[Whiteboard-subscribers] Whiteboard Rep_ANNUAL MEETING PREVIEW_11/2/07

[Carol Minton Morris]

NSDL WHITEBOARD REPORT~Special Issue
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November 2, 2007
   
Welcome!
This special issue of NSDL Whiteboard Report previews highlights of 
the <http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/>2007 NSDL Annual Meeting: Advancing 
NSDL Networks to be held November 6-8, 2007 in Arlington, Virginia. 
Contents include a message from NSDL Core Integration Director Kaye 
Howe, an overview of the meeting by Sarah Giersch, Chair of the 2007 
Annual Meeting Planning Committee,a Bookmark to meeting-related 
documents and information, and how to blog from the Annual Meeting.

An Alchemy of Collaboration
Kaye Howe, Director, NSDL Core Integration
Digitally immersed as we are, our highest value still seems to be the 
ancient human act of seeing each other, exchanging ideas and building 
relationships. That value has been reflected in every National 
Science Digital Library Annual Meeting. What we have both witnessed 
and participated in over these years is the alchemy of collaboration 
as parts come together to build a greater whole-all in the service of 
STEM education.

Years ago I heard Gabriel Marcel say that the difficulty for human 
beings is that we think we have a problem and, often, it's a mystery. 
Words like "transformational" seem to resonate with everyone, but 
creating transformation takes hard and continuous work-work that 
cycles information back through an endless loop of learning, review 
and refinement that ultimately results in both warranted knowledge 
and enlightened practices. Our constant hope and belief is that the 
work of the entire NSDL network will continue to link classrooms to 
research, to see information transformed into the kind of learning 
that drives innovation and productive change, and that will begin to 
solve educational mysteries.

NSDL networks are growing. Multiple links and connections among 
people and organizations enable a distributed alchemy of 
collaboration. There is great power in that, and we'll be a part of 
expanding NSDL networks in new ways next week at the National Science 
Digital Library's Annual Meeting. I look forward to talking with many 
of you.

2007 NSDL Annual Meeting by the Numbers
205 Registered Attendees
73 First-time Attendees
36 NSF program officers registered
117 Projects Represented
59 Registered Posters
34 Sessions
20 Hours of scheduled meeting time
49 Hours of potential meeting time if sleep is not a factor
5 Average Number of NSDL Annual Meeting Haiku

Meeting Overview
Sarah Giersch, 2007 Annual Meeting Planning Committee, Chair
<http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/schedule/>http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/schedule/
Over the past seven years, several metaphors have been applied to the 
National Science Digital Library (NSDL) in an effort to explain what 
it is (many portals; one portal; different parts of an elephant). 
Then there are metaphors that explain how we're getting there 
(building an airplane while flying, etc.). The plethora of metaphors 
persists in part because the people who have contributed to building 
NSDL proceed from a diverse range of disciplines, experiences, and 
motivations and need to connect (linguistically, practically, 
meaningfully) across groups to accomplish this shared goal. Advancing 
NSDL Networks is appropriate, then, as meeting theme and also as 
metaphor describing not just what NSDL is (a distributed digital 
library of science and math resources) and where it's headed (to 
continue advancing STEM education and research) but how we get there: 
through a network of partnerships that connects researchers to 
teachers and learners and that supports NSDL users in becoming
NSDL contributors, who individually strengthen and add value to the 
whole NSDL network.

When constructing the meeting program, it was interesting to note 
that a preponderance of projects' work is occurring around outreach 
and evaluation activities, while at the same time, work in such 
infrastructure areas as technology, metadata and content is being 
scaled for wider use. I have been poring over session proposals for 
five months now, and I am excited about each presentation. I think 
the program and poster session highlight the exciting activities 
occurring across all NSDL projects, and I wish there were space (and 
time) to mention all of them. Instead, use the documents bookmarked 
below to plan your time-and have fun!

Meeting Structure
The 2007 NSDL Annual Meeting was organized to reflect the diverse 
activities and reporting needs of the projects funded under NSF's 
NSDL program. Meeting sessions are organized in 30-, 60-, and 
90-minute blocks, which allow topics to be explored in varying depths 
(e.g., Lightning Talks, updates, panel presentations, or workshops). 
Also, sessions are classified according to themes that suggested 
themselves during the proposal review process: content, technology, 
outreach, sustainability, evaluation, metadata, and project updates. 
Throughout the meeting, it would be possible to stay in one room and 
learn everything there is to know about the technology or metadata or 
evaluation or outreach activities occurring throughout NSDL projects. 
But we hope you won't do that.

