Nerd Fest 2009

These last two days have exposed me to so much nerdom I feared whatever trace of coolness I had left would disappears never to return. Then again I've really enjoyed seeing nerds in their native environment and realize I wasn't so different but that was okay. Thursday night I went to see MC Chris with my best friend Catherine. The lyrical styling of MC Chris is of the Nerd Core hip-hop genre. Generally rapping about that which nerds find cool like comic books and video games.

The show was great, but with an interesting mix of teenie boopers sporting their hoodies and super-hero tees. The openers also followed this genre with the Nintendo rock group I Fight Dragons and a rap/punk rock trio named Whole Wheat Bread. Catherine bought me a t-shirt and after the show MC Chris signed it...as I told him I was a librarian...to which he replied "awesome very awesome" and thought "another crazy."

The next day I attended Tulsa Tech Fest 2009. Which was a total grown-up nerd fest. There were hundreds of people but probably only ten females. This made for an interesting day as the restrooms were never busy and gathering the attention of everyone in the room was an easy task. Really this was a great event, free aside from the two cans of food you had to donate. A pizza lunch was provided and there were a ton of "door prizes." I was amazed by the difference in funding where corporations have something to gain out of the event aside from the tax right-off. I learned a lot and enjoyed being around other techies which makes me realize what a nerd I really am. I can't help it, I love seeing the latest trends in tech software and hardware. Windows 7 Surface Touch Pack demonstrated their newest applications, which involved a young hipster who as design manage for Surface held a dream job of many in the audience. Overall good times and really Nerd is the new black!

My Julia Child Cliche

So I've been on a Julia Child kick lately and today I got very cliche. I watched Julie and Julia with my mom a few weeks ago and we both really enjoyed it. We love Julia Child and Amy Adams (although her character left more to be desired). The day we went to see the movie my mom brought me a first edition of Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In order to acquire the book, she hid it behind the shelves of the used bookstore until she could purchase it at a later time! She said it was for my birthday (which is in December and it was summertime) either way it was a really nice gift. I'm now reading the book the movie was based on...and so on and so on.

Tonight while grocery shopping I decided to pick up some leeks and potatoes having thought earlier how cool it is to create something out of so few ingredients. This is of course the first recipe in the book. I wonder if Julie really serendipitously came upon those ingredients or if it just worked well for the beginning of her book. Either way it sounded simple and tasty to me.

I picked up a couple of Idaho potatoes and some leeks. Chopped it all up, cut my finger once, called my mom to confirm what the tender green part of the leek really included, placed in pan, added filtered water, and some salt. I then let it cook for 45 minutes and resisted adding other ingredients (just a little garlic, maybe some chicken bouillon (my mom had a great suggestion of bacon)). When 45 minutes had passed I took my crank egg beater and gave it a beating. Worked well.

I added butter, pepper and more salt. After a few tastes in it is purity, I gave-in and added some shredded cheese and more salt. This time smoked Alder wood salt which just happens to make everything better. I also added a few plain lays potato chips and pondered the risk of mad potato disease. Sitting down to eat, I had a great dish at hand, and only had to fight one cat for bites.

Church of Google and Information Seeking Lesson Learned

Church of Google

HA! Wow this site makes me laugh but I must admit I've sounded like a fanatic myself at times. Mainly I appreciate the information organization and communication tools offered by Google such as email, chat, calendar, documents, reader, and blog. Also there are very cool things going on with Google FastFlip, Google Health, and Google Wave. I do fear repercussions from becoming so dependent upon one corporation but so far so good ? :S

Information Seeking: Google is not God

While it seems one only has to rely upon Google to acquire all information needed this is not the case. Ultimately you have to rely on all sorts of information sources to successfully complete research. At times Google is helpful but cannot be relied upon solely. There are much savvier ways of searching the net that many in the general public are not familiar with. This is where information professional come in handy. I'd like to design a web search strategies workshop but I have a lot to learn myself.

The other day I spent an hour with a student researching an amendment for a recent bill being debated in congress. We were making use of Thomas a Library of Congress database for federal legislative information, but it is complex with many types of information being archived. We went back and forth from news stories found on the web providing some overview to the Thomas database trying to identify the exact text in this proposed amendment.

