For a week, I have started and stumbled with this blog post—words just don’t seem sufficient to express the ultimate conference experience of my life and the pinnacle of flow. Every now and then, you are lucky enough to be in a time and place where amazing people, energy, camaraderie, and ideas converge.  For me, AASL 2009 was four days of learning and play as espoused by Helene Blowers. I can’t quite yet articulate how transformative this experience is for me, but I want to share these reflections with you.

What Worked

• Bloggers’ Cafe/Unconference/Geek Squad: although we faced obstacles such as spotty Internet connectivity, a location that was not easily visible, and limited access to promoting our resources via the official conference channel, “B There”,  I think the inaugural effort of promoting and implementing an “unconference” was a major success.  Thanks to Twitter and word of mouth, we were able to generate excitement and buzz as people took time to participate in the bloggers’ cafe and enjoy rich, meaningful, and memorable conversations about technology tools as well as philosophical questions/issues in our profession.   A spirit of teamwork permeated the learning space, physical and virtual, as people engaged in networking and problem solving.  I believe that many of us, whether we attended in person or through virtual means, now expect that that this  “learning commons” experience will be an integral and expected element of future AASL conferences, not optional.  If you have not checked out our resource wiki, I invite you to visit and utilize the resources contributed by so many.  Kudos to the Geek Squad team—you are so talented, and I’m honored to have worked with you!
• Keynote Speeches by danah boyd and Marco Torres:  these two speeches were incredibly inspiring and thought provoking.   While I was already a fan of boyd, I was not familiar with Torres—I wish every educator could hear this incredible talent speak!  You can read my notes from the boyd keynote by clicking here; many of my favorite excerpts of the Torres keynote may be accessed by clicking here. I encourage you to also check out the interview with Torres by Joyce Valenza and Ernie Cox as well as their interview with boyd.
• Diversity in Concurrent Sessions: there was truly something for everyone!  Kudos to the committee for providing a menu full of concurrent sessions to meet a broad range of interests.
• Backchanneling: I *loved* the Twitterfest of this conference!  Whether people were using their smartphones or laptops, there was a steady stream of thoughtful and helpful Tweets at any given time when you searched for the conference hashtag, #aasl2009.
• The closing event at ImaginOn: what a joyous way to end the event!
• Badge Swag and Ribbons: need I say more?
• Camaraderie:  a special thanks to Diane Cordell, Laura Pearle, Fran Bullington, Heather Loy, Gwyneth Jones, Alice Yucht, Francey Harris, and others who so graciously helped facilitate my presentation;  I’m especially grateful to Diane and Laura for their calm and comforting presence.  Heartfelt thanks to my fellow Georgia colleagues who came to the session and supported me, especially my mentor from UGA, Dr. Mary Ann Fitzgerald as well as friends from near and far.   A sincere thank you to every person who attended my first ever national presentation—I am honored you chose to spend time with me, especially those of you who endured standing or sitting on the floor.  A special shout out to the Geek Squad team, particularly Joyce Valenza, Diane Cordell, Robin Williams, Sara Kelly Johns,  and Wendy Stephens for helping revive my dead iPhone Thursday morning, thus saving me from having a minor stroke!
• Brainstorming and Dreaming: Susan Grigsby, Diane Cordell, Francey Harris, Wendy Stephens, Laura Pearle, Alice Yucht, Dr. Ross J. Todd, Elisabeth Abarbanel, Chris Harris, Anne Zarinnia, Ernie Cox, Deb Logan, Brenda Anderson, Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, Michelle Fromme, Heather Hershey, Gwyneth Jones,,  Kristin Fontichiaro, and other fellow dreamers (and I apologize because I know I am inadvertently leaving names out)—what a delight to soar with you eagles!
• Social Gatherings/Networking/Bonding: the most valuable part of this conference was the informal learning and brainstorming that happened at this conference.  Getting to sit elbow to elbow with the brightest minds in our profession and with so many people whom I greatly respect and admire—the idea sharing over dinner, lunch, an evening cocktail, at the bloggers’ cafe, or on breaks between sessions was incredibly energizing, refreshing, and inspiring.

For me, this conference was truly about the people and the wisdom they brought to the conference that they so generously shared with others.   I felt like a kid playing on an All-Star team of library professionals who are dedicated to furthering this profession and helping the people that we serve.   No words can express the gratitude and humility I feel in my heart to each person with whom I was most fortunate to meet and converse, especially those whom I met for the very first time.  I will always treasure and cherish the memories I have with each of you and how much it has strengthened me professionally.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how immensely gratifying this conference experience would be for me—it truly was a dream come true for me, and I realize with such clarity that I am indeed “livin’ the dream” every day because I get to do something I love so much and am so fortunate to be connected to people who help “fight the machine” and who “make a dent in the universe.”

