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Articles and Coffee: ASIS&T Pacific Northwest Chapter Reading Group
by Vivian Bliss, Melissa Riesland, and Dana Bostrom
In September 2000, I was travelling from Seattle to Portland with a professional colleague, Melissa Riesland. We were headed to the annual meeting of ASIS&T-PNC (the local chapter of American Society of Information Science and Technology), traveling south on I-5 and negotiating the infuriating stop and go traffic. During the three- hour plus trip we discussed the subject nearest and dearest to our hearts: information. The air was vibrant with passionate discussion of the latest news on taxonomies, information visualization, virtual reference, user needs and related topics; the usual traffic jams on I-5 were no longer an aggravating nuisance, but were welcomed as a way to extend our trip and keep the conversation going.
During the two-day conference, attendees networked, chatted and socialized. A recurring comment overhead at the conference was the wish that such networking would happen more often than once a year. No one said it better than Dana Bostrom: "Why do I have to wait all year long to have discussions with my professional peers about new developments?" An idea was born.
Dana, Melissa and I decided to create a professional article reading group. Over pizza and libations, we discussed what we liked and did not like about book reading groups, the reality of our busy lives and the need for professional networking. The result was the "ASIS&T-PNC Reading Group."
By the time the pizza was finished, we had a very simple five-part framework:
- Meet every other month at a location that can accommodate a group of unknown number.
- Choose an article of interest to information professionals.
- Welcome suggestions for topics and supporting articles from everyone.
- Publicize the event to interested persons through ASIS&T-PNC's and other local electronic mailing lists.
- Require no one to read the article in order to attend.
At the end of the first year, we declared the reading group a success. Attendance has ranged from three to nearly twenty and has included reference librarians, academic librarians, corporate librarians, researchers, students and retired professionals. Many attendees have become regulars, and topics have included search engines, copyright, and the semantic web. We also caught the eye of the ASIS&T National office as an inspiring grassroots movement.
During our first year we learned what worked what did not, so at the beginning of our second year, we adjusted the framework slightly to include the following:
- Meet every other month at the same location, one proven to
accommodate a group ranging from three (Dana, Melissa and I) to
nearly twenty, and that provides beverages and snacks.
Our regular spot has become, appropriately enough for Seattle, a coffee shop. Café Allegro, near the University of Washington, has a back room just the right size to host the varying number attending the bi-monthly event. The coffee shop also serves light fare just perfect for those arriving directly from work. If the discussion goes beyond closing time or requires continued arguing over libations, we can move to a nearby tavern.
We have two exceptions to meeting at the same location. This fall we held one meeting at the Information School at the University of Washington, to draw in students. The second exception will be the last meeting of the year, this coming June. That gathering will be a potluck at Melissa's house.
- Choose an article of interest to information professionals and one
that will promote lively discussion.
We quickly discovered that controversial articles are definitely the ones to promote lively discussion. We broadened our search to include, not just professional journals, but current periodicals, especially those covering hot topics such as copyright and the semantic web. This past year we drew articles from journals as diverse as Scientific American, the online magazine First Monday, and the Journal of the American Society of Information Science and Technology (JASIS&T).
Each of us also takes charge of a meeting topic, ensuring that at least one of us has read the article and is armed with questions to prompt discussion -- and to keep any one passionate individual from dominating the conversation.
- Suggestions for topics and supporting articles are welcome from
everyone.
The first year this responsibility fell to the three of us as managers of the reading group. At every meeting we encouraged others to make suggestions, and, as the group grows and becomes more established, participants are beginning to nominate articles and topics. To make sure we are never without a topic for the reading group, it is now part of our yearly planning meeting to make a topic list for the year. This list is flexible as participants suggest topics or hot issues emerge.
- Publicize the event to interested persons through ASIS&T-PNC's and
other local electronic mailing lists.
Comments from participants alerted us to the fact that others not subscribed to the ASIS&T-PNC's mailing list were interested and needed the information. We now send the regular announcements to the larger ASIS&T, ASIS&T Information Architecture special interest group (SIGIA) and to current students and alumni of the University of Washington Information School electronic mailing lists.
- Require no one to read the article in order to attend.
This "rule" is sacrosanct, and has proven to be a great boon to attendance. Many times individuals considering attending asked if they had to read the article. Their faces lit up when the answer was "no." The important part is to gather as professionals to discuss the topic and to network. More people than not have read the article, so the evening never suffers.
- Establish and publicize the dates of the meetings for an entire
year.
In its first year of existence we set the next meeting date at the end of the current meeting. Despite the fact that the meetings were every other month, this still caused scheduling problems for individuals and other local organizations. Now the three of us meet in August (over the traditional pizza and libations!) to set the dates for the entire upcoming year and to brainstorm a list of topics.
We try to choose a scheduling pattern that can be remembered, for instance, the second Tuesday of every other month. We also decided to forego meeting over the summer months. For those of us living in the Seattle area, that is the sunniest time of the year. As much as we love talking about information science concepts, during July and August we are outside as much as possible -- desperately packing in an entire year's worth of sun exposure.
How has this activity improved our professional lives? By meeting bi-monthly on an information-centered topic, which we can set with one-month notice, and with a varied audience, we're always bound to have different opinions and thoughts present. The ASIS&T-PNC reading group enables local professionals to keep current for the investment of a few hours a month, with the added benefit of getting to keeping current with our colleagues.
Vivian Bliss, Knowledge Management Analyst at Microsoft Corp., can be reached at vbliss@microsoft.com or 425.703.7212
Dana Bostrom licenses information products created at the University of Washington and can be reached at bostrom@u.washington.edu or 206.616.3451.
Melissa Riesland, an information architect at Singingfish, can be reached at riesland65@yahoo.com.