I found the Thomas database, by the way, from doing a keyword search to "matthew shepard hate crime prevention act" and finding the link in a Wikipedia article. The student didn't see me do this at first and then she was like, "how'd you get there(Thomas)" and I'm like "ah I'm not telling." Because you don't want students thinking that's the "be all to end all" resource. I told her eventually, but showed her how I accessed the much more legitimate database.

At the end of the hour all we had located was a new story discussing how the bill had passed but this particular amendment dealing with the death penalty had not. After the student was gone I realized Thomas had pretty advanced search options and I was able to take the senator's name (learned from the last article) and search by that and the type "amendment" along with keywords "death penalty" and located the specific text of the amendment. Regardless the student was gone and I didn't even know her name. While I am glad to know about such a great resource for federal legislation and how to search it, I wish I would have been able to do so when the student was there (and not immediately jumped to keyword searching as has become so habitual). I also wonder how much of it should be left up to her to discover.

Libraries and Censorship

A poster hanging across from my desk reads, "Libraries are the second defense of freedom. Reading is the first!" The founding fathers, well aware of the danger of censorship and tyranny, promoted rights such as freedom of expression and religion. Democracies are dependent upon the free exchange of ideas so that the greater good may arise. Institutions which provide unbiased access to unbiased materials are essential to the free exchange of ideas. Libraries, positioned away from profit motives, came to serve this purpose and over time established principles guided by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Freedom of speech grants authors and publishers the right to produce literary works of expression (Rubin 2004, 187). In addition to expressing oneself freely the First Amendment also entails the ability to receive a diverse set of view points. The goal of libraries is to create policies which support this intellectual freedom. Various personal, social, professional obligations tend to restrict or increase access to information. As a result the American Library Association established policies to provide guidance and reduce these pressures. In 1939 the ALA adopted the Library Bill of Rights to ensure the development of diverse and unrestricted library collections (Rubin 2004).

Libraries are charged with providing access to the flow of information while librarians must guard against censorship. It is not the responsibility of a librarian to decide what is true and useful; rather it is the responsibility of a librarian to ensure non-useful falsities are also included in the flow. It is up to individuals to debate the validity of the information and decide what is right. Swan (1986, 52) states, "The knowledge of truth and the knowledge of untruth, like the knowledge of good and evil, are indissolubly joined. Our cause, professionally and politically, is with both of them."

Rubin, Richard. 2004. Foundations of Library and Information Science. New York: Neil-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Swan, John. 1986. Untruth or Consequences. Library Journal 111(12): 44-52, via Ebsco (accessed April 23, 2009).

READ.KNOW.SPEAK

Precautionary Principle

As I drive by "Cancer Center's of America" their flashing sign really makes me consider the medical industrial complex. Advertisements for such places make cancer treatment sound like a blue light special at the Kmart. With all the marketing that goes on cancer treatment must be big business and therefore why would anyone in that industry want to prevent cancer. Most corporations big and small in the United States focus solely on the bottom-line and frankly the business of cancer prevention just does not pay as well as cancer treatment. Other parts of the world embrace the Precautionary Principle, which promotes the idea of proving something is safe prior to its release in the world. This means manufacturing processes and resulting end products are conducted in manners proven safe to humans rather than waiting until millions are diagnosed with incurable cancer. If we in the United States embraced this idea, cancer treatment would not be a growth industry but rather a last resort measure for the few unfortunate in which cancer was not preventable.

A good movie highlighting the harmful effects of the chemical industry is Blue Vinyl

Glance at Oklahoma from the Past

Here is a great quote from one of the first field guides on Oklahoma, Washington Irving's Prairie Sketches.

In the often vaunted regions of the Far West, several hundred miles
beyond the Mississippi, extends a vast tract of uninhabited country, where
there is neither to be seen the log house of the white man, nor the
wigwam of the Indian. It consists of great grassy plains, interspersed with
forests and groves, and clumps of trees, and watered by the Arkansas,
the grand Canadian, the Red River, and all their tributary streams. Over
these fertile and verdant wastes still roam the Elk, the Buffalo, and wild
horse, in all their native freedom. (Irving, 1835)

Information Broker

My experience with reference assistance in a community college setting has led me to consider the task of information broker. Many students find struggle to successfully find information via library resources and will turn to Google options instead. Fortunately many do seek assistance from library professionals who typically guide the student in use of information retrieval systems. At times it seems more appropriate to asses what sort of information package the student is seeking and do the majority of searching for them. Providing them with several options so as to best approximate their needs. This enhances the valued-added services provided by librarians, and aligns with expectations of digital natives. While enabling lazy tendencies among searchers many not be desirable, providing it as an alternative when students feel they have exhausted their skills is not a bad thing. Acting as an information broker just might be the answer for an information overloaded society.

