" From your experience of working with Flickr or another web based photo archive for your second assignment, do you agree with Weinberger's statement "that the bigger the mess the more accurate is Flickr's analysis (p. 95)?"
Hmmmm.....I'm having trouble with this one, because I don't remember using Flickr or any other web-based photo archive for any assignment in this class. I went back and read the syllabus and looked over all of the modules, but I couldn't find any mention of this, except for the brief request to upload a photo onto our wiki introduction page. I will try and attend the Wimba classroom chat tonight, but I have a conflict with the time, so it may not happen. Have I missed something?
I can, however, answer the question. I've used Flickr, Photobucket, and Shutterfly for years, to organize, share, and document my kid's lives. Photos, photos, photos. There are hundreds of them on Shutterfly in my account. I tend to use Flickr and Photobucket less, mostly because I've had my Shutterfly account so long that I'm very efficient at what I want to do in it, and also because Shutterfly does archival-quality photo books. I scrapbook on-line, mostly, so that's fun.
As far as tagging goes, even iPhoto allows me to tag my photos. I both tag and make sure that they are labeled (a printed description will go on the back of the photo if I should order a copy), because I've spent too many years trying to identify old family photos, with no luck. Also, there was the infamous Christmas where my sister's mother-in-law gave all six of her adult sons a beautiful framed baby photo of themselves......supposedly of themselves......it was the same baby in every photo. Not good. People, please, I beg you, label your photos!! Especially babies - at a certain age, they do all look alike!
So, now you know why I love information organization; it's part of me. I do agree that within the tagging system, the bigger the pile, the more accurate the program can analyze the metadata. Because Flickr and these other sites work off of relationships, not hierarchy, the more tags and photos, the stronger the relationship metadata is going to become. As long as users DO tag!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tagging, Power Trips, and the Facts
"What do you think of Weinberger's statement on page 89 in the first full paragraph about how the way we organize information limits our vision and gives more power to those who control the organization of information than to those who create it?"
I agree with him, because, as he says on page 91 "Classification is a power struggle - it is political - because the first two orders of order require that there be a winner."
That is why the web - especially the envisioned Semantic Web - is so exciting. It allows individual creators so much more power, to not just publish their material, but to organize it also - via tags, or which site they put it on, or simply by throwing it out into the world, willy-nilly. Their works are not limited by geography or format; they are not catalogued and put away on a shelf; they are always available.
The PennTags project was interesting, in that some people had many projects (one individual had 81!); others had only one. I liked the way that the site was simple and cleanly arranged; and I liked the way it put the most-used tags up as a heading. (But why Namibia? Really?) I think that using tags for library catalogues would be a fantastic way to spread the word, but it could not replace authority-controlled professional cataloguing; the latter is necessary to authenticate the data involved.
Look at it this way. I do a lot of family history, aka genealogy. I started when I was in my early 20s, and dutifully followed the "best-practice" of interviewing one's oldest living relatives about what they remember (or mis-remember), and then tracking that information down through vital and other government records. When I started, there wasn't any significant internet genealogy databases, so nearly everything I found had to be gotten via forms, fees, and the copier. It was a lot of hours in the county courthouse reading crappy handwriting, but it was worth it.
Do you know what I discovered? Almost all the data - the vital statistics such as dates, complete names, places - I gathered in the interviews was incorrect! Many times, the actual vital statistics recorded in official records proved that the person whom I interviewed actually lied, or covered up, some sort of family skeleton. In the most memorable case, poor Great-Uncle Otto was not dead, as I and many other family members had been told, but had actually been living as a hermit in Arkansas for over 50 years. 50 years of denying his existence! I was incredulous.
Interviewing relatives for genealogical information is like tagging. What they don't say, what they do remember accurately, and how they say it, says more about the event than the actual words they use. Interviewing gives you a fascinating insight into how their brain works, what emotions they felt, and what events impacted them the most. BUT, in my family, you never get the facts. You never get the truth. And the truth - like an accurate library catalogue - gives you the framework to flesh out the tags, or anecdotes. It explains so much - like why Great-Grandma Steinman said, with a sigh, "We sparked too much", when asked how she met Great-Grandpa Steinman. (The truth being that she was pregnant when they got married.)
So, to me, the two types of categorizing (authority-controlled, authenticated cataloguing and patron-defined tags) go hand-in-hand. Together, they build a richer, more detailed, more accurate picture of what the library has to offer. I would highly encourage any library - even a children's library, because children do see the world so differently that tags created by children for children would add so much to the search experience for them - to allow patrons to tag items.
I agree with him, because, as he says on page 91 "Classification is a power struggle - it is political - because the first two orders of order require that there be a winner."
That is why the web - especially the envisioned Semantic Web - is so exciting. It allows individual creators so much more power, to not just publish their material, but to organize it also - via tags, or which site they put it on, or simply by throwing it out into the world, willy-nilly. Their works are not limited by geography or format; they are not catalogued and put away on a shelf; they are always available.
The PennTags project was interesting, in that some people had many projects (one individual had 81!); others had only one. I liked the way that the site was simple and cleanly arranged; and I liked the way it put the most-used tags up as a heading. (But why Namibia? Really?) I think that using tags for library catalogues would be a fantastic way to spread the word, but it could not replace authority-controlled professional cataloguing; the latter is necessary to authenticate the data involved.
Look at it this way. I do a lot of family history, aka genealogy. I started when I was in my early 20s, and dutifully followed the "best-practice" of interviewing one's oldest living relatives about what they remember (or mis-remember), and then tracking that information down through vital and other government records. When I started, there wasn't any significant internet genealogy databases, so nearly everything I found had to be gotten via forms, fees, and the copier. It was a lot of hours in the county courthouse reading crappy handwriting, but it was worth it.
Do you know what I discovered? Almost all the data - the vital statistics such as dates, complete names, places - I gathered in the interviews was incorrect! Many times, the actual vital statistics recorded in official records proved that the person whom I interviewed actually lied, or covered up, some sort of family skeleton. In the most memorable case, poor Great-Uncle Otto was not dead, as I and many other family members had been told, but had actually been living as a hermit in Arkansas for over 50 years. 50 years of denying his existence! I was incredulous.
Interviewing relatives for genealogical information is like tagging. What they don't say, what they do remember accurately, and how they say it, says more about the event than the actual words they use. Interviewing gives you a fascinating insight into how their brain works, what emotions they felt, and what events impacted them the most. BUT, in my family, you never get the facts. You never get the truth. And the truth - like an accurate library catalogue - gives you the framework to flesh out the tags, or anecdotes. It explains so much - like why Great-Grandma Steinman said, with a sigh, "We sparked too much", when asked how she met Great-Grandpa Steinman. (The truth being that she was pregnant when they got married.)
So, to me, the two types of categorizing (authority-controlled, authenticated cataloguing and patron-defined tags) go hand-in-hand. Together, they build a richer, more detailed, more accurate picture of what the library has to offer. I would highly encourage any library - even a children's library, because children do see the world so differently that tags created by children for children would add so much to the search experience for them - to allow patrons to tag items.
