Conference report #3

Our third conference report is from virtual attendee Elizabeth Yeh. Enjoy!


My Virtual SLA Experience
Elizabeth Yeh

As a San Jose State University MLIS student I attend conferences with slightly different goals than our professional colleagues. Although it would have been a dream to go to New Orleans for this conference, it is difficult to justify attending conferences on the other coast when you are an unemployed student taking summer school courses. So attending the Virtual Component was the perfect solution—especially when the Southern California chapter offered to sponsor ten of us! (Thank you again!)

From the opening session with James Carville and Mary Matalin to the closing session with Nicholas Carr, I felt the anticipation of being at conference. The music we heard broadcast over the speakers or headphones of our computers throughout the conference set the mood and brought the wonderful New Orleans spirit to Orange County where I sat with my laptop, coffee and fluffy slippers.

Let me share a few of my highlights with you. First, it was a thrill to hear Mary Matalin and the wicked humor of her husband, James Carville. As local residents they brought the reality of the difficult situation they are facing, but they also brought their appreciation of libraries. Mr. Carville recalled the profound effect of To Kill a Mockingbird on his life, saying that he would be a different person without the book mobile that came every two weeks.

Another highlight for me was hearing Mary Ellen Bates speak about Web 2.0 and personal branding issues. Her words changed the way I feel about social networking: I immediately revisited my privacy settings, cleaned up my online presence, and started tweeting. Check out Ms. Bates’ extras page at www.batesinfo.com/extras.

Finally, I very much enjoyed hearing Nicholas Carr’s poignant and thought-provoking discussion of our immersion in technology and its distractions. There is definitely a “dark-side” to all of this and as information professionals we need to think about the ramifications. I look forward to reading The Shallows (on my Kindle). And no, the irony of watching Mr. Carr speak about these issues while virtual attendees tweeted and chatted online was not lost on us.

I recommend virtual conference to everyone who cannot attend in person and I am sure I will be attending more in the future. Contrary to what some may think, virtual networking definitely took place and I look forward to meeting several southern California members at face-to-face events in the near future. Thanks again to SLA-SCC and everyone who made the Virtual Component happen.