Takeaways/Big Ideas That Are Simmering

• How do I help create “unconference” learning experiences for my students and for my faculty?
• A greater sense of urgency in helping create learning experiences for my students (and scaffolding teachers in this effort) that shift the focus from information gathering to the production of knowledge.
• Focusing on questions, not answers
• Helping students and teachers to embrace risk taking and to know that failure too is a learning experience
• A greater commitment to collecting student data and library program data in multiple formats and more emphasis on reflecting on the data and what it means to my practice in the field—I was inspired by both formal presentations as well as those in the bloggers’ cafe to dwell more deeply in data.
• A renewed commitment to a focus on inquiry, which foregrounded much of my teaching practice after 2002.  I want to do a better job of creating inquiry-driven units of study and research experiences for my students and teachers.  I also want to start examining transliteracy through an inquiry driven lens.
• Thinking about ways to share my practice with those not in our profession via written publications and conferences.
• Confirmation of my belief that research and theory influence practice; in turn, practice influences research and theory.

What Needs to Happen in Minneapolis in 2011?

• I personally would like to see more sessions that are research based, similar to those of the Treasure Mountain event.
• I would like for the audiocasts/screencasts as well as the keynote speeches to be available for free via uStream TV or some comparable media.
• Scrap the “B There” site and go with something simple and free, such as a wiki and/or a Ning to make it easier for people to participate and contribute.
• Consistent and fast wireless Internet access.
• As a presenter, I would like a room that is more conducive to hands on activities and conversations.  When I originally previewed the room, I was thrilled by the round tables and large screen–the room seemed friendly to some of the activities I had planned.    However, on the day I presented, I nearly fainted when I saw the room was long and narrow with “rows”—the antithesis of a “classroom” environment!  People were seated so far back that it was difficult for them to see and hear.  I think there needs to be better information for presenters when you are making a room selection—I honestly had difficulty conceptualizing the descriptions of the rooms provided.

I am already making plans to attend AASL 2011 in Minneapolis; if you have never been or if you have not been to AASL in some time, I would like to encourage you to attend.   I can’t wait to see how “conference” looks in 2011!

The first ever Joomla! Developer Conference will be on December 5 and 6 in New York City. Joomla developers who distribute extensions, build custom solutions or develop in house will learn about 1.6 development and learn from each other and core developers.

Among those presenting will be Louis Landry, Andrew Eddie, Ian Mclennnon, Hannes Papenburg and Aaron Newton (from the Mootools team). Registration for the conference is now open.

The conference will take place at Faculty House at Columbia University. Tickets will be $100 and seats are limited. Plans are to stream and record the presentations, please watch for more details on how to access the stream.

In addition to access control lists, nested categories, comments and a new forms library Joomla 1.6 features an MVC administrator and removes support for 1.0 legacy functions and PHP below 5.2. The conference will give third party developers the information they need to make the transition smoothly and to access the power offered by these new features.

Courtesy from globaltor and joomla

I just gave a practice run of my talk about history of science blogging, for the History of Science Society’s annual meeting in Phoenix later this week, to my fellow graduate students. Went well, just need to cut some stuff to bring the talk to the appropriate length. My talk will be part of a session about education and the web, discussing history of science blogging from a student’s perspective. I will meet a few other science bloggers (John Lynch, Michael Robinson, maybe others) at the conference, participants from the John Tyndall Correspondence Project of which I am a part, and have the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Should be fun.

Let me know if you’ll be there!

**Cross-posted from johncronquillo.wordpress.com**

This week is going to be action-filled in the best possible way…another academic conference! From November 18 to 21 several of the Third Sector Network’s contributors  will be in Cleveland for the 39th Annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Conference. I am very much looking forward to the conference because I always come away with an immense flood of new information. I love the multidisciplinary aspect of the conference; it is simply amazing to see so many people from different parts of the world and in various fields converge in one place for a few days to discuss their common (and sometimes not-so-common) research themes.

The theme for this year’s conference is Philanthropy in Communities: Finding Opportunity in Crisis. It is relevant and timely, and I am really excited to see the research that will be presented. I will be presenting two papers: the first is on managerial perceptions of innovation value in public and nonprofit organizations, and the second will be a case study of the now defunct Arizona 2-1-1 Online program. I’m also excited to be participating in a colloquium entitled “Does Real Action Happen Online?” I’m very eager to hear my colleagues’ response to what I view as a question of ever-increasing importance.