User-Centered Search - Environmental Scanning
I do have an account at the Kent State University library, although so far I have not saved any searches or subscribed to any feeds. That's because I haven't yet found anything that I want to have coming to my inbox regularly. As many of us know, managing one's inbox can be very challenging - and I'm not just talking about spam. I can quickly deal with Isidro and her request for money to help her bury her father in the Amazon, because my spam folder usually blocks her fake request, or I simply see the title and delete the e-mail without reading it. It's the volume of advertisements, notifications of news, Facebook alerts, and other information that I chose to receive (my environmental scanning) that builds up to an overwhelming level.
But, when I do need a certain service, product, or bit of information, it's so handy to have it right there in my inbox instead of having to go out and find it. And, as much of it is time-sensitive, I might miss an important deadline if I didn't have it set up to automatically alert me.
Currently I am signed up for e-mail ads from several retailers that I patronize (and am looking for cheap school supplies, like the rest of the U.S.); Reuters news digest (both the top stories and the oddly enough features); several different personal blogs; notifications from pinterest boards that I am following, ones that show items for my home business or our annual Christmas charity; a few job search engines; two or three yahoo support groups that help me cope with my own personal challenges; and several airline sites (because we travel so much). Oh, and not to forget my trusty old friend, Marriott - the only travel points system that actually works.
This doesn't include twitter or RSS feeds, which go to separate areas on my computer - not directly to my e-mail.
It's great to have these automated notification features, but you do have to get good at swooshing through them with your finger poised over the delete button, or soon you have an overflowing inbox. This creates a little more chaos than I can deal with.
Just yesterday I purchased tickets to go see my son, because Southwest is having a fare sale that fit into our budget. I wouldn't have known about the sale unless I had my environmental scanner going, sending notifications to my inbox.
The one I have the most trouble with, and yet was the most valuable, is the U.S. State Department's traveler's alert service. Having once registered with them concerning our whereabouts in Asia, I can't get them to take me off of their listserve. Two years after moving back to the U.S., they still think we live in India, and I still get the sporadic updates about terrorist activity and threats to U.S. citizens from that region. I can tell you right now that the latest rumor that terrorists were going to bomb the American International School in Chennai were labeled false by the U.S. Chennai Consulate. That's a piece of information which is no longer relevant to my life, and that is why i hesitate to sign up for any more State Department alerts. Apparently once you are on them, it's permanent. Still, while we lived in India, their updates and alerts were extremely valuable. So I highly recommend that if you are going to travel extensively, you use their traveler registration feature, which allows them to find you in an emergency, and allows you to get accurate updates about problematic situations.
Teresa
But, when I do need a certain service, product, or bit of information, it's so handy to have it right there in my inbox instead of having to go out and find it. And, as much of it is time-sensitive, I might miss an important deadline if I didn't have it set up to automatically alert me.
Currently I am signed up for e-mail ads from several retailers that I patronize (and am looking for cheap school supplies, like the rest of the U.S.); Reuters news digest (both the top stories and the oddly enough features); several different personal blogs; notifications from pinterest boards that I am following, ones that show items for my home business or our annual Christmas charity; a few job search engines; two or three yahoo support groups that help me cope with my own personal challenges; and several airline sites (because we travel so much). Oh, and not to forget my trusty old friend, Marriott - the only travel points system that actually works.
This doesn't include twitter or RSS feeds, which go to separate areas on my computer - not directly to my e-mail.
It's great to have these automated notification features, but you do have to get good at swooshing through them with your finger poised over the delete button, or soon you have an overflowing inbox. This creates a little more chaos than I can deal with.
Just yesterday I purchased tickets to go see my son, because Southwest is having a fare sale that fit into our budget. I wouldn't have known about the sale unless I had my environmental scanner going, sending notifications to my inbox.
The one I have the most trouble with, and yet was the most valuable, is the U.S. State Department's traveler's alert service. Having once registered with them concerning our whereabouts in Asia, I can't get them to take me off of their listserve. Two years after moving back to the U.S., they still think we live in India, and I still get the sporadic updates about terrorist activity and threats to U.S. citizens from that region. I can tell you right now that the latest rumor that terrorists were going to bomb the American International School in Chennai were labeled false by the U.S. Chennai Consulate. That's a piece of information which is no longer relevant to my life, and that is why i hesitate to sign up for any more State Department alerts. Apparently once you are on them, it's permanent. Still, while we lived in India, their updates and alerts were extremely valuable. So I highly recommend that if you are going to travel extensively, you use their traveler registration feature, which allows them to find you in an emergency, and allows you to get accurate updates about problematic situations.
Teresa
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Finding ghosts in the search engines
Well, I think that order only hides more than it reveals when you are not the Person Who Knows Where All Things Are (the one who organizes and puts things away). That is why I can usually lay my hands on whatever I want in my house; because no one else is interested in putting anything away, or in creating any order.
After 18 years of marriage, I can almost figure out where my husband might have put something, if company is coming and he ran around the house randomly throwing things out of sight. The key: look for a space that is above his line of sight.
Anyway, google and other search engines are fun when you are looking for information. They're fun because, since you didn't organize them, you never know what extra tidbits of info might come your way. Just yesterday, I was searching OCLC's Virtual International Authority File (granted, not as fun as google, but close) for Mark Twain. Lo and behold, I found not only Samuel Langhorne aka Mark Twain, but I also found out that he may or may not have used the pseudonym Quintus Curtius Snodgrass. The real bonus trivia item was that a person by the name of Robert Leichtmann wrote a book that was authored, via an Ouija board, by Mark Twain's spirit, in 1982. And OCLC dutifully catalogued it, linking it to the living Mark Twain, under the heading "Twain, Mark, (spirit)". Who knew.
After 18 years of marriage, I can almost figure out where my husband might have put something, if company is coming and he ran around the house randomly throwing things out of sight. The key: look for a space that is above his line of sight.
Anyway, google and other search engines are fun when you are looking for information. They're fun because, since you didn't organize them, you never know what extra tidbits of info might come your way. Just yesterday, I was searching OCLC's Virtual International Authority File (granted, not as fun as google, but close) for Mark Twain. Lo and behold, I found not only Samuel Langhorne aka Mark Twain, but I also found out that he may or may not have used the pseudonym Quintus Curtius Snodgrass. The real bonus trivia item was that a person by the name of Robert Leichtmann wrote a book that was authored, via an Ouija board, by Mark Twain's spirit, in 1982. And OCLC dutifully catalogued it, linking it to the living Mark Twain, under the heading "Twain, Mark, (spirit)". Who knew.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan
Say that three times fast! :)
Having lived where Ranganathan lived, I can see why a faceted classification system (his Five Laws and Colon Classification) made more sense to him than a hierarchical one. India runs on a faceted system, which boggles the hierarchical Western mind, and allows seemingly impossible contradictions to flourish. For example, because cows are sacred, they roam freely and are never killed for meat. Accidentally running into a cow with a car is the equivalent of running into a person, with the same results - a savage beating of the driver of the vehicle, and a large fine. The flip side of this is that often the cows are not fed (ownership is a little iffy, too); they often starve to death, or die of intestinal blockage due to eating the ubiquitous plastic bags that litter every square inch of the country. The linear correlation between "sacred" and "taken care of" is not present in India.