Responsibilities of librarians concerning access and diversity

Friday I attended the Community of Oklahoma Instruction Librarians (COIL) unConference at NSU, Muskogee where the focus was upon "Participatory learning in the age of the unengaged." One workshop was very thought provoking as the presenter described the use of controversial topics to promote information literacy. He began by explaining how not being from Oklahoma he found many of the laws and attitudes narrow minded and discriminatory. Specifically he spoke of the concealed weapons law which keeps making an appearance in the Oklahoma Legislature. The use of a "hot topic" immediately engaged the students but also brought to bare the place of bias teaching. He suggested librarians should not be afraid to show their views as attempting to be neutral may backfire. Of course overall he emphasized the need to instruct students on the use of legitimate sources, such that it did not matter which side you took so long as you could back it up. His presentation engaged the participants and created its own controversy. Interestingly he broke us up into pros/cons and we had to develop points. One of the women in my group stated, "I'm so pro on this I can't even think of a con." I felt that discouraging since being information literate means being able to consider all sides. At one point in his presentation she turned to me and said, "if he doesn't like it here, why doesn't he just leave." paraphrasing..."those of us born here like it this way." To which I replied, "well I was born here and I agree with him." She pretty much said I needed to find my way out too then! She did suggest that in her own teaching she discourages "redneck papers" and while she may let it be known her view she leaves it up to the students to make their own judgments by instructing on valid sources. My blood pressure was rising this entire time but also made me realize the need to speak peacefully about controversial views and how being intolerant towards intolerance is just as bad. Bringing this back to my responsibilities/obligations this experience reminded me of the need to assist students in finding a wide array of legitimate information sources regardless of their views. If I were in a position of collection development I must also ensure I included books like "Glen Beck's Common Sense" right along with "A People's History of the United States." In the words of John Swan (1986),“The knowledge of truth and the knowledge of untruth, like the knowledge of good and evil, are indissolubly joined. Our cause, professionally and politically, is with both of them”

Waiting

Waiting always fretting. Thinking there should be more when alas there is none. Hearing explicitness, nullifying wonderment. Believing specialness to be applied only to the gilded when in fact the bark of the tree is more special and free. Only once the drizzle of rain upon the window becomes the focus will waiting be content.

Chicago Manual of Style...you're not that special.

Got to love small town Oklahoma.

check out this awesome website featuring really old and famous books from the British Library http://ping.fm/MRrf3

Documentation of Culture

Websites such as ibiblio and the Internet Archive have a positive impact on the sharing of information and knowledge creation. It allows for the organic documentation of culture. The preservation and cataloging of information on the internet by a mutlitude of users including professionals and amateurs is an on-going experiment that shows many positive potentials. Previously history was written by the winner and the dominating society often destroyed information of the people they conquered. Allowing anyone with internet access an opportunity to document and index anything could result in the creation of a repository reflective of humanity and not just the privileged few. Downfalls of such a movement include the confusion generated from shear amounts of information along with issues related to validity and origins. Considerations of the quality of infrastructure and maintenance of such archives is important. Nonetheless just as cultural artifacts and products of folklore provide informal insight into civilizaition, public libraries and archives provide valuable content. These types of depositories offer an egalitarian approach to the preservation of knowledge in a way not previously achievable.

Happy World Ocean Day! Don't forget to clip your plastic rings! http://ping.fm/czJMt

HA! Sounds like me.

So I'm folding clothes and listening to an episode of This American Life entitled, "Classifieds." They are describing the estate sale of a woman who had amassed many years worth of personal information through letters and greeting cards; saving and organizing them all in plastic bags. I think to myself wow that's a neat idea sounds like something I would do. Then Ira Glass goes on to say, "as a librarian she..." I'm like of course! Its a nice feeling when you know your on the right track.

