raspberries and the nutritional value of information

today while I was picking raspberries, I found a wild blackberry bramble growing and fruiting right there next to my (relatively tame) raspberry patch. What a luxury and rarity -- I got something for nothing! Thanks to the birds for their droppings in my yard!

Eating fresh fruit out of my garden usually makes me feel a kind of haughty pity (which I wish was just pure compassion) for people who only ever eat their berries out of plastic boxes from supermarket shelves, which "berries" taste almost nothing like the fruit they claim to be, and which have been pumped full of chemical fertilizers, coated with chemical pesticides, picked before ripe (to increase the length of shelf-life), shipped across thousands of miles (usually), and sold at a high price that fluctuates regularly according to the performance of the market, and the availability of the crop.

this is much like what I feel about knowledge lately, innocent fresh young ripe ideas. these days, the average consumer is sold ideas that have been guarded jealously from the moment of conception (to protect them in their infancy from competitor-pests), developed overly quickly for the sake of budget, slapped into a sleek contract/patent box, pushed through whatever arm of government controls their regulation and/or market, and sold to consumers/citizens-of-the-world at great cost, in a guise that little resembles their original/natural form; aren't they paler, blander, older, less nutritious, and possibly even toxic/harmful, much like those supermarket raspberries? And, when's the last time you were browsing the supermarket shelves and they were giving away free food? When's the last time you were in a Borders and they were giving away free books & CDs? Or a BestBuy and they were giving away free (good) software?

The nice thing about the Web: there're a lot of good ideas here that you can get for nothing. Thanks to the writers/programmers/bloggers/people for their droppings into cyberspace...

to see ourselves as others see us

someone has made a movie showing librarians in their actual, beautifully wide-ranging forms. here's an article about the movie, which just premiered at the ALA conference in Washington.

Online books and Digital Library projects at Penn

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/ Digital Library projects at Penn

AND, there is an online books site hosted by the Penn Libraries, managed by a self-proclaimed "computer scientist who works in a library."

'twas a "rain dogs" morning, happily... and speaking of pirates...

Keith Richards (long-time Tom Waits co-conspirator) was perfectly cast as the pirate librarian (for lack of a better term), and Johnny Depp's character's Dad, in the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie! I kept thinking of that Tom Waits line from a different album: "I don't need no make-up/ I got real scars".

Speaking of pirates, here's a book that looks interesting -- maybe in 2 years (after grad school) I'll have time to read it: Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias. It's referred to in Vaidhyanathan's "Anarchist in the Libary".

when "thoughts" become "information" -- how much is really worth saving?

I like this listserv post from the Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List last December. "The list is sponsored by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) as a service to ARSC members and the archival community at large."

when a library book isn't good enough...

Vaidhyanathan, Siva. The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System. Basic Books Publishers, paperback, ISBN: 0465089852.

For now, for school, I am reading a library copy of this book, but suddenly I have realized I - MUST - OWN - MY - OWN - COPY. I need this book to live in my house with me. (As if that will help me KNOW the contents.) And I want to take lots of notes in the margins (which less scrupulous users of library books do in library books, regardless).

life and work in the digital age

be careful what you blog! A recent article in the Harvard Business Review contemplates the situation of a potential new hire with a 'questionable' online past...

"June 2007 > We Googled You.

HBR Case Study

In This Article:

• The Candidate
• Bullish on a China Shop
• The First Impression
• Page Nine News
• Ex Post Facebook
• The Decision Point
• Case Commentary by John G. Palfrey, Jr.
• Case Commentary by Jeffrey A. Joerres
• Case Commentary by danah m. boyd
• Case Commentary by Michael Fertik

We Googled You

Hathaway Jones’s CEO has found a promising candidate to open the company’s flagship store in Shanghai. Should a revelation on the Internet disqualify her now?

by Diane Coutu"

LIS2600 assignment, due June 24 - (2nd of 2 posting requirements): URL for my custom Google Search Engine

It's called Gender and Technology

It's not as refined yet as I'd like it to be; I'll keep tweaking it.

