The 2009 National Conference on Citizenship was held September 9 in the Library of Congress. The event featured a keynote conversation with Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, panels on social innovation and civic health, a clip of a PBS documentary by Ken Burns, a tribute to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a naturalization ceremony welcoming America's 25 newest citizens, and presentation of the first-ever HOOAH award for outstanding military and civil service.

Perhaps the most notable difference between the 2009 event and years past was the utilization of social media, or Web 2.0 technologies, that allowed the conference discussions to go beyond the walls of the Library of Congress to engage hundreds of individuals across the country. Thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers who staffed our social media stations, our conference more than doubled its attendance by allowing online participation. The Case Foundation served as the Online Engagement Sponsor of the conference.

The following is a preliminary aggregation of our social media usage, user-generated content, and virtual participation. More to come as our formal conference report is compiled:

• The event was streamed live via UStream (Click here to view the recorded stream), and over the course of the day, 3691 unique viewers tuned in, and their total watch time was 411 hours. Thanks to Daryl Levine of NASPA for setting up and monitoring the stream.


• Each time the conference opened for Questions and Answers, the segment both began and ended with a question from our Twitter Correspondents Desk, manned by Chris Golden of myImpact.org. See the stream of discussions, questions, and comments, generated by Twitter users across the country (and, thanks to some international users, across the world!).


• Social Wendy (Wendy Meadley) of the National Civic Summit debuted for us a GeoMap that allowed us to pinpoint the location of our Tweeple, and created easy ways to download conference materials.


• Approximately 11 (and counting) Bloggers wrote pieces live from the event, or penned follow-ups immediately after. Keep sending them in, and we will post them here. Thanks to Alissa Green for serving as our blog captain.
  
  BCLC Blog
  The Case Foundation
  Cynthia Gibson's Blog
  Service Wire
  Peter Levine
  Sister Cities International, New York
  Brad’s posterous
  good2gether
  Service-Learning Blog
  Texas Forums, an initiative of the LBJ Library
  Older & Weiser
  Ranch House Library Blog
  ammado