www.chuukaku.com

Well, I had an excellent time following #cilip2 on Twitter today (see my previous post for details). It’s rather disorienting participating in a physically located session remotely through the medium of 140 character micro blogs, but it worked quite well, with the Twitterers in the room primarily communicating with the goal of explaining to us remote participants. In fact, it was much easier to understand what was happening than tracking a conference on Twitter usually is, as the posts were designed for an outside audience: you can check them out on this summary of the #cilip2 conversation. The major difficulty in following the session was the multiple conversations going on amongst those of us tweeting remotely!

The main point that I took away from the session was the idea, covered by both Phil Bradley and Brian Kelly, that CILIP needs to become more open to experimentation, and less afraid of failure. Having a static website with tightly controlled arenas for interaction is symbolic of the need to control communication and present a formal front, whereas Web 2.0 offers CILIP the opportunity to experiment, and learn from its members in an engaged and flexible manner. A good lesson for any organisation to learn, regardless of technology. I hope this translates into some plans for action on CILIP’s part, or at least features heavily in their new communication strategy.

Aside from being part of a fascinating event I also picked up a few new skills participating. The suggestion that there might be Skype (although technical problems meant there wasn’t) inspired me into having a play with Skype, which I haven’t used before, but which seemed fairly straightforward. I also used a widget to feed relevant tweets into a page on this site so I can share the event easily with others, and I’m sure I’ll use that system again. I may not have made the progress on my coursework I would have liked, but I think I achieved a lot today.

Today is the CILIP Open Council Session discussing how CILIP can use Web2.o to “engage better with the LIS community”. Twitter is buzzing with discussion of the best way to follow the session and I’ve already been added to the Twitter lists of a handful of librarians I’ve encountered through the #cilip2 tag which is being used to label posts relating to the event (and added some too!). Some Twitterers will be commenting live from the event, and others of us are just waiting to see what happens!

If you’re not a user of Twitter, it’s still perfectly possible to follow along the discussion. I’ve put up a widget at http://www.chuukaku.com/monitter.html which updates automatically and provides an easy way to follow the conversation without having to use any Twitter-related applications – should be relatively easy to share as well. Alternatively, you’ll be able to access an archive of Twitter posts on Twitter Search (this prompts you to update when new Tweets come in) or can use the Monitter or Twitterfall web applications which update in real time, although you’ll have to manually add the #cilip2 tag yourself (my webpage’s widget is provided by Monitter).

I’m a little late to this conversation, but have been distracted by essays and illness. However, I’ve been following recent discussions about CILP’s presence on Web 2.0 with interest. For anyone who’s managed to miss the debate it’s worth referring to CILIP’s Chief Executive blog, which caused the intital controversy, Phil Bradley’s comments, which capture its flaws quite thoroughly, and the ensuing CILIP responses.

Part of my views are fairly predictable. I think it would be fantastic for CILIP to get involved in these arenas. I’ve recently started a Twitter account associated with my blog (although I did have a different presence on Twitter before) and have been involved in several librarian communities on Facebook, Livejournal etc. I’m therefore highly engaged with and enthusiastic about these forms of communication, but oddly enough I think my opinions are more sympathetic towards CILIP than many.

As a librarianship student I am aware my coursemates have very mixed feelings about CILIP, and some really don’t see the point. Making a greater effort to engage new professionals through tools they already use can only help address this, and I think CILIP could benefit hugely from stepping up its game on this front.

On the other hand I think it’s worth observing that CILIP can be pretty good at encouraging involvement. This blog is part of the CILIP blog landscape, and I was both pleased and surprised to be contacted to take part at such an early stage in my career. Someone somewhere had got the message that I was keen to become engaged in the community. Compared to other professional organisations I’ve joined I think this shows a level of interest in new forms of communication and member involvement that is often much closer to zero.

I almost feel CILIP is suffering from having such an on-the-ball community to serve… but what a lucky position for a professional body! I wish the other professional bodies I’ve participated in were in the position to complain about a community that was too engaged and too passionate! The message to CILIP is that they need to take advantage of this opportunity, but I don’t think that’s passed them by. Let’s hope they seize the day – or at least create an official Facebook group…

Photograph taken at the University of Leicester’s David Wilson Library. I love the implication that there are non-Information Librarians!