Ever since I first started screencasting almost two years ago, I’ve been really surprised how few people are talking about how cool it is. It can be so hard to teach students at a distance how to use databases, and screencasting is the only tool that allows you to concretely demonstrate how they work. Add in the interactive components you can incorporate into a screencast using Captivate (and perhaps some of the other tools) and it really becomes a tremendous information literacy tool. I’m definitely a fan. So I’m totally excited to be attending Paul Pival’s SirsiDynix talk Show and Tell The Easy Way – An Introduction to Screencasting next week! And I hope you will come too. It’s Wednesday November 8th at 11 am Eastern/8am Pacific. And the best thing about it is, it’s free (you just need to register)! All you need is the Interweb and you’re good to go. Paul is a really great speaker and this is a topic that he knows quite well, so I think we’re all in for a really fun and educational hour.

Speaking of screencasting… I am on the program to be speaking at the ASIS&T 2006 Annual Conference, but I will not be able to attend due to funding limitations. So instead, I created a screencast of my entire presentation that they will be playing at the Wikis and Blogs panel. It’s all about my experiences creating conference wikis, why I did it in the first place, and what I’ve learned from it. I’ll be sure to make it available online after the conference.

I’d really hoped to go to ASIS&T, but they charge over $400 for speaker admission to the conference. Yikes! I’m not on a tenure track, so I wouldn’t go all the way to Austin just to give a talk and head home. I want to go to other people’s talks, learn, network, etc. I will only speak at a conference if 1) it’s online or for a good cause, 2) it’s fun and won’t cost me much to attend or 3) I’m getting paid. I just think charging a speaker (especially for the day they’re speaking) is no way to treat someone who is contributing to the success of your conference. What I really love about Information Today conferences is the appreciation that they show their speakers. I don’t need my ego stroked, but it’s nice to feel valued. I’m not a bigwig who can ask $2500 for a talk, but I do know that my time and effort is worth something and I shouldn’t just feel grateful to be asked to speak. Too many of us don’t know what we’re worth.

Still wish I was going though. Looks like a really cool conference with so many fascinating talks based on scholarly research. If you’re going, won’t you blog it for me?