Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Benjamin Armintor]

Thank you, Coral and Tom. I'd also like us to:

1. stop characterizing regional meetings as DIY, as if we have outsourced
the organizing of the national meeting somehow without doing it ourselves.
Many people worked hard to put the 2016 meeting (and all the others) on,
and they don't deserve to have their efforts minimized this way.

2. stop acting like the people participating in this on-list discussion
aren't aware of the list archives and/or wiki.

3. resist the temptation toward facile technology and/or publishing
metaphors, especially ones that seem to ignore the vigorous discussion of
economies of centralization & decentralization (including more than one
call for more regional meetings, if I remember correctly) that happened at
C4L16.

4. recognize that there are numerous good-faith reasons people are
interested in national meetings, not least of which is to provide the
context for the TEI-style meetings that Eric mentions.

On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 11:38 AM, Tom Johnson <
johnson.tom+code4...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Eric,
>
> I appreciate that you're trying to make a call to action, but this latest
> email is stunningly condescending.
>
> As I'm sure you must know, people in this community do hold regional
> meetings. These meetings take substantial effort to arrange. The wiki is
> full of documentation, advice, and lessons learned the hard way by the many
> people who have done this work over the years.
>
> The result has been a vibrant community which has had an important
> influence on technology practice in libraries and played a key role in
> establishing the careers of some of the most talented people working in
> this field. I can't see why you would want to erase that in favor of a
> 12-step guide to holding a meetup that you dashed together for an email.
>
> We can debate the merits of holding a national conference, but let's not
> begin that debate by pretending that the regional meetups are so easy to
> hold that they just happen like magic. They don't, and they never have.
>
> - Tom
>
> On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 12:50 AM, Eric Lease Morgan 
> wrote:
>
> > On Jun 9, 2016, at 7:55 PM, Coral Sheldon-Hess 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > One note about what we're discussing: when we talk about just doing the
> > > regional events (and I mean beyond 2017, which will be a special case
> if
> > a
> > > host city can't step in), we need to realize that we have a lot of
> > members
> > > who aren't in a Code4Lib region.
> > >
> > > You might think I'm talking about Alaska, because that's where I lived
> > when
> > > I first came to a Code4Lib conference. And that's certainly one place,
> > > along with Hawaii, that would be left out.
> > >
> > > But even living in Pittsburgh, I'm not in a Code4Lib region, that I can
> > > tell. Pittsburgh isn't in the midwest, and we also aren't part of the
> > > tri-state region that Philly's in. I'm employed (part-time/remote) in
> the
> > > DC/MD region, so if I can afford the drive and hotel, that's probably
> the
> > > one I'd pick right now. I guess?
> > >
> > > So, even landlocked in the continental US, it's possible not to have a
> > > region.
> > >
> > > More importantly, though: my understanding is that our international
> > > members are fairly spread out -- maybe Code4Lib Japan being an
> exception?
> > > -- so, even ignoring weird cases like Pittsburgh, we stand to lose some
> > > really fantastic contributors to our community if we drop to
> > regional-only.
> > >
> > > Just something else to consider.
> > > - Coral
> >
> >
> > Interesting. Consider searching one or more of the existing Code4Lib
> > mailing list archives for things Pittsburg:
> >
> >   * https://www.mail-archive.com/code4lib@listserv.nd.edu/
> >   * http://serials.infomotions.com/code4lib/
> >   * https://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CODE4LIB
> >
> > I’d be willing to be you can identify six or seven Code4Lib’ers in the
> > results. You could then suggest a “meet-up”, a get together over lunch,
> or
> > to have them visit you in your space or a near-by public library. Even if
> > there are only three of you, then things will get started, and it will
> grow
> > from there. I promise. —Eric Morgan
> >
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Mike Giarlo]

There are advantages and disadvantages of having a loose-y, goose-y community 
like code4lib. This conversation has surfaced some of the disadvantages. One of 
the advantages is that there is no need to come to consensus for a group of 
interested people to harness their collective energy and enthusiasm and explore 
new options.

In other words, those of you who are interested in engaging and securing a 
fiduciary agent for annual national conferences should know that you are 
empowered to do so without a "blessing" from anyone! Sometimes it takes a 
concrete proposal to win people over -- and sometimes, people won't be won over 
at all.

