This Saturday, April 14, Lucille and I attended the annual TLT (teaching and learning with technology) Symposium at Penn State’s Conference Center, the Penn Stater. I have to say, despite the fact that we had to give up an entire SATURDAY to participate in it, this conference was one of the best, most pleasant, that we’ve been to in…well…maybe ever. First of all, the theme for the day was Social Computing and the Culture of Teaching and Learning, a most relevant and exciting topic. The keynote speakers were engaging, the sessions useful and interesting, of course the technology was amazing, people were absolutely friendly, and the food was great (MOST important at an all-day event!).
The day began with a keynote from Lee Rainie (the one standing to the left of JoePa in the picture), Director of the Pew Internet Project. Lee shared his insights, and the Project’s insights on the differences between digital natives and digital immigrants. In sum, the world needs both breeds of people, but it really helps when we understand one another, which is something the Pew studies help us to do. Rainie’s entire address will be available via vodcast soon! Stay tuned to Alan Gyorke’s blog for updates and postings related to the conference. He’s already posted some amazing statistics on the amount of social computing the symposium alone precipitated…
Lucille and I share an interest in how vodcasting might be used in the library setting so next we headed to Patrice Clemson’s session, titled “New Student–Information to Go: Designing a Campus-Wide Vodcasting Utility.” Clips shared in the session were admittedly rough–the final production is still in development–but Patrice gave some great pointers on how to foster a campus-wide network of support for the new endeavor, as well as what type of equipment to use for creating. She’s done a great job getting this started at the Penn State Beaver Campus!
Next came what was perhaps the highlight of our day. Whilst taking a breather in the Penn Stater’s computer lounge, we happened upon Bryan Alexander, Research Director at NITLE, the mid-day featured speaker, and also the man standing to the right of the JoePa statue in the picture. So far, I’ve neglected to mention that this symposium took place amidst quite a bit of weather related hub-bub. Bryan was worried about his travel plans, so we got into a bit of chatter about local climate, etc. (small talk, small talk, small talk) Then…
Bryan Alexander: SO, are you two graduate students? (a question we take as a compliment since we are indeed beyond the age of graduate school)
One of us: Well, no…we’re actually librarians…
Bryan Alexander: Oh! I love librarians…something something something (he was really speaking too fast and exhuberantly to catch it verbatim in my memory but it boiled down to how reference librarians were his heroes and really at the very heart of the issues the symposium discussed, etc., etc., etc.) …Then….What area of the library do you two work in? Cataloging?
Lucille: (with a ‘heavens no!’ glinting in her eyes) We’re REFERENCE Librarians
And at that exact moment, Bryan Alexander stood up, and bowed down to us–wish I had a picture to prove it!–but the memory is emblazened in our minds forever, I’m sure. He then took his leave…
Shortly thereafter was the mid-day keynote. Unfortunately we were unable to catch the whole thing, as we actually had a presentation to prepare for! But what we did hear was quite insightful. He highlighted lots of cool technologies (that I will save for a later blog post as this one is now QUITE long), and pointed out something that perhaps has always been the obvious, but I have to admit it never popped into my head. And that is: People have a deep love of archiving! (Are we all librarians at heart then? Perhaps…) And this, coupled with the technologies now available, are what provide fuel for the social networking phenomenon. We had to leave, shortly after Bryan showed this video… Wow! I think Lucille and I are among the newest addicts to this dude! For more on Bryan Alexander’s presentation check out what Cole Camplese, Director of Education and Technology Services of Penn State, has to say .
Not much could top the Ninja and being BOWED TO, but I am pleased to say that our very own presentation went off without a hitch, and the rest of the symposium was just as excellent as the first half had been. So excellent that there was much blogging, twittering, flickring, and podcasting about it…and more to come I’m sure. ~Charlotte 
