Citegeist

Library Day in the Life #5

// July 26th, 2010 // No Comments » // Libraries, Social Stuff, Web Stuff, librarians, lifestream

I probably will only tweet for this event, so I’m capturing them here. Be warned: I’m not filtering with the tag; this will contain all my tweets for the entire week.

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Not mother of the year

// July 22nd, 2010 // 6 Comments » // My Kids

This morning, Miss4 finished her breakfast earlier than her sister and ran upstairs to get ready first.  “Not fair!” her sister screamed, “she always gets ready before me!”  “Well, if you wouldn’t sit there and scream and cry, you could get ready faster,” I criticized in return.  She ran out of the room in tears and screamed that she hated her sister.  This phrase had been appearing with alarming frequency lately, and I was tired of it.  I charged into her bedroom to call her on it, but before I could get a word out, she yelled, “Why do you always yell at me but you encourage her?”

I stopped dead. “You’re right. You’re totally right. I shouldn’t do that.”  Because her sister is still 4, I use a completely different approach with her.  Demands fall flat–the stronger the demand, the harder she digs her heels in.  Miss7 outgrew it, mostly, so to encourage her to get ready quickly, I had appealed to her growing sense of self-responsibility.  When she started first grade, we told her that she knew what the morning routine was, and that she was big enough to get ready without being prompted every step of the way.  It worked great.

Well, somewhere along the way, that got lost.  She constantly gets distracted doing the littlest tasks, and she has to be reminded multiple times every step of the way.  It’s easy for morning drama to escalate, especially when Miss4 “does things first.”

So, Miss7 and I had a good talk about how we shouldn’t yell at each other, and how she needs encouragement just as much as her sister does.  When we got to the point about not saying “I hate you,” she said “It’s hard helping take care of a little kid.”  “I know,” I said, “and I have *two* to look out for.”  “I do, too, Mom,” said Miss7, “I have to remind you of stuff sometimes, too.”

Yep. She’s totally right.  It’s not fair for parents to take out frustration and stress on our children, but everyone falls prey to it eventually (and for most people, repeatedly).  I just hope that others out there are lucky enough to have a kid that will call them on it.

Going to go cry in my Cheerios now.

New at Techsource: Creative Commons and You

// July 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Libraries, Photography, Web Stuff, librarians

Nine Steps to Collaboritve Composites
Originally uploaded by qthomasbower

Libraries and librarians can make use of Creative Commons licensed works but must be careful to adhere to the terms of the licenses.  Finding photos that have been licensed CC is the easy part: CC search is a part of flickr, Compfight and even Google Images search.

Read more at the TechSource blog.

“Don’t you think she looks tired?” A lesson for Apple from the Doctor

// July 18th, 2010 // No Comments » // Macintosh, geekery

I’ve loved Wired Magazine since the issue where they wrote about Keanu Reeves playing Johnny Mnemonic. It can only be described as love: that glossy article was a perfect storm of my then-favorite actor, my favorite author, and lots of tech shiny. Zap. Love. Go ahead, laugh.

Annnywaaaaayyy… I love Wired. I’ve been a subscriber for years. I’ve justified my growing discomfort with the magazine’s insidious sexism and entrenched superiority by telling myself it’s the best avenue to good, thoughtful tech writing and bite-sized gadget reviews. Well, I’ve had it. From the high-texture, low-saturation, well-lit photography to it’s snack-sized snark snippets, I’m done.

This is nothing against the brilliant writing. Pieces by Chris Anderson, William Gibson, and countless others whose names I don’t remember have moved me and made me think. This rant is directed squarely at the editors who design all the snippets on the cover and tables of contents that suck readers in.

What does this have to do with Apple and Dr. Who? There is a small snippet of text on the upper-right corner of the August 2010 issue, which I can’t link to because it’s not on their website yet. The text reads: “#ATTFAIL: Inside the iPhone Network Meltdown.” And just like that, Wired moves from being Apple champion to shitstorm-bringer. Seeing this snippet peek at me from the countertop reminded me strongly of the end of “The Christmas Invasion,” David Tennant’s first full episode as Doctor Who. The Doctor, incensed and appalled by Prime Minister Harriet Jones’s order to blow up the Sycorax, says to her assistant, “Don’t you think she looks tired?” The ensuing media shitstorm results in the fall of her government.

It doesn’t matter that the Wired article is well-written, fairly unbiased, and very interesting. It doesn’t matter that they are trying to break new ground with their iPad edition. With “#ATTFAIL: Inside the iPhone Network Meltdown,” Wired has placed itself in the anti-Apple camp, which will continue to pull its readers–largely male gadget- and hacker-types, I’ll hazard to SWAG*–down the snark-fuelled, soundbyte-driven path away from mainstream humanity.