--
Michael J. Giarlo
Technical Manager, Hydra-in-a-Box project
Software Architect, Digital Library Systems & Services
Stanford University Libraries
mjgia...@stanford.edu
+1 (206) 402-4473


From: Code for Libraries <CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU> on behalf of Tom Johnson 
<johnson.tom+code4...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2016 08:38
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

Eric,

I appreciate that you're trying to make a call to action, but this latest
email is stunningly condescending.

As I'm sure you must know, people in this community do hold regional
meetings. These meetings take substantial effort to arrange. The wiki is
full of documentation, advice, and lessons learned the hard way by the many
people who have done this work over the years.

The result has been a vibrant community which has had an important
influence on technology practice in libraries and played a key role in
establishing the careers of some of the most talented people working in
this field. I can't see why you would want to erase that in favor of a
12-step guide to holding a meetup that you dashed together for an email.

We can debate the merits of holding a national conference, but let's not
begin that debate by pretending that the regional meetups are so easy to
hold that they just happen like magic. They don't, and they never have.

- Tom

On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 12:50 AM, Eric Lease Morgan <emor...@nd.edu> wrote:

> On Jun 9, 2016, at 7:55 PM, Coral Sheldon-Hess <co...@sheldon-hess.org>
> wrote:
>
> > One note about what we're discussing: when we talk about just doing the
> > regional events (and I mean beyond 2017, which will be a special case if
> a
> > host city can't step in), we need to realize that we have a lot of
> members
> > who aren't in a Code4Lib region.
> >
> > You might think I'm talking about Alaska, because that's where I lived
> when
> > I first came to a Code4Lib conference. And that's certainly one place,
> > along with Hawaii, that would be left out.
> >
> > But even living in Pittsburgh, I'm not in a Code4Lib region, that I can
> > tell. Pittsburgh isn't in the midwest, and we also aren't part of the
> > tri-state region that Philly's in. I'm employed (part-time/remote) in the
> > DC/MD region, so if I can afford the drive and hotel, that's probably the
> > one I'd pick right now. I guess?
> >
> > So, even landlocked in the continental US, it's possible not to have a
> > region.
> >
> > More importantly, though: my understanding is that our international
> > members are fairly spread out -- maybe Code4Lib Japan being an exception?
> > -- so, even ignoring weird cases like Pittsburgh, we stand to lose some
> > really fantastic contributors to our community if we drop to
> regional-only.
> >
> > Just something else to consider.
> > - Coral
>
>
> Interesting. Consider searching one or more of the existing Code4Lib
> mailing list archives for things Pittsburg:
>
>   * https://www.mail-archive.com/code4lib@listserv.nd.edu/
>   * http://serials.infomotions.com/code4lib/
>   * https://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CODE4LIB
>
> I’d be willing to be you can identify six or seven Code4Lib’ers in the
> results. You could then suggest a “meet-up”, a get together over lunch, or
> to have them visit you in your space or a near-by public library. Even if
> there are only three of you, then things will get started, and it will grow
> from there. I promise. —Eric Morgan
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Tom Johnson]

Eric,

I appreciate that you're trying to make a call to action, but this latest
email is stunningly condescending.

As I'm sure you must know, people in this community do hold regional
meetings. These meetings take substantial effort to arrange. The wiki is
full of documentation, advice, and lessons learned the hard way by the many
people who have done this work over the years.

The result has been a vibrant community which has had an important
influence on technology practice in libraries and played a key role in
establishing the careers of some of the most talented people working in
this field. I can't see why you would want to erase that in favor of a
12-step guide to holding a meetup that you dashed together for an email.

We can debate the merits of holding a national conference, but let's not
begin that debate by pretending that the regional meetups are so easy to
hold that they just happen like magic. They don't, and they never have.

- Tom

On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 12:50 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:

