Last year, I went to my first ALA Conference, which was also my first library conference ever. Before going, I really had no idea what to expect. So I had to make my own mistakes \u2013 going to the wrong room when the location of a session had changed that very day, not bringing a big enough bag, accumulating too many free books, not realizing how far apart some of the hotels were, etc. I didn\u2019t really know what Orlando had to offer other than the theme parks, so I ended up eating at some pretty awful restaurants. Looking back, I definitely think I could have gotten more out of the conference (and out of Orlando) had I known what I know now. <\/p>\n
So this year the conference is in my newly adopted home city. I\u2019m no expert on Chicago, having only lived here for 2 1\/2 months, but I thought I could certainly create a webpage with links to useful websites so that people could find great stuff to do in the city. So I started compiling a list of useful websites about Chicago. Then I started thinking that a wiki would be the perfect format for a guide to the ALA Conference. People who know Chicago can recommend great places to eat and visit. ALA Conference veterans can offer useful information for people attending their first conference. Special events \u2013 blogger dinners, Dine-arounds, meetings with free food \u2013 can be publicized. Everyone can contribute to it so it will bring together our collective knowledge of ALA and Chicago. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been wanting to create a wiki for a while and found that MediaWiki<\/a> is amazingly easy to set-up and use. So, with my wonderful husband\u2019s help, I created the wiki and started entering some useful information about Chicago. It’s by no means complete, so I need your help!<\/p>\n