Wikis, Virtual library conferences and unconferences

This week we are getting into the topic of Wikis.

The WA Unconference in August was a great example of how a group of like minded library people can be brought together via the medium of a wiki. The whole day was organised, topics chosen and discussed, lunch and tea planned through the Unconference Wiki. Then on the day we all gathered for a terrific "unconference" and the day went so smoothly.

I was reflecting at how much this had all changed from the days when we folk way over in Perth missed out on a lot of professional development activities, with the high cost of domestic flights. Even today the $1,000 fees of the major conferences are prohibitive for most of us. I came across a blog post from a librarian in Melbourne who was commenting on how Learning 2.0 is bringing people together to learn via Web 2.0 networks. It’s from the Infosleuth and sums up where we have come in the last 30 years in sharing experiences and gathering inspiration from others.

Perth Unconference on Library 2.0

Last Friday (Aug 3) a few of us from ECU attended the very first “Unconference” at the State Library. The idea is a open and fairly unstructured day to share information between colleagues. The topic was Library2.0 and the whole day was fun, stimulating, and a free sharing of ideas, (and pizza) between fellow librarians from all sectors.

Presenters were very professional. Some new technologies were demonstrated. Con and Kathryn even ad-libbed in a session called “Karaoke Powerpoint” from some PowerPoints sent that morning from the US!

One amazing aspect was that the whole event was organised via the Unconference Wiki and no face to face meetings took place prior to the day. To get a feel for what the day was like have a look around the Wiki. How do we find the time to learn about emerging technologies? Check out the practical tips on Kathryn’s wiki.