> On Jun 9, 2016, at 7:55 PM, Coral Sheldon-Hess 
> wrote:
>
> > One note about what we're discussing: when we talk about just doing the
> > regional events (and I mean beyond 2017, which will be a special case if
> a
> > host city can't step in), we need to realize that we have a lot of
> members
> > who aren't in a Code4Lib region.
> >
> > You might think I'm talking about Alaska, because that's where I lived
> when
> > I first came to a Code4Lib conference. And that's certainly one place,
> > along with Hawaii, that would be left out.
> >
> > But even living in Pittsburgh, I'm not in a Code4Lib region, that I can
> > tell. Pittsburgh isn't in the midwest, and we also aren't part of the
> > tri-state region that Philly's in. I'm employed (part-time/remote) in the
> > DC/MD region, so if I can afford the drive and hotel, that's probably the
> > one I'd pick right now. I guess?
> >
> > So, even landlocked in the continental US, it's possible not to have a
> > region.
> >
> > More importantly, though: my understanding is that our international
> > members are fairly spread out -- maybe Code4Lib Japan being an exception?
> > -- so, even ignoring weird cases like Pittsburgh, we stand to lose some
> > really fantastic contributors to our community if we drop to
> regional-only.
> >
> > Just something else to consider.
> > - Coral
>
>
> Interesting. Consider searching one or more of the existing Code4Lib
> mailing list archives for things Pittsburg:
>
>   * https://www.mail-archive.com/code4lib@listserv.nd.edu/
>   * http://serials.infomotions.com/code4lib/
>   * https://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CODE4LIB
>
> I’d be willing to be you can identify six or seven Code4Lib’ers in the
> results. You could then suggest a “meet-up”, a get together over lunch, or
> to have them visit you in your space or a near-by public library. Even if
> there are only three of you, then things will get started, and it will grow
> from there. I promise. —Eric Morgan
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Eric Lease Morgan]

On Jun 9, 2016, at 7:55 PM, Coral Sheldon-Hess  wrote:

> One note about what we're discussing: when we talk about just doing the
> regional events (and I mean beyond 2017, which will be a special case if a
> host city can't step in), we need to realize that we have a lot of members
> who aren't in a Code4Lib region.
> 
> You might think I'm talking about Alaska, because that's where I lived when
> I first came to a Code4Lib conference. And that's certainly one place,
> along with Hawaii, that would be left out.
> 
> But even living in Pittsburgh, I'm not in a Code4Lib region, that I can
> tell. Pittsburgh isn't in the midwest, and we also aren't part of the
> tri-state region that Philly's in. I'm employed (part-time/remote) in the
> DC/MD region, so if I can afford the drive and hotel, that's probably the
> one I'd pick right now. I guess?
> 
> So, even landlocked in the continental US, it's possible not to have a
> region.
> 
> More importantly, though: my understanding is that our international
> members are fairly spread out -- maybe Code4Lib Japan being an exception?
> -- so, even ignoring weird cases like Pittsburgh, we stand to lose some
> really fantastic contributors to our community if we drop to regional-only.
> 
> Just something else to consider.
> - Coral


Interesting. Consider searching one or more of the existing Code4Lib mailing 
list archives for things Pittsburg:

  * https://www.mail-archive.com/code4lib@listserv.nd.edu/
  * http://serials.infomotions.com/code4lib/
  * https://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=CODE4LIB

I’d be willing to be you can identify six or seven Code4Lib’ers in the results. 
You could then suggest a “meet-up”, a get together over lunch, or to have them 
visit you in your space or a near-by public library. Even if there are only 
three of you, then things will get started, and it will grow from there. I 
promise. —Eric Morgan

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Coral Sheldon-Hess]

One note about what we're discussing: when we talk about just doing the
regional events (and I mean beyond 2017, which will be a special case if a
host city can't step in), we need to realize that we have a lot of members
who aren't in a Code4Lib region.

You might think I'm talking about Alaska, because that's where I lived when
I first came to a Code4Lib conference. And that's certainly one place,
along with Hawaii, that would be left out.

But even living in Pittsburgh, I'm not in a Code4Lib region, that I can
tell. Pittsburgh isn't in the midwest, and we also aren't part of the
tri-state region that Philly's in. I'm employed (part-time/remote) in the
DC/MD region, so if I can afford the drive and hotel, that's probably the
one I'd pick right now. I guess?

So, even landlocked in the continental US, it's possible not to have a
region.

More importantly, though: my understanding is that our international
members are fairly spread out -- maybe Code4Lib Japan being an exception?
-- so, even ignoring weird cases like Pittsburgh, we stand to lose some
really fantastic contributors to our community if we drop to regional-only.

Just something else to consider.
- Coral

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 11:31 AM, Mark A. Matienzo 
wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 6:40 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:
>
> >
> > Hosting a local/regional meeting is not difficult and relatively
> > inexpensive.
>
>
> While I find the intent to make code4lib more "distributed" through
> localized meetings, I find this statement incredibly belittling and
> disingenuous. There are a number folks in the community who have organized
> local, regional, national and international conferences. Some of the things
> that you claim are important, and perhaps easy (space, "strong wifi", etc.)
> can be quite difficult to obtain, even for small groups.
>
> Let’s forgo identifying a fiduciary for a while. What will they facilitate?
> > The funding of a large meeting space in a “fancy” hotel? Is that really
> > necessary when the same communication & sharing can be done on a smaller,
> > lesser expensive, and more intimate scale? DIY.
>
>
> Any of this organizing activity is a form of labor, and it's no wonder why
> people get exhausted and sometimes burnt out by organizing conferences. I'm
> all for DIY, but DIY is still labor and requires time, capital, and
> emotional energy.
>
> So yes, let's provide more opportunities for people to get together at a
> local level, but let's be honest about what it takes.
>
> Mark
>
> --
> Mark A. Matienzo  | http://anarchivi.st/
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Mark A. Matienzo]

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 6:40 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:

>
> Hosting a local/regional meeting is not difficult and relatively
> inexpensive.


