One of the things that makes ScienceOnline different from lots of other academic or professional conferences is that it is structured as an “unconference”. So … what exactly does that mean?

For one thing, it challenges the standard model of the expert at a podium at the front of the room, dispensing finished knowledge to the audience. The assumption is that the “audience” is really a group of interested participants who are bringing plenty of expertise to the table, and that they will be working together with the session moderator to figure new things out.

I’ve been to the rare academic conference with “workshop” sessions that achieve real engagement of, and participation from, nearly everyone in the room. At ScienceOnline, those levels of engagement and participation are not rare at all.

Some unconferences are so participant-driven that the program doesn’t even exist until the conference goers convene. Folks use whiteboards or paper to describe a session they want to happen (whether they have the expertise to lead it or are looking for other participants who could share that expertise), and ideas, people, spaces, and blocks of time are negotiated on the spot to build a program.

For those of us in disciplines where conference presentations usually flow from finished papers submitted a year in advance, this process can feel a little destabilizing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The other unconference in which I’ve participated (She’s Geeky) has used this process. Along with it, the conference organizers provide reminders:

“Be prepared to be surprised!”

“Whoever comes is the right people. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it’s over, it’s over.”

In other words, part of the point of having an unconference is to cultivate serendipity, to foster connections of ideas and people that can happen organically but that might not happen with too much rigid planning. Working this way has its risks. There may be only a handful of people interested in what you want to talk about, and what people have to say may fit in a non-standard time interval. But the risks are part of the deal to unlock the rewards.

There was another reminder, whose placard I managed not to photograph, of “The Law of Two Feet” — basically, that each participant should take responsibility for being where she wanted or needed to be, even if that meant leaving one group midway through or joining another already in progress, and that other participants should respect each individual’s decisions rather than expecting a captive audience. This strikes me as the right attitude to take to cope with a session which turns out to be not what you expected or wanted to be a part of, rather than complaining later, “That’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.”

If you look at the ScienceOnline 2012 conference program as it’s shaping up, you’ll see that this is not a conference generating sessions on the spot each morning. Rather, there are multiple sessions in each time slot, each with a title, one or more moderators, and a description of the topics to be discussed. In other words, this is a relatively organized unconference.

My sense, though, is that even though the advanced planning that goes into the sessions seems to pull against the “un”-ness of the conference, it actually makes possible a lot more participant-steering of sessions to address things the people coming to the sessions want to talk about — burning questions they have, experiences or expertise they want to share, resources, applications, connections to other things they care about, what have you. One way this can happen is via session wiki pages. For example, I’m helping lead two sessions, one (with Amy Freitag) on “Citizens, experts, and science”, the other (with Christie Wilcox) on “Blogging Science While Female”. Those wiki pages are just calling out for ideas, questions, or useful links. (Your ideas, questions, or useful links! What are you waiting for?)

Indeed, this is not simply a matter of shaping an hour-long discussion at the conference, but of jumping into a conversation now. It’s not a conversation that has to end when the next session starts — or when the conference itself is over. Nor is is a conversation that’s restricted to the people who are physically in the room. You can be part of the conversation even without setting foot in North Carolina.

And this brings me to another way ScienceOnline strikes me as interestingly different from other conferences I’ve attended. At many of these conferences, sessions spill over to interesting discussions over drinks or meals. That happens at ScienceOnline, too — but unlike discussions at other conferences that recede into memory when you get home, the conversations at ScienceOnline have a better than even chance of being tweeted, liveblogged, or otherwise captured and signal-boosted, making it possible for us (and you, and anyone else who want) to come back to them and push them further until we (not our feeble memories) decide we’re done with them.

A bunch of ScienceOnline 2012 attendees will be spending the Friday afternoon of the conference on The ScienceOnline2012 Science of Ink Tour, graciously hosted by the Dogstar Tattoo Company and featuring a lecture by Carl Zimmer on the science of tattoos

Some of the participants in this tour will also be coming back with brand new ink, which means they will want to pack accordingly.

1. Your copy of Science Ink for autographing. There are likely to be copies of the book available for purchase on the tour, but lots of you inked-up scientists already have one. Sure, maybe Carl Zimmer will have a chance to inscribe your book for you. The real action, though, is going to be finding conference-goers whose tattoos are featured in Science Ink and getting them to sign the the pictures of their tattoos.

2. Ointment to apply to your new tattoo. A new tattoo needs a thin layer of ointment twice a day. While some prefer a concoction called “Tattoo Goo” that is reputed to smell like hippies, my tattoo artist recommends Aquaphor, which you may be able to find in a 0.35-ounce tube that is conveniently sized for travel.

3. Antibacterial liquid soap. New tattoos also need to be washed twice a day (before you apply the ointment), preferably with a liquid soap that contains an antibacterial agent like Triclosan. (The store brand at most national drugstore chains will have such an option.) Bringing a conference-sized supply in a 1-ounce travel container will probably get you through.

Not pictured: Artwork to show your tattoo artist. When you’re getting inked, a picture is worth a thousand words. Print that puppy out, full-sized if at all possible.

Not pictured: Cash for your tattoo. Most tattoo parlors are cash-only. If you want the body art, be sure to bring the legal tender.

4. A clean washcloth. Even if you’re sticking to the temporary tattoos at the conference, hygiene matters. Always apply them with a clean washcloth, and try not to use brackish water.