In addition to presenting my research, Lindsey McDougle and I will also be helping with the social media coverage of the conference. I’ll post a few updates on my blog and here at thirdsectornetwork.org. Also joining me in the social media coverage are:

So, even if you can’t join us in Cleveland, we hope you’ll join us online!

Since my last Ad 2 event, I’ve given up caffeine and carbs. No more coffee and bagels for me for the time being. However, what I have not given up is kicking serious advertising ass and working hard at ECHO Interaction Group. We’re a youngish, newish digital agency right in the heart of Downtown Orlando at the Plaza. We specialize in digital, interactive, social media and multicultural marketing. The company was born at a trade show exactly one year ago. Last weekend, a few of us returned to the advertising motherland, New York City, to attend the Ad:Tech conference as a fully operational entity. Two of the ECHO partners, Carlos Carbonell, Mat Gaver and myself left Orlando on Tuesday afternoon and before I knew it, it was Friday afternoon and were touching back down at MCO.

The Ad:Tech conference was a natural disaster of information, networking and exposure to what the rest of the industry is up to. Walking the show floor was a bit of sensory overload. Exhibitors of all types were showing off their products, services and trade show gimmicks. I wasn’t even sure if some of them knew they were at an advertising conference, but they went all out anyway. Booth Babes? Free Beer? Don’t mind if I do.

The meat and potatoes of the show were the focus sessions and roundtables. We split up and attended as many as we could, presenters included executives from Facebook, CNN, Mazda, Pepsi, Nielsen and some of the biggest and brightest agencies in the land. It was highly educational and interesting to see some of the case studies and projects that have been successfully executed (or not so successfully) on national and international scales. I worked in NYC during the summer before coming back to Orlando to work for ECHO so when the show was over for the day, there were friends to catch up with outside of the Ad:tech sponsored parties (although somehow we made it to those too).

All said, it was an extremely successful and enjoyable trip. We didn’t sleep much, but in New York City, who needs it? I returned with some leads, plenty of industry perspective and a massive appreciation for a quite night sleeping in my own bed.

Jon Miller | Associate Marketing Director
ECHO Interaction Group
jon@beginanecho.com | http://www.beginanecho.com
facebook.com/echointeraction | twitter.com/echointeraction

At kitchen tables across America, we’re mulling over what the current economic situation means for each of us. Jobs, bills, education, loans, investments, travel, holiday shopping, donations.

With the exception of holiday shopping and perhaps travel, similar conversations are happening around foundation boardroom tables as well.

Decisions to shift funding guidelines, focus areas, investment practices, grant timelines, grant payouts, internal staffing and organizational short- and long-term priorities – the list goes on – are not made lightly or quickly. And for many board members and trustees, this is the first time they’ve encountered such significant and perhaps drastic discussions.

These conversations and decisions by foundation leaders are critical and necessary. MCF’s Effective Governance Principle calls for its members to share a commitment to excellence and achieve effective governance by ensuring performance in the areas of stewardship of assets, donor intent, fiduciary responsibility and sound decision-making.

Join the conversation: What types of effective governance decisions has your organization made during these challenging times? What shifts and changes in how your organizations does its work have resulted from discussions by your board or executive leadership in response to the economic stresses we’re facing?

Here is one example: Marina Munoz Lyon, vice president of the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation, recalls going to the offices of Pohlad family members to discuss how the foundation could step up to support communities in need.  The foundation, winner of the 2009 Minnesota Nonprofit Award for Responsive Philanthropy, established a $20 million Economic Crisis Initiative last spring.

In the video below, which was shown at the awards presentation at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Minnesota Council on Foundations Joint Conference Nov. 5-6, Jim Pohlad, Pohlad Foundation board member, says, “We took a big chunk of principle and decided that it’s more important to spend it now.”

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

The biggest conference in the field of health 2.0 will come to Europe in 2010 and it’s an honour to be invited as a speaker. I was asked to present the case study of Webicina.com, the first medical web 2.0 guidance service. Four case studies will be presented:

• West Shell, Healthline Networks
• Steven Krein, Organized Wisdom
• Berci Mesko, Webicina
• Segolène Ayme, Orphanet

This week is going to be action-filled in the best possible way…another academic conference! From November 18 to 21 I will be in Cleveland for the 39th Annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Conference. I am very much looking forward to the conference because I always come away with an immense flood of new information. I love the multidisciplinary aspect of the conference; it is simply amazing to see so many people from different parts of the world and in various fields converge in one place for a few days to discuss their common (and sometimes not-so-common) research themes.