June 7th Sunday Morning Review

Missed the opening credits because I hit the snooze button. Thankfully my mother called me at 9:06 to tell me it was going to be a good show and I should get up. I rise and turn the T.V. on to see them interviewing the CEO of Tim Horton's! Ya! I love Tim Horton's I was just saying how I missed their convenient food and deliciously cheap mochas. Tim Horton was apparently a hockey player who started a doughnut/sandwich/coffee shop. The Morning Show (TMS) described how crazy popular Tim Horton's is in Canada. Its a defining landmark in which it seems you could find one in every small town of all ten provinces and three territories. I found the difference between Tim Horton's representative and Dunkin' Donuts to be amusing. Of course the Canadian is just happy-go-lucky, non-assuming, and humble about his success. The DD guy comes off like a used car salesman talking about how they are going to double the 6,000 store locations in ten years.

Next TMS highlighted Norman Lear and all his dedicated work over the years to his job and various causes. This guy has done amazing things from having influential hit television shows (All in the Family) to supporting music education in the third world! I especially like his campaigns encouraging civic engagement like People for the American Way and Declare Yourself. He even owns one of the original copy's of the Constitution of the United States, 1 of 23 in existence for 1.8 million dollars! He's all about urging people to get involved regardless of their political affiliations because that's what makes democracy work.

One final segment to mention here regarded this really smart, ahead-of-his-time scientist named Buckminster Fuller. He strove to build cost and energy efficient vehicles and homes that could with stand anything nature threw at them. He was most well known for his geodesic dome Believing scientific breakthroughs could be discovered through a focus on natural sciences Fuller created innovative solutions to problems of expensive and low quality housing.

The nature scene showed the beautiful waterfalls of a natural area in New Mexico.

Photo courtesy of SamuraiCatJB

The Source

Last night enjoyed a film documenting the source of the beatnik generation. The focus was of course upon Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs. All created influential literature challenging the mainstream way of being. Considering what was going on in the world around its not surprising a counter-culture would develop. America was so white washed and battered from years of war and depression. Capitalistic conformity offered a nice heat lamp to the cold and insecure world they had been existing in for sometime. As the second world war ended and the U.S. was coming to fully appreciate the military industrial complex, a subset of youth took up the opportunity to consider difference in their vanilla surroundings. Their writings are profound, edgy and full of wanderlust. No doubt much of it influenced by their sphere expanding adventures with chemicals and "grass." Thankfully youth are in a middling stage of life granting them the opportunity to consider alternatives and not have the full pressure of survival on your back. These guys just wanted to be themselves and experience life as they so desired rather than having to bend and mold to a factory manufactured life ordered out of the Sears Roebuck catalog. Kerouac and the others were not afraid to have not, and balked at picket fences. They preferred instability and did not judge their worth on traditional successes. The Beatnik generation were catalyst for change in society; doing the prep work for the hippie generation to follow. While segments of society pushing for change exist always; at times they are more pronounced than others. We can identify other sources of change in the years after the Beats through understanding influential artist and authors of the time. Ha here's an idea maybe its more about the drug of choice for the time...for the 80's cocaine was energizing a generation of stock traders and money makers. The 90's crack rock led to violence and sickened an ethnic segment of the population. The 2000's are being marked for its variety of drug choices including ones made of chemicals to be found in every day items. This generation is marked by its diversity, an inability to focus, and an abundance of information. When Howl and Naked Lunch were written the flow of information was more singular and predefined. Nowadays the provocative flow of information spews from multi-faceted networks continuously and without discretion. Counter-cultures thrive in this environment and whitewashing is so taboo that RGB-washing could not be used to describe the political correctness justified prominence of ethnicity in all areas of society. The Source now comes from a multitude of information formats and distribution mechanisms. Still I am romanticized by the idea that I could be apart of such a group willing to do without traditional milestones of American Life and live as the moment allows according to your own worldly ideals of right and wrong.

"There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.” Buddha. Happy to be here!

Riverparks makes me happy.

Today my rollerblading was inspiring. Every song that came on the ipod fit the mood and sent me gliding. It is hard for me to resist dancing while skating; I think I've got some legitimate moves and practically chacha'd to the Spanish guitar of Charo, yes that's right Charo check her out. The river glistened with the sunset displaying romantic colors of gold, rose, and blue. The puffy clouds reflected the rose sky and formed perfectly behind the stylish homes on Riverside. The newly paved path enticed bikers, walkers, and skaters. Benches, water fountains, and playgrounds flanked the pathway. Game boards, just like something from old Europe, sat mainly empty. I promised myself I would get some friends and a hooka to gather round for a game. I stopped to watch the sunset and hear the river roaring at the 21st street bridge. It reminded me how satisfying the basics of life can be. That's what its all about; getting out enjoying your community, being a part of nature, breathing in the air and being thankful for those moments when life is blissful.

