10/23 Lightning talk at Berkeley Generation Open / OA week event

[camillevilla]

There are 18 tickets, so be sure to register soon! There will be 40 minutes for lightning talks - anyone feeling brave? http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bay-area-open-access-week-event-for-generation-open-tickets-13233113599

[mitar]

Who would do the talk? I will be at Books in Browsers.

[mitar]

This was done. @gar-bear has to write a report. :-)

[raaswol]

Gary and I both spent 3.5 hours at this, plus 2 hours preparation

[mitar]

@gar-bear: Report!

[gar-bear]

Done!

" Bay Area Open Access The week of the conference, I decided I would speak there. Rachello was gracious enough to accept my invitation to join, and also to review our presentation and make it most effective. We, as novice OA movementeers, were not completely sure what to expect, but we grew increasingly sure of what we wanted to say. After spending less than two hours that week strategizing, the time had come for us to exact our appearance. Rachello and I went upon a Thursday evening to Skydeck on Shattuck. Convenience was almost to the third degree, as the conference was in Berkeley, and PL is housed in that city as well. The reason the third degree of convenience was not ascertained was simply due to the Skydeck being located on West Side, which is not the PL side of campus at all. ‘Twas a nerve-inducing, yet excitement-stimulating journey. Upon arrival, we were elevated to the tippy-toppest level of such building, which was naturally the 13th floor, if you counted up and ignored the pretentious and naughty title of “Penthouse.” The cramped fourth of the floor where the conference was being held buzzed with excitement from the forty or so people hurriedly pushing food into their orifices. In fact, the food was in such high demand that people were not bothering to sit down with a plate of it, but instead to stand next to the table by which the food originated, perhaps quantifying the transportation of the goods as to know which of their fellows or fellas would be at the top of the suspect list of most-selfish, if not guarding the food outright. The attendees were quite the Open Access professionals. Present were folks from publishing backgrounds, both Open and Closed, in addition to local researchers whom tout OA despite fellow researchers being sheep to the monetized shepherds of the closed access publishing corporate state. And here Gary & Rachello were like precocious wide-eyed youths at bring your child to actualized societal development day. As I watched the presentations in awe, I realized that my speech was inadequate for this audience. To try to seduce them with speech of the liberating paradise that is Open Access would be to tell a dog about producing noise through vocalizations to ward off unwanted company. I would not dare instruct Mozart on how pianos and composing music can provide shelter from growing as a person and learning the limitations of what it is to be human. In fact, these people must be the Beethoven to our Mozart, where they see children who dare to find passion, but operate under its guidance with no conceptualization of living a life by any other means. Oh, how it was to my surprise to read online that the theme was, “Generation Open.” It is easily thought of as a recognition that today’s society is more democratized than previous generations due to the pivotal role the personal computer has in most lives in this society. Less obvious to me, was what the description explained: “In keeping with the theme of this year's Open Access Week of "Generation Open", this Bay Area event is for Earlier Career Researchers and anyone else who is young at heart!.” What? Is this true? Was this fish out of capable water feeling almost intentional? Was this supposed to be such a strident learning experience for myself and Rachello. The questions were growing, and I sat typing my thoughts and feelings as they leapt into my head. Back to October: it seems that my experience with being the ignorant Open Access person was indeed part of the plan. Mitar, in what must have been a fit of villainous laughter, had decided to have me embark on a journey that would forever strengthen my bond to him, his cause of PeerLibrariage, and the movement of Open Access. That fateful day was layered like a cake you can never finish; only to dine for the rest of your ever-deepening life. Lovely enough, some other presenter seemed to come from the same spirit as PeerLibrary, but perhaps focuses less on the article format and more on the experimental process itself.. One of the most relevant presentations to PL was from openreview.net was as it wishes to “promote openness in scientific communication, particularly regarding the peer review process” PeerLibrary is one step downstream from this idea, which allows the academic discussion to continue even after the peer review process. I spoke upon the delights of PeerLibrary, which represented a goal similar to other presenters. It seems that our group is not the only one interested in furthering the philosophy of Open Access and bringing the research community together not just in business practice. Though our way of collaborating post-publication sets us apart from the programs geared towards collaborating before research is complete or before publication is complete. Now, in retrospect, I see that Skydeck was really a beginning for me, ‘twas the beginning of my membership in OA – for life.

[ciaobrian]

The two entries are identical right?

[ciaobrian]

This is a very good report, but I'm not 100% sure if it's appropriate for the blog. Having the blog meeting with @raaswol and @michaelkonrad ATM.

[michaelkonrad]

10/10 hilarious but perhaps not best for our blog

[raaswol]

@gar-bear I edited your entry- 'twas doubled. While this is THOROUGHLY amusing, it is not quite down on the dry professional expectation scale we imagined. Love it, but in future they have to be less awesome.

[Klarster]

But why less awesome? Who is our target audience here?

[raaswol]

It's meant to be turned into a blog, so the general public. It's really fun and funny, but has a limited audience, we aim for a widespread audience of all ages- but esp 20s & 30s. Mostly academics, but also at this juncture professionals. It's great, but kinda silly. I love it personally- that's why I say less awesome

[mitar]

@gar-bear: Love you! Amazing report!

[gar-bear]

Lovely people, all of your comments have been noted. I'm glad this is sparking such great dialogue!