Tag: necc08

We leave for the National Educational Computing Conference on Saturday. We are lucky to be able to attend conferences. The cost of professional development is getting out of hand. Cindy’s costs are mostly covered by the school district, but I pay my own way. Travel costs keep increasing and we all are going to have to consider our decisions more carefully.

For several years now, David Warlick has provided a service that is responsive to the cost issue associated with conferences and professional development. Hitchhikr identifies technology conferences and allows access to resources tagged with a conference identifier (necc08 for the upcoming conference). Very clever. You can locate blogs, images, and podcasts generated by those able to attend a given conference. Even when attending it is a useful way to expand your understanding of what you saw (or were unable to see). Give it a try. If you can attend, remember to tag.

I realized last night that I have blogged NECC activities since 2002. I wasn’t attaching tags in 2002 so I did a search of the blog and added tags to my early NECC posts. It is informative to follow what I thought was important over the years (try the tag cloud in the sidebar to take a look). Lately, web 2.0 opportunities have reduced my interest in the great vendor exhibits or reviewing new hardware and software. There has been a noticeable shift in how I spend conference time from wandering the aisles of the exhibit hall to spending more time in sessions.

Tags: necc08

It appears that ISTE has reversed a recent decision on podcasting from NECC. Now, it seems podcasters may distribute presentations WITH THE PERMISSION of the presenter. This I like. As I suggested earlier, ISTE makes money from memberships and the cost to these members for attending the conference is very substantial. Many may be unable to attend. It does seem reasonable that those presenters wishing to limit access (e.g., those who are on the road giving versions of the same presentation for pay) may wish to deny free distribution.

ISTE just announced that the podcasting of NECC presentations will not be allowed. This is to be the case even with the permission of the presenter.

NO ONE is permitted to make a full-length audio recording for an online podcast of any NECC 2008 conference session without the explicit, written permission of BOTH the presenter and ISTE:

I have always wondered about this when I have come across “poor quality” videos from various conferences. I assumed that such material was collected by an individual with a handheld device. Did the presenter consent to have his/her material recorded and distributed?

It is an interesting issue. ISTE and presenters have a right to protect their content. The presenter because of intellectual property concerns and ISTE because of the revenue collected from registration. Still, with rapidly rising costs for just getting to a conference, what is the long term future of such events. ISTE does collect fees in other ways. Perhaps presents should be compensated and ISTE should offer “programming” to members. Fees are already paid for keynotes.

On another matter, I have discovered that I can sit in the backyard and still use my wifi. It bothers me I did not discover this until today. In ND, we average about three days between the thaw and the time when the bugs come. I wasted an entire day. 😉