ScienceOnline 2012 is the biggest instantiation yet of a conference that started small(er) in January 2007. There will be lots of opportunities to have interesting conversations and build connections. There will also be lots of opportunities to get on each other’s nerves.

If you’re sharing a room with another conference-goer at one of the conference hotels, here are a few items that might foster peaceful coexistence.

1. Snore-reducing nasal strips. To snore is human. To be able to minimize your audible snoring when you’re sharing a room with someone else who wants to sleep is … maybe not divine, exactly, but surely considerate.

2. Ear plugs. Some of us sleep like stones, but some of us know that we may have a hard time sleeping well, especially in a strange hotel room, if there are random sounds nearby. Pre-emptively blocking those random sounds with ear plugs may be the right call. (Depending on the level of amplification, ear plugs may also be useful at open mic night.)

3. OTC analgesic. It’s nice to be able to manage your own headache, and to have enough to offer if your roommate has developed a headache, too. (In the event of ethanol intake, which can lead to headaches the next morning, roommates might also remind each other to drink plenty of water before going to bed.)

Of course, for a significant portion of the conference you will be sharing space with many more people than you’d want to cram into a hotel room. And, given that this is a conference all about science on the Web, lots of those people are going to be wielding electronic devices whose batteries are being depleted.

Which means that you may contribute to the tranquility of the room by bringing one of these:

Pictured is a mini surge protector, more compact than a full-blown power strip, which lets you plug three devices into one existing outlet.

As a bonus, this one also accommodates a couple of USB devices that might be in need of a recharge.

In your packing for ScienceOnline 2012, you’ll want to keep in mind that the human body is some fairly substantial percentage water. Which means you’ve got to drink.

What is doesn’t mean, however, it that you need to leave a pile of paper cups and plastic bottles in your wake.

1. Water bottle. Talking about science on the Web can be a thirst-inducing business, so staying hydrated is a good call. Doing so in a way that avoids the environmental impacts of bottled water is an even better call.

2. Travel mug. Nestled between the various conference sessions, there will be opportunities to get a caffeine fix. If you bring your own mug, you avoid putting paper or styrofoam cups into the waste stream — and you may have an easier time distinguishing your cup of joe from everyone else’s.

3. Hip flask. If you’re going to be transporting small quantities of potent potables from one hotel room party to another, this is the traditional vessel in which to do so. On the other hand, you might use one of these as your water bottle to give the appearance of #DrunkSci while keeping your wits about you.

Pro-tip: Bringing too many specialized vessels can eat up a lot of room in your luggage (and where does it end — cocktail shakers? Erlenmeyer flasks?). A travel mug can handle hot and cold beverages (including water). However, if it’s full, you probably need to have it in hand unless it has a very secure top.

Happy New Year! As I type this post, only 18 days remain until the official start of ScienceOnline 2012, which means soon it will be time to pack.

What should you be packing for your trip to premiere annual international meeting on science and the Web? In this post and those that follow, I’ll offer some suggestions.

There is something of a tradition of conference-goers being less than healthy at the conference. With a mid-January conference — right in the middle of cold and flu season — this is maybe not so surprising. So take it into account in your packing.

1. Tissues. Sure, if you need to, you can scam T.P. from your hotel room, but blowing your nose in something designed for nose-blowing is a lot more comfortable. You might want to get the more portable “purse-packs,” but those have like eight tissues a piece.

2. Handkerchiefs. These take less room in your carry-on than a box of tissues, are reusable, and can get you through a full day of sniffles pretty well. The downside is that they’re pretty much a single-user item, so you can’t share them with a fellow sniffler.

3. Hand sanitizer. No matter what you’re using to blow your nose, keeping some hand sanitizer handy to kill those surface germs is a good idea.

4. Nasal irrigation system. Mine is a neti pot. Be sure to bring saline packets (and to work out a strategy with the tools available in your hotel room for avoiding brain-eating amoebae). Nasal irrigation isn’t magic, but it can make breathing easier for at least a little while, not to mention keeping things moving so as to discourage secondary infections form taking hold in that yummy thick mucus.

5. Your preferred cold remedy. Whatever you use to relieve symptoms of bad colds or flu, pack some of that. Note that, if you’re flying, gel caps will probably have to fit in your quart baggie of liquids and gels. Also note that remedies containing acetaminophen will exert some wear-and-tear on your liver — something you’ll want to take into account if you’re planning on drinking heavily with your fellow conference goers.

6. Tea bags. If you are stricken by a cold or flu, drinking sufficient fluids is important, and steamy ones may make your ravaged nose feel better. Bringing a flavor of tea that you know you can drink in quantity — even when nothing tastes quite right — will help you take good care of yourself.

Not pictured: A flu shot. Prevention is obviously better than treatment after the fact, so get vaccinated. In her discussion of the SciO11 plague, Maryn McKenna puts it best:

[I]f there is a lesson here, it is one that a gathering of sci-minded folks ought to know already, but may need reinforcing: Before you come to SciO, you should have all your shots up to date, and that includes this year’s flu shot. To ensure protection, you should get that shot no later than the first week of January.

For those keeping score at home, this is the first week of January. Find some room in your schedule and get a flu shot! You’ll be helping yourself and the herd.