Knowing that people have varying familiarity with Wordpress, this is just a short post to explain how to add a new post to the Proposals section of this blog.

Once you’ve logged in (e-mail unconf[at]ushmm[dot]org if you’re having trouble with that), you’ll see a dashboard with many options. On the left, near the top of the sidebar menu, is the option “Posts.” Click that and you’ll see the option to “Add New.” Type away, and then hit “Publish” on the right, and voila, you have just earned some blogger cred.

Happy writing.

Welcome Conscience Un-Conference participants! On behalf of the organizing committee (Tom Scheinfeldt of the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) and fellow US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) staffers Robert Ehrenreich, Michael Haley Goldman, David Klevan, Heather Ratcliff, and Rebekah Sobel), I’d like to say thank you for your interest in the un-conference and your terrific applications. We’re pleased with the diversity of backgrounds and interests we’ll be gathering at the Museum’s offices on Saturday, December 5, 2009, and hope you will be able to attend.

In preparation for the event, this post provides an outline of how to use this blog to for session planning, as well as logistical info to make sure you get here and the event runs smoothly.

Session proposals
Un-conferences are user-generated events. Please post your idea for a session (a more fully-formed idea than you submitted for your application, but it need not be polished) to this blog and then, please comment on other proposals (share resources, indicate if you think your session would pair nicely would another, or if you just want to attend a session, etc.). Based on your proposals and comments, the organizing committee will create a preliminary agenda a few days before the December 5th event. You can check out my proposal for an example (it will be up soon), or see how this sort of exchange worked at CHNM’s 2009 THATCamp. Please get your session idea up by Tuesday, December 1, 2009, at the absolute latest.

During breakfast at the un-conference, we’ll have the agenda available for you to tweak.

How to post your user account photo
This website is a Wordpress blog. Wordpress uses Gravatar, which creates a “globally recognized avatar,” for its profile icons. If you register for Gravatar with the same email address as you used to create your profile for this site, you shouldn’t have a problem adding a photo to Gravatar and having it appear on your user profile. (If you don’t see an immediate change, clear your cache and give it about 10 minutes.)

When & Where
Friday, December 4, 2009, 4:00pm-5:30pm
For those who are available, we’re offering optional group tours of the Holocaust Museum’s special exhibition, State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda, the day before the un-conference. You also have the option of taking a self-guided tour of the permanent exhibit, The Holocaust. (If you choose that option, we recommend you budget at least two hours; keep in mind that the Museum closes at 5:30pm). If you’re interested in a tour of the propaganda exhibit, please e-mail unconf [AT] ushmm [dot] org so I can get a headcount to our Education and Visitor Services folks. For directions to the Museum, see this page.

Friday, December 4, 2009, after 5:30pm
The Center for History and New Media will host a social gathering in the evening. Details forthcoming.

Saturday, December 5, 2009, 8:30am-5:30pm
The un-conference begins with breakfast at 8:30am and ends at 5:30pm. We’ll also provide lunch. Directions forthcoming.

Not local?
As an independent establishment of the United States government, I’m afraid the US Holocaust Memorial Museum cannot legally provide recommendations on where to stay in the metropolitan DC area for this event. However, feel free to use the blog to get advice from other participants about places to stay. The Museum is located just south of the Mall and its closest Metro stop is Smithsonian.

Twitter
We noticed that almost all applicants provided Twitter handles, and we hope you’ll make good use of your accounts to communicate about the un-conference before, during, and after. Please use the hashtag #con.con when possible so that people can easily find our Tweet stream. The un-conference does not have its own Twitter handle, but here are the personal Twitter accounts of the organizers:

Tom – @foundhistory
Michael – @mhaleygoldman
David – @dklevan
Heather – @hratcliff
Rebekah – @rsobel
Amelia – @amelialikespie (It’s long, I know. Sorry. But, I really like pie.)

Center for History and New Media – @chnm
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – @HolocaustMuseum

Don’t tweet? That’s fine, you can still follow the stream by plugging in #con.con to http://search.Twitter.com.

Dietary restrictions?
If you have some, e-mail me ASAP: unconf [AT] ushmm [dot] org.

Questions?
Have questions or concerns not addressed here? Email unconf [AT] ushmm [dot] org.

Looking forward to meeting you,

Amelia Wong
Production Coordinator, Outreach Technology, USHMM