Hey Babe, What's Your LJ-Name? Followup

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-The LJ-names of the people who were on the above-named panel (from left to right, audience-viewpoint) are:

• woodwardiocom
  
• onlyladyknight
  
• kestrell
  
• carlosp
  
• unquietsoul5

-I also collected the names of anyone in the audience who wanted to give it, with the intent of leaving the list on the table, so people could copy them down. Since the room was needed for the next panel, this was an unworkable idea on my part, and I ended up stuffing the list in my bag as I scurried out of the room in a typically chaotic state. And, since those people did not volunteer to have their names appear here, I'm not going to list them. If you were one of them, please feel free to attach a comment to this post!

-I've gotten a great deal of positive feedback on the panel, and want to thank all the audience members and panelists. I also wanted to pass on roozle's suggestion that next year's LJ panels be a bit more focused. The topics this year were rather broad.

-I'm also aware that there are people in the Arisia community who aren't certain LJ is a sufficiently "SF" topic for an SF convention. That's a perfectly defensible position. I happen to disagree, but that's mostly just because I enjoyed the LJ panels, and would like to be on them again next year. And I am greedy. I'd also point out that both panels were very well-attended, with Hey Babe getting a standing-room-only crowd on Sunday — aided, no doubt, by the snow, but still.

Comments

Too short!

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

The panel was much too short - I became convinced early on that a long party or even a con for LJers would be popular - but you did an outstanding job moderating. Excellent moderating on the Party Origin Stories panel, too, even though you had to deal with a very difficult panelist (me ).

As the least-read LJer in the world I, of course, have no objection to anyone knowing my LJ name. I'm bobquasit, and I didn't ask any questions at the panel - not because I didn't have any, but because there just wasn't a chance.

Seriously, that should have been at least a two-hour panel.

Re: Too short!

[dda.livejournal.com]

I am not sure if there were any panels that went beyond the normal 50 minutes but then the closest I can to a panel this year was standing outside one for about 8 minutes.

Things that go beyond a normal panel, either in size or duration, often end up as events (witness "Costume-Friendly Tech" or the Drum Circle) or events/panel mixes (Perpetually Poly).

[cogitationitis.livejournal.com]

I think the blogging concept, and the virtual communities created, are very sfnal. I;m sorry I missed the panel.

[fireheart.livejournal.com]

I don't think that everything at Arisia needs to be purely SF. Arisia is not just a con for SF, it is a con for Fandom of all kinds. LJ is an important topic for Fandom, and thus it is relevant. Any panel that people attend is a relevant panel for Arisia.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

I for one, am sorry I missed the panel. Sounds like it was fun.

Yeah...

[happypete.livejournal.com]

I was the loudmouth...but do you see now why I made the suggestion that everyone who had a livejournal, and wanted to let people know who they were and what their LJ name was, just shout it out in a roll call fashion?

It's no harm-no-foul to pass or say "don't got one yet, you weirdos," and it gets the infrormation out...

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

I'm here. I was the short chick who left soon after happypete did because her silly mobile was ringing.

[jetshade.livejournal.com]

I think programming panels targeting at LJ are perfectly relevant - it's a very tech-oriented community and methods of communication are appropriate in multiple categories.
Sorry I missed the panel - by all reports it was hugely popular and I would have liked to have the time. Not that I've seen any programming in the past few years... but someday I hope to. Maybe.
But hey, here I am checking in too. :-)

[jewelweed.livejournal.com]

I missed the panel because I was busy being glued into a costume. Just out of curiosity, was it about LJ in general and the experience of keeping a blog, or was it about the SF Fandom presence in LJ (which is pretty significant)?

My own experience is that my journal, while not especially focused on SF-related subject matter, gained its primary audience after I took part in an LJ roleplaying game. Before that, my friends list was mostly people I knew socially and saw on a regular basis, and it was more like a newsletter for my friends. Its sense of audience has completely changed now, and I marvel at the "virtual" community I have found. Its an interesting topic.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, was it about LJ in general and the experience of keeping a blog, or was it about the SF Fandom presence in LJ?

-More "in general". The closest we got to discussing "SF presence" at either LJ panel was me mentioning "this audience right here is not representative of anything".

I was unable to get into the panels

[measi.livejournal.com]

But wanted to say hi, as I'd been at the one two years ago that showed how much interest within Arisia was already growing for LJ.

I think it's dangerous for anyone to be trying to exclude what clearly is a big interest community within the Arisia attendees as being "non-SF." The topics this year seemed much more limited-- (with high fantasy or writing workshops (!!) barely being discussed, for example). Arisia has always been much more of a melting pot fandom con, rather than a Sci-Fi specific.

Polyamory is a much smaller niche in the world than blogging online, and really has nothing to do with SF at all. But it's an interest of a community within the Arisia community. It should be included, and LJ (or blogging as a wider spectrum) should be as well.

best,
Mel.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-While I appreciate people saying, "Oh, we should definitely have LJ panels at next Arisia," bear in mind we're having this discussion on LJ. We're a little biased.