Scoping out duck barge for Gordon fishing tourny.

Poverty of Attention

Sam Anderson sets out in the Benefits of Distraction to put a positive spin on the all-consuming social media world we now live in. As knowledge becomes broken down into 140 word characters and 3 minute DIY youtube videos are ability to focus is under attack. While many spew warnings of a Idocracy like society, Anderson actually attempts to draw some postives from the current reality 2.0. One of my favorite paragraphs humorizes the doomsdays theories saying,

” Adopting the Internet as the hub of our work, play, and commerce has been the intellectual equivalent of adopting corn syrup as the center of our national diet, and we’ve all become mentally obese. Formerly well-rounded adults are forced to MacGyver worldviews out of telegraphic blog posts, bits of YouTube videos, and the first nine words of Times editorials. Schoolkids spread their attention across 30 different programs at once and interact with each other mainly as sweatless avatars."

Ultimately Anderson argues its possible our brains are rewiring themselves to actually better compute the multi-media modes of information acquistion. While the article may be considered long to the RSS obessed literaries it is very entertaining.

http://nymag.com/news/features/56793/

Indigenous Knowledge in a Knowledge Society

Indigenous knowledge is hot spot of controversy in reincarnations of development theory under the auspices of a knowledge society. One of the biggest concerns is how the codification, digitization, and preservation of knowledge society is affected when the technology required is one developed by outside forces and two dependent upon funding from outside forces. The innovation and distribution of Information Communication Technologies can be partially understood according to the same environmental factors as described by Jared Diamond in his 1997 Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel. Accordingly Eurasian culture has dominated not because of intellectual or genetic superiority but rather because of geographic features that have allowed the advancement of society. This includes the domestication of plant and animals species that contributed to the rise of farming and the ability to support a large population. In turn leading to the development of a complex society in which scientist, artists, and mercantilist could progress thanks to the support of agriculturalists. Since people could rely on others for their sustenance they had time to pursue other activities. Now information is ubiquitous but requires acquisition skills to make sense. In part this has led to the reliance upon experts to provide a context for information, removing the majority away from authenticate comprehension of information. Opposingly many indigenous cultures have not had the luxury to develop skill-replacing technologies and therefore are disadvantaged in the knowledge economy. Others would argue the tacit and uncodified knowledge of Idigenous cultures will prove more valuable should a global crisis of technology occur. Should we ever be in a true crisis of energy our diluted instincts relying upon Youtube-style-codification of knowledge to complete tasks required of survival, will put us at risk. Meanwhile Indigenous knowledge of which plants are poisonous will become the competitive advantage.

Sunday Morning Review

Sunday Morning Show is my favorite on television. I love the informative pieces on arts, culture, science, and current events. Time to time I'd like to share my after-show thoughts here. For this particular Sunday a somber tone did emerged from the discussions of swine flu and germs; interesting pieces nonetheless. An art service company was profiled which focused on frame gilding and restoration. I liked the part when the owner manhandled the 24K gold foil to illustrate the fragility of it. An American woman married to a Mexican living in the center of Mexico was interviewed to gauge her fear level during the "Swine Flu" scare. The images of a exotic urban area made me want to travel abroad again. The favorite joke of the time "more Mexicans will die of boredom than the Swine Flu." A gentleman back in 1998 figured out how to reconstruct flu virus of old via lung tissue samples nearing a century. The Fast Draw guys demonstrated how germs are us and we are germs; showing the over Trillion germs in our bodies numbering human cells 10 to 1. Some science writer states humans are like super-organisms considering the amount of foreign bodies that make up the human body. That part amazed me; I mean to think our body is only living due to the other organisms taking me as residence. Marianne Faithful won this weeks Sunday Profile spot and brought to light another star of the sixties roughed up and poured out by addiction now cleaned-up. She is still a beautiful woman and pictures from that time make the case for her reaching Muse status as the girl of Mick Jagger for close to a decade. Her voice is "weathered" as the CBS writers put it; and at times is hard to listen to if it weren't for the glimmers of aesthetic sound that make their way through the hard years. Sunday Passage says good bye to Danny Gans, a impressionist with a striking resemblance to Rocky a la plastic surgery. Finally the lovable Bill Giest dialogs on vending machines deserving gilded frames themselves. He spoke of his time of course stating used to only have, "candy, cokes, and smokes" as options. In a hotel in Miami you can purchase everything from eyelashes, to gold handcuffs, to Bentley vehicles. Another gentleman spoke of his God-given idea to put BBQ Ribs in a vending machine. I was impressed with the hotel and the pizza in 90 second machines and wondered what it must be like to put a 90,000 car on your American Express. The CBS Sunday Morning Moment of Zen showcased beautiful falls and horned animals in Yellow Stone National Park. The roar of the water and the freshness of the morning created a beautiful melody. As always Charles Osgood wished ado and promised to see us on the radio.

