Brainstorming Bookclub

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Contents

Our Open Book

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

The discussion will tentatively take place October 10, 2008

Previous Books

The Idea

In an effort to constantly challenge ourselves to think, work, and live as innovators, we often explore the writings of others to inspire us. But all too often these explorations are done privately, negating an important opportunity to share our ideas and impressions with like minded individuals seeking similar inspiration.

The BS Bookclub is our solution to that problem. Essentially a professional book club, this group is designed to create a community around the books that have made an impact on us, and allow us to think of ways to use the lessons we take from these books in support of learning. The BS Bookclub - Where thoughtful books meet thoughtful conversation.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS GROUP IS MEANT TO BE BUILT BY THE COMMUNITY. Please edit the wiki to contribute your thoughts!

Some members of the community are not local, so participation on wiki and other possible locations (ning i.e.) will include those members and recruit members hesitant to participate because of location.

Community Recommendations

What books would you like to submit for discussion? Keep in mind the focus of these books should be at least loosely professional in nature. However topics can vary widely. Books that don't make you think need not apply.

The BS Bookswap

An idea raised by Robin and Allan to essentially create a library of books that could be shared between members of the community who would prefer not to purchase their own. The PSU Libraries folks also have copies of some of the books that we'll want, or they'll get copies of things that we recommend.

ETS would be willing to purchase several copies of a handful of books for this purpose. When Cafe ETS is complete, there will be a nice place to spend some time reading and sharing ideas. Would other organizations be interested in doing the same thing? How would we track the check in and out of the books? Could we use Delicious Library as a management tool for keeping track of who has what book?

Michelle Panulla: I think the Delicious Library is a great idea for tracking. I had never seen it before. And speaking of swapping, does anybody have an available copy of Everything is Miscellaneous?

Mary Janzen mja11: I can lend Everything is Miscellaneous and A Whole New Mind to someone, as I've finished both.

Meetings:

Connecting off Campus - What we learned. Using iChat - When the camera was panned it interfered with bandwidth. Audio was great for folks sitting right near the machine. A conferencing mic of some sort would improve the audio quality. It would also work better if someone else was logged onto chat to moderate participation from folks off site. Using Skype - Great idea but, when internet access is down, becomes a moot point. Will try again next time to Skype in offsite members. Also possible drawback might be the ambient noise; greatly reduced downstairs at Irving's, but when work is being done or conversation moved upstairs in busier setting, becomes difficult to discern the bookclub conversation. Recommend testing again next time when variables are back to normal.

Who's Involved:

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