Open conversations

I have spent the last two days at the Science Online conference in London. I was surrounded with people talking enthusiastically about sharing their knowledge, how to get others to share theirs, and how technology could help with this process. Just my sort of thing! Being in the midst of this community, and my recent experience of writing for the SLA Future Ready blog (to be published soon), has encourage me to dust off my own blog. I don’t feel comfortable with my spectator status anymore, enjoying what everyone else is saying, without sharing some thoughts of my own.

Over the last 48 hours I have met great people working on amazing projects, and listening to them I felt very proud to be part of a community who wants to make scientific knowledge more open and accessible. Whilst some assume that text mining, linking data, etc are a “nice to have”, but not real science, several speakers showed that these technologies could help make essential information accessible to researchers, and to the public. Quick access to information and knowledge means that the rhythm of new discoveries can be accelerated, solutions to problems found and potential cure to diseases developed.

Beyond technology, a lot was said about behaviours, and how the culture amongst the scientific community needs to change in order for the tools to demonstrate their full value. Much was said about the incentives available to encourage sharing as well as the infrastructure; the best metrics to assess the quality of science; science blogging vs. publishing papers; and the need for change in order to rewards sharing as well publishing. Some have commented on Twitter that not all of these were strictly to do with “online science”, but I think these issues are all part of the same ecosystem, and need to be resolved collectively.

One interesting aspects in all these conversations was the fact that, although it would be easy to confine them to the world of scientific research, I know from my KM experience in other sectors that these issues are commonly debated. Of course the means to provide rewards, and visibility for “knowledge sharers”, are different, but I believe that the motivations are to do with the fact that we are human, rather than what our profession is. Something for me to explorer further over the next few months, as so far I have not found any other knowledge manager working in the scientific world!

All in all a good experience, even if some of the conversations were too technical for me, as I have gathered enough new ideas and contacts to keep me occupied for a while, and will hopefully report back if the blog bug does not desert me again!

Trolls

Although they have been around since the first online bulletin boards were launched, I have only recently encountered trolls! No, I am not referring to old Scandinavian legends nor characters found in children’s books, but to a much contemporaneous phenomenon affecting online discussions. A troll is usually described as someone who deliberately posts provocative comments in the hope to bait other readers. The outcome is likely to be an overheated discussion where some forget that the forum is open to the world, where hundreds if not thousands are witnessing the debates. Most of the time it’s annoying, but the delete button provides a suitable solution. Sometimes it can cause real injury to feelings or reputational damage. But the most likely outcome is that members get tired of the troll’s interventions and decide to remain silent or leave completely, with the obvious consequence that their valuable contributions in future conversations will be missed by the group. As the number of opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas over social media constantly increases, how difficult will it be to draw the line between a healthy debate and an unsolicited argument?

In doubt, Timothy Campbell suggests the following:

“Next time you are on a message board and you see a post by somebody whom you think is a troll, and you feel you must reply, simply write a follow-up message entitled “Troll Alert” and type only this:

The only way to deal with trolls is to limit your reaction to reminding others not to respond to trolls.”

For further reading on trolls:

Timothy Campbell, Internet Trolls, http://www.alpharubicon.com/trolls.htm#what%20can

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29

http://www.ehow.com/how_2066623_spot-forum-troll.html

http://curezone.com/forums/troll.asp

Everyone should have a SHR mug

On a relatively quite day in the office last week, I was awaken, well, I mean, alerted, by a sudden burst of activity on the other side of the room. It took only a few seconds to obtain intelligence on the source of this mid-afternoon hysteria…. the office mouse had re-appeared, cheeky little thing, in full day light. I was now surrounded by frightened colleagues arguing that it had “gone over there”, “oh no, it’s here”, “don’t let it go in my handbag”. You get the picture. I thought someone, i.e. me, needed to stay calm and think of a pragmatic solution. I am not afraid of mice, you see, I think they are quite cute. But I am not quite ready to pick them up with my bare hands either, that’s one step too far. The mouse was rapidly progressing towards my desk, following the outside wall of our large open plan office. I needed to act fast. I glanced at my desk, hoping to find inspiration from the eclectic array of office material I surround myself with. Genius stroke. There, right in front of me, was proudly standing my Sue Hill Recruitment mug, which my team had won at the SLA Europe Winter Warmer Quiz. Now armed with my improvised mouse-catcher, I quickly studied the topography ahead of our little furry friend and spotted a large recycling bag. This was bound to slow its progress, and if I was fast enough, I should be able to catch it on the other side. There I was, ready in position, when the rodent appeared. “Plock”, one instant later, the animal was trapped under my temporary cage. A copy of an old magazine came in handy to complete my kit. The mouse was alive and well, though not running around freely anymore. The final stage of my cunning plan involved leaving the building by the back door (avoiding reception, we have a corporate reputation to maintain) and releasing our little friend in the garden. I must say that though this was totally unplanned, it did go a long way to increase my visibility in the office, in much less time that it would have taken me to rehearse and deliver my elevator speech. Everyone should have a SHR mug.