Even the caste system is not a strict hierarchical system, as a Westerner would assume. From what I studied and observed, the caste system does not infer hierarchical authority of one group over another. It is not based on any obvious external reference points, such as gender, skin color, wealth, or amount of education. It is based on occupation and straight genetics. A Brahmin may be dirt poor and have no education, but he is still a Brahmin, and will only perform the job that his Brahmin father did; he will also only marry a Brahmin girl, of his particular Brahmin sub-caste. An untouchable is an untouchable, no matter what level of education or amount of money they may have. Nothing can change one's caste; it is an inherent facet of one's very being.
The caste system is very much alive and well in India; it's mentioned regularly in news articles (usually political in nature); advertised freely in marital want ads; and obviously, often dictates one's profession. In traditional southern India, where we lived, adoption was frowned upon (indeed, nearly impossible to accomplish), because one might accidentally adopt an orphan who was not of one's caste. Although the system is legally outlawed, it is still mandatory that children put what caste they are on their entry forms for school, and later, on employment forms. Every single day I ran into caste issues - a gardener, for instance, who would not empty the trash because he was a gardener - no matter that I paid his wages and was his manager. My driver would iron my clothes but never cook. My foster daughter, Tamil by genetics and of a lower caste, was educated at one of the best schools in the city, but could not openly date anyone, because of her caste. It was all very frustrating to me, a Westerner, because not only am I strongly morally opposed to the idea that one person is better than another, but it is not based on linear thinking. It is based on a faceted way of thinking - each little gem (caste) touching other gems, on multiple sides, but never overlapping.
So, Ranganathan grew up within a system that classifies people in a faceted manner. It makes perfect sense that he transferred that to books and other information sources, and in some ways, it was an improvement upon hierarchical classification, since books are not living beings that have feelings, or can progress educationally. They are static.
The five points of his colon classification system - Personality, Property, Energy, Space, and Time - are indeed a bit mystic. Again, this is not surprising to me (nor is the fact that he married an 11-year-old - I hope she survived the consummation of their union). With respect, there is a great deal of what a North American would label as superstition in the Indian culture, even amongst well-educated Indians. Names should have a certain number of letters (hence the length); astrologers are often consulted to determine if the two individuals in an arranged marriage are compatible; old shoes are tied to trees so that ghosts have somewhere to stand and will stay out of one's house. (And woe betide the homemaker who removes said shoes because she thinks they look trashy.....) So, I can certainly see where Ranganathan was influenced by this when he decided upon his classification categories.
What really interests me is how his system became so well known. I am very curious to read more about the history of this, and how it is used in today's libraries (if, indeed, it is used).
I leave you with a few fascinating trivia about the caste system:
1. The untouchable caste (those who do the dirtiest jobs, like corpse removal) are currently called Dalits, or Scheduled Castes, and if you are in this group, you get the equivalent of U.S. Affirmative Action. Hence, some scam artists register their children as part of this group, in order to take advantage of the benefits (not many though, because the benefits were not that great).
2. All races outside of the Indian genetic pool are outside the caste system. If one wishes to convert to Hinduism, well, I have no idea what your caste options might be.
3. Several times large, organized groups of Dalits converted, en masse, to Buddhism, to reject the cast system. This was seen as a political movement by some. Recently, the reverse has happened: large groups of Dalits converted back to Hinduism.
4. Dalits are also called the Otherwise Backward Caste, or OBC, a nomenclature often used in the news. This usage of the term "backward" was so hard to get my mind wrapped around that I once asked a dear Indian friend if there was a Forward Caste. There is.
5. Hitler borrowed his infamous Swastika symbol from the Hindu religion. In India, the swastika is an extremely ancient sacred symbol, with absolutely no connotation of genocide. Obviously as a westerner, it has very negative connotations to me, and I had a hard time getting used to seeing it painted on cars, buildings, etc. I thought I was doing good until a henna artist drew it on my son's arm; that was too much for me, and he agreed to transform it into a flaming sword.
Having lived where Ranganathan lived, I can see why a faceted classification system (his Five Laws and Colon Classification) made more sense to him than a hierarchical one. India runs on a faceted system, which boggles the hierarchical Western mind, and allows seemingly impossible contradictions to flourish. For example, because cows are sacred, they roam freely and are never killed for meat. Accidentally running into a cow with a car is the equivalent of running into a person, with the same results - a savage beating of the driver of the vehicle, and a large fine. The flip side of this is that often the cows are not fed (ownership is a little iffy, too); they often starve to death, or die of intestinal blockage due to eating the ubiquitous plastic bags that litter every square inch of the country. The linear correlation between "sacred" and "taken care of" is not present in India.
Even the caste system is not a strict hierarchical system, as a Westerner would assume. From what I studied and observed, the caste system does not infer hierarchical authority of one group over another. It is not based on any obvious external reference points, such as gender, skin color, wealth, or amount of education. It is based on occupation and straight genetics. A Brahmin may be dirt poor and have no education, but he is still a Brahmin, and will only perform the job that his Brahmin father did; he will also only marry a Brahmin girl, of his particular Brahmin sub-caste. An untouchable is an untouchable, no matter what level of education or amount of money they may have. Nothing can change one's caste; it is an inherent facet of one's very being.
The caste system is very much alive and well in India; it's mentioned regularly in news articles (usually political in nature); advertised freely in marital want ads; and obviously, often dictates one's profession. In traditional southern India, where we lived, adoption was frowned upon (indeed, nearly impossible to accomplish), because one might accidentally adopt an orphan who was not of one's caste. Although the system is legally outlawed, it is still mandatory that children put what caste they are on their entry forms for school, and later, on employment forms. Every single day I ran into caste issues - a gardener, for instance, who would not empty the trash because he was a gardener - no matter that I paid his wages and was his manager. My driver would iron my clothes but never cook. My foster daughter, Tamil by genetics and of a lower caste, was educated at one of the best schools in the city, but could not openly date anyone, because of her caste. It was all very frustrating to me, a Westerner, because not only am I strongly morally opposed to the idea that one person is better than another, but it is not based on linear thinking. It is based on a faceted way of thinking - each little gem (caste) touching other gems, on multiple sides, but never overlapping.
So, Ranganathan grew up within a system that classifies people in a faceted manner. It makes perfect sense that he transferred that to books and other information sources, and in some ways, it was an improvement upon hierarchical classification, since books are not living beings that have feelings, or can progress educationally. They are static.
The five points of his colon classification system - Personality, Property, Energy, Space, and Time - are indeed a bit mystic. Again, this is not surprising to me (nor is the fact that he married an 11-year-old - I hope she survived the consummation of their union). With respect, there is a great deal of what a North American would label as superstition in the Indian culture, even amongst well-educated Indians. Names should have a certain number of letters (hence the length); astrologers are often consulted to determine if the two individuals in an arranged marriage are compatible; old shoes are tied to trees so that ghosts have somewhere to stand and will stay out of one's house. (And woe betide the homemaker who removes said shoes because she thinks they look trashy.....) So, I can certainly see where Ranganathan was influenced by this when he decided upon his classification categories.
