Thinking about the future

Day 2 dawns... and it's still sunny

Day 2 of CIL2006 is just about to get underway here in Washington DC where the sun is, rather depressingly, still blazing out of a blue sky. I can see that I shall have to make some time to get out of the troglodytic halls today... Still, at least you can escape to the outside world here. I found out last night that next year's event will be in Crystal City, across the Potomac. Yeuch. Last time I was there, the only 'outside' seemed to be a freeway, and all the people either existed in towers with windows that didn't open or under the towers in a rat run of tunnels.

Returning to today, this morning begins with OCLC buying breakfast, then a keynote on the importance of mobile (I'll have some stats on that in my talk tomorrow, and definitely agree that it's important; just how unusable does your web presence look on a PDA or mobile phone?).

After that, I'm torn between Lorcan and Alane, both of whom have every potential to be among my highlights of the event. Typical.

Anyway, I'll blog whichever one I go to, along with the Keynote, on panlibus. OCLC's breakfast will end up either here or panlibus, depending upon whether the highpoint is the pancakes or the conversation.

Should probably then find some time to finish tomorrow afternoon's presentation...

The sun is shining in Washington

Well, here we are, ready for Computers in Libraries 2006 to get going in about an hour.

Travel was relatively painless (as painless as 8 hours in a very full confined space can be, anyway), and my previously dreadful (justifiably, I might add) opinion of our flag carrying airline has been somewhat mollified. Even The People With Guns at Dulles were moderately pleasant! The sun is shining down on Washington DC this morning and I am making the most of looking out of the windows, as the rest of the day will be spent deep in the troglodytic bowels of the hotel, in bog standard big hotel conference rooms with neither windows nor easy access to the outside world.

At registration, I picked up my bag (and umbrella!), and look forward to filling it (the bag, not the umbrella) with the gifts that my poor abandoned children deserve when I get back home on Saturday. It was good to see ourLibrary 2.0 white paper in the bag, and I look forward to seeing if its content generates much interest/discussion here.

As a registered blogger (!), I've got access to the press room here, where there's power and a network. It's good that the conference organisers are recognising the need to cater for those other than the more traditional media outlets in this way. There is also supposed to be a wireless network in the exhibition/registration space, to which I should be able to connect from time to time. But no power and no network in any of the rooms, which is unfortunate as it basically means you need to leave a session in order to be able to write about anything.

This new laptop seems to guzzle power, too, and extra batteries were impossible to come by before leaving the UK. I feel a quick call to the Apple Stores at Pentagon City and Clarendon may be in order, once they open... I hope they have some of the right batteries in stock...

Right. Time to read today's Program(me), and then think of more 'proper' and journalistic-ey comments to write for panlibus...

An assortment of slow modes of transport to Washington

The title of this post really should have been 'A slow boat to China', but as I'm not going to China and I'm not travelling by boat, it didn't really work.

Tomorrow, it's off to Computers in Libraries we go. This involves a taxi about 0700 UK time, to get to the local railway station. Then a train to Leeds. Then a bus to Leeds/Bradford airport. Then a plane to Heathrow (most horrible airport in the UK, by a very long way). Then a plane to Washington Dulles. Then, depending upon how the flight was, either a cab or the shuttle bus and Metro combo to central DC, and a Washington hotel I've actually managed not to stay in before.

Estimated arrival time at the hotel? About 0100 UK time (8pm in Washington), 18 hours after walking out the door here. I think I'll need a drink, especially if the Department of Homeland Security insist on sticking me in one of those mile-long queues they so politely provide for 'Aliens'.

'Proper' blogging of the event over on Panlibus. Complaints about airlines, the price of wi-fi etc here. Take your pick.