Travelling East

I was very fortunate earlier this month to attend the SLA Arabian Gulf Chapter Conference in Abu Dhabi. It was my first trip to  this region and though I expected it to be a cultural discovery, nothing could have really prepared me fully for what was ahead. I can say without hesitation that it was a life changing experience.

The conference was organised very professionally by the Arabian Gulf chapter and attracted around 400 attendees from many countries, including several beyond the Gulf region itself.  As well as the conference, a  large exhibition gave local and global publishers and information services providers an opportunity to demonstrate their latest products to  local customers. The Middle East is an expanding market and there are many opportunities as the education sector is in constant growth.

As a first timer, I was very nervous as I did not want to break any etiquette rules nor offend any of my hosts. I was fortunate to be able to rely on many friends and colleagues who had been to the region before to give me the relevant tips before my departure. Whilst on site, Sebastien and Alain from EBSCO, who had invited me to Abu Dhabi, made sure I was always well looked after and introduced me to their local contacts.

The highlights of my stay can be summarised around the following points: dress code, language, networking, libraries’ current issues and collaboration!

I was  surprised to discover the amazing variety of outfits worn by other attendees, so much that I felt a bit “under-dressed” in my M&S suit! Following the advice I was given,  I opted to stick to my occidental business attire as everyone told me it was a safe bet. I was really impressed by the diversity and elegance of both ladies and gentlemen’s attire, and it really made me realise how little I knew about this area of the world. It’s a first impression that I am unlikely to ever forget.

For the first time as well, I was attending a conference where the “lingua franca” was not English, but Arabic. Most attendees also spoke English, but all the conversations during the breaks and at meal times were taking place in the local language. Some talks were in English, and some in Arabic, and a full translation service was available for attendees. The conference gathered attendees from several Arabic speaking countries beyond the Gulf region and it was soon clear that it was the only opportunity for librarians to meet every year. The only word I knew was “As-Salamu Alaykum” - which is the formal greeting when meeting someone. I must confess that I got a bit nervous at the last-minute on the day I gave my presentation, and though I had been practising my pronunciation with my new friends earlier, I just said “good morning” in English!

Having attended hundreds of events in the UK, and the Annual Conference in the US, networking has become almost a second nature for me. But the networking rules were very different in Abu Dhabi.  I quickly understood that new attendees did not just walk to anyone standing on their own to introduce themselves, like I would normally do. In the first instance, one has to be introduced to someone else via a common acquaintance, which makes it quite hard when attending a conference for the first time. Then, there is of course the issue of being a woman, which made things slightly more complicated too. The outcome though is that I met a lot less people than I thought I would, as I had to rely on my hosts to introduce me all the time. However, what lacked in quantity was more than compensated by quality, and I made some very interesting people.

The topics at the conference at first surprised me a bit as I come from a corporate background. There were various presentations on information literacy, student information seeking behaviours, access to ebooks and other digital material. After the first day, I realised that most, if not all attendees, worked in the academic sector. Governments in the Arabic Gulf countries are investing heavily in their education system and building new universities. The challenges for librarians are colossal as they literally start from nothing and have to build relevant collections to support new medical schools and other faculties, as well as national libraries and public libraries.

External speakers had been invited to provide a different light on various issues and many librarians working locally come from the US, Canada as well as India and Singapore. The expertise is imported in order to kick-start these new institutions and is vital to the success of these new organisation. Everyone seemed really grateful for this opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, and described the SLA Arabian Gulf chapter as a unique event in their calendar. I am hoping that having had this opportunity to introduce  SLA Europe to our colleagues, we will be able to build new bridges which could lead to further collaboration and opportunities for knowledge-sharing activities.

My thanks go to EBSCO for inviting me to share this experience with them, as well as the SLA Arabian Gulf chapter for allocating me a slot in their programme to present SLA Europe to their members.

Hello world!

Hello indeed,

So that’s it, I have finally joined the big family of bloggers. I have been thinking about it for a long time, but somehow never quite got round to set it up. But here I am, with my first blog, wondering where this new experience will take me. No more limitations to 140 characters, I am now empowered to  let my verve take over. I have not quite set my mind on a particular name for my blog yet… this is typically me, I ponder about doing something for ages, and then suddenly I rush into it. I’ll think of something… I have not started this adventure with any set milestones, nor established strict boundaries around what is a suitable topic of discussion, but will let events in my life lead the way.

Welcome to my blog!