Tacit Knowledge and Distance Learning

A few thoughts on tacit knowledge and learning.

Regarding motivation to learn, a professor which was very influential for my undergrad development motivated students by passing out a bottle of wine to those students which received an A on a paper. And he'd pass it out in class which I think further encouraged hard work. The drinking age in Alberta was 18 so this wasn't a big deal.

This professor, Dr. Dube, made learning a treat and if it weren't for his endearing monologues I might not have learned as much as I did about the History of Western Political Thought. His ability to pull out the key points from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Locke, De Beauvoir, and Alice Walker and make all of that interesting really helped me to learn the topics. Just reading those books on my own would not have been as fruitful. He won the teaching award several times and was well known, he even had a following of student that took every class he taught. I took 6 classes from him myself. We called ourselves Dubeians. Recently I even got him on Twitter now many of the fellow Dubeians have united and are following him there.

Anyhow I think there is a lot to be said about that personal interaction and learning from how he emphasized certain points or his behavior behind the lectern.

Doc Martens has done wonderful for this class, as the teacher can make or break learning no doubt. However I do miss the opportunity of her lecturing to us. At times I was confused by the PowerPoint presentations and wanted further clarification. Here's where I should have made more use of the forums I suppose. While Doc Martens is great about quickly responding it still takes some getting use to. In class you can sort of get the vibe of what the other students are learning and now whether your question would be helpful to ask during class or better saved for after class. On here its slightly more intimidating since everyone can read your posts over and over but because they don't see your smile or hear the tone of your voice they may not interpret your meaning fully. At this point in my life I don't' mind the convenience of online learning and I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to develop critical analysis and study skills in more traditional learning formats. I fear those who haven't had that traditional learning style in higher education especially our first year TCC students taking distance learning, might be lacking in the self-motivated learning skills required of this format.

In an article from Reference and User Services Quarterly, related to the failures of distance learning, the Professor provides findings via evaluations. The Professor gets very poor evaluations for her distance learning classes saying things like, "There's no teaching here..just lots of reading." What gets her the most is when a student comments, "nice shoes" eliciting the "Really, that's what you got from my class" response.

Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day!

“Library spaces in the knowledge society – knotting together global and local”

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“Library spaces in the knowledge society – knotting together global and local”

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"Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business."

Henry David Thoreau

In a time of seemingly unlimited information it is important to consider the benefits of a well organized piece of information such as a book. While the current debate rages about books disappearing or becoming nothing more than decorative pieces, its ability to convey information in a journey-like experience from front cover to back cover is difficult to digitally imitate. The experience garnered from reading a book remains as important today as it was for Thoreau.

"What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
Henry David Thoreau

The poster across from my desk reads "The library is the second defense of freedom. Reading is the first." whoot whoot

Lucy in the Sky with Servers?

Well folks Cloud Computing is where its at. From my preliminary analysis cloud computing refers to the use of off-site computing services accessed via the Internet. It can either be Software As A Service (SAAS)in which services like word processing, spreadsheets, picture editors, etc. are provided via a third party site. Hardware As A Service (HAAS) provides things like processing and storage services off-site. Interestingly after talking with an IT guy he reminded me of how a similar situation existed early on with dummy terminals connected to the room sized mammoth computers.

Libraries which do not have the manpower or space to manage burgeoning IT needs will benefit greatly from cloud computing. Services can be streamlined and comparable across libraries. However it will be important for those on the other end to have a good understanding of library values and function; hopefully employing MLIS and MKM graduates to ensure a good fit.

