Internet Librarian: Day 3

And here we are at Wednesday. The day kicked off with yet more coffee (I was pretty much on a steady IV of caffeine by this point) and a great keynote panel called "Internet 2020: TrendWatch Smackdown". Roy Tennant, James Werle, Liz Lawley, and Stephen Abram - how could it not be engaging and entertaining?

My takeaways from amongst my mad scribbles during the panel:

1. We must remember that all the innovations in the last 15 years are really just a blink of an eye in terms of librarianship (Werle); 
2. You are not Google's user, but their product (and this is true for more than just the Big G) (Abrams); 
3. Does your service make people say this is really great, or I'm really great? Does it make them feel successful? (Lawley);
4. Look for the magic! (All, pretty much.)

Lawley showed a really amazing movie showing how researchers are now able to insert artificial objects into archival photographs. What first got her attention is that one of the rooms an object is inserted into is... her dining room! (Made me laugh.) The video is jaw-dropping.

The rest of the morning passed learning about Inno'play'ion (the mashing together of play and innovation, by Helene Blowers), where I saw the best use of bubbles in a professional conference yet, and roaming the exhibit hall before the gnomes rushed in and disassembled it.

Time for lunch and then a scramble to make sure I was at the ITI booth by 1pm, on the off chance I was one of the three winners of the iPad raffles. #1? Nope. #2? Sadly, not me. But... I have to admit I'm a bit sorry for winner #3, who was not present... so ITI drew a fourth card from the fishbowl and IT WAS MINE!!! Yes, I did jump up and down and squee mightily.

The conference capped off with another great closing keynote from Liz Lawley on "The Great Gamification Debate". What Liz and her crew are doing at the Rochester Institute of Technology is downright amazing: they created a game ("Just Press Play") for the incoming students that engaged them in learning about the campus, the teachers, art, all kinds of stuff. It all started with the idea that "students should get achievements for being awesome" and ran from there. It's an astonishing idea for engaging both the students and the teachers and I have to admit, I want to play!!!

I had to boogie out of the closing keynote a bit ahead of time in order to catch a cab for my flight home. Another year, another trip to Monterey - and I'm already thinking about what could be done next year!