While I find the intent to make code4lib more "distributed" through
localized meetings, I find this statement incredibly belittling and
disingenuous. There are a number folks in the community who have organized
local, regional, national and international conferences. Some of the things
that you claim are important, and perhaps easy (space, "strong wifi", etc.)
can be quite difficult to obtain, even for small groups.

Let’s forgo identifying a fiduciary for a while. What will they facilitate?
> The funding of a large meeting space in a “fancy” hotel? Is that really
> necessary when the same communication & sharing can be done on a smaller,
> lesser expensive, and more intimate scale? DIY.


Any of this organizing activity is a form of labor, and it's no wonder why
people get exhausted and sometimes burnt out by organizing conferences. I'm
all for DIY, but DIY is still labor and requires time, capital, and
emotional energy.

So yes, let's provide more opportunities for people to get together at a
local level, but let's be honest about what it takes.

Mark

--
Mark A. Matienzo  | http://anarchivi.st/

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Shaun D. Ellis]

I believe the distillation of Code4Lib’s value into enabling “communication and 
sharing” is accurate, but I think this should be further focused. Showcasing 
what we’ve done and how we’ve done it is wonderful, but only goes so far since 
many of our open source solutions still require a loads of effort to implement. 
 A number of institutions (Stanford certainly stands out in my mind) have made 
great strides towards open source collaboration in libraries, but for 
understandable reasons they are limited in size and focus, and there should be 
more contributors than there currently are to most open source library 
projects.  Furthermore, the use cases of smaller archives and libraries often 
don’t get addressed.*

I went to DrupalCon last month, and I learned that Drupal really needs people 
to step up and contribute to Drupal Core, but just getting out of the starting 
gate requires training, mentoring, and dedication.  It took me all day at the 
Drupal Core Sprint “hackfest" to simply move a single issue forward with a few 
comments and screenshots.  I felt good about that until I realized that there’s 
no commitment from my institution to set aside time to contribute back to Core. 
 The perception of open source as completely free software requiring no 
reciprocation on the part of institutions needs to change.

As others have mentioned, I agree that this year could be an opportunity to 
experiment with the annual conference format.  I wonder what could be 
accomplished by organizing a hands-on virtual “hackfest/creative coding” event, 
where institutions commit “attendees" to working on open source software 
(mentorship, coding, design, UI, UX, documentation, etc) for that week?  This 
could be completely virtual, or it could be semi-virtual by coordinating 
regional/local gatherings. It would involve just as much effort, logistics, and 
infrastructure to organize, so I don’t see the committee structure going away, 
but it wouldn’t require the burden of contracts and money necessary to organize 
a "mega event" in physical space.

My two cents,
Shaun Ellis

* There are some efforts to address this with projects like "Hydra-in-a-Box” 
(love those weekly sprint demos!), but you get my drift.


On Jun 8, 2016, at 3:11 PM, Matt Sherman 
> wrote:

Eric,

Thanks for tossing these ideas out there.  A number of these ideas had
not occurred to me, even though I've been wanting to see more local
events.  What you and Kyle are saying is resounding far more than I
would have initially thought.  I think in general one of the great
things with Code4Lib has been more of a focus on hashing out projects
and ideas, helping one another learn new things, consider new ideas
and approaches, and build relationships that way. Which having more
local meet ups would help with.  Part of me hates to see the national
conference go away as I love getting a chance to meet and interact
with so many folks from all over, but I think you have a great point
on needing to put some greater focus back into regional events and the
collaborative aspects that build this community in the first place.

Matt Sherman

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 2:50 PM, Eric Hellman 
> wrote:
Since we're brainstorming...

In addition to regional meetings, how about having some smaller, national or 
even international thematic Code4Lib meetings. For example, I see an aching 
need for a "Code4Lib:Privacy".


