Welcome to Tucson Talks

Today we had a panel discussion for what I hope will be the inaugural for a series of library-sponsored talks in Tucson and Pima County about technology and how it can be of service to the community. Five of the Tucsonans who attended SxSW Interactive this year spoke about their experiences and big takeaways. On the panel were: 

• Kat Meyer, Conference Chair and Community Development Director for O'Reilly Media's Tools of Change, is a long time veteran of the book publishing industry whose background includes both editorial and marketing experience working for a diverse array of regional and national trade and academic publishers, including: Harcourt Brace, Communication Skill Builders, the University of Arizona Press, Rio Nuevo Publishers, and the RGU Group. Prior to joining O’Reilly as co-chair for the Tools of Change conference, Kat was Chief Content Wrangler of Next Chapter Communications, where she reveled in two of her favorite past times: all things bookish and all things social media! Twitter: @katmeyer 
• Molly Holzschlag is a web evangelist focusing on developer relations for the upstart Norwegian browser company, Opera Software. Recent presentations include “Drawing Back the Curtains on CSS Implementation” at SxSWi 2011, “Demystifying HTML5” and “The Emerging Open Web.” She is the author of numerous books on CSS and HTML, including Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design. Twitter: @mollydotcom 
• Scott Henderson is the Chief Technical Officer at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange and the Director of Gangplank Tucson, a collaborative working space. A musician and wired information junkie who travels extensively, he has more anecdotal stories than are reasonable or necessary, and possesses an uncanny ability to find and facilitate trouble. Twitter: @espressojunky 
• Brenda Huettner (appearing by video) writes articles and books and teaches workshops on management, usability, and technical writing through her company, P-N Designs, Inc.  This year marked her third trip to SXSWi, where she hosted a "Core Conversation" on improving the accessibility of information products.  Twitter: @bphuettner 
• Lisa Bunker: I am the Social Media Librarian for Pima County Public Library and the Research Librarian at the Tucson Museum of Art. I love telling the story of the library and finding new ways to interact with book and music lovers on Facebook and Twitter; I find I have more ideas for this than time to develop them! I'm currently working with Jennifer to roll out self-paced technology classes called "Baker's Dozen" for the public. This was my first taste of SxSWi. Twitter: @pimalibrary
• Rebecca Ballenger, the Online Content Coordinator at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange.
• Jennifer Caldwell is the lead librarian for our soon-to-be-launched "Baker's Dozen" technology classes, and is also the Teen Librarian at the Wheeler Taft Abbett, Sr. Library in Marana. This was also her first SxSWi.

Jennifer Caldwell and Brenda Huettner couldn't attend but I will include text and/or video they've provided.

In the subsequent posts I will summarize what panel members presented about and provide links to resources where you can listen to and comment upon the SxSWi sessions that sparked their imagination.