ASIS&T Pacific Northwest Chapter

Hello everyone!

Recap

Despite the rain, the user-centered beach party in July was attended by over 20 people, many of whom were new faces to me. Thanks to Matt Turpin for organizing the event — and for providing some delicious barbecue!

Even with the interruptions of summer vacations, we’ve been able to make progress on preparing for the chapter annual meeting. Our original date and venue fell through, but we finally were able to lock down a date and venue for the big event (Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 10/12-1313-14). The annual meeting will be free (or nearly free) for students and volunteers, and the registration fee for ASIS&T members will be very low. The event will be open to all, of course. We’d like to make the event free for everyone, but we’re not sure if that will be financially possible. We are focusing our efforts now on fundraising, so if your employer or professional organization might be interested in sponsoring the event, please contact me!

Announcements

Now that the ASIS&T PNW Chapter Annual Meeting has a firm place and time, we’re happy to officially announce our theme for this year: “Cross-pollinating the information ecosystem”.

Yes, it’s kind of cheesy, but think about it — information is the delivery mechanism for meaning and knowledge, just as pollen is the delivery mechanism for a plant’s identity and survival strategy. In the natural world, cross-pollination often breeds vigorous hybrids that can be far more fit to survive than their progenitors. How does this metaphor extend to the information ecosystem? Ecosystems thrive on diversity, balance, and the mutually beneficial effects of each organism’s survival strategy. What would a healthy information ecosystem look like? How can we, as librarians, information scientists, information architects, interaction designers, and usability engineers, enable and facilitate the meaningful exchange of ideas across disciplines, industries, and technologies? What kinds of hybrid vigor can we encourage from mash-ups of networked information sources and internet applications?

As I’ve mentioned in previous months, the annual meeting will be a hybrid BarCamp/Un-Conference structure, which we’re dubbing “InfoCamp”. What this means is that most presentations and speakers will be determined just-in-time at the conference. The reason for this is to encourage attendees to present and discuss works in progress, preliminary findings, or topics of interest without running a proposal through a committee. Some sessions, such as keynote and plenary presentations, will be determined in advance, but we want to encourage community participation and (ahem) cross-pollination by lowering the entry barrier for presentations. This strategy has proven very successful at BarCamps across the nation, especially in those industries where immediacy of information and technology are paramount.

So, come October 12th13th, bring your latest ideas, discussion topics, half-baked products, and research in progress. Let’s see what evolves!

Events

Until next month,
- Aaron

[Edited to correct date of InfoCamp -- it's on Saturday and Sunday, October 13th-14th, not the 12th-13th. Apologies for any confusion.]