Eric Hellman
President, Free Ebook Foundation
Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
twitter: @gluejar

On Jun 8, 2016, at 6:40 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:

On Jun 8, 2016, at 1:55 AM, Kyle Banerjee  wrote:

My recollection is that in the bad 'ol days, c4l was much more about sharing 
ideas to solve practical problems… Nowadays, the conference (which has become 
like other library conferences) has become an end in itself…


In the spirit of open source software and open access publishing, I suggest we 
earnestly try to practice DIY — do it yourself -- before other types of 
formalization be put into place.

I was struck by Kyle’s statement, “the conference has become an end in itself”, 
and the more I think about it, the more I think this has become true. The 
problem to solve is not identifying a fiduciary for the annual conference. The 
problems to solve surround communication and sharing. A (large) annual 
conference is not the answer to these problems, but rather it is one possible 
answer.

Unless somebody steps up to the plate, then I suggest we forego the annual 
meeting and try a more DIY approach for a limited period of time, say two or 
three years. More specifically, I suggest more time & earnest effort be spent 
on local or regional meetings. Hosting a local/regional meeting is not 
difficult and relatively inexpensive. Here’s how:

1) Identify one or two 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Kari R Smith]

And I'll throw into the mix that there are several one and two day meetings 
that deal with sectors of technologies and archives/libraries.  An idea that's 
been talked about in other groups is about having a week when several of these 
meet so that attendees might cross-over to other relevant meetings and topics 
and thus not have to travel to several one-day meetings but instead take 
advantage of a single location.  

Just another thought --

Kari R. Smith
Digital Archivist, Institute Archives and Special Collections
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries

617.253.5690   smithkr at mit.edu   http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Eric 
Hellman
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2016 2:51 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

Since we're brainstorming...

In addition to regional meetings, how about having some smaller, national or 
even international thematic Code4Lib meetings. For example, I see an aching 
need for a "Code4Lib:Privacy".


Eric Hellman
President, Free Ebook Foundation
Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
twitter: @gluejar

> On Jun 8, 2016, at 6:40 AM, Eric Lease Morgan <emor...@nd.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Jun 8, 2016, at 1:55 AM, Kyle Banerjee <kyle.baner...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> My recollection is that in the bad 'ol days, c4l was much more about sharing 
>> ideas to solve practical problems… Nowadays, the conference (which has 
>> become like other library conferences) has become an end in itself…
> 
> 
> In the spirit of open source software and open access publishing, I suggest 
> we earnestly try to practice DIY — do it yourself -- before other types of 
> formalization be put into place.
> 
> I was struck by Kyle’s statement, “the conference has become an end in 
> itself”, and the more I think about it, the more I think this has become 
> true. The problem to solve is not identifying a fiduciary for the annual 
> conference. The problems to solve surround communication and sharing. A 
> (large) annual conference is not the answer to these problems, but rather it 
> is one possible answer.
> 
> Unless somebody steps up to the plate, then I suggest we forego the annual 
> meeting and try a more DIY approach for a limited period of time, say two or 
> three years. More specifically, I suggest more time & earnest effort be spent 
> on local or regional meetings. Hosting a local/regional meeting is not 
> difficult and relatively inexpensive. Here’s how:
> 
>  1) Identify one or two regional leaders - These are people who will 
> initialize and coordinate events. They find & recruit other people to 
> participate. Sure, they require “spare cycles", but they do not have to keep 
> this responsibility past a single event.
> 
>  2) Create/maintain a Web presence - This is a Web page and/or a mailing 
> list. These tools will be communication conduits. Keep the Web page 
> up-to-date on the status of the event. Refer to it in almost every email 
> message. Use it to record what will happen as well as what did happen. The 
> mailing list can start out as someone’s address book, but it can grow to an 
> mail alias on a Linux machine or even a Google Group. The Web page can live 
> in the Code4Lib wiki.
> 
>  3) Communicate - Kind of like voting in Chicago, “Talk early. Talk often.” 
> This is essential, and can hardly be done too much. People delete email. 
> People don’t plan ahead. People think they are not available, then at the 
> last minute they are. The reverse happens too. Send communications about your 
> event often, very often. Use email to build a local/regional community. Share 
> with them your intention as early as Step #1. Keep people informed.
> 
>  4) Identify a venue — Find a place to have the event. Colleges, 
> universities, and municipal libraries are good choices. Ideally they should 
> be associated with the output of Step #1. The meeting space has to 
> accommodate fifty people (more or less), but bigger is not necessarily 
> better. The space can be an auditorium, a meeting room, many meeting rooms, 
> or any combination. The space requires excellent network connectivity. A 
> meeting space sans strong wi-fi is detrimental.
> 
>  5) Identify a time - The meeting itself needs to be at least one afternoon 
> long. A day is good. More than two full days becomes a bit difficult. 
> Starting at times like noon allows people to have traveling time, or for 
> folks who arrived the night before time to get oriented. Starting at nine and 
> ending at 5 makes for a nice full day. Ending the meeting around noon makes 
> it easy for people to travel back home. Host the ev

