Storytelling with Data: Statistics Tell a Story

Presentation Zen: Hans Rosling & the art of storytelling with statistics via kwout

Earlier this week, I urged librarians to think about ways to tell your library’s story.  Here is a cool post from Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen blog, “Hans Rosling and The Art of Storytelling with Statistics.”   Check out what Reynolds has to say about using data and statistics as story, and then check out the latest Rosling video that demonstrates how Rosling uses data to tell a story.

Filed under: Advocacy, Librarian Stuff, inspiration , data, garr reynolds, hans rosling, libraries, statistics, stories, story, TED Talks, TedTalks

A Sobering Look at the Dark Side of Conference Backchannel

I have been an unabashed champion of the power of conference backchannel, but danah boyd’s  (whose work I respect and admire tremendously) experience at the Web 2.0 Expo on November 17 shook me to my very core.  You can read more from boyd here as well as here, but in a nutshell, conference organizers staged a live stream of conference Tweets behind boyd, who could not see the stream content.  boyd, who also could not see the audience well at all and who was unaware of the content of the Twitter stream,  understandably closed down when the audience began laughing just a few minutes into her speech.

My initial reaction to this incident was one of shock and anger.  I guess I am naive for my thirty-eight years, but I was truly appalled by the unprofessional and mean-spirited behavior of those who were posting Tweets that were not constructive criticism but instead, destructive and cruel in nature.  As someone who just saw boyd present a few weeks ago at AASL, I am dismayed and incredulous  that boyd’s message was drowned out by the drivel and thoughtless online behavior of a few who essentially disrupted her speech in such a negative way.   This incident hits close to home for me because  I identify with boyd’s desire to create an exceptional presentation and learning experience that will be informative and inspiring to those in the physical and virtual audience.  No presenter wants to disappoint or come short of audience expectations; if you feel you have faltered, you reflect and work even harder to craft a presentation that will be engaging and meaningful.  I wonder if those posting the disrespectful Tweets had any recognition of the care and intellectual investment boyd had committed to crafting her presentation.  If they did, then could how they act as they did? Even if they did not, how could people behave with such callous disrespect?  Their behavior was something akin to bullies in a schoolyard, taunting and assaulting someone who was vulnerable and undone by laughter she interpreted as ridicule.

As someone who has witnessed the positive power of the backchannel from the perspective as a participant and observer, I still believe the backchannel can be a valuable aspect of the conference or presentation experience.  However, boyd’s blog posts, an engaging and thoughtful Twitter conversation I enjoyed with my personal learning network last night/this morning, and the subsequent Tweets this evening from George Siemens (please see his thoughtful blog post on this topic) have left me with these questions that I think need more discussion and thought:

• We cannot naively take for granted that those in the backchannel will always be respectful.  How do you deal with this kind of situation proactively and with minimal disruption if it does occur?
• Lazygal feels,  ”There’s a new sense of decorum that we need to establish for listeners”; how can we as a learning community model and encourage constructive critique that does not detract from the speaker?
• Bobbi Newman is wondering that even when the backchannel is positive, is there any value to be gained by having the livestream viewable by the audience whether the presenter can see it or not.  She also  wonders if the livestream pulls attention away from the presenter?
• Kristin Fontichiaro and I are wondering if the gender of the speaker was an issue in this sad incident; Kristin also wondered if  age and/or perceived authority as insider/outsider had any bearing on the behavior of those in the Twitterstream/audience.
• Lazygal wondered, ” if a Twitter feed doesn’t enhance professional learning, does it merit a vaunted place onstage?”
• Kristin Fontichiaro wonders if those engaging in the negative behavior it “thought was culturally acceptable … there’s an anthropological piece to this…”—I agree that there is much to be learned from incidents like these because I am sure this is not the first time it has happened to someone (unfortunately).
• boyd observes that if a live and unmoderated Twitter stream is going to be integrated into an event/presentation, the speaker needs to know this ahead of time because “it requires a fundamentally different kind of talk.”
• George Siemens asks, “is the contract with one speaker, or with the conference experience? do expectations (behaviour) vary based on either?”  George also asks, “What is the audience’s responsibility?”
• Darren Draper asks, “Are we almost at a point where every presenter will need to pull a @downes and bring the backchannel to the forefront?”

It is a beautiful and exciting thing when the backchannel works positively as the “forechannel” and enhances the conference/presentation experience.  However, that euphoria can quickly be tempered when a few people act like a vicious mob and detract from the presentation.  While I still believe in the positive power of the backchannel, I know these questions will weigh heavily on my mind the next few months as a presenter and as an attendee at winter, spring, and summer conferences.

What are your thoughts on this issue and the questions/challenges/observations I have shared from others?  I invite you to share your constructive feedback.

Filed under: Challenges, Issues , backchannel, backchanneling, conference, conference 2.0, danah boyd, frontchannel

Edublog Awards 2009

It is that time of year again—time to make nominations for the Edublog Awards!  Here is the scoop straight from the Edublogs Awards site:

Welcome to the 2009 Edublog Awards.

