cil2009 – an anniversary of sorts

just arrived at CiL after a pretty bumpy ride on what must have been air canada’s teeniest plane.

off to a good start as i finally got to meet the awesome Karen Schneider while waiting for our shuttle to the hyatt.

this time last year, i was still in school and decided, on one crazy afternoon, to attend CiL. everyone was tweeting about it and it just sounded like a great place to talk to real live librarians about tech in libraries.

i got a gig coordinating the quickie talks in the exhibit hall in exchange for free registration. the lovely Krista let me bunk with her despite not knowing me (at all). and all the tweeps were wonderfully welcoming to me and let me be their groupie for the entire conference. it was incredible.

one year later a lot has changed, but i am still as excited as i was last year (and i’m still bunking with Krista, and i still feel like a groupie). it’ll be different  now that i have a gig and can critically assess ideas and their usefulness at mpow (as opposed to last year when i was just taking it all in becaues i wasn’t sure where i would end up working). i’m really looking forward to stealing everyone’s ideas learning about new services and possibly implementing them chez moi.

oh, i’m also REALLY looking forward to getting my hands on a LSW Shover & Maker button!

do things that scare you

such as present at a workshop where you’re on the slate with seasoned veterans like Stephen Abram and Michael Stephens.

i would say that i am fairly comfortable presenting in front of a group. we do a lot of teaching at my branch, so i have had a lot of practice explaining somewhat complicated things to folks.

i also read up on presenting (slide:ology and presentation zen are two recent faves) and while i don’t consider myself as proficient with powerpoint as Larry Lessig, i certainly don’t force my audience to suffer “death by powerpoint”. or as Dorothea puts it, “i don’t think i’ve ever wasted the audience’s time”.

so though i’m okay speaking to  people, and know that my presentations are, for the most part, not-so-bad, being asked to speak at this workshop was still scary.

scary because…

• both Stephen and Michael know how to engage an audience.
• i wasn’t presenting at some far-off  conference to peeps that i will only ever see again at another conference. i was presenting to local librarians and library school students – my colleagues and friends!
• i didn’t get to rehearse nearly as much as i had hoped (note to self: your procrastinatory skills are epic. you must fix this).

but scary is good. scary makes you try harder. scary makes you prepare better (plz to disregard my 3rd point above). scary makes you try things. scary pushes you to do something!

and then the next time you do it, it’s less scary. and then the next time, even less scary. and so on, and so on…

so how have you scared yourself lately? (alright alright, use “challenged” if that sounds better in your head.) i am well aware that it is easier to say you are going to do something new than to actually do it.

what if a double-dawg dare you?

take your 25 things and…

… listen to this podcast.

 Standard Podcast [4:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (185)

(thanks to my associate producer jason for advice)

UPDATE: thanks to the always-awesome jason, i fixed this. should work now.

print vs online

sometimes print really is better. (Photo credit: inju at www.flickr.com/photos/35468141938@N01/112082907)

CBC’s Spark (i love Nora Young!) had a recent episode discussing the value of offline formats of communication: basically, stuff printed on dead trees.

hearing about Ben Tennett’s project Things Our Friends Have Written on the Internet, where he selected blog posts and published them as a newspaper, made me think about the things that i prefer to read in print. (bias: i worked in the newsroom of a major metropolitan daily newspaper for 8 years, so i like pretty much everything about newsprint, from the smell to the inky fingers. also, i am an EXPERT at refolding a newspaper so that it looks unread. talents, i haz’em.)

thinking about my love of newsprint, i looked at all the paper on my desk: memos, catalogues, course outlines, to-do lists, and a bunch of pieces of paper which i don’t remember putting there but which have magically appeared on my desk.

• how many of these bits and pieces could be delivered in a different format?
• maybe more importantly, how many of these pieces of paper should be delivered in a different format?
• would i treat them differently if they weren’t printed and in a pile on my desk?
• with my inbox (all of them) already overflowing, do i want previously-printed items to be delivered electronically?
• do we feel differently about things we read in print? things we read online?

while blogs serve many purposes within an organization, they can’t do it all. i worry that some of us are jumping on the blogging bandwagon because we think that it will solve all of our communication problems.

how often does your organization evaluate your communication needs and address which can be met best with online vs print information?

sept choses meme: things you don’t know about me

no one tagged me but we all know how much i love a bandwagon – there’s a meme going around…

here are seven things you might not know about me.

