It has been a long time since I’ve been truly excited about attending a conference, but this one has me practically skipping:

http://library.lclark.edu/reference/workshop/

Sad little life I lead, isn’t it?

Just joking – the 2.0 phenomenon is a real boon for those of us in education, and I think these folks are on to it bright and early. Imagine being able to share and collaborate with far more power and ease than ever before, and all over the web so that we’ve relieved our IT staffs of the burden of juggling ever more plates and the admin folk of the burden of trying to find a way to afford it! Now we need coherence, examples and the emergence of a framework of use for various disciplines. Further, imagine being (potentially) freed from the notions of professional vs. amateur, K-12 vs. higher ed, education vs. corporate etc. – what if we were all just members of learning communities instead? Fame and authenticity could be earned by more than just traditional channels – i.e. your academic and professional credentials could still count, but so could the work you do outside of those structures, and even outside of the normal lifespan time frames. Your peers needn’t all be in the same camp as you to help you here. There are child geniuses out there, and there are retired folks who still have plenty to contribute.
There’s more, so much more potential here. It’s an exciting time!