[Air-l] [AOIR 8.0] Vancouver Conference Update #2 (May 8, 2007)

Tue May 8 12:22:28 PDT 2007

Hi Richard,

You wrote: " I am open to suggestions on how to make ourselves - within
reason, of course
- even "greener.""

Just a suggestion, but placing some of the conference fee into buying carbon
credits might make the gig a little greener....?

Paul.

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Richard Smith
Sent: Wednesday, 9 May 2007 2:07
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-l] [AOIR 8.0] Vancouver Conference Update #2 (May 8, 2007)

Dear Air-born,

Just when you thought the information had finally eased up, here is another
update from those Crazy Canucks, the AoIR 8.0 ("aerate" - get it?) Let's
Play organizing committee. If you are not planning on coming to Vancouver in
October then you might as well delete this message right now. Everyone else
should at least glance at it. Then delete it. Make sure you return those
electrons for your deposit, however. This is going to be a green conference.
(As always, an archive of this email will be kept at the "About IR 8.0" page
on the AoIR wiki: http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=About_IR8.0)

Green

Actually, that's no joke. I am putting extra effort into ensuring that this
conference makes some attempt to be low impact on the environment. Since
we're starting from such a deep hole - presumably you're all going to be
burning up the ozone flying here to Vancouver - we have an obligation to try
for best practice. What does this mean, to you?

- we'll have organic, local food wherever possible and we will be sourcing
ingredients for their proximity to the conference city. Coffee will be as
shady and bird friendly as we can get it, and so will our fruits and juices.

- paper and plastic will be at a minimum and we'll use the recycled version
wherever possible.

- there will be vegetarian options at all of the meals and breaks

I am open to suggestions on how to make ourselves - within reason, of course
- even "greener." I wonder if you would be interested in bringing your own
badge, for example. I, for one, have a pile of them from previous
conferences and could not only bring my own but a dozen extras for others.
Anyone else interested in doing this? What else could we do?

Back channel/E-presence

One of the fun elements of an AoIR event is the lively and irreverant
"backchannel" that seems to spring up each time. While it is probably too
early to tell what social networking technology is going to be dominating
the action this year - I've started creating links in a few of the usual
places.

The AoIR Wiki has a set of pages on the event, which you can find here:
http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=About_IR8.0

There is a facebook event listing here:
http://sfu.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2265672192

There is a facebook group here:
http://sfu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2331171313

IRC has been used successfully in the past, and I suspect that twitter might
be popular, too. Some people have managed a twitter/facebook melding, even.
I was at a conference recently that started up and maintained for several
weeks afterward (it may still be going on for all I know) a skype group text
chat as a back channel.

What about SecondLife? I am not the most adept SL person on the planet, but
I can see how it might be fun to "meet" there while the event is on. There
will be a SecondLife pre-conference workshop, and perhaps some of those
people would be interested in constructing a virtual conference in SL. I can
get architectural drawings, if you want them...

Suggestions - and requests for infrastructure if necessary - most welcome in
this regard. Or, I can just let it emerge, organically (get it) from the
members. We will have good wireless access throughout the conference site
and both nearby hotels and almost all nearby coffee houses, so you can 'back
channel' to your heart's content if you bring a wireless device.

Hotels

Speaking of hotels, you should be thinking of where you want to stay. I have
two recommendations to start with:

Reasonably priced, and reasonably nice:

  Ramada Limited
Hotel<http://www.google.ca/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
:official&hs=vcR&q=ramada&near=Vancouver,+BC&radius=0.0&latlng=49250494,-123
111934,7229601437381686947&sa=X&oi=local&ct=result&cd=2>-
this one is just around the corner from the conference venue and I
stay
there myself when I need to be overnight in the city; free internet for
guests, not fancy but includes a free breakfast. No views to speak of.

Very nice, and a bit more expensive:

  Vancouver Delta
Suites<http://www.google.ca/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-U
S:official&hs=az6&q=delta+suites&near=Vancouver,+BC&radius=0.0&latlng=492504
94,-123111934,10908167219865160986&sa=X&oi=local&ct=result&cd=1>-
this is directly across the street and would be considered the
"conference
hotel" if we had attached ourselves to them. I recommend this if you have a
department paying for your stay and like a little nicer room and a view.
Internet is available, but you have to pay by the day, and the breakfast -
while excellent - is not free.

I could dig up more places, and I certainly shall if anyone is interested,
but those are good starting points. Remember, you are on your own to book a
place, so get out there and do it, or you'll be scrambling at the last
minute. And don't forget your boots and raincoat!

Keynotes

I mentioned two of the keynotes in my last update (Henry Jenkins and Cory
Ondrejka) and I am pleased to announce our third keynote will be John
Willinsky <http://www.lled.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/willinsky.htm>, of the
University of British Columbia. John is leader of the public knowledge
project (PKP) and a passionate and articulate spokesperson for open access
to research and scholarship. His recent MIT Press book The Access
Principle<http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10611
>has
received rave reviews and Dr Willinsky "walks the talk" - his book is
available
in full text for
download<http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/ebook.asp?ttype=2&tid=10611>.
He is the person behind the highly successful open journal systems (OJS)
software. You can read more about PKP and OJS here: http://pkp.sfu.ca/ Not
only that, but he is a funny and entertaining speaker.

Venue

If you haven't finished your paper yet, let alone got your presentation
slides in order, you might not be that interested in seeing where you're
going to present. On the other hand, a virtual tour of the conference
facility is just the kind of procrastination activity that can make dodging
paper writing so rewarding. With that in mind, take a wander through the
virtual tour of our conference venue here:
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/mecs/vr.htm Wasn't that fun?

As ever, we continue to work tirelessly (little beavers, we are) for you in
the background. If there is any aspect of the conference that you are
concerned about, or wish to know more, do let me know. I look forward to
seeing you all in October, in Vancouver.

Warmest regards,

...r

-- 
Richard Smith, Associate Professor School of Communication
Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, CANADA V6B 5K3

Phone: 604 291 5116 Web:
http://www.sfu.ca/~smith/<http://www.sfu.ca/%7Esmith/>

New book!: http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/smith/mawc
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