Will you be there?)
Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Tech
a different kind of tagging
February 9th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off

I�m a huge proponent of connecting f2f life with online life. In our cyber-connected world, I�ve met so many people exclusively online. On the one hand, it�s great to have such an expanded set of professional connections not possible before the networked Web. On the flip side, I feel a bit like the molecular bonding of these relationships won�t be complete until I can associate the virtual acquaintance (name, textual commentary, maybe a photo) with an animated face, spontaneous gestures, tonal peels of laughter, all the characteristics that make us fully human. To add to this sense of uncombined valance shells, I have learned many times that I had been at the same conference in the same room at the same time with someone I knew virtually �.and we didn�t meet f2f. Frustrating!

I fantasized about some kind of device that would signal to me when I was in physical range of one on my virtual acquaintances. At the recent OCLC Symposium Who’s Watching YOUR Space? (podcasts available here), Marc Smith of Microsoft�s Community Technologies Group informed us that my fantasy is already reality: SpotMe and nTag Interactive are companies producing electronic networking devices that do just what I had in mind. Each person in possession of a device enters personal data including interests (think of tagging yourself like you tag your books in LibraryThing); when two devices in proximity register the same interest/tag, the signal goes off indicating a potential meet up. A month later at the ASTD TechKnowledge conference, Rick Borovoy of nTag presented another use for the interactive devices to extend e-learning into the informal, interpersonal arena, thus nudging the online classroom into more social, enriched learning environments. All cool.

Perhaps the proliferation of mobile technology is starting to get out of hand. Why not just incorporate the peer-locating functionality into our cell phones? But for the sake of my inner luddite, just make sure there�s an off switch for those times when I don�t want to be so darn findable.
Meet Ups, Online Collaboration
Sweet Home WebJunction
February 4th, 2007 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Every year since 2004, we hit the road to visit our most recent partner sites, and learn a bunch about local needs, interests, and innovations — crafting a local and national strategy for cooperation and collaboration all the while. We’re just back from Montgomery, Alabama – visiting the state library there, getting started on a custom version of the WJ for public library staff across the state.
Every time I visit a state library, I’m struck by how truly unique the state and state library are. Surely there’s a lot of synergy between state library agency initiatives, missions, and approach to services (otherwise, WebJunction wouldn’t be as useful, would it?). Still, each state library is made, culturally, from the communities they serve. Visiting state libraries, though not an entirely glamorous form of travel (yes, I visited the bowling alley next to my hotel, for example), is a bit like working in an episode of this american life.

Alabama library folk seemed to be already living and working in the cooperative spirit we work to foster at WebJunction. You may have heard us talk about “the WebJunction way.” Sure – there’s something unique about “us” too – but it struck me during our visit that Alabama is already traversing this path. First, they don’t seem to be concerned with sometimes typical boundaries around library size, or even type. They’re just like – hey, let’s help each other by working together! Second, they seem somewhat lost on the concept of boundaries between the state library staff roles. Over the course of our day there, we had a number of staff members from different aspects of state library services raising their hands saying I want to help out on this project! How can I be involved? Some of these folks even surprised themselves. What a treat!! Finally, at least the folks we met with, had a real let’s just get it done sort of approach. We came away with more ideas for connecting and sharing content than I’ve had in a single 8 hour period since, I don’t know, ALA-midwinter? And in spite of their insistence that I am indeed a yankee, southern roots or no, what a lovely group. I can’t wait to start working with them on the WJ-Alabama site, which should be live sometime this summer. (MP took some pictures while we were there. I’m sure he’ll post them soon and at that point I’ll update here.)

And who is next? you may want to know. Well, I’m very excited to say that Maine and Illinois are our next two destinations.
Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration
midwinter meetings
January 17th, 2007 | Permalink | Comments Off
If you’re coming to Seattle for midwinter, well by-golly let us know so we can say hello in person. WebJunction staff are gonna be around all weekend and we’re looking forward to all the festivities. Here are a few events you might want to check out, if you’re not already planning to (excuse all the commentary if you like, I’m feeling chatty):
- Who’s Watching Your Space?, Friday, 1.30 – 4.30pm, Sheraton Seattle, Metropolitan Ballroom, featuring online community experts Marc Smith, the boss of our old friend Danyel Fisher, danah boyd, who I already talked about here, and Howard Rheingold, who recently said:
Some things about online social behavior seems to be eternal and universal–trolls and griefers and the eternal meta-debate about what to do about them, for example. There’s a widespread amnesia, as if these kinds of cybersocializing were new. Not many people online have much sense of history. That’s probably true of just about everything. What I really like is that it’s so easy to roll your own these days. It used to be a big deal to set up your own chat or BBS or listserv. Now it’s part of the tool set for millions of people, and it’s mostly free. My main concern has always been about the quality of online discourse–are we improving or degrading the public sphere?