The theme for this year’s conference is Philanthropy in Communities: Finding Opportunity in Crisis. It is relevant and timely, and I am really excited to see the research that will be presented. I will be presenting two papers: the first is on managerial perceptions of innovation value in public and nonprofit organizations, and the second will be a case study of the now defunct Arizona 2-1-1 Online program. I’m also excited to be participating in a colloquium entitled “Does Real Action Happen Online?” I’m very eager to hear my colleagues’ response to what I view as a question of ever-increasing importance.

In addition to presenting my research, I will also be helping with the social media coverage of the conference. I’ll post a few updates on my blog here and at thirdsectornetwork.org. Also joining me in the social media coverage are:

So, even if you can’t join us in Cleveland, we hope you’ll join us online!

Yes, it’s been a while! But here’s our new programme – hopefully pretty much final – for myPublicServices on 26 November (yikes – that’s next week!).

Lauren has worked like a hard-working thing to get everything together and into a lovely clear framework. And a big thanks for everyone who has promised a session on the day – we’re completely amazed by your generosity and the range of topics and expertise you are bringing to the day.

We’re just waiting for one or two more people (you know who you are) and we’ll be uploading the detailed session list in the next day or two, so you can work out exactly where you want to be when.

So this week I am preparing to head to Atlanta for the National Youth Workers Convention. It’s been 2 years since I’ve been at one. This year, I’m going solo! It may sound bad, but I’m doing it for a couple of reasons…one, none of my volunteer staff can afford to go. Two, I need a personal retreat. My plan is to be twittering throughout the convention and blogging. If you would like to get my take on thing keep coming back. The convention starts Friday morning.

If you’ve never been to NYWC, here’s why I love going. You get SWAG! Stuff We All Get! It’s free, too…I guess even though you pay to go. It’s a great opportunity for networking. Resources are on sale. You hear from great speakers, writers, and worship artist. It’s a time time of growing closer to Christ…to be able to refocus on what’s important and get away from the grind of programing. I can’t wait to come back with new ideas and see what can happen in my life and ministry!

Oh, by the way, I got a hold of some resources really cheap that I plan on giving away here on my blog. I’ll be posting something soon with instructions on how to win them!

I’m off to the Future of Web Design Conference in NYC with a few of my coworkers.

I’ll write about all of the interesting happenings and misadventures I have along the way.

Arnaud Nanta donnera une conférence dans le cadre du séminaire collectif du Centre Japon, Histoire du Japon moderne et contemporain: permanences et ruptures. L’accès à ce séminaire est libre et sans inscription préalable.

Résumé

Dans le contexte de la mondialisation et de la montée de blocs politiques associant Néolibéraux et Néoconservateurs, dans la foulée des Etats-Unis et de la Grande-Bretagne des années 1980 (gouvernements Reagan et Thatcher), le gouvernement japonais mène depuis les années 1990 une réforme néolibérale (c’est-à-dire suivant des politiques visant à moins d’Etat et promouvant les dérégulations) de son système scolaire et universitaire.
Ces réformes, qui ne touchent pas que le système scolaire, constituent un véritable bouleversement sociétal, en ce qu’elles remettent en cause les fondements de l’Etat égalitariste qui constituait le cadre social (au moins théorique) d’après la Seconde guerre mondiale au Japon. Dans ce pays où, depuis l’éclatement de la bulle financière en 1992, un accroissement des écarts sociaux considérable a été observé, un enseignement privilégiant les populations aisées ou les meilleurs éléments est en train d’être mis en place au détriment du reste de la population. Alors que la France s’apprête à mener des politiques similaires, on peut penser qu’il y a là des leçons à méditer pour notre pays.
La présente intervention portera sur le collège et le lycée, et évoquera l’université. On se penchera sur les arguments avancés par les Néoconservateurs/Néolibéraux japonais dans les années 1980, pour ensuite présenter et analyser les principales étapes et axes de la réforme en deux temps (années 1990 et années 2000). Dans un dernier temps seront présentés les effets observés à l’école et à l’université depuis les années 2000.

La première séance du séminaire collectif du Centre Japon 2009-2010, Histoire du Japon moderne et contemporain : permanences et ruptures, sera animée par Guillaume Carré.