What really interests me is how his system became so well known. I am very curious to read more about the history of this, and how it is used in today's libraries (if, indeed, it is used).
I leave you with a few fascinating trivia about the caste system:
1. The untouchable caste (those who do the dirtiest jobs, like corpse removal) are currently called Dalits, or Scheduled Castes, and if you are in this group, you get the equivalent of U.S. Affirmative Action. Hence, some scam artists register their children as part of this group, in order to take advantage of the benefits (not many though, because the benefits were not that great).
2. All races outside of the Indian genetic pool are outside the caste system. If one wishes to convert to Hinduism, well, I have no idea what your caste options might be.
3. Several times large, organized groups of Dalits converted, en masse, to Buddhism, to reject the cast system. This was seen as a political movement by some. Recently, the reverse has happened: large groups of Dalits converted back to Hinduism.
4. Dalits are also called the Otherwise Backward Caste, or OBC, a nomenclature often used in the news. This usage of the term "backward" was so hard to get my mind wrapped around that I once asked a dear Indian friend if there was a Forward Caste. There is.
5. Hitler borrowed his infamous Swastika symbol from the Hindu religion. In India, the swastika is an extremely ancient sacred symbol, with absolutely no connotation of genocide. Obviously as a westerner, it has very negative connotations to me, and I had a hard time getting used to seeing it painted on cars, buildings, etc. I thought I was doing good until a henna artist drew it on my son's arm; that was too much for me, and he agreed to transform it into a flaming sword.
Updating the School Librarian's Job
I loved this article about Stephanie Rosalia's attempts to teach students information literacy. At a time when many public school librarian's jobs are being cut, she has clearly demonstrated the extremely vital role that they can fulfill, sharpening student's abilities to both find accurate information using web-based resources, and also encouraging them to read, in any format.
We didn't have internet at the inner-city school where I began teaching 22 years ago, nor did we have much of a library, but everyone seemed to have a television at home. My students were all fob (fresh off the boat) immigrants who spoke little to no English; many were not literate in their own language. In order to motivate them to learn to read, speak, and someday write in English, I would challenge them to watch a TV program in English, preferably with the closed captioning on (if I could get that concept across to them). Part of the challenge was that I would watch a program in Spanish. On Fridays, we would act out what we had watched (inappropriate scenes excepted!), and talk about the new vocabulary it had introduced. It was a lot of fun dramatizing, and helped them to begin to break through some of the language barriers that they were facing.
From this experience, I learned that technology can be a very powerful tool in a teacher's toolbox. It isn't the classical way to learn (every teacher dreams of that student who walks into the library, begins reading, and can't put the book down! :), but it is appealing to the masses. It gets them started.
So, kudos to Ms. Rosalia. I only wish that her description of a school librarian as an "information literacy teacher" could be mandated and implemented nation-wide, but as the article pointed out, most schools are cutting their librarians. My daughter's large middle school cut the sole remaining school librarian last year, moving her into the school secretary's position (!). At the same time, they quit using printed textbooks and went to an all-digital platform, changed webpage providers, and instigated google drive as the primary spot for turning in assignments, getting school-related e-mails, etc. It was a MESS, and let me tell you, I for one wanted to shake someone until their heads snapped off. (Sorry, little mommy bear reaction here.) They never did get the website running correctly, so we could often not find what we needed for homework, and the math teacher simply stated that as he was retiring that year, he would not be using any of the technology available (including e-mail). More than once, a teacher insisted that a particular assignment had to be done in a particular program (ie a presentation), that was not only unavailable for the Mac platform (which is all we have at home), but it was so outdated that even my sister's Windows laptop could not use it! They needed an information literacy teacher for the teachers!
Sorry for the rant. Coming from a private international school where they had a dedicated IT department, beautiful libraries (one for elementary, one for high school, and one for middle school), all fully staffed with professional Master's level librarians, all-digital textbooks, and required students to begin using their own flashdrives in the third grade, it was quite a shock to experience the lack of technological competence in the U.S. public schools. I hope this year is better - but I'm not holding my breath, since all students in her grade level are supposed to be getting netbooks. sigh.
Maybe Ms. Rosalia would like to move to the midwest and work for free.....:)
We didn't have internet at the inner-city school where I began teaching 22 years ago, nor did we have much of a library, but everyone seemed to have a television at home. My students were all fob (fresh off the boat) immigrants who spoke little to no English; many were not literate in their own language. In order to motivate them to learn to read, speak, and someday write in English, I would challenge them to watch a TV program in English, preferably with the closed captioning on (if I could get that concept across to them). Part of the challenge was that I would watch a program in Spanish. On Fridays, we would act out what we had watched (inappropriate scenes excepted!), and talk about the new vocabulary it had introduced. It was a lot of fun dramatizing, and helped them to begin to break through some of the language barriers that they were facing.
From this experience, I learned that technology can be a very powerful tool in a teacher's toolbox. It isn't the classical way to learn (every teacher dreams of that student who walks into the library, begins reading, and can't put the book down! :), but it is appealing to the masses. It gets them started.
So, kudos to Ms. Rosalia. I only wish that her description of a school librarian as an "information literacy teacher" could be mandated and implemented nation-wide, but as the article pointed out, most schools are cutting their librarians. My daughter's large middle school cut the sole remaining school librarian last year, moving her into the school secretary's position (!). At the same time, they quit using printed textbooks and went to an all-digital platform, changed webpage providers, and instigated google drive as the primary spot for turning in assignments, getting school-related e-mails, etc. It was a MESS, and let me tell you, I for one wanted to shake someone until their heads snapped off. (Sorry, little mommy bear reaction here.) They never did get the website running correctly, so we could often not find what we needed for homework, and the math teacher simply stated that as he was retiring that year, he would not be using any of the technology available (including e-mail). More than once, a teacher insisted that a particular assignment had to be done in a particular program (ie a presentation), that was not only unavailable for the Mac platform (which is all we have at home), but it was so outdated that even my sister's Windows laptop could not use it! They needed an information literacy teacher for the teachers!
Sorry for the rant. Coming from a private international school where they had a dedicated IT department, beautiful libraries (one for elementary, one for high school, and one for middle school), all fully staffed with professional Master's level librarians, all-digital textbooks, and required students to begin using their own flashdrives in the third grade, it was quite a shock to experience the lack of technological competence in the U.S. public schools. I hope this year is better - but I'm not holding my breath, since all students in her grade level are supposed to be getting netbooks. sigh.
Maybe Ms. Rosalia would like to move to the midwest and work for free.....:)
Friday, July 26, 2013
Linnaeus' Legacy
I think that Carolus Linnaeus was very forward-thinking when he developed his classification system, because he did his best to teach it to others (by leading nature walks, etc.), and also because he used very practical concepts as links between organisms (ie the number of stamens). Linnaeus was very clear-cut, which is why his system lasted so long.
Of course as new knowledge comes for - like Darwin's theory of evolution - the system must update and evolve, but overall, classification of anything still depends on the lump-and-split method. In that sense, Linnaeus' system is not flawed, it is just outdated.