[jetshade.livejournal.com]

Biased or not (and it is a good point) the fact is that there are a lot of people here, on LJ, discussing it. That in itself demonstrates that there is a reasonably sized demograhpic to support the interest in the programming track. Now, if there was a (reliable) way to poll interest in other specialized programming tracks we could compare levels of interest with value of programming and perhaps analyze whether the panel was a significant enough draw. However, we don't, and IMnoHO "standing room only" should be a more than reasonable indication that it is a panel and topic worth continuing.

There are plenty of 'stale' topics with either limited draw or that only draw the same group year after year. Any topic bringing in a large and different group of people can't be a bad idea. My opinion.

[dda.livejournal.com]

...and perhaps analyze whether the panel was a significant enough draw.

I had thought that programming had staff go around and determine panel attendance this year; a "panel debrief" form that the moderator fills out has also been suggested.

However, we don't, and IMnoHO "standing room only" should be a more than reasonable indication that it is a panel and topic worth continuing.

Agreed, although it depends on the size of the room; SRO in Cabot is different than SRO in Terrace. :-) In fact, the one panel I saw briefly was in Cabot and was overflowing into the hallway a bit; I was kind of surprised, given the topic.

[kestrell.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this, and for bringing up the topic of whether/how to do it again. I think we should try to organize a LJ mixer, or perhaps try to make up some of those LJ id stickers that were going around WorldCon. Agreed, the panel was too short, but you could probably do an entire track about LJ and blogging alone, so covering everything is probably not a possibility.

I wanted to thank the wonderful moderator, not only for trying to herd cats but for repeating the mantra, "This is not an unbiased group" which will now resound along with my chant of "Technology is not neutral" as words to remember when discussing such topics. I am going to be participating in a blog workshop on Monday of next week and one of the things I am going to address is an idea which came to me during the panel, which is that LJ represents a vast spectrum between diary-writing and journalism, and its users styles and motivations can fall anywhere along this spectrum.

Huh?

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

But there WERE LJ stickers at Arisia - actually, that was announced here a while ago.

But I don't think stickers are really that great an idea. They're too small, and people move too much, and I always get nervous staring at women's chests...well, if I have to be obvious about it. :D

It also doesn't help that a lot of people have terrible handwriting.

Not that the stickers weren't worth doing, but they didn't accomplish their purpose; at least, they didn't work for me. There were lots at the panel, but I didn't get any LJnames from it. No way to read the stickers, you see.

A mixer sounds like a better idea. I'd sign up for it.

Re: Huh?

[kestrell.livejournal.com]

If you feel nervous staring at women's cleavage imagine how I feel asking to braille them. I managed to miss the post that there would be stickers, and though I asked someone to alert me if he saw any, I think he must have forgotten. I'll try to be more on the ball next year.

Shall we start planning the Great LJ Mixer of '06?

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

I wanted to thank the wonderful moderator

-You're quite welcome, and thank you for being a panelist. You had lots of good stuff to say, and said it well. Wanted to ask: When you say "screen reader", are you referring to a device that reads out loud, or a device that translates the display into Braille?

Screen readers

[kestrell.livejournal.com]

Screen readers are typically text-to-speech programs; the braille device you mention is called a refreshable braille display. I have one of those also, and it is really mesmerizing to watch/feel the dots come up everytime I scroll. But they are also heavy and cost about one thousand dollars for a single line of braille, which is why some folks are trying to find some sort of smart material that can replace the mechanical version we use now.

[superfinemind.livejournal.com]

...*wishes i'd gone to more panels*

I'm amused that Arisia insists it's an SF convention. As a Boskonian, Arisia is a fluffy silly thing about dressing up funny. ^_^

[mathyula.livejournal.com]

I was at the panel...sitting in the back row of chairs and frequently swinging the door closed for those that entered and didn't close it behind them. (grrrr) My name was about 5 or 6 spaces down the list - and it was also on my badge.
I thought it was a cool discussion and, to throw in a couple cents, I didn't think it at all out of place at what some people call a "SF convention". Fannish people are online. Fannish people tend to write a lot. Fannish people like to communicate with other fannish people....and here we have LJ.
And as far as Arisia being called a "SF convention"...well, I dunno if Arisia spokespersons officially label it as such or if it's just what fans tend to describe it as.. I've always just thought of the "sci fi" thing as an umbrella term that encapsulates basically anything that is not part of modern reality - primarily sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and medieval elements.
so, that's my input.

LJ panel

[cos]

I was there - the person who came in late and then alternately stood in the back by the window and sat at awhyzip's feet. (I know you know who I am, this is just for other readers)

I think Arisia should be about the things the attendees are interested in. There is a lot that happens at Arisia that isn't specifically SF. There was some talk before Arisia 2004 about not having poly panels because they're not SF - a concept that aroused much opposition. There's a significant poly membership at every Arisia and the panels are popular. I like the way the con is defined broadly, based on the people it draws, rather than stangating based on some narrow definition of what it should be about (as has been known to happen to some cons).

It would be nice to have an LJ social in addition to an LJ panel.