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Matt Sherman]

Eric,

Thanks for tossing these ideas out there.  A number of these ideas had
not occurred to me, even though I've been wanting to see more local
events.  What you and Kyle are saying is resounding far more than I
would have initially thought.  I think in general one of the great
things with Code4Lib has been more of a focus on hashing out projects
and ideas, helping one another learn new things, consider new ideas
and approaches, and build relationships that way. Which having more
local meet ups would help with.  Part of me hates to see the national
conference go away as I love getting a chance to meet and interact
with so many folks from all over, but I think you have a great point
on needing to put some greater focus back into regional events and the
collaborative aspects that build this community in the first place.

Matt Sherman

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 2:50 PM, Eric Hellman  wrote:
> Since we're brainstorming...
>
> In addition to regional meetings, how about having some smaller, national or 
> even international thematic Code4Lib meetings. For example, I see an aching 
> need for a "Code4Lib:Privacy".
>
>
> Eric Hellman
> President, Free Ebook Foundation
> Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
> https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
> twitter: @gluejar
>
>> On Jun 8, 2016, at 6:40 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:
>>
>> On Jun 8, 2016, at 1:55 AM, Kyle Banerjee  wrote:
>>
>>> My recollection is that in the bad 'ol days, c4l was much more about 
>>> sharing ideas to solve practical problems… Nowadays, the conference (which 
>>> has become like other library conferences) has become an end in itself…
>>
>>
>> In the spirit of open source software and open access publishing, I suggest 
>> we earnestly try to practice DIY — do it yourself -- before other types of 
>> formalization be put into place.
>>
>> I was struck by Kyle’s statement, “the conference has become an end in 
>> itself”, and the more I think about it, the more I think this has become 
>> true. The problem to solve is not identifying a fiduciary for the annual 
>> conference. The problems to solve surround communication and sharing. A 
>> (large) annual conference is not the answer to these problems, but rather it 
>> is one possible answer.
>>
>> Unless somebody steps up to the plate, then I suggest we forego the annual 
>> meeting and try a more DIY approach for a limited period of time, say two or 
>> three years. More specifically, I suggest more time & earnest effort be 
>> spent on local or regional meetings. Hosting a local/regional meeting is not 
>> difficult and relatively inexpensive. Here’s how:
>>
>>  1) Identify one or two regional leaders - These are people who will 
>> initialize and coordinate events. They find & recruit other people to 
>> participate. Sure, they require “spare cycles", but they do not have to keep 
>> this responsibility past a single event.
>>
>>  2) Create/maintain a Web presence - This is a Web page and/or a mailing 
>> list. These tools will be communication conduits. Keep the Web page 
>> up-to-date on the status of the event. Refer to it in almost every email 
>> message. Use it to record what will happen as well as what did happen. The 
>> mailing list can start out as someone’s address book, but it can grow to an 
>> mail alias on a Linux machine or even a Google Group. The Web page can live 
>> in the Code4Lib wiki.
>>
>>  3) Communicate - Kind of like voting in Chicago, “Talk early. Talk often.” 
>> This is essential, and can hardly be done too much. People delete email. 
>> People don’t plan ahead. People think they are not available, then at the 
>> last minute they are. The reverse happens too. Send communications about 
>> your event often, very often. Use email to build a local/regional community. 
>> Share with them your intention as early as Step #1. Keep people informed.
>>
>>  4) Identify a venue — Find a place to have the event. Colleges, 
>> universities, and municipal libraries are good choices. Ideally they should 
>> be associated with the output of Step #1. The meeting space has to 
>> accommodate fifty people (more or less), but bigger is not necessarily 
>> better. The space can be an auditorium, a meeting room, many meeting rooms, 
>> or any combination. The space requires excellent network connectivity. A 
>> meeting space sans strong wi-fi is detrimental.
>>
>>  5) Identify a time - The meeting itself needs to be at least one afternoon 
>> long. A day is good. More than two full days becomes a bit difficult. 
>> Starting at times like noon allows people to have traveling time, or for 
>> folks who arrived the night before time to get oriented. Starting at nine 
>> and ending at 5 makes for a nice full day. Ending the meeting around noon 
>> makes it easy for people to travel back home. Host the event on a weekday 
>> and maybe ending on a Saturday. This is professional work, and it may be fun 
>> & interesting, but it 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Eric Hellman]

Since we're brainstorming...