Teresa
Of course as new knowledge comes for - like Darwin's theory of evolution - the system must update and evolve, but overall, classification of anything still depends on the lump-and-split method. In that sense, Linnaeus' system is not flawed, it is just outdated.
Teresa
Monday, July 22, 2013
Is the Dewey Decimal System Dead?
I don't agree with Weinberger's statement that Dewey's system is fundamentally flawed. I think that Dewey's system does as good a job as any classification system can, given that knowledge and the perspective of knowledge is always changing. Look at Linnaeus' taxonomy system, which morphed into cladistics. The scientific world strives to organize and classify organisms also, and they too have had to change their nomenclature and their categories to accommodate new information. Any classification system is going to have to evolve as knowledge expands.
What libraries need to do is to recognize this and concur on one universal system, whether it be the Library of Congress Classification System, Dewey Decimal System, or any other logical system. Librarians must acknowledge that the world is not composed solely of Judeo-Christian cultures, and lead the way into a global platform that allows all information to be categorized under one umbrella system. What is that system? I don't know. Perhaps RDA will allow enough flexibility to embrace other languages, other religions, and other viewpoints. We shall see.
What libraries need to do is to recognize this and concur on one universal system, whether it be the Library of Congress Classification System, Dewey Decimal System, or any other logical system. Librarians must acknowledge that the world is not composed solely of Judeo-Christian cultures, and lead the way into a global platform that allows all information to be categorized under one umbrella system. What is that system? I don't know. Perhaps RDA will allow enough flexibility to embrace other languages, other religions, and other viewpoints. We shall see.
Mnemonics for Memory
Personally, I love ROY G. BIV, if only because it is a favorite crossword puzzle answer.
However, I did not create it. Here is one that I used to memorize a staff member's name in India:
Raja Mannequin
His name was Rajamannakam, which was a mouthful for me initially, but I was determined to learn everyone's name and pronounce it correctly. So I broke his name down into this mnemonic:
Raja (means king; that much I could remember easily)
Mannequin (because he always stood stiff and straight and saluted me)
Which I managed to practice enough until I got it right.
Sorry it's a bit blurry, but you can see how stiff and straight he always stood. :)
Melvil Dewey
I have often been heard to say that if I ran the universe, all light bulbs would have the same base, electricity would be same voltage in every country, TV signals would be universal, DVDs would not have different regional codes, all cell phones would be unlocked, and everyone would drive exactly in the middle of the road. (OK, I made the last one up. The truth is I don't care whether everyone drives on the left or on the right, so long as it is universally standardized.) I am in exact alignment with Melvil Dewey concerning the efficiency of standardization; it is nonsensical to me that people make life so much more difficult than it needs to be.
He must have been an amazing individual. To have such definite ideas while so young, and to be able to implement any of them, is extraordinary. I wish he had been able to get phonetic spelling and switching every country to the metric system, off of the ground.
Technology has helped somewhat. At least I can google what time it is wherever my husband is traveling, so that I don't interrupt his sleep. Slingbox has somewhat solved the TV signal problem; most TVs sold today have built-in signal converters, so you don't have to buy a special converter unit; and texting is changing the landscape of spelling. I even heard a commercial from Lowe's hardware store yesterday that advertised how, if you input the sku number from your home improvement device, their system would store it and tell you what consumables you needed when you were shopping there. Nifty. No more pondering which light bulb you need, as long as you've taken the time to put the right sku in their system.
Cell phones seem to have gone the way of the metric system - America and Japan are the last holdouts. You can buy an unlocked cell phone here, but it voids the warranty. Grrrr.
So, I am firmly in Dewey's camp.
He must have been an amazing individual. To have such definite ideas while so young, and to be able to implement any of them, is extraordinary. I wish he had been able to get phonetic spelling and switching every country to the metric system, off of the ground.
Technology has helped somewhat. At least I can google what time it is wherever my husband is traveling, so that I don't interrupt his sleep. Slingbox has somewhat solved the TV signal problem; most TVs sold today have built-in signal converters, so you don't have to buy a special converter unit; and texting is changing the landscape of spelling. I even heard a commercial from Lowe's hardware store yesterday that advertised how, if you input the sku number from your home improvement device, their system would store it and tell you what consumables you needed when you were shopping there. Nifty. No more pondering which light bulb you need, as long as you've taken the time to put the right sku in their system.
Cell phones seem to have gone the way of the metric system - America and Japan are the last holdouts. You can buy an unlocked cell phone here, but it voids the warranty. Grrrr.
So, I am firmly in Dewey's camp.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Answering the questions about Wikipedia
Well, my thoughts were churning along so nicely that I forgot to answer the assignment's questions!
Did the video change my opinion or reinforce it about Wikipedia? Yes, it certainly reinforced it. Understanding that they do have an official volunteer unit that polices the sites, along with hearing their stated goal to be unbiased and accurate, made me think that Wikpedia is a very valuable source of information. Also, I have always been one to think "many heads make less thinking", so the idea of gathering hundreds of different people's knowledge about one particular subject into one place fits right into my ideal schema of life.
Hmmm.....radical encyclopedias vs. stodgy ones. I chose to interpret that Wale's is saying that an encyclopedia should be on the trending edge; easily updated; not afraid to address new issues and ideas, rather than thinking of it in the traditional "radical" perspective, which to me, means "fringe", "unreliable", "possibly mentally unstable". In the former sense, I totally agree with him. A printed Encyclopedia is only as accurate as the date is was printed, which is why Encyclopedia companies are always coming out with new editions. It's also why the older editions are so amusing to read. I think that the flexibility and speed of the internet makes Wale's concept of a "radical" encyclopedia very doable, but if it was printed in book form, it would be cost-prohibitive.
As I stated before, to me, a library is any collection of data/knowledge/information - whatever you want to label it - that is organized. In that sense, certainly, on-line libraries are a fabulous and much-needed concept. However, in the traditional American mindset, a library is a collection of books (and maybe other information or entertainment sources, such as DVDs and CDs), housed within a brick-and-mortar building. In that sense, libraries have no hope of being "radical" (or easily updated or on the trendy edge), because they don't have enough money, and they have too much competition in the cloud realm.
And finally, I like Wale's policies about truth, neutrality, and objectivity. I'm sure there are mistakes made, but he has a good overarching sense of informational democracy. I'm glad he's in charge; I hope he makes plans for an appropriate successor.
Teresa
Wikipedia
This is amazing. I was impressed with Wikipedia's vision and scope, and by how their volunteers dedicated themselves to the truth, and not to their own bias. I have to wonder: what was it like in the early days? Certainly it didn't explode into existence; it must have grown, adding volunteers slowly.
Here are some random thoughts:
1. I'd never heard of the Bush/Cary controversy. This is not surprising. I was neck-deep in special-needs small children in 2004.
2. Being a volunteer editors/guardian of a particular wikipedia entry would be the perfect activity for a person with Asperger's. (They often focus on one particular idea and become the world's foremost expert on it, albeit in a very obsessive way.) I know one such individual who fixates on Puffins. Another on Encyclopedias (as a book, not a knowledge unit). These are individuals whose vision is limited to one subject; who read and collect everything they can about that subject; and who lack the ability to be influenced by social groups or peers. Perfect.
