# Attendee OERigin Stories? **URL:** https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/attendee-oerigin-stories/9359 **Category:** Interaction Zone **Created:** [September 9, 2026, 9:20pm UTC](https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/attendee-oerigin-stories/9359 "2026-09-09T21:20:17Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Peter](https://connect.oeglobal.org/user_avatar/connect.oeglobal.org/peter/32/6936_2.png) [@Peter](https://connect.oeglobal.org/u/Peter) #### Post date: [September 9, 2026, 9:20pm UTC](https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/attendee-oerigin-stories/9359/1 "2026-09-09T21:20:17Z")
Hey y’all! As we wind up for the satellite event in Vancouver, I realized that there’s a healthy mix of folks who’ll be in attendance that I’ve never met so I thought I’d share mine out in a recent email update. The ever vigilant @cogdog caught it and thought it’d be worth sharing here as well, so here’s a bit about me for those who don’t know who this cheeky upstart is out in YVR! -- This may surprise nobody, but I have been (justifiably) accused of being a keener here and there because of my tendency to throw myself at things I find interesting. Back in 2014, I was wrapping up my BA in Chinese at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa after a 6-year enlistment in the US Navy. On a whim, I decided to sit in on a talk that Cable Green was giving about Creative Commons, OER, and OA broadly. Admittedly, I showed up because free food was promised. However, I left more than a little inspired and with **lots** of questions. The biggest one was, “how can I get involved?” That hour-or-so session, which lured me with the promises of sandwiches, got me started on a path I could not have imagined. It led to me: - Meeting up with Cable again at his house a few months later to talk OER and the educational side of YouTube - Asking UBC’s Open Librarian Erin Fields if “we could chat about OER” during my first week of my MLIS program in 2016, after she casually mentioned it during library orientation - Working with her as a research assistant to understand how public domain primary sources could help put grade 4-12 students and teachers into meaningful contact with their own histories - Running a [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfP7AjwIZI8) all about libraries and information science that’s found its way into iSchool curricula internationally - Attending OpenCon in Toronto in 2018 (oh my gosh [I was such a baby with no gray hairs then](https://www.flickr.com/photos/r2rc/46014913705/in/album-72157706331244574)), and LPF in 2019 in Vancouver, introducing me to a whole wide world of Open folks – including some of you! - Working with SPARC, CCCOER, KQED (a California affiliate of PBS) and ISKME on a few contracts after graduation - Landing at ISKME (and now ISKME Canada) for keeps … and now, helping organize this event. I don’t know how many people can point to a specific day and say, “that’s when it all started!” but I feel so fortunate that I can; doubly so because of all the people at every step of the way who helped me get here. Really, my OERigin story is succinctly summed up by [Nathan Pyle](https://www.instagram.com/nathanwpylestrangeplanet/?hl=en): ![4 panel comic featuring a man behind a deli counter asking a customer, "have you been helped, sir?" and the customer replies, "by so many poeple my entire life" and then the two characters just smile at each other, feeling warms and fuzzies](https://connect.oeglobal.org/uploads/default/original/2X/3/3074edbe856547c646bb79ba04ae494fb4fe7562.jpeg) ([Source](https://www.instagram.com/p/DMvgsUoR2x_/?hl=en), image (c) Nathan Pyle) I hope that this event can do something similar for other students. Who knows what they might bring to the open education movement? -- Would love to hear others’ OERigin stories too! * * * ### OEGlobal 2026 Navigator [🗓 Program](https://oeglobal2026.sched.com) in Sched [🌐 OEGlobal 2026](https://conference.oeglobal.org/2026/) Conference Web Site [🔼 Main Space](https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2026/) in OEGConnect [➡ Front Entrance](https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2026/entrance/114) public conversations “outside” the venue For Attendees: [➡ The Lobby](https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2026/lobby/115) meet attendees [➡ Information Desk](https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2026/info-desk/119) updates and help [➡ Session Conversations](https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2026/session-conversations/116) discussion and sharing [➡ Interaction Zone](https://connect.oeglobal.org/c/oeg-2026/interaction-zone/117) activities and things to do