In addition to regional meetings, how about having some smaller, national or 
even international thematic Code4Lib meetings. For example, I see an aching 
need for a "Code4Lib:Privacy".


Eric Hellman
President, Free Ebook Foundation
Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
twitter: @gluejar

> On Jun 8, 2016, at 6:40 AM, Eric Lease Morgan  wrote:
> 
> On Jun 8, 2016, at 1:55 AM, Kyle Banerjee  wrote:
> 
>> My recollection is that in the bad 'ol days, c4l was much more about sharing 
>> ideas to solve practical problems… Nowadays, the conference (which has 
>> become like other library conferences) has become an end in itself…
> 
> 
> In the spirit of open source software and open access publishing, I suggest 
> we earnestly try to practice DIY — do it yourself -- before other types of 
> formalization be put into place.
> 
> I was struck by Kyle’s statement, “the conference has become an end in 
> itself”, and the more I think about it, the more I think this has become 
> true. The problem to solve is not identifying a fiduciary for the annual 
> conference. The problems to solve surround communication and sharing. A 
> (large) annual conference is not the answer to these problems, but rather it 
> is one possible answer.
> 
> Unless somebody steps up to the plate, then I suggest we forego the annual 
> meeting and try a more DIY approach for a limited period of time, say two or 
> three years. More specifically, I suggest more time & earnest effort be spent 
> on local or regional meetings. Hosting a local/regional meeting is not 
> difficult and relatively inexpensive. Here’s how:
> 
>  1) Identify one or two regional leaders - These are people who will 
> initialize and coordinate events. They find & recruit other people to 
> participate. Sure, they require “spare cycles", but they do not have to keep 
> this responsibility past a single event.
> 
>  2) Create/maintain a Web presence - This is a Web page and/or a mailing 
> list. These tools will be communication conduits. Keep the Web page 
> up-to-date on the status of the event. Refer to it in almost every email 
> message. Use it to record what will happen as well as what did happen. The 
> mailing list can start out as someone’s address book, but it can grow to an 
> mail alias on a Linux machine or even a Google Group. The Web page can live 
> in the Code4Lib wiki.
> 
>  3) Communicate - Kind of like voting in Chicago, “Talk early. Talk often.” 
> This is essential, and can hardly be done too much. People delete email. 
> People don’t plan ahead. People think they are not available, then at the 
> last minute they are. The reverse happens too. Send communications about your 
> event often, very often. Use email to build a local/regional community. Share 
> with them your intention as early as Step #1. Keep people informed.
> 
>  4) Identify a venue — Find a place to have the event. Colleges, 
> universities, and municipal libraries are good choices. Ideally they should 
> be associated with the output of Step #1. The meeting space has to 
> accommodate fifty people (more or less), but bigger is not necessarily 
> better. The space can be an auditorium, a meeting room, many meeting rooms, 
> or any combination. The space requires excellent network connectivity. A 
> meeting space sans strong wi-fi is detrimental.
> 
>  5) Identify a time - The meeting itself needs to be at least one afternoon 
> long. A day is good. More than two full days becomes a bit difficult. 
> Starting at times like noon allows people to have traveling time, or for 
> folks who arrived the night before time to get oriented. Starting at nine and 
> ending at 5 makes for a nice full day. Ending the meeting around noon makes 
> it easy for people to travel back home. Host the event on a weekday and maybe 
> ending on a Saturday. This is professional work, and it may be fun & 
> interesting, but it should not require vacation leave.†
> 
>  6) Outline an agenda - The agenda embodies "la raison d’être”. The agenda is 
> a tool for facilitating the communication and sharing. Put it on the Web 
> page. Allow others to fill it in. Outline show & tell sessions of various 
> lengths. Recruit people who you know are doing interesting things. Be 
> prepared to show one or two things from the local institution. Do show & tell 
> on things other than computers in libraries. Give tours of local cool stuff, 
> like an archive, special collection, museum, maker space, or even churches. 
> These tours are less about the showing of the stuff as they are about 
> enabling communication of the attendees. Do you really think people are not 
> going to talk work while gazing at a painting? Identify concrete (library) 
> problems to solve, and these form the basis of hack sessions. Do the 
> “unconference” thing. Take hints from THATCamps. Do roundtable discussions 
> and have reporting back 