3. I'm glad they consults something besides google. Otherwise I would have to be thinking "conspiracy theory".
4. Wikipedia in the academic setting. I use Wikipedia regularly, with the idea that if the subject is important enough I would check 2-3 sources about it anyway, but Wikipedia is usually the most basic and understandable source. I was shocked when my daughter (8th grade) informed me that she is not allowed to use Wikipedia as a source for any academic work, because "it can be modified by anyone." So, the very structure (and beauty) of Wikipedia are what have school's administrators have decided are its danger. I can understand that in an academic setting, but often the sources she does use are no more authenticated. So, I sit at one computer and check Wikipedia for her, to explain the concept (really embarrassing as a parent when you can't remember the five points of the third amendment); she sits at another and finds "authentic" sources and writes her paper. Kind of funny, really.
5. The last and most vital item: all of this is based on literacy. Wikipedia's goal of bringing an encyclopedia to every human being rests on those people's ability to read, in any language. This is one of my core beliefs: every person should be given the gift of literacy.
I applaud his movement, I enjoy and use Wikipedia, but if the word had to choose between Wikipedia and literacy for every human, I would vote for literacy.
Teresa
Sheddroff's Continuum of Information Processing
Nathan Shedroff puts the overarching experience of learning into four distinct but overlapping processes. I thought this approach was very valuable for the information professional, as it is extremely objective and quite true. I would have added the label "teaching" to the third circle, because that is what "conversation, storytelling, and integration" mean to me. However, from Shedroff's position, I can see that would be personalizing his explanation a bit too much. He is writing for the "everyman", and the word "teaching" in many cultures carries with it a feeling of responsibility for the education of our progeny or youth in general.
There is another component that I would add to Shedroff's diagram, and that is "action". I would add that between the third and fourth circles, or possibly as a fifth circle. To me, knowledge without acting upon it cannot be wisdom; even if it is a minor matter such as knowing that 2 + 2 = 4. If I know this, and I'm buying something, then what good is my knowledge of this fact, if I have only $4 but buy three items at $2 each? That is not wisdom; it is denial of my knowledge. Wisdom, to me, lies in the practice of what knowledge you have.
Shedroff does address this quite briefly in his statement "....wisdom is an ultimate level of understanding in which we understand enough patterns that we can use them for ourselves in novel ways and situations...." (Shedroff, p 2 of class pdf; emphasis mine) I just feel that more weight needs to be put on the action portion.
This is a great way to explain these concepts in a business or organization setting, however. I plan on using this as a simple explanation of what a knowledge architect does.
Teresa
There is another component that I would add to Shedroff's diagram, and that is "action". I would add that between the third and fourth circles, or possibly as a fifth circle. To me, knowledge without acting upon it cannot be wisdom; even if it is a minor matter such as knowing that 2 + 2 = 4. If I know this, and I'm buying something, then what good is my knowledge of this fact, if I have only $4 but buy three items at $2 each? That is not wisdom; it is denial of my knowledge. Wisdom, to me, lies in the practice of what knowledge you have.
Shedroff does address this quite briefly in his statement "....wisdom is an ultimate level of understanding in which we understand enough patterns that we can use them for ourselves in novel ways and situations...." (Shedroff, p 2 of class pdf; emphasis mine) I just feel that more weight needs to be put on the action portion.
This is a great way to explain these concepts in a business or organization setting, however. I plan on using this as a simple explanation of what a knowledge architect does.
Teresa
Friday, July 19, 2013
My Life's Experiences - Living Book Assignment
Title: Memoirs of a Wanna-Be Cat Lady
Abstract: Watching her life spin out of control, and realizing that the goals she set as a young woman were no longer attainable, Teresa decides to take charge of her life and become a knowledge information specialist. Along the way, she collects a few cats.
Four chapters: Childhood; Young Womanhood; Early Old Womanhood; Middle Age
Subchapters: Stella; Baxter; Elvis; Jasper (my four cats)
Conclusion: Maturity is knowing your limits, learning to live with them, and changing direction in order to adapt to them.
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| Stella the Warrior Cat. Once killed a three-foot snake by herself; brought it back to us, dragging it along by the head. Stella survived two falls from our fourth-floor balcony as a kitten, a 6-week walkabout in hostile India territory, and peeing on my husband's foot. |
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| Jasper, aka Le Pouf. Currently laying on my chest on his back, purring loudly, and begging for tummy rubs. Jasper loves attention more than any living being I have ever known, and will sit for hours in full costume for photos. He's also perfectly gorgeous and extremely soft. Jasper is the perfect cat, except for those moments when his ear accidentally gets into one's mouth. |
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| Baxter. My hero. I found Baxter as a tiny kitten, no bigger than my hand, with one leg bitten off by a rat. He survived the amputation, the trip to the US on the big, noisy airplane, and rules the house, despite his small size. No muss, no fuss, no claws, no blood; Baxter rules by sheer psychological dominance. I have seen him stare the dog down more than once. Baxter rules. |
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| Elvis. A cat's cat. Elvis was a desperate attempt to help our mentally ill son feel better about himself; in accordance to said son's preferences, he had to be black and male (son: "like me"). Elvis prefers men over women; night over day; and is the only cat who answers the door every time someone comes over. Tail wagging (yes, wagging), he inspects the newcomer and then walks away. We joke that Elvis channels our son (now in residential treatment), but it is eerie how well they do interact. I believe that Elvis was a gift from God; a cat with a specific personality that meshes with our son's; not an easy task. Our son believes that he has implanted mini cameras within Elvis' eyeballs, to watch us. Enough said. |
The Joints of Life
Comparing information organization and retention to butchering an animal certainly is a stretch. How many, if any, of you have ever actually butchered an animal? My parents spent several years attempting organic self-sufficiency (like homesteading), not terribly successfully, but butchering was certainly part of the effort. Knowing how to butcher came in extremely handy when we moved to India, although thankfully I had a staff member who was willing to do the dirty job, in exchange for some of the meat. So I've had more than my share of butchering, and yes, I would have preferred going vegetarian, but that effort fell to the pressures of my family - carnivores to the last breath.
So. It is much easier to take a carcass apart when you know it's structure - when you know where the joints are. (Try it. But not on a live animal, please.) But knowledge? Knowledge builds; knowledge has to be assimilated; knowledge has to be used in order to be useful. Then it becomes wisdom. Wisdom, based on my childhood experiences, dictated that raising and butchering my own meat was much safer for my family than buying the rotting, fly-covered meat from the local side-of-the-road butcher; or attempting to find the black market guy with the freezer full of questionable meat (I do believe that we once ate water buffalo instead of beef - never tasted beef like that before!). In a country where the electric goes out 2-3 times a day, sometimes for hours or even days at a time, a freezer isn't reliable, and bacteria can breed like mad. Nope, no meat from the freezer, thanks.
Knowledge gained from my readings about the specific region in which we lived in India - mostly Hindu, but with a sizable Muslim population - also dictated our selection of meat. It was wise to avoid beef (certainly I would never have butchered a cow!); pork was scarce; goat, fish, and fowl were all much less offensive to the local population. If I had to go to a butcher, then a Muslim butcher was the safest for our health - Islam has specific butchering practices which, to a certain extent, prevent the carcass from decomposing as quickly as it might.
