[Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times

[Robert Balliot]

Jean,

I deny any affiliation whatsoever with the devil.  It was Ross Singer who
used the term *minion *to describe librarians who do not attend meetings.

If you want to have a food sharing experience using
telepresence<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns669/networking_solutions_solution_segment_home.html>,
create
an agenda where identical snacks are offered at the same time.  The smells
and sounds of consumption would be universal. For a meeting originating
in San Francisco, you could provide a
Rice-A-Roni<http://www.ricearoni.com/RAR_Recipes/index.cfm>
recipe  for that authentic San Francisco experience.

R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com
BTW - I left a small donation at Steelhead
Library<http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead/123/184/25>- nice design
:)


On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 6:43 PM, Jean Hewlett <hewlett at usfca.edu> wrote:

> Robert, I'm going to assume you are playing devil's advocate here.
> Certainly online conferences are a wonderful way to extend the reach of
>  those who couldn't attend in person, whether because of financial
> considerations, press of work and/or family, health issues, or many other
> causes.
>


> Snacks and meals are an especially interesting area. We still haven't found
> a virtual way to replicate the emotional closeness that comes from sharing
> food. It's common to offer virtual food and drinks at SecondLife meetings,
> but the overall effect is a bit flat, just a few steps up from having
> somebody send you an imaginary beer on FaceBook. Some people believe the
> reason group dancing is so popular on SecondLife is that it provides
> icebreaking and bonding effects similar to the ones sharing food provides in
> real life.
>
>
>
> Jean Hewlett
> Regional Librarian, University of San Francisco
> aka Riven Homewood, Director, Steelhead Public Library, SecondLife
>
>