1. i can sing the alphabet backward as easily as i can forward. i was a bored child and took to reading books backward once i had read them the “proper”. if you buy me a beer i’ll even serenade you with “mary had a little lamb” backward. if you want me to do this on karaoke night, it’ll cost you more than one beer.
2. i can read hebrew (with the vowels, pls) and russian but have no idea what i’m saying.
3. i was in a “reverse-integration” (holy gawd i hate that term) program in grade five where i was lucky enough to go to Mackay Centre with kids with various physical disabilities as well as share a building with a deaf school. my sign language, at the moment, is atrocious.
4. my cousin is a bit of a rock star in quebec. for the record, i hated him between the ages of 9 and 13 because he was always being told how awesome he was for being able to sing so well. now, however, i think he’s a big sweetheart.
5. this was the first gizmo i ever used to get on the internet. (actually, my uncle had a coupler so i could get on it at his house, but this was the first thing we had chez nous.) my parents had no idea how to work it. i won a samantha fox cassette answering a quiz on a bulletin board.
6. i was on the opening crew of the Disney Wonder and loved everything about it. i trained at Disney World for a month (working in the Magic Kingdom). then was flown to the Fincantieri shipyard in Venice to pick up the ship and sail it first to Southhampton (where Sir Richard Branson sponsored an “open ship” event and we had the most amazing fireworks EVER), then to Porta Delgada in The Azores, then across the Atlantic Ocean for a week (sans guests) to home port in Port Canaveral, FL. i sailed through hurricanes and worked with 3 year olds. i consider this some of the best management experience i’ve ever had and actually feel the company gives (some of ) their employees an awful lot of autonomy to make people happy. cult-like corporate culture, i eats it up.
7. due to my diastema, i have amazing accuracy when spitting water out through my two front teeth. i love knowing that i share a bar trick with the Wife of Bath, Cleopatra, and Madonna.

according to the rules of this meme – i have to tag seven peeps. so here ya go!

1. jason puckett
2. david rothman
3. jan dawson
4. graham lavender
5. steven cohen
6. jason hammond
7. anna creech

99 things meme-eriffic

THE 99 THINGS MEME

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to – leave in plain font.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii. (my aunt lives there!)
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. (hellz ya) (to current employer: i mean, NEVER)
24. Built a snow fort. (i live in montreal. our country place is an igloo.)
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise. (well, i was working, but i was on it.)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. (been to ireland and england. still have to hit scotland.)
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.(taught myself to read hebrew.)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. (this is a weird one.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke. (just not at IL2008.)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.(when i was 8 i was an extra in Street Smart.)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. (once for being part of a stamp club [pic of me holding a stamp with a rugby player on it - i was 7], then again at 18 for playing rugby!)
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

phew!

well that was awesome and terrifying.

my first presentation at Internet Librarian. i think it went pretty well. i know i spoke way too fast but i was worried that we wouldn’t have enough time.

click here to go to my list of presentations and check out our slides.

many thanks to erik and jaap of the shanachies who were on the same panel, and the wonderful mary auckland for organizing the whole enchilada.

thank you sirexkat

i know i’ve said it before, but i’ll say it again. twitter has rocked my world when it comes to professional development.

one of the prime examples is the AWESOME Kathryn Greenhill who blogs at librarians matter. i felt like i was a bit in a bubble in terms of my second lifeness, and was unsure how non-US librarians were doing tech stuffs in academia. and then Kathryn introduced herself and was nine kinds of welcoming to me.

since that moment, oh so long ago (maybe 9 months), Kathryn has continued to support me in my craziness and encourage me to keep pushing the LIS envelope.

so i would love to take her for coffee (okay, pints).
and would love to take her for a kick-ass meal.

BUT

she lives in western australia.

so though i think she rawks the kasbah, me and my measley aeroplan points will not get me to oz anytime soon to thank her.

so, to Kathryn, a big SMOOCH to you. and many many thanks for encouraging a library school student to go with what she knows.

akoha Rawks

got my akoha cards tonight care of the always rockin’ Patrick who got to go to PodCampMontreal while i was working (yay work but BOO schedules).

srsly, check out Akoha

get ready to play it forward, peeps.

fun thing: akoha

i love games
i love meeting new people
i love doing things for people i believe in
and
i love montreal.

akoha fits the bill for all of these.

check it out and sign up for the beta release. or if you bump into me (and i’ve received my cards – hint hint akoha peeps!) i’ll invite you to play!