Tag: conference review

Posted on

Conference

I’m liveblogging from the WDIL web conference, conveniently held where I work. I got shanghaied into this. I just wanted to meet the Wikipedia guy, but somehow I ended up going to the entire thing.

I’m no huge fan of conferences, as a rule. Usually the signal-to-noise ratio is insanely low, and I’ve got the attention span of a gnat when it comes to listening to ill-prepared speakers. Mercifully, coworker Rafe loaned me the office laptop, which is running Ubuntu, a very cool flavor of Linux, so I’ll be talking to you guys all day.

Posted on

ALA tip

If any of you impoverished public librarians out there want to attend the American Library Association conference this year but need a slick way to get work to pay for it, here’s a tip. Schedule your departure for the day after the conference ends. Pack large, empty suitcases. Lurk around the publishers’ booths on the last day and collect the free and insanely discounted display books that the publishing representatives don’t want to haul home. Especially keep an eye on the DK booth and the fabulous Tenspeed Press. If you do it right, the money you spend on travel expenses will roughly equal the amount of schwag you bring home.

I won’t be attending ALA this year, having defected for South by Southwest Interactive where they have panels on subjects I care about, and the nightlife is an order of magnitude less lame.

Posted on

SXSW

I’m back from webgeek megaconference South by Southwest in steamy Austin, TX. For all y’all librarians out there, SXSW Interactive attracts designers, web standards cheerleaders (closed tags, closed tags, rah rah rah!), and I’m-famous-online types for five days of geek panels and heavy drinking. One of things I got out of the conference was a strong feeling of guilt for not taking better care of my website. So, once my headache subsides you can expect big changes. Big!

Until then, I’m just glad to get back to the cat and my G5.

Posted on

ALA in Toronto 2003

The library has been empty and echoing today since so many of the staff have boarded the bus for the American Library Association conference. Tomorrow, I too will be leaving for the land of free tote bags and low-key cultural revolution.

I say fie on SARS, and will support lovely Toronto in her hour of need. If anyone wants to catch a quick dance, I’ll be at the Social Responsibilities Round Table Boogie Down event Sunday night, whoopin’ it up with the Cuban librarians.