Face-to-Face
Networking (the social type) has always been a high priority at NSDL 
meetings. To maximize attendees' time, breakfast (eggs and bacon, not 
just pastry and fruit) and lunch (wraps and hot deli sandwiches) are 
provided along with plenty of breaks (caffeine and cookies). 
Networking of the technical type is facilitated by free wireless in 
the poster room and lobby.

One of the most highly rated sessions from previous Annual Meetings 
is the poster session. These two-hour free-for-alls have the energy 
of a dog park on a crisp fall day. The intensity will only be 
heightened with the possible advent of the 46 NSF program officers 
registered to attend and with the definite appearance of hors 
d'oeuvres (chicken satay) and a cash bar. Posters will remain 
available for quieter perusal through Wednesday until 3:00 pm.

Plenary Session
Which brings us to the opening session. This is the only plenary 
session, and at just 45 minutes, will include presentations from: 
Cora Marrett, Assistant Director, Directorate for Education and Human 
Resources, National Science Foundation; Linda Slakey, Division 
Director, Division of Undergraduate Education, National Science 
Foundation; Lee Zia, Program Director, Division of Undergraduate 
Education, National Science Foundation, and; Kaye Howe, Director, 
NSDL Core Integration

Kudos to the Committee and to the National Science Foundation
I would like to thank the members of the Annual Meeting Planning 
Committee. Their hard work, experience and insight have helped bring 
this meeting to fruition. This truly is the most fun committee I have 
ever served on.

As always, NSDL would like to thank the <http://nsf.gov/>National 
Science Foundation for its generous support and advocacy.

2007 NSDL Annual Meeting Planning Committee
Cathy Lowe, Content Standing Committee
Anne Diekema, Education Impact & Evaluation Standing Committee
Rachael Bower, Policy Committee
Lois McLean, Sustainability Standing Committee
Jeremy Frumkin, Technology Standing Committee
Lutishoor Salisbury, NSDL Member-at-Large
Sharon Clark, Donna Cummings, Sarah Giersch (chair), Robert Payo, 
NSDL Core Integration

Schedule Overview
Westin Arlington, 801 North Glebe Road, Arlington, Virginia 22203
Phone: (703) 717-6200

Tuesday, November 6
3:00-5:00: Poster Setup
5:00-5:45: Opening Plenary Session
6:00-8:00: Poster Reception

Wednesday, November 7
7:30-8:30: Breakfast
8:30 - 5:30: Meeting sessions
5:30-8:00: Rooms available for additional meetings

Thursday, November 8
7:30-8:30: Breakfast
8:30-11:30: Meeting sessions
11:30-12:30: Lunch provided; meeting adjourns at 12:30
12:30-4:00: Rooms available for additional meetings

B O O K M A R K S

Annual Meeting Information and Documents Online@
<http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/>http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/
--Printed program
--Poster abstracts
--Poster index
--Attendee list
--Online schedule: http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/schedule/

I N S P I R A T I O N

On the Road in Arlington: Blog About NSDL's Annual Meeting
<http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/roadreports/>http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/roadreports/
Everyone enjoys getting the inside scoop and the latest news. Add 
your Annual Meeting reports, personal impressions, photographs and 
restaurant recommendations to the NSDL Road Reports blog. Contact 
Brad Edmondson <brade at lightlink.com>, or Carol Minton Morris 
<clt6 at cornell.edu> for registration information.

It's easy to add the RSS feed from NSDL Road Reports to your iGoogle 
or other personalized homepage to keep up to date on Annual Meeting 
happenings:

<http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/roadreports/feed/>http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/roadreports/feed/



NSDL Whiteboard Report, research news and notes from the National 
Science, Technology, Mathematics Education Digital Library 
<http://NSDL.org> funded by the National Science Foundation, is 
published bi-weekly and includes information from NSDL projects and 
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Whiteboard Report is published by NSDL Communications and edited by 
Brad Edmondson--<mailto:gbe2 at cornell.edu>gbe2 at cornell.edu, 607 
272-1832. Project leaders and participants from the NSDL Community 
are encouraged to send research news and notes of interest of 100 
words or less with web links to additional information to the editor.

The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is the Nation's online 
library of resources for science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics education and research.

NSDL would like to thank the National Science Foundation for its 
generous support and advocacy of NSDL as the NSF digital library of 
science education. This material is based upon work supported by the 
National Science Foundation under Grants No. 0227648, 0424671, 
0733600, and 0227888. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or 
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) 
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science 
Foundation.
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