Re: [CODE4LIB] Formalizing Code4Lib? [diy]

[Eric Lease Morgan]

On Jun 8, 2016, at 1:55 AM, Kyle Banerjee  wrote:

> My recollection is that in the bad 'ol days, c4l was much more about sharing 
> ideas to solve practical problems… Nowadays, the conference (which has become 
> like other library conferences) has become an end in itself…


In the spirit of open source software and open access publishing, I suggest we 
earnestly try to practice DIY — do it yourself -- before other types of 
formalization be put into place.

I was struck by Kyle’s statement, “the conference has become an end in itself”, 
and the more I think about it, the more I think this has become true. The 
problem to solve is not identifying a fiduciary for the annual conference. The 
problems to solve surround communication and sharing. A (large) annual 
conference is not the answer to these problems, but rather it is one possible 
answer.

Unless somebody steps up to the plate, then I suggest we forego the annual 
meeting and try a more DIY approach for a limited period of time, say two or 
three years. More specifically, I suggest more time & earnest effort be spent 
on local or regional meetings. Hosting a local/regional meeting is not 
difficult and relatively inexpensive. Here’s how:

  1) Identify one or two regional leaders - These are people who will 
initialize and coordinate events. They find & recruit other people to 
participate. Sure, they require “spare cycles", but they do not have to keep 
this responsibility past a single event.

  2) Create/maintain a Web presence - This is a Web page and/or a mailing list. 
These tools will be communication conduits. Keep the Web page up-to-date on the 
status of the event. Refer to it in almost every email message. Use it to 
record what will happen as well as what did happen. The mailing list can start 
out as someone’s address book, but it can grow to an mail alias on a Linux 
machine or even a Google Group. The Web page can live in the Code4Lib wiki.

  3) Communicate - Kind of like voting in Chicago, “Talk early. Talk often.” 
This is essential, and can hardly be done too much. People delete email. People 
don’t plan ahead. People think they are not available, then at the last minute 
they are. The reverse happens too. Send communications about your event often, 
very often. Use email to build a local/regional community. Share with them your 
intention as early as Step #1. Keep people informed. 

  4) Identify a venue — Find a place to have the event. Colleges, universities, 
and municipal libraries are good choices. Ideally they should be associated 
with the output of Step #1. The meeting space has to accommodate fifty people 
(more or less), but bigger is not necessarily better. The space can be an 
auditorium, a meeting room, many meeting rooms, or any combination. The space 
requires excellent network connectivity. A meeting space sans strong wi-fi is 
detrimental.

  5) Identify a time - The meeting itself needs to be at least one afternoon 
long. A day is good. More than two full days becomes a bit difficult. Starting 
at times like noon allows people to have traveling time, or for folks who 
arrived the night before time to get oriented. Starting at nine and ending at 5 
makes for a nice full day. Ending the meeting around noon makes it easy for 
people to travel back home. Host the event on a weekday and maybe ending on a 
Saturday. This is professional work, and it may be fun & interesting, but it 
should not require vacation leave.† 

  6) Outline an agenda - The agenda embodies "la raison d’être”. The agenda is 
a tool for facilitating the communication and sharing. Put it on the Web page. 
Allow others to fill it in. Outline show & tell sessions of various lengths. 
Recruit people who you know are doing interesting things. Be prepared to show 
one or two things from the local institution. Do show & tell on things other 
than computers in libraries. Give tours of local cool stuff, like an archive, 
special collection, museum, maker space, or even churches. These tours are less 
about the showing of the stuff as they are about enabling communication of the 
attendees. Do you really think people are not going to talk work while gazing 
at a painting? Identify concrete (library) problems to solve, and these form 
the basis of hack sessions. Do the “unconference” thing. Take hints from 
THATCamps. Do roundtable discussions and have reporting back sessions. Bring in 
people outside computing but inside the hosting community, and learning by 
everybody will take place.

  7) Identify how to eat - Going to one more more restaurants/bars for lunch or 
in the evening is a very good thing. When it comes to lunch, people can go out 
on their own, or the hosting institution may want to sponsor. Cookies and 
snacks during the day are good things, but not necessary. Shy away from 
caterers. They are expensive. Take the same money, go to the grocery store, and 
buy things to eat. Make reservations in restaurants for