Calicon09 Word Cloud

I created a word cloud for the #calicon09 tweets with Wordle.

Thanks to Yankee in Canada for the idea.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Used the twitter API to access the tweets with the #calicon09 hash tag in a json format.

2. Based on some code found around the interwebs, I put together some php for processing the json format.

<?php
$json = file_get_contents(”http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=%23calicon09&rpp=100&page=1″, true); //getting the file content
$decode = json_decode($json, false); //getting the file content as array
foreach ( $decode->results as $results )
{
echo “{$results->text}\n”;
}
?>

Note the api for twitter only returns certain numbers of results per page. I had to run a few pages at 100 results per page to get all the tweets. I know there are ways to automate this, but it’s a little beyond me at the moment, and this was fine for this particular task.

3. Drop the text of all the tweets into a text editor.

4. Shaped the data. I removed the tag #calicon09, removed @usernames, and a few other stop words. I’m sure I could remove more, but I think the resulting cloud is nice.

5. Paste the text into Wordle’s full text form.

I’m sure people may find some problems with the way I cobbled this together. I welcome constructive comments.

5 takeaways from CALIcon09 conference

I’m back from CALI and even now, a few days later I still have trouble wrapping my head around what I’ve learned. Sarah and Meg enjoyed the conference. A lot of the other cool kids were there also. If I didn’t link to you it doesn’t mean I don’t care though. I just wanted to write down some of my impressions.

1. CALI is a friendly and accessible conference

I met some online friends, met some old friends, and met some new ones. Really there were too many to name. Anyone who thinks that the crowd at CALI would be unwelcoming is wrong. Even when there were some disagreements in a few sessions, between participants, discussions were respectful and professional the way they should be. In addition, you don’t have to be a hard core coder/techie to get something from the conference. There were sessions at all skill levels, and that met the interests of anyone involved in legal instruction. If you think you might feel intimidated, don’t. This is an accessible conference.

2. Your online friends are not who you think they are

This is probably poor phrasing. I am not accusing anyone of being misleading by their online presence. Rather I think the depth of knowledge you gain from meeting someone face to face or in “meat space” as Sarah says, gives new dimensions to the person you’d only previously met online. What you may think someone is like from reading their blog posts, tweets, or watching their facebook page may never fully prepare you for the complex person you meet live. Of course it does get a little more complicated. There may be times when people have not accurately represented themselves one way or another. Thankfully I didn’t run into that.

3. Presenting can be nerve wracking, rewarding, fun, and a learning experience

I can be a tough critic on myself. For the presentation Tom Boone and I gave I got very nervous. More nervous than usual. I’m not sure if it was the new title on my card, presenting in front of my online friends for the first time, or something else, but something felt a little off. But I got through it and received some great feedback. But I also look at everything as a learning experience. I look forward to seeing the video, analyzing myself and how I prepared and see if how I can improve in the future.

But looking back at it was also fun. Tom and I were able to incorporate the twitter stream for the conference into the presentation by putting up a screen showing the tweets behind us. This proved distracting as I saw people react to the tweets. What I should have done is interact with the twitter feed. But the potential is there to create an amazing presentation experience. This is particularly true because CALI was live streaming the event. Interacting with twitters watching live from afar would have been very cool. I would like to explore how these tools can be incorporated into future presentations. Speaking of twitter…

4. Twitter is an amazing communication tool

I still hear people put Twitter down occasionally, but it really is a powerful tool. The amount, quality, and depth of the tweeting at this conference was unbelievable. It added a whole new layer to the whole conference. The ability to send and receive information, wholly relevant to a session, with other session attendees added real value to each session. This is why I think Twitter could help make presentations even more powerful.

5. People involved in legal information are doing some amazing things

Whether it’s the Cornell LII, Justia, or the ScheduAALL, people involved in legal information and instruction are doing some amazing things. We live in a time of incredible opportunity. This is a chance for us to try something new. Whether it’s spurning wexis for some of the free legal information options out there, or taking a chance on a new way of doing something, we should take what we’ve learned and see how we can put it to good use. I look forward to trying to do that.

