The Quantum Archivist

This doesn’t have anything specifically to do with the Webwise conference I’m attending, but it does relate to the basic idea of this blog, that as we change, the way we connect people to primary content should change as well.

At my first Webwise (and the second one overall), I was very pleased to find in my conference bag the conference notebook that had each of the powerpoint presentations printed with notetaking space to the side of each slide and to find at each table place a pad of paper and a pen for me to use to take notes. I dutifully, and frantically took notes in the notebook and  fretted that I was missing something. My “tweets” consisted of handwritten notes in the margins of my notepad passed on only as far as my arm could reach.

This year, at Webwise #11, the conference bag (they still give out one) had the notebook, but no pad or pen. We communicate via twitter, today’s meet and other means with everyone in the room as well as people all over the world who are interested in the proceedings.

I frantically take notes and fret that I’m missing something, except that now I’m missing something from a lot bigger pool of ideas. Nevertheless, I prefer the new paradigm. Through this technology I’ve met, both in person and virtually, a group of people who share my interests and dreams, and we continue to build our networks of information and collaboration. This was the goal of Webwise 10 years ago and it continues to be fulfilled as we grow with our profession and technology.