@Jonathan: your memory must be short because the comments in that crosstech post I linked to are j-rock all the way down

I was thrilled to see so many hands up when it was asked how many new people there were. I hope that Mark's initial talk about how to be social at code4lib helped.

I have a sick and twisted plan to have everyone do a FOAF, then have an event where everyone stands in a three dimensional representation of the “knows” graph and then take anyone not connected out for a drink. Hey, it's no geekier than that freakish Werewolf thingy.

D

Noobs don't try hard enough because we're in a profession where people are inherently afraid to ask questions or say what they know (or don't know) and seem like an idiot. After all we're paid to maintain things that we may know absolutely nothing about, but eventually we become experts on. So as a Noob myself, I went forth and investigated the community, its practices, etc. and was able to insert myself and I feel like I've been accepted. But too be honest, if I hadn't investigated all of this in advance it would have been a completely different conference for me.

At the same time I think that the already “in people” need to remember how hard it is to be on the outside. Some are really great about extending themselves, while others aren't so great. And that's ok. By try to remember how much anxiety you have when you go into any situation and you know no one. Go up and say hi to random people, but also try to extend those conversations beyond a simple “where the hell did all the moon pies go?” Ask them where they are from, what they do, what's their sign. Essentially pick up a friend at code4lib.

Just my two cents.

Emphasis of “old-timers” vs. “first timers” made me a bit sad. In part, conference attendance isn't the right measure. For instance, Eric Lease Morgan attended for the first time this year–so, technically a “first timer” though he's been managing the listserv for years.

This was my second year at the conference. Last year, I was really surprised at how many people I knew, since I do hang out in IRC.

I want code4lib to be open and accessible. I also deeply value the geeky, “if you want it to happen, make it so” way we interact and run the community. As we institutionalize, how that scrappy.

I heard great things about dev8's use of screens a couple of days before the conference and thought about trying to project the backchannel this year. I'm really interested in projecting it next year–though I want to think, also, about other ways to be accessible and open as a community. Ideas?