10 tips for networking at CALI, AALL and beyond

I think I’m a pretty good networker, and after recently meeting some bad ones I’ve been thinking about networking a lot. It’s such an important skill, and with CALI coming up and AALL after that I thought it might be a good idea to offer up some networking tips.

These are the things I think about when I am heading to a conference or some other networking event and what I wish everyone else would know also.

1. Be yourself

This is the number one rule. Just about all the other rules derive from this one. Do not pretend to be something you’re not. If you’re shy don’t pretend to be super-outgoing-crazy-fun person. If you fake it I can tell. I may be too polite to call you out on it, but if you’re not honest with me we’re not going to make a productive long-term connection.

2. You have something very important to say

It doesn’t matter where you work, how long you’ve been working or if you’re not currently working, you have an important perspective don’t be afraid to share it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a student and you’re talking to someone with 30-years experience, they have as much to learn from you as you do from them.

3. Have an elevator pitch

Here’s mine: I’m the Librarian for Emerging Technologies at Yale Law School. I am responsible for helping to manage new technologies and electronic services in the law library.

I am interested in meeting you but I don’t have time to listen to everyone’s life story. Be succinct, concise, tell me what I need to know about you.

Dear vendors: an elevator pitch is not a sales pitch. I’ll know very quickly whether or not your product or service is relevant to me. If I stick around after your elevator pitch then you can give me your sales pitch.

4. You are not a “dream maker.”

You are not a “thought farmer”, “dream maker”, or “guy who makes things happen.” If some company let you put that on your business cards that’s fine but otherwise please tell me what your real title is. And yes, I did once meet a business consultant who described themselves as a “farmer”.

5. You’re probably not that funny

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told a comic I once saw at a strip club in Reno — I’m not here for the jokes.” — Dr. Kelso from the television show Scrubs.

6. Don’t pretend you remember me

I’m good with names. I’m good with faces. Sometimes I can’t put them together. I meet a lot of people and your name, position, details may have escaped me for the moment. There’s nothing wrong with politely saying “I apologize but I’m blanking on your name,” or some variation. But don’t pretend like you remember me when you obviously don’t.

7. Don’t be offended but I may walk away from you

I’ll be polite about it, and say something like “excuse me but I need to say hello to someone.” Conferences are a time to catch up with old friends and colleagues. I am interested in talking to you, but if I see someone I don’t get to see very often I may need to excuse myself to say hello. I won’t be offended if you do this to me.

8. Don’t do me any favors

Every so often someone will say something like “this is a networking event so I thought I should come over and say hello.” Well thanks a lot. So you have no interest in talking to me, but felt like you had to because we’re at a “networking event?” Save it.

9. You don’t have to exchange business cards with everyone: use social networking too

Bring business cards. Lots of them. If you’re a student or unemployed order some at Moo. But just because you have them doesn’t mean you should exchange them with everyone. If I am interested in getting in touch with you after the conference I’ll ask for your card, if you want to contact me after the conference ask for mine. But just because I didn’t ask for your card doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy meeting you. I’m just as eager to connect with colleagues on the various social networking sites available. I have profiles everywhere, just tell me where to find you.

10. If you see me, say hello. I’d be very happy to meet you. I’m easy to talk to, I accept fist-bumps in addition to hand shakes, and even once had a motherly vendor rep pinch my cheek.

Interview with Aaron Swartz

Today, I attended a presentation at the Sterling Memorial Library by Aaron Swartz. He came to talk about his project, The Open Library. If you haven’t heard of this project it’s definitely worth checking out. It was a great talk and he had a very interesting perspective on things. He’s “kind of a big deal” and holds a special place for law librarians.

So it was really great to take a few minutes afterwards to ask him just a few questions about libraries and the Open Library. Sorry the sound is crap, I have two flip video cameras (long story), and hadn’t used this one before. It may be a little annoying, but I think the short video is too good not to post.

OCLS Mobile for iPhone and iPod Touch

Posted via web from jeiseman’s posterous