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ALA Event Tracker Debuts in ChicagoJuly 23, 2009 Yes, I realize that the ALA Annual Conference is now so far in the past that I've worked off all the deep-dish pizza weight gain (hey, a guy can dream!), but I can't let it slide off into the mists of history without pointing out something that happened this year. It wasn't a huge thing, but it was a nice development that I'm hopeful we'll see pop up with more fanfare at future conferences.In a recent post I had noted how ephemeral Twitter could be. This was pointed out earlier by Jenny Levine of ALA in regards to how ALA Midwinter tweets were disappearing. Apparently she did more than complain about it, since Holly Tomren, one of the 2009 Emerging Leaders wrote a paper on Twitter Archiving. The final paragraph states: As none of the hashtag archiving options currently available meet all of ALA's potential needs in archiving tweets from ALA conferences, LITA member Heather Devine is developing an application that will not only archive Tweets but also organize the tweets by day and perhaps even by specific tracks: http://www.flexyourinfo.com/event-tracker/. ALA will experiment with Devine's Event Tracker application for ALA Annual 2009: http://www.flexyourinfo.com/projects/ALA2009/. It may be a solution that divisions such as LITA will want to use for future events.Heather Devine did indeed do that, and I found it quite useful during the conference, and it is still functioning. Tweets with the hashtag #ala2009 still show up there, even from today. I love the way that it aggregates different streams -- photos and tweets -- and allows you to filter based on day. You can discover people you may wish to follow on Twitter, and click through to their Twitter page to follow them. This is a great example of people working together to innovate and create something new that once you've used it you probably wonder how you survived without it. It's also a great example of how ALA is both fostering young librarians who have a tremendous amount to offer and is doing things more effectively itself. Leslie Burger started the Emerging Leaders Program in 2007 and Jenny Levine was clearly instrumental in guiding this particular project. But perhaps the most important takeaway from this is just how much these new librarians have to offer. Holly has been out of library school only a few years, and Heather just finished. They are clearly both rising stars, and also happen to be friends and both active in the American Indian Library Association. When I see new librarians of their caliber I know the profession will be in very good hands, and that makes me smile. Posted by Roy Tennant on July 23, 2009 | Comments (0) Industries: News & Features
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