Read UKSG tweets as a daily newspaper

Twitter has been active alongside the UKSG annual conference for the last couple of years. Attendees share comments and links real-time during presentations, and those not attending can tap into the main themes being covered. In 2009 we even ‘trended’ as the fourth most-discussed topic on twitter; for a heady couple of hours UKSG was being talked about more than the G20 and almost as much as the iPhone – crazy eh?

But that was the problem too. Unless you’re staring at TweetDeck or some other dashboard for the duration of the conference (and know who/what/how to filter and can multi-task), you are likely to be flattened by the volume of posts. But if you ignore twitter entirely you’ll let some really quite useful information pass you by.

So the challenge is to harness only the most interesting posts and filter out the rubbish, as well as to collate sensibly-condensed info to read or share in one sitting. (Actually that also sounds like a general publishing challenge, but anyway…)

We’re trying out paper.li which generates a ‘newspaper’ from tweets that contain URLs. It allows us to sift through the content and just give you the best bits from each day. It’s in alpha (not even beta) so there are some funny goings on (such as not-so-accurate categorising into sections like ‘art & entertainment’ or ‘health’) but it should still be a handy daily digest for conference delegates as well as those watching from afar.

So here it is: every day at 5pm we will publish an edition of The UKSG Daily Twitter Round-up. You can subscribe to get an email alert when it’s out or just visit the site in a break or between drinks receptions.

Oh, and just so you know, we’re not generating the content from the #UKSG hashtag anymore as we don’t want it to be full of “please stop by our booth” links ;-) but rather from the twitter list UKSG Conference 2011 which currently only includes a small motley crew of 16 tweeting delegates but will be added to during the first day. Send a direct message to @UKSG if you want to contribute. Otherwise we’ll find you!

Under starter's orders: your 2011 UKSG blogging team

LiveSerials is once again emerging from hibernation to bring you reports and opinions from UKSG's 34th Annual Conference and Exhibition. The event kicks off in Harrogate on Monday, with an incredible 834 delegates (think what a great event UKSG must be, for us to have our two highest attendance figures in the anni pauperi of 2010 and 2011*). We've got another stellar line-up of speakers, an all-new quiz and a rash of ways to engage via social media:

• Follow us here on LiveSerials. Obviously.
• Set up a Twitter search for #uksg to see what everyone else is saying.
• Get a daily round up over on paper.li
• See who's going or add yourself on Lanyrd

This year's crack blogging team comprises:

• Charlie Rapple, TBI Communications
• Ginny Hendricks, Ardent Marketing
• Kirsty Meddings, CrossRef
• Mark O'Loughlin, SAGE
• Nicole Harris, JISC

It's a tough job - honestly - so please show us lots of love and appreciation, so that we know our boggled brains, aching necks, roasted knees and broken nails are all worth it.

See you in Harrogate!

*Thought I'd warm you up with a bit of Latin there. Feel free to comment and tell me that my adjective doesn't agree with my noun. It's been a long time.

Call for bloggers: 34th UKSG conference needs you!

It's that time again! I'm after volunteers to help blog the UKSG's 2011 annual conference here on LiveSerials. It's a very widely appreciated bit of community service that also means you get a little bit of personal / professional kudos, and access to Seats with Power Sockets - surely that's worth sharing a few of the notes you're going to be taking anyway?

What you need:

• A Google account - these are easy to obtain if you don't yet have one and are willing to register.
• A willingness to take notes during sessions and to write these up either in realtime in later.

What you don't need:

• A laptop. It is fine for reports to be posted after the event.
• Previous blogging experience. LiveSerials is based on the Blogger software which is simple and intuitive to use; other members of the blogging team will be available to provide support if necessary.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact me with your Gmail address. I look forward to welcoming you to Team LiveSerials!

To review previous UKSG conference blogs, see:

• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006

N.B. We'll also be Tweeting at @uksg and The Twitter / Blogger hash tag for this year's conference will be simply #UKSG. And do check us out on Lanyrd - feel free to add yourself and any sessions you're speaking at / attending!