An extract from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech.

Today I am excited to have finally finished my schooling life!
Well, except for further study, I can finally say I have got through 13 years of schooling!!!
After writing most likely in excess of 3000 words over two exams today, I thought to myself, Why not, It’s the start of independence, ‘Imma write myself a blog.
Hopefully I can keep this updated, and during my visit to the first annual AHA philosophy conference in December, this nifty blog will be an interesting place where i will try and update after every board meeting/conference/discussion/*headdesk*/bloodbath or whatever you would like to call it.

So yeah I’m Free and hopefully this blogging thing really takes off

Ciao-mien for now
Jake

In this “session”, we learned what you need to know to become a tech exec, though the panelists offered conflicting views on how to succeed because between them, there were both examples of succeeding by staying in the same place for most of their career as well as by moving around to different companies. What they did seem to agree on though was that the phrase “career obstacle course” is much more appropriate of a term than “career path” since you’re going to hit a lot of rocky points throughout your career.

The individual contributor track may not have the managerial responsibilities that the manager track offers, but it does eventually have less programming and more architectural responsibilities. And regardless of your position or track, communication skills are important – you need to be able to explain technical tasks to non-technical people.

The panelist from Facebook jokingly informed us that they are now making money, contrary to popular belief.

The more things that you do other than what you do at your day job, the easier it is to re-charge and have the energy to go to work. You also need to be really passionate about what you do at work. Pick a company that makes you feel good. If you’re enjoying the journey, then you’re in the right place.  But at the same time, keep in mind that work-life balance is highly essential to not burning out  and avoid the black hole of feeling the need to do work all the time – you don’t have to do everything!

I thought that the panelists really gave some great “big picture” pieces of advice.

Rachael Faust is a JFKU museum studies graduate student. Previous to her academic studies, Rachael worked at the University Art Gallery at UCSD and at the Portland Art Museum. Since moving to the Bay Area, she has volunteered at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and has been an intern at SFMOMA and the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle.

By Rachael Faust

After completing my first year at John F. Kennedy University, I spent the summer coping with the fact that I would soon be faced with the daunting task of undertaking a thesis project. Summer came and went, and at the end, I found myself without a revelation of what this dynamic topic would be.

As fall quarter quickly approached and as people began to inquire about my amazingly innovative thesis topic, I quickly devised plan B: crashing the 2009 Western Museums Association annual conference in San Diego where I hoped to find a veritable assortment of fresh ideas and topics just waiting for further exploration. Plan B turned out to be far more effective than plan A (waiting for a revelation). I encourage my fellow grads who are still on plan A to stop waiting and quickly sign up for a museum conference.

Of all the conferences I could attend, I chose WMA because of the interesting and diverse session topics and the manageable size and length of the conference (the student discount price was also rather alluring). A preconference workshop titled, “Navigating New Media In Collections without Going Adrift,” caught my attention because my current studies focus on collections management and I have become particularly interested in the care and preservation of time-based media works.

San Diego. Image courtesy of Lydia Johnson.

The presenters for this session included registrars from MOMA and LACMA as well as LA MOCA’s media exhibition technician and an LA based freelance media specialist. I hoped that the information they presented in this session as well as the questions raised by the museum professionals in attendance would point to areas that needed further investigation (read: my fingers were crossed in hopes that they had an extraordinary thesis topic for me).

The preconference workshop not only gave me a handful of possible areas to research that could lead to relevant thesis topics, but also gave me an opportunity to test out a few of my own ideas.

• Is it possible for museums to share or loan exhibition media equipment to one another?
• How are museum staff being trained to handle, install, preserve, and repair media works and their related equipment?
• What happens when artists don’t want to migrate their media-based artwork to newer formats? The work will eventually die. Should museums collect works with such short life spans? Do museums continue to store the remains of the dead artwork?

I was able to ask these questions and others to a captive, knowledgeable audience that I may not have had access to otherwise; the dialogue I enjoyed with museum professionals at WMA could not have been easily facilitated on my own.

In the proceeding days at the conference, I ran into several of the speakers, and they all went out of their way to stop me and say, “hey, I was thinking about your questions and….” Everyone I introduced myself to at the conference was excited that I was a student and was eager to learn about my potential thesis work.

The WMA conference exposed me to new ideas, expanded ideas I had already been tinkering with, and provided access to museum professionals from a diverse range of museums. I left the conference with a direction for my thesis work and at least a dozen business cards of museum people who said they would be more than happy for me to contact them in the future.