Which reminded me of something that someone said to me at the Online Community Summit last year when I mentioned that I went to library school to become a better historian but came out (instead) an enthusiast for librarians and online collaboration (did I already talk about this somewhere? losing track):

I guess you decided to make history instead of study it.

Nice idea, but Howard’s point remains: how do we keep our history in online community development within sight while on our current path? He has some ideas, and so I’m excited to hear what he has to say to our ALA-midwinter librarian crowd.
- Social Networking, Best Practices for Libraries, Saturday, 8:00 – 10:00 am, Sheraton Seattle, Metropolitan B Room. I am not exactly sure who’s on this panel (investigating – will update if I find out), but I saw the short list and I’d say it’s worth the early morning time.
- Celebration of Life for Mr. Kilgour, Saturday 5:30 – 7:00 pm, Westin Seattle, Grand Ballrooms I & II. This is where you’ll find most WJ-staff members all in one place. We’ll be wearing our little WJ rock-star buttons (if we can coordinate such theatrics in time). Seriously, we’re looking forward to the chance to honor Mr. Kilgour, and see folks in person that we’re usually working with online.
- Next-Gen Sharing Libraries, Sunday, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon, Pan Pacific Seattle, Cascade Room (OCLC Meeting Room). This session’s all about “immediate satisfaction and personalized service.” Also, Michael Porter‘s gonna be there, and he’s an excellent speaker. What more do we need to know?
Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing
virtual library staff parties
December 3rd, 2006 | Permalink | 1 Comment

I’ve copied the announcement below (my annotations in parens) from Connecting Librarian (thanks Michelle). It’s all about using Second Life to host an Australia-wide librarian staff party.

I am almost embarrassed to admit that I am afraid of SL and have not yet checked it out. Afraid? Yes, I’m afraid that it might suck me in and I’ll never come out again. But this is cool. I may even see if I can get my laptop all jazzed up so that I can attend, unless the time zone thing is prohibitive. I’m fascinated by this idea and am anxious to see how it turns out. Surely there are about a million other implementations. What’s next?

And if you’d like more info on Second Life, check out Who Needs a Second Life? (article) or visited the Second Life library lately? (discussion) at WebJunction.

—

The Australian libraries blog, librariesinteract.info, is hosting an end-of year party in Second Life on 13th December, 6pm to 8pm Western Australian time. (Wow!!)

(In case you haven’t heard…) Second Life is a virtual world, with a population of over 1 million, in which large companies, schools and Universities (IBM, Dell, Harvard) have set up shop. Reuters newsagency has its own correspondent there. According to a September 2006 Popular Science article, Second Life, through currency trading, shopping and land sales, has a GDP of $64 Million. Recently, Australian Libraries were given a free building for a year on Cybrary City, courtesy of Talis and the Alliance Library System in return for 2 hours per week work on library services for SL residents. (Very cool!)

The party will include a tour of Info Island and Info Island II by Lori Bell from Alliance Library Systems. We will follow the yellow brick road from the Oz library to the Kansas State Library Virtual Branch next door. Then, back to our building to hang out� dance on the dance floor, snare some cyber snacks, and go easy on the virtual alcoholic beverages.

You can join in virtually from your own PC, or come and look over our shoulders in real life. If you join in virtually, it would be a good idea to check out Second Life before the event:
1. Go to the Second Life site
2. Check the systems requirements
3. Go to the join up page and choose one of the family names offered..and make up your first name
4. You will be asked for your credit card details, but do not have to give them
5. Download the Second Life client to your PC
6. Choose how you’d like your avatar (representation in SL) to look
7. Enter…explore
8. Teleport to just outside our building at: 207, 68, 23. (Often passersby can help you out to do this) Alternatively, we can teleport you to our building, if you send us a message

For further details, please contact Con Wiebrands (flexnib@gmail.com) or Kathryn Greenhill (sirexkat@gmail.com). If you are already exploring Second Life and would like to meet up, our SL names are Paradoxa Kurrajong (Con) and Emerald Dumont (Kathryn) – feel free to IM us!