So, there's one of my "joints". The strangest knowledge you glean from life can become very valuable.
And here's our family motto: "Tornado down; tsunami up." A simple life lesson, like "don't run with scissors", that actually might save your life. So remember it. :)
Adler's Ideas About Alphabetization
Mortimer Adler certainly had some fascinating ideas. Obviously he didn't like arbitrary, linear links between information, such as alphabetization; he felt that a person should use their own inherent connections to different pinpoints of data to organize said data, as indicated by his statement "inherent in all things to be learned we should be able to find inner connections". The problem with this is that not every brain links data the same way. One person may connect items by color; another by size; a third by smell. Alphabetization allows anyone who is literate and uses the Latin alphabet to transfer the order of information to another person. It's like a universal language for information translation.
A number of years ago I read a study about gender differences between spatial/geographical references (the infamous sense of direction that some of us lack). The study found that women tended to remember routes by landmarks - for instance, "the house next to the big Oak tree". Men, on the other hand, tended to remember routes by distance and direction - north, south, east, west. This certainly rings true to me! :) The problem, of course, is that landmarks can change - a parked car that was next to the street where you turn right might be gone the next day. Distance and geophysical direction don't change; hence, men are more reliable when giving directions.
Now, I don't know if this is true for everyone, but it is certainly true in my case. Once I realized that I was using a sometimes moveable, or possibly duplicate, item as a landmark, I paid a lot more attention to the odometer and the compass. And, as my mother told me to when I learned to drive, I learned to read a map. The map is the universal translator - like alphabetization - that shows us all how to get somewhere.
So I'm all for alphabetization (and maps), because it allows us to transfer information to each other more effectively.
An Abundance of Knowledge
The two lectures, "From Script to Print" and "Knowledge in the Age of Abundance" were interesting, but I didn't agree with all of the points that were made. Yes, we certainly live in the age of knowledge abundance, and the internet makes it faster and more accessible than ever before; but not everyone in the world is literate, and not everyone has internet access. Entire huge swaths of the world's population have neither. What happens to them?
Also, I definitely feel that young children should learn their name, address, and phone number, regardless of what electronic gadgets they may have upon them. While it may not still be a requirement to enter kindergarten, it certainly is an important life skill and a safety feature. When I was a child and we went to Disneyland, my parents wrote my name and their phone number on my arm in ink, in case I got lost. Nowadays, parents are discouraged from even putting their children's names on the outside of their school backpacks, because child predators can use that information to lure them into believing that the predator is their friend. Case in point - I was thankful that I had taught my children my contact information when my son got lost at Hong Kong Disneyland - he remembered my 10-digit Indian cell phone number, and we were safely reunited.
I did really like the statement made at the end of lecture 1:
"The librarian’s job is to facilitate access to the representations of human knowledge by learning, applying, and teaching the technology skills that networks all the representations."
I think that sums up what I wish to do with my MLIS degree.
Teresa
Libraries and Information Users
"Weinberger writes on page 14 that the digital world allows us to transcend the fundamental rule of everything having its place because things can now be assigned multiple places simultaneously. This speaks to the very core of library current and continuing existence. What are libraries doing and/or need to do to transcend this fundamental rule in order to stay relevant to information users? Do libraries need to do anything at all?"
Yes, they need to do something! And they are doing things.
What is the basic definition of a library? A collection of data (traditionally in monograph form), hopefully organized for easy access, and hopefully available to the public. That's a library, right? There is, actually, no hard-and-set rule that the data has to be in book form, or that it has to be free to the public, or that it has to be organized. Those are all cultural concepts that evolved through common sense and/or law.
With the advent of the digital revolution, libraries began to overlap databases (an IT concept that is basically the same thing as the above-stated definition of library). Both contain data; both are organized.
Now, libraries need to merge with the database concept - or, in other words, information (the data in libraries) and IT (digital organization available to the public - ie the internet) must merge into one fundamental source. The line between digital information/IT and libraries/librarians (the People Who Know Where Everything Is) has to go, because outside of the brick-and-mortar library, it has already gone. The next generation, born digital, has no such line in their brains; they already use their smart phones and the internet for research on any topic, far more often than they go to the library.
In order to stay relevant - even to exist at all - libraries must become digital. I'm not saying they have to burn their books, or close their doors and become one giant, dark room with a server; I'm just saying that they need to be digitizing what parts of their collections are unique to them (not already on the internet), and providing the same services that commercial vendors do, but free. That's going to keep them alive.
Libraries vs. Bookstores - the war for information availability
"Weinberger writes about the difference between finding what you want and discovering what you want within the context of a bookstore. Do libraries do a better job of helping people find and discover what they want or not?"
My mind immediately leaps to the next question: a digital bookstore, like Amazon, or a brick-and-mortar bookstore? A digital library, like an academic IR, or a physical library? That is what makes the difference to me. I can go into our local bookstore - either of them, the used, rare bookstore or the big box chain store - and immediately find someone to help me find what I want. I can do the same at the local library. In both cases, I skip trying to figure out their illogical (to me) or obscure (hard to find) cataloguing system, and just find the Human Who Knows Where All Things Are. (This, by the way, is the same system that my family members use when they want to find something in our house - wallet, socks, glasses, dog, passport, broken fishing rod - they ask me, the Human Who Knows Where All Things are in the Home. Kind of like a house elf in the Harry Potter series, but hopefully, more attractive. :)
But, I hate spending the physical energy to actually go into a store; plus, years of living in third-world, non-English-speaking countries forced me to use Amazon.com and Apple iTunes to get any entertainment that I wanted. (Or, basically, any thing I wanted.) So, I am very comfortable both finding what I want, and discovering what I want (browsing), using these venues. I've never had to use any human help (such as IM) to get what I want from these sites. And, I can do it in climate-controlled comfort, in my pajamas, at any hour of the day and night. It's waaay more convenient. Plus, as Weinberger pointed out, there is a lot more descriptive data available in the digital words; it's so much easier to search. I love it.
So, to me, brick-and-mortar libraries and bookstores are on the same level of ease, and are below digital libraries and bookstores. That holds true across the board - hardware stores, grocery stores, clothing stores - I find it much easier to shop on-line than actually drive there.
I admit that this is a highly personalized area. I still go to brick-and-mortar stores with my sisters, for the social aspect; I still take my daughter shopping, for the same reason, and because she has to have an article of clothing on her body before she will approve it. Life circumstances forced me into learning to navigate on-line shopping resources, and now I am very comfortable with them; I know many people who are not. But, overall, I don't think that libraries and bookstores do a better job of helping people find or discover what they want; digitalization and the internet do a better job.
