This is a great observation. I'm a pretty severe introvert, so I find myself dreading coffee/social breaks at large conferences — unless I already know or have some background on some participants.
However, I also find it a little bit embarrassing to start the conversation as you have here. I think that's because in earlier days — before the current prominence of blogging and social networking — browsing someone's web presence felt a little like low-grade stalking. [See http://xkcd.com/300/ ]
Chris: I should make that sketch clearer. I'm the person on the computer, oblivious to all things happening until someone says hi. =)
And yes, having some background on participants is a lot of fun. I attended a collaboration summit at IBM before - my first one! - and I printed tag clouds and pictures for all the confirmed attendees. MWAHAHA!
That was an awesome experiment. I should write about that… =)
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2008: Outlining Your Notes with Org — Large documents are almost impossible to write without outlines. There's just too much to fit in your head. Outlines help [...]
2008: Glasses, glasses — "You're ordering glasses from the Internet? You're braver than I am!" was the almost-unanimous sentiment I heard when I told [...]
2007: Mirroring energy — One of the good things about this long-distance relationship with
Simon is that I get to practice mirroring. I might be [...]
2007: An examined life… — … feels like it's worth living.
I write a lot. That's because letting a day pass without finding
*something* noteworthy about it [...]
2007: Grazing in the bookstore — I'm starting to feel a little strange in Powerbooks. Maybe it's visual
overload from of "SALE" signs everyone. Maybe it's mental [...]
2007: Sometimes the universe gives you a sign… — … and sometimes it brings out the pompoms and cheers you along the
way!
Winston Damarillo thanked me earlier for referring someone [...]
2006: TODO lists in Emacs! — E-mail addresses removed. But it's the real Stephen J. Turnbull… =)
From: "Stephen J. Turnbull"
Subject: Re: TODO extension for source code [...]
2005: Reply from Leo Querubin — We are meeting with the committee to discuss these issues and will update you.
E-Mail from Leo Querubin
On Technorati: digitalpinay, issues, [...]
2005: Mail sent to Ateneo CS and CompSAt mailing lists — Updated copy at http://www.livejournal.com/users/sachachua/6605.html .
Please leave comments there.
Miguel Paraz just forwarded a _very_ interesting contest application
to the CompSAt-EB mailing list, [...]
This is a great observation. I'm a pretty severe introvert, so I find myself dreading coffee/social breaks at large conferences — unless I already know or have some background on some participants.
However, I also find it a little bit embarrassing to start the conversation as you have here. I think that's because in earlier days — before the current prominence of blogging and social networking — browsing someone's web presence felt a little like low-grade stalking. [See http://xkcd.com/300/
]
Chris: I should make that sketch clearer.
I'm the person on the computer, oblivious to all things happening until someone says hi. =)
And yes, having some background on participants is a lot of fun. I attended a collaboration summit at IBM before - my first one! - and I printed tag clouds and pictures for all the confirmed attendees. MWAHAHA!
That was an awesome experiment. I should write about that… =)