Subject: [CODE4LIB] virtual conference thunder & lightning

From: Birkin James Diana <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:56:56 -0500

Folk,

A while back Karen Schneider raised the issue of virtual lightning  
talks [1]. We at Brown discussed the idea in one of our planning  
meetings, but felt that trying this at the conference would be teasing  
the gods of guaranteed-point-to-point-internet-access far too much.

Shortly thereafter there was a great discussion sparked by Karen Coyle  
that started out focusing on COinS [2]. It then took a turn with a  
comment by Gabriel Farrell about unAPI [3]. I had always wanted to  
educate myself about unAPI, and this thread did that.

The proximity of these two threads made me think it would be cool to  
see a 'blog-in-10-minutes' type video on unAPI, or on any number of  
code4lib-related issues. "But there are already good blog-posts out  
there!" Yes, there are. But anyone who's seen a (good) blog-in-10- 
minutes video knows how inspiring these things can be. [4]

So... THE IDEA...

Here's a call to find existing internet videos on code4lib type issues  
-- or CREATE YOUR OWN. They can range from 'blog-in-10-minutes' type  
tutorials to pure talking-head rants about how SOA will save the  
world. At some point we'll invite you to submit your favorites (can be  
your own or others'), and during one of the two open 20-minute slots  
we have in the conference, we'll show one or two depending on time.

One wildly artificial rule for this particular exercise (aside from  
the requirement that it be code4lib-related): length under 10 minutes.

Admittedly this leaves out amazing content. But full throttle forward.  
This can be a way for folk who can't attend the conference to  
contribute; it can expand the great existing code4lib-tagged video  
content (mostly at videos.google.com); and it'll help disseminate to a  
wider community information and ideas our community finds compelling.

-Birkin

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Birkin James Diana
Programmer, Integrated Technology Services
Brown University Library
[email-masked]

[1] <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email-masked]/msg04304.html>
[2] <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email-masked]/msg04308.html>
[3] <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email-masked]/msg04321.html>
[4] The original: <http://showmedo.com/videos/video?name=rubyWeblogIn15Mins&fromSeriesID=29

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From: Bess Sadler <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:08:36 -0500

+1

Birkin, this is a cool idea and the only additional request I'd make  
is can we have a page on the code4lib wiki that lists all the  
submissions? This seems like it could be a great resource for the  
community. We've been using peepcode (http://peepcode.com/) for  
training more and more often, and it would be great to have a similar  
resource for library-specific topics. Also, this would provide a forum  
for useful videos that don't meet the 10-minute rule.

Bess

On Jan 15, 2009, at 8:56 AM, Birkin James Diana wrote:

> [1] <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email-masked]/msg04304.html 
> >
> [2] <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email-masked]/msg04308.html 
> >
> [3] <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email-masked]/msg04321.html 
> >

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From: Ranti Junus <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:40:44 -0500

+1
Birkin++

ranti

-- 
Bulk mail.  Postage paid.

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From: John Fereira <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:40:37 -0500

> we have in the conference, we'll show one or two depending on time. 
I think this an outstanding idea.   I could forsee a couple of Kiosk 
displays set up in common areas that would play short videos on Code4Lib 
subjects during the open time slots or perhaps during the breaks.  For 
conferences that I have been involved in the planning on we have tried 
to schedule breaks between formal presentation time slots that are a bit 
longer than what it takes to get a quick cup of  copy (we also have 
multiple current sessions) to provide some networking time and allow 
participants to demo something on one of the kiosk machines.

What would make the virtual lightning talks really interesting is if one 
could pre-schedule some short webinars during break time slots that 
would allow the presenters, on site participants, and remote viewers to 
participate at the same time.