My mind immediately leaps to the next question: a digital bookstore, like Amazon, or a brick-and-mortar bookstore? A digital library, like an academic IR, or a physical library? That is what makes the difference to me. I can go into our local bookstore - either of them, the used, rare bookstore or the big box chain store - and immediately find someone to help me find what I want. I can do the same at the local library. In both cases, I skip trying to figure out their illogical (to me) or obscure (hard to find) cataloguing system, and just find the Human Who Knows Where All Things Are. (This, by the way, is the same system that my family members use when they want to find something in our house - wallet, socks, glasses, dog, passport, broken fishing rod - they ask me, the Human Who Knows Where All Things are in the Home. Kind of like a house elf in the Harry Potter series, but hopefully, more attractive. :)
But, I hate spending the physical energy to actually go into a store; plus, years of living in third-world, non-English-speaking countries forced me to use Amazon.com and Apple iTunes to get any entertainment that I wanted. (Or, basically, any thing I wanted.) So, I am very comfortable both finding what I want, and discovering what I want (browsing), using these venues. I've never had to use any human help (such as IM) to get what I want from these sites. And, I can do it in climate-controlled comfort, in my pajamas, at any hour of the day and night. It's waaay more convenient. Plus, as Weinberger pointed out, there is a lot more descriptive data available in the digital words; it's so much easier to search. I love it.
So, to me, brick-and-mortar libraries and bookstores are on the same level of ease, and are below digital libraries and bookstores. That holds true across the board - hardware stores, grocery stores, clothing stores - I find it much easier to shop on-line than actually drive there.
I admit that this is a highly personalized area. I still go to brick-and-mortar stores with my sisters, for the social aspect; I still take my daughter shopping, for the same reason, and because she has to have an article of clothing on her body before she will approve it. Life circumstances forced me into learning to navigate on-line shopping resources, and now I am very comfortable with them; I know many people who are not. But, overall, I don't think that libraries and bookstores do a better job of helping people find or discover what they want; digitalization and the internet do a better job.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
TED and Kevin
Kevin Kelly. I had to Google him to find out who he was - I guess that shows that I don't read "Wired" magazine. Of course he popped right up - a sure sign that he is well-known, at least in the world of computers.
I listened to his talk twice while polishing silver. (Silver plate is my home business and my creative outlet, but that's another post.) I found it very interesting that he kept humanizing the internet - comparing it to body parts (the human brain), giving it God-like powers, etc. Truly a very human reaction to a machine. I also found it revealing that he missed one very important point - as much as you might like to humanize the internet (or computers in general), you still can't take it with you when you die.
I found his explanation of the semantic web fascinating - of course, I think that the data-to-data links have been going on for quite a while, by now. Personally I find it quite annoying that Google collects data about my website usage and tailors my search results based on that; and Facebook drives me crazy with its constant linking of data - trying to tell me who my best friends are based on how often I read their posts. What if I'm a stalker? No computer, or group thereof, can ever read the nuances of human emotion.
However, I am not a native-born digital user. I remember paper and flashcards. My children do not. The entire reason that I got on Facebook, years ago, was that my foster daughter (E) simply does not communicate long-distance on anything else. The best - and sometimes only - way to keep up with her was to read her constant Facebook posts.
My kids are very comfortable with letting the internet drive their friendships, create links between them and their likes and dislikes, and having all of their personal data spread everywhere. E has hundreds of friends on Facebook, and over 600 photos of herself. I'm not nearly as comfortable with that level of transparency - I'd like to say "older and wiser", but actually, it's probably more like just "older". My other daughter, J, is younger, and doesn't have a Facebook account yet - she's pushing for one - but she still has a lot of data about herself all over the digital world. So does my son. All of them have grown up with their images, their thoughts, and their details known to the internet. This was only intensified by the fact that when we lived in India, they stood out a lot locally, and were often featured in the local press because of their race. (White, Kazak, and Tamil, respectively.)
Recently, we had a family conversation about the dangers of sexting. My sister had ordered some books for the children's library she runs, and one of them was on this topic. It was really interesting to me, because as my sister said, somehow it never occurred to us to take photos of our naked selves when we were teenagers - polaroids just didn't cut it. (At this point in life, nude photos of ourselves would be more interesting to medical professionals than anyone else. :) The ability to instantly flash one's photo around the world is addicting; a much different feeling than handing a polaroid around the classroom. What I didn't know was that even if a minor takes the photo of themselves in the nude, it is still considered child pornography, and can be legally prosecuted. So, overall, a terrible idea - apt to go wildly wrong very quickly. I'm thankful to say that my kids agreed. (Whew!)
So, I think that like it or not, libraries are going to have to get used to this digital mindset, or they won't be able to find customers (patrons) amongst the younger population. On the other hand, they must protect themselves, as institutions, from the illegal usage of their computer resources. It's going to be a fine line.
Teresa
I listened to his talk twice while polishing silver. (Silver plate is my home business and my creative outlet, but that's another post.) I found it very interesting that he kept humanizing the internet - comparing it to body parts (the human brain), giving it God-like powers, etc. Truly a very human reaction to a machine. I also found it revealing that he missed one very important point - as much as you might like to humanize the internet (or computers in general), you still can't take it with you when you die.
I found his explanation of the semantic web fascinating - of course, I think that the data-to-data links have been going on for quite a while, by now. Personally I find it quite annoying that Google collects data about my website usage and tailors my search results based on that; and Facebook drives me crazy with its constant linking of data - trying to tell me who my best friends are based on how often I read their posts. What if I'm a stalker? No computer, or group thereof, can ever read the nuances of human emotion.
However, I am not a native-born digital user. I remember paper and flashcards. My children do not. The entire reason that I got on Facebook, years ago, was that my foster daughter (E) simply does not communicate long-distance on anything else. The best - and sometimes only - way to keep up with her was to read her constant Facebook posts.
My kids are very comfortable with letting the internet drive their friendships, create links between them and their likes and dislikes, and having all of their personal data spread everywhere. E has hundreds of friends on Facebook, and over 600 photos of herself. I'm not nearly as comfortable with that level of transparency - I'd like to say "older and wiser", but actually, it's probably more like just "older". My other daughter, J, is younger, and doesn't have a Facebook account yet - she's pushing for one - but she still has a lot of data about herself all over the digital world. So does my son. All of them have grown up with their images, their thoughts, and their details known to the internet. This was only intensified by the fact that when we lived in India, they stood out a lot locally, and were often featured in the local press because of their race. (White, Kazak, and Tamil, respectively.)
Recently, we had a family conversation about the dangers of sexting. My sister had ordered some books for the children's library she runs, and one of them was on this topic. It was really interesting to me, because as my sister said, somehow it never occurred to us to take photos of our naked selves when we were teenagers - polaroids just didn't cut it. (At this point in life, nude photos of ourselves would be more interesting to medical professionals than anyone else. :) The ability to instantly flash one's photo around the world is addicting; a much different feeling than handing a polaroid around the classroom. What I didn't know was that even if a minor takes the photo of themselves in the nude, it is still considered child pornography, and can be legally prosecuted. So, overall, a terrible idea - apt to go wildly wrong very quickly. I'm thankful to say that my kids agreed. (Whew!)
So, I think that like it or not, libraries are going to have to get used to this digital mindset, or they won't be able to find customers (patrons) amongst the younger population. On the other hand, they must protect themselves, as institutions, from the illegal usage of their computer resources. It's going to be a fine line.
Teresa
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