LIS2600 assignment, due June 24 - (1st of 2 posting requirements): URL for Scopus search results via Bloglines

My Scopus search terms were "digital divide" AND "library" OR "libraries".

Here is the URL for my public folder in Bloglines, containing the search results.

in case you were wondering which planet and astrological sign rule your e-mail (so you know who to plead with when it's not working)...

from the New Moon article at lunarliving.org...
[my emphases]

"Have you ever heard people describe Gemini as a lot of talk and air? True that Gemini includes the energy of communication, but it is so much more. It also influences learning, intellect, interactions with siblings and distant relatives, interactions with neighbors, and short distance travel. Prior to the industrial revolution, short distance involved being able to walk some place within a day or two, and if you were lucky enough to have an animal you could ride, you could probably get there faster. It also involved writing letters or reading the newspaper. With the advance of technology, Gemini now encompasses even more, such as the use of the Internet, email, chat rooms, message boards, electronic newspapers, listening to the radio via satellite and watching television on the computer. We are bombarded with information from so many different directions. And, we can travel by plane thousands of miles in a matter of hours instead of days/months. Most modes of transportation, like cars, bikes, scooters and even roller skates are under the Gemini influence. Virtually anything with wheels is a Gemini object. Telephones, teleconferences, and modems are also Gemini territory. As we become more global and multi-media oriented, the lines between Here and There are becoming blurred; harder to define because our neighbors are not simply the people who live within our local community, but also our "media" community. With instant news, we feel alarmed when tragic events happen to our neighbors hundreds of miles away because the media brings those faces and situations into our lives within minutes of tragedy striking. We no longer need to wait for the newspaper to show up on our doorstep. The information that streams into our lives with the help of technology at the blink of an eye is influenced by Mercury. And Gemini feeds on the excitement of it all. The hardest thing for Gemini influenced individuals to do is to find a sense of peace, calm, and relaxation."

the medieval helpdesk - deskside support!

imagining when the book format was the newest technology...

at the end (after subtitles end):
helpguy: Have you read the user manual?
Ansgar: Manual??
helpguy: There should be a user manual that comes with it. It must be this.
Ansgar: Oh yes. That one. But see, there you have the same problem again. Can't open it.
helpguy: Hmmm... I guess we should have thought of that.

(thanks to YouTube commentors for translation)

books in my world at the moment

On my nightstand are: "Bestiary: Or the Parade of Orpheus" which is Apollinaire poems in both French & English (with lovely modern woodcut illustrations), a We'moon datebook my sister gave me, and several different diaries (the old-fashioned, hardbound paper ones, of course!). But what I'm actively reading now doesn't fit on my nightstand -- it's "Discovering Computers 2008", required for school. This and the other books I'm reading for school [some of which can be seen in the "Customers who bought this item also bought" feature at the Amazon page for "Discovering Computers"; a nifty little Web2.0 doodad, eh?] are in the locale of my favorite reading area -- the papasan chair in the living room [my cushion is purple, though].

support public access to health information, the National Library of Medicine and NIH

Action Alert: Support increased funding for the NIH and public access to health information

The House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education is expected to mark-up its fiscal year 2008 funding bill during the week of June 4. This bill provides annual appropriations for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Library of Medicine.

You are encouraged to contact members of the House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee and your own member of the House of Representatives to ask them to support a 6.7% funding increase for NIH, to provide the resources necessary to construct a new facility for the National Library of Medicine, and to make the NIH public access policy that requires authors to submit their articles into PubMed Central as soon as possible, but no later than 12 months, mandatory.

