I guess I have a different idea of what an unconference is than the organizers of National Library Unconference Day ’11. To me, an unconference doesn't have keynote speakers. It's peer education without stars and top down lectures.
I also have a different idea of what any library conference keynote slate should look like. In an 80% female profession, I'd prefer five women speakers and one man to the lineup listed on the website as of 2/5/11 at 3pm Eastern. I'm not saying there should be a mandated quota (though I'm not saying there shouldn't be either), I just think they could represent they could represent their constituency a teeny bit better.
In summary
suggestion #1: fuck keynote speakers at unconferences
suggestion #2: if there are going to be keynotes at library conferences, try for at least gender parity
Readers, I hope you appreciate the restraint of this post. FEMINIST LIBRARY HULK wants to come out really really bad.
Comments
Kelsey (not verified)
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 4:06pm
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Agreed.
Agreed.
Kate (not verified)
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 4:44pm
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I love unconferences, and I
I love unconferences, and I love the people putting this together - but they missed the ball in a few ways on this, outside of the gender skewing (which I agree with you 100 percent). It conflicts with the Connecticut Library Association conference, which pulls an entire state of librarians out of attendance. The timing of early May leaves quite a few library schools out of the loop - what school is going to want to hold an unconference when students are finishing up final projects?
Andrea (not verified)
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 4:53pm
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I agree. Welcome greetings
I agree. Welcome greetings and Unconference 101 sessions aside, keynotes don't belong at an unconference.
I don't think that anything that isn't really true unconference -- based entirely on an attendee-created agenda -- should be using the name. All you need is a time, a place, wifi, and an open space tech setup, and a few simple rules (the law of two feet, everything is Creative Commons atmosphere, etc.). Anything beyond that and it's unconference/barcamp scope creep.
While offering keynotes to help bring structure to something that is natively unstructured is an interesting attempt to generate buy-in from people who *crave* structure, it just isn't what unconferences are about.
I also agree with your view on gender in the keynotes. For as long as I was active the library world, it seemed that no matter how many tech-knowledgeable female librarians existed, high-profile tech librarian speakers/gurus/experts seemed to skew more male than female. I will say that things like Geek Girl Camp go too far in the other direction (for my taste, anyway), but seriously, in an profession that's 80% female, we know there are plenty of nerd chicks, and they should be doing presos, keynotes, and workshops *all the time*.
jenna
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 7:52pm
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Thanks for the validation,
Thanks for the validation, Andrea. And hi!
Nicole (not verified)
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 5:10pm
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I didn't read all of the
I didn't read all of the event info, missing the fact that no women will be speaking; which definitely is a big deal. I know there is *at least* one female contributor to that blog, and more than a few female librarians talking about gaming, so I'm really disappointed to see that.
Nicole (not verified)
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 6:14pm
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(Whoops, 1 woman speaking.)
(Whoops, 1 woman speaking.) At the same time, for the benefit of the doubt since I do know JP to be a nice person, this could very well just be the luck of the draw with who was available to speak?
Justin (not verified)
Thu, 02/10/2011 - 4:35pm
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I just wanted to chime in to
I just wanted to chime in to help clear things up.
We (8BitLibrary) got whoever he could find at the time. JP is going to be presenting in Connecticut at the time so he worked with NJ librarian Allen McGinley and CT librarian Jaime Hammond (a female!) to bring the two states together via this conference. Michael Stephens and myself were going to be at NJLA presenting this year so and Eli's our 8BitGodbrarian so it just all sorta fell together like this.
We're trying to get Information Goddess Beth Gallaway involved as well!