What will be telling is how Open Source services like those offered by Sun will compare to the Microsofts and IBMS of the cloud computing world. Open source is a great way to overcome the digital divide but only if it can offer the same quality services.

load it, check it, quit - rewrite it,
plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
drag and drop it, zip - unzip it

Sounds of the Library

Swishing of the wind as the students walk by.
Keyboards clicking, space bars gliding across the page with quick thuds.
Wooden chairs knocking against the desks.
Spurts of audio streaming from headphones set to loud.
Electric pencil sharpener roaring on and off again.
Clanking and rumbling of the photocopier, drilling shrills of the electronic hole punch.
Students lamenting about their day, backpacks plopping against the floor.
Office phones alerting tones, cellphones disturbing moans.
Squealing from book cart wheels, metal rattling as heels are dragging.
Book covers crackling while being pushed and pulled on the shelves.
Beeping from scanners devouring the data.
Thanks you from patrons as they collect their newly borrowed items.
These are the sounds of the library.

Libraries

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Libraries

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Transition in light of Moore's Law

I'm not sure if people always felt they were living in transition or not but coming at the tail end of Generation X, transition in technology marks my upbringing. My first experience with computers was at home. My father seriously felt the effects of Moore's Law while studying engineering physics in the late 70's. Upon completion of his master's he took a job with Boeing doing validation testing of the computer systems in 757s and 767 s. Next it was an oil company where he did a myriad of things with computers including developing a geo-science workstation that changed he way geologists and geophysicists mapped the data. Later on it was purchasing and implementing software, and administering network systems. Bottom line he's been around computers since they were huge room sized monsters that ate punch cards. Nowadays he's still my go to guy if I have a question about software or hardware.

Because of my father's vocation I always had access to computers and can remember playing math games and using the word processor back before Microsoft. I also remember the two foot square "laptop" that weighed more than a small refrigerator.

Since first grade I was using computers in school. At that time we went to a lab and played on the black and green screens spelling and typing games. Always in school I opted for the keyboarding class when there was an option which I am now very glad I did.

In 1994 when AOL hit the mailboxes I was 12 years old exploring the new land of chat rooms. I was smart and didn't peruse the predator areas but still experienced the creation of screen names and incessant conversation to persons unknown. As a teenager my Internet usage was less consistent and mainly resulted from begrudged adolescent angst in which I sought out distant boardinghouses. Around high school graduation time college websites increased in importance and soon everyone was accepting applications online. Computers dominated the process of my academic career as course management sites became commonplace and library research and word processing relied upon the personal computer. Again in college I opted for computer classes to fulfill my math and science credits.

Now we wait for the wave of web 2.0 to crest. Everyday I discover new endeavors to open up the way we interact and exchange information. Buddhist concepts of everything being connected are reflected in moments of globalized galvanization. The possibility of "linked data" strengthens notions of connectivity as information availability ceases to be an issue.

Previously the duration between the introduction of a new life changing technology such as the wheel to the printing press was extensive. Transition was slow and clunky. In a era of Moore's Law transition is now characterized by rapid introductions of a more powerful faster version and implementations that seemingly take place overnight are not uncommon.

As a person growing up at the end of generation X, I have an interesting opportunity to see the old guard be overwhelmed by advancing technology. As a result I am encouraged to seek out new technology and will be charged with its implementation in the near future. This makes for interesting workdays as we demonstrate aspects of virtual reference and online environments like "Second Life" to librarians on the verge of retirement who took their comps exams on typewriters. I feel fortunate to be a part of this transition but I am well aware that the generation coming after me will prove even more advanced in their computing skills.

Becoming A Cyborg

Studying information science creates the allure of being a meta-science Scientist. During my first degree I'd come to this conclusion about Political Science, believing everything boiled down to the political...now I realize all of that and everything else is dependent upon information.

While I have always worked during my adult life it has always been a secondary endeavor next to my schooling (which I was never quite sure how it would lead to a career). Now I am actually doing a job for which I am going to school. Work and school are fusing into this metallic stream of experience and theory. I see my readings and discussions reflecting the daily chores of the office. At times the convergence of knowledge and action are so in sync my body buzzes with synoptic energy. I feel myself transforming into a Cyborg Librarian, and I'm okay with that.