Hope to see you on Info Island!
Design, Marketing, Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Tags and Taxonomies
flickr fun
October 25th, 2006 | Permalink | Comments Off

One of the most engaging programs I attended today at IL2006 was Michael Porter’s presentation on Flickr and the libraries and librarians group there. Michael described how his involvement in the project evolved over time, how the group grew to include more than 900 members and close to six thousand photos, and how that growth had naturally caused the group to self-moderate with tagging guidelines or suggestions and a bit of back-end volunteer work. His description confirmed what we’ve been learning at WebJunction about the wisdom of groups and their tendency to self-moderate when they have ownership or particular community roles. (Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that I defy that statement myself – having posted a number of pictures to the group pool without, I am sure, adherence to suggested guidelines…)
But the most fascinating (and impressive) thing to me about Michael’s program was not flickr, nor his group, nor his group’s growth� – it was (drum roll please) the ultra-suave way he brought in voices from around the world (literally) to help him tell his story.

People in the libraries and librarians group in Flickr from both Spain and Australia did voiceovers for their portions of the program. They talked over their demonstrations – which were done in PPT, I think, but maybe there was some flash involved. It was so simple, but a nice big photograph of each speaker as they began, along with name and title, and Michael gave his audience the feeling of meeting someone online. Impressive! It has me thinking about how we (the WebJunction community) can bring our members into these types of conference or meeting settings without even physically being there. Next time we have a member reception at ALA or something, why not let WJ members who can’t or won’t be there tell their library’s story in a similar way? Any volunteers?
Though this one may be my favorite, it’s one of a thousand new ideas I have after being here. Lucky me – lucky us. Now it’s just a matter of sorting through them all!
Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration
Happy (belated) Birthday to Us (again)
July 12th, 2006 | Permalink | 2 Comments

And here’s the item that Steven had linked to…(reposted from last week).

Last week in New Orleans we celebrated WebJunction�s third birthday at our annual members� reception – we officially turned a year older on May 12. I was delighted to see some friendly new faces (Walt, Patrick) along with some old friends (Janie, Jim, Justine, Cassandra, Leslie, more�) in the crowd. My only disappointment is that I was a bit distracted in the first few moments (running settling both program and catering details) that I didn�t get to mingle and catch up with nearly as many folks as I would have liked. Did everyone have a good time? It did seem that a good time was had by all.

I was especially proud during this event to bestow our first ever member awards to WJ member choices for stellar volunteer work in our community. The lucky honorees were Harry Pike, Douglas Lord (moderators), Bob Watson (contributor), Mala Muralidharan (editor), and Linda Gens (advocate). We also honored Cassandra Osterloh as our Member of the Year – she was nominated by multiple members across all four categories!! Congrats to all – and thanks for all you do at WJ.

Those of you who were there – was lovely to see you. Those of you who could not make it – we missed you, but you were certainly there in spirit!! Hope to see you next year�

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Meet Ups

5th Birthday, chrystie, Community Building, Meet Ups, Next WJ, Online Collaboration, Online Learning

sneaky peeky

chrystie, Community Building, Conferences, Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Web 2.0

connecting with old friends at WJ Arizona

chrystie, Community Building, IL2007, Meet Ups, News

IL2007 & WebJunction Job Opps

Conferences, Gaming Presentations, IL2007, Meet Ups

Games, Presentations, Info, Pictures and Friends: mid-IL2007

Meet Ups, Seattle, Sustainability, WebJunction Staff

Meeting To Meet Your Needs

Meet Ups, Technology Planning

See you in Albuquerque?

Meet Ups, Online Collaboration

on the road

Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Tech

a different kind of tagging

Meet Ups, Online Collaboration

Sweet Home WebJunction

Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration

midwinter meetings

Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing

virtual library staff parties

Design, Marketing, Meet Ups, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Tags and Taxonomies

flickr fun

Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration

Happy (belated) Birthday to Us (again)