Celebrating the achievements of edubloggers, twitterers, podcasters, video makers, online communities, wiki hosts and other web based users of educational technology.

Now into our 6th year!

And this year we’re going to run the nominations for each category just the same as we did last year

In order to nominate blogs for the 2009 Edublog Awards you have to link to them first!

• Nominations: Close Tuesday 8 December!
• Voting: Ends Wednesday 16 December!
• Award Ceremony: Friday 18 December!

Nominations are now open… read on to find out how to nominate:

So, first, choose the sites that you want to nominate in the following categories (you can nominate for as many, or as few, categories as you like):

Best individual blog
Best individual tweeter
Best group blog
Best new blog
Best class blog
Best student blog
Best resource sharing blog
Most influential blog post
Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion
Best teacher blog
Best librarian / library blog
Best educational tech support blog
Best elearning / corporate education blog
Best educational use of audio
Best educational use of video / visual
Best educational wiki
Best educational use of a social networking service
Best educational use of a virtual world
Lifetime achievement

Then, follow these two simple steps to nominate (nominations made without links or without correct submission will not be counted)

Step 1: Write a post on your blog linking to:

1. The Edublog Awards Homepage (that’s here
2. The blogs & sites that you want to nominate (must be linked to!)
   

You can nominate for as many categories as you like, but only one nomination per category, and not yourself  You can nominate a blog (or site) for more than one category)

For example:

My Nominations for The 2009 Edublog Awards are:

Best individual blog: Larry Ferlazzo
Best resource sharing blog: OL Daily

Check out these nomination posts to see how it can be done!

• Silvia Tolisano has made her nomination post really EASY to grab her links to use in the voting process
• Liz B. Davis’s nomination post has done an excellent job of explaining her choices

Step 2: Email us the link to your nomination post

Use the form below to contact us, please include a genuine email address (spam free, just in case we need to confirm identity) and the link to your nominations post.

Your complete contact form should look similar to this example below!  You can’t submit your nominations without writing a blog post.

Like others, I don’t feel qualified to nominate for each category, but I will be sharing my nominations I plan to submit in the next few days, so please stay tuned to my blog this week!

Filed under: Celebrations , Edublog Awards 2009

National Listening Day 2009: Creating, Sharing, and Learning Through Conversations

National Day of Listening via kwout

As a librarian who subscribes to a philosophy of participatory librarianship, I want to alert you to the 2nd Annual National Listening Day that will be celebrated Friday, November 27, 2009!  What is National Listening Day about?

On the day after Thanksgiving, set aside one hour to record a conversation with someone important to you. You can interview anyone you choose: an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood.

What a wonderful opportunity to create conversations and to learn by listening to others!  Not only have I pledged to listen to and record my parents, but I am also pledging to continue to listen and record the conversations and stories of students and teachers in my library.    If you need some ideas or help getting started, check out the “how to” page that gives you ideas for questions and tips for participating; if you are an educator or someone who may be doing a large scale community project, this page will also provide you a resource guide you can download for free.

Here is a wonderful opportunity to connect and create through conversations and story!

Filed under: Uncategorized , community, conversations, Fun, learning, listening, National Listening Day, participatory culture, participatory librarianship, sharing

How Will You Tell Your Library’s Story?

Stories are powerful because they provide meaning and context to something.  Stories are easy to share and spread and we all love to hear and tell a good story.  Think about this when developing your next campaign or strategy.  Ask yourself what the story is and how you can get the world to talk about it, the answer might be as simple as giving a t-shirt to some guy at a conference.

Jacob Morgan

Jacob Morgan’s blog post, “The Importance of Stories”, is a simple but powerful reminder of how important it is that we as librarians tell the story of our libraries—our programs, our work, and how we impact the students and teachers we serve.  I think it essential that we find multiple ways to tell our stories.  Whether  we are thinking outside the box with something as simple as the t-shirt concept (see Morgan’s post) or using more traditional means, story is the medium that speaks loudest and most compellingly.

How can we tell our story?  Here are just a few suggestions:

• Social media: consider how you can use tools like Flickr, a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, student learning portfolios, or videos through YouTube and/or TeacherTube to show and tell the stories of your library. Encourage conversations by enlisting your students and teachers to help tell the story of your library.
• Data: consider alternative ways to share both qualitative and quantitative data about your program whether it be through a web based report, a multi-part web page, or video.   Consider how you can collect data, whether it be rooted in statistics, an ethnography, or action based research,  and look at the patterns to better inform your practice and to share that reflection process as part of your story of library with others, including the parents, students, administration, and faculty of your school community.
• Professional Channels:  consider sharing the story of your library at professional conferences, library publications, your personal learning network, or even your state library association’s blog.  We often think we have nothing unique to tell, but we forget that our contributions can help add to the larger story of library across our profession.

What other ways can we tell the story of our libraries?  Please share your ideas here!

Filed under: Advocacy, Issues, Librarian Stuff, librarianship , Advocacy, libraries, stories, story