Download the complete action alert (PDF, 30KB), including background and contact information.

library activism opportunity in DC, Mon June 25th

American Library Association
Washington Office Newsline

ALAWON
Volume 16, Number 064
June 4, 2007
________________________________

Volunteers Needed for Library Day on the Hill
________________________________

The ALA Washington Office is seeking 50 volunteers for
Library Day on the Hill <http://www.ala.org/dayonthehill>!
Volunteers will have the unique opportunity to join
thousands of librarians who will walk the corridors of
Capitol Hill and show the value of libraries to
Members of Congress. A description of volunteer posts and
duties appears below.


Volunteers are needed to:
1. Greet participants and direct them to buses;
2. Distribute free T-shirts;
3. Direct participants to Congressional Office Buildings;
4. Distribute informational handout to event participants;
5. Be in front of each Congressional Building directing
participants to their representatives' offices and answer questions.

Two training and briefing sessions will be held for volunteers on
Monday, June 25, in the Convention Center, Room 204-C.
* First Session: 1:30 - 2:15 p.m.
* Second Session: 2:30 - 3:15 p.m.

For more information on volunteering or to volunteer please send an
email to Erin Haggerty at ehaggerty@alawash.org.
________________________________
<http://www.capwiz.com/ala/home/>
Click here <http://www.capwiz.com/ala/home/>  or the logo above to:
*  Jump to ALA's Legislative Action Center
*  See what library legislation is hot
*  Send a letter or fax to Congress

U.S. Capitol switchboard 202-225-3121
ALAWON Editor:
Andy Bridges

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please click here
<http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washnews/news.cfm> .


All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association
may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with
appropriate credits.

ALA Washington Office
Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director
1615 New Hampshire Ave NW, First Floor
Washington, D.C. 20009
202.628.8410 (V)
202.628.8419 (F)

Office of Government Relations
Lynne Bradley, Director;
Melanie Anderson, Don Essex, Erin Haggerty, Miriam Nisbet, Tara Olivero,
Rosalind Reynolds

Office for Information Technology Policy
Rick Weingarten, Director;
Mark Bard, Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell

what about a library without books? (which is more & more the direction we're heading)

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
-Cicero (106 BCE - 43 BCE) (Attributed)

I want one of these computer-pens, please!

"The Livescribe paper-based computing platform – a smartpen, paper, software applications, and development tools – will be available online beginning in Q4. The smartpen will be less than $200. Additional dot paper will be available at prices comparable to standard paper products. Click on the animations to get a sneak peek!"

the intersection of Asking and Knowing

The "Genius and Misfit Aren't Synonyms, or Are They?" article in NYT includes the following passages: "“All the ideas that mattered to me came from outsiders,” [Steve Wozniak of Apple] recalls" and "When everyone says that something is true, be very skeptical, Mr. Grove [of Intel] advised. Question the obvious."

I've noticed that people will put up with a lot of "bad behavior" from a person if that person is very valuable or knowledgable on a topic. Does that mean the person is both the "trouble maker" AND the "answer person" mentioned by Marc Smith in the Educause podcasts [Part 1] (where the trouble makers are 'poisoning the well' while the answer people are those 2% of people who answer 90% of the community's questions)? Perhaps the average genius (if there is such a thing) is more often the troublemaker than the question-answerer; it does seem that genius comes with a social cost. How does that relate to what I've heard about workplace sociology, that you can get more done and be better respected by being easy to work with than you can by being, say, a perfectionist (which reminds me of the small uproar among some FastTrackers when we were told the motto is "Completion Not Perfection"). I suppose perfectionism is far from genius, and that most workplaces do not tolerate much genius in the workers; I suppose most societies don't tolerate much genius.

What is the balance between having an answer and asking a question? One genius I know in particular seems to keep a constant balance of Knowing and Asking. He knows BECAUSE he has asked and because he was determined to find an answer even when no one could give it to him, or when no one else had even thought to formulate the question...

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wonderful/helpful use of vlogging (video blogging)

this really helps me with my research, looking into buying a tablet-type computer...

a video comparison of 2 different tablet-type (UMPC, ultra mobile PC) machines, by Hugo Ortega

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