That’s not to say that I’m particularly an Apple Champion, either, nor am I an Apple Detractor. Macs have been my primary computer since 2004. Apple has beautiful, well-functioning products that I truly like and that have revolutionized mobile computing and music. BUT. But I’m bothered by the DRM, by the walled-garden attitude (is that the right metaphor for “if it doesn’t work, too bad, you can’t get in there and poke around?”), and the extreme propriety. So, I’m a fan, but not a fanatic. They are a company that provides products that I use and like, but they have their foibles and frustrations.
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*SWAG: speculative wild-ass guess. Yes, I’m being sardonic.

Let’s Talk About LeBron: a modest proposal

// July 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // Random

ostrich-head
Originally uploaded by visionshare | cc:by-nc

Twitter is rife with complaints about the chatter surrounding LeBron James’ choice to leave the Cleveland Cavs for Miami. I’m here to defend those who are outraged and singularly occupied by this obvious betrayal. Why? Because it’s easy. Let’s take a quick look at what else is going on in the world:

The Oakland Riots.  I much prefer hating on LeBron to thinking about the Oakland Riots because the latter involves cops and race issues.  Police officers are scary, and race issues are icky.  If I look into my heart and mind, I might find opinions there that make me uncomfortable.  And we don’t want that.

The Gulf Oil Spill.  LeBron vs. tar-covered shore birds.  Simple: LeBron.  Aside from some indigestion in Northern Ohio, LeBron is not actually making anyone sick.  Looking into my dependence on NBA excitement (and the products it makes me want want want) does not make me uncomfortable, like thinking about my personal dependence on petroleum products might.  Nevermind that Nikes are actually made with petroleum products.  Too close to home.

The wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.  Oh it’s *easy* not to talk about these, because they started, like, years ago.  Is anyone still paying attention?  These also succumb to the distance rule–if someone dies who’s thousands of miles away and doesn’t look, talk, or believe like I do, I don’t have to care, right?  The exception, of course, is that I Support Our Troops (TM) and hope that Johnny and Jane come home soon.  Next!

The Economy. Hm…. this one is tougher, as I have opinions about money.  As in, I need more of it, and it annoys me that athletes and coaches make so much of it.  Whoops, there’s LeBron again.  It’s much easier to grouse about his inflated salary than it is to make a decision whether to support the federal extension of unemployment benefits or federal financial reform.

And with that… it’s time to settle in and watch some TV.  Specifically, some sort of science fiction, because reality is just too yucky.  Hey, isn’t there a game on?

New at TechSource: Lessons from ALA 2010

// July 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Conferences, librarians

Techsource Gadget Petting Zoo
Originally uploaded by cindiann

Three years ago, at the ALA Annual Conference in DC, I wrote this blog post. I was a month into a new job and trying to find my way into the impenetrable depths of the seemingly endless ALA. My past experience in other associations told me that Woody Allen was right when he said that eighty percent of success is showing up: associations like ALA and its chapters and divisions depend on volunteers to get business and planning done, and there are never enough volunteers. So, looking back, what have I learned?

Read more at the ALA Techsource blog.

Two more photo posts at TechSource

// June 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Libraries, Photography

Stay on top of the chaos:

In sitting down to write Part 5 of this series, “Turning Images into Objects,” I realized I’d gotten ahead of myself. If you’ve beenkeeping up with this series, you’ll know that we’ve covered photography basics, what the modes on your camera mean, and ideas for using your camera creatively in the library. Before we can think about prints, greeting cards, business cards, stickers and other interesting and practical things that you can make from photos, you have to get them off the camera and onto the web. Simple, right? Well…. It can be, if you plan ahead a bit. Here are some tips that may help. Read More…

Flickr extras:

I use Flickr all the time personally, and my library has two accounts, a general library account and a University Archives account. Flickr has been around for a few years now, and librarians all over the world use it to share images from their personal and professional lives. Flickr is more than a great place to post and share photos with your community; it’s a community in itself, and a starting place for all sorts of activities. Read More…

What’s in a name?

// May 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Libraries, Library Systems, Web Stuff

MPOW has purchased BePress’ Digital Commons, and today we’ll be thinking about what to call it. Below is a visualization of what the majority of BePress’s customers call their own installations.  Interesting food for thought.

Images created by the Wordle.net web application are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

TechSource Post: Fun with photos at library events

// May 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // Libraries, Photography

Story time with the First Lady
Originally uploaded by The U.S. Army

From photo booths to scavenger hunts, flickr is a great place to find ideas for using your digital camera at library events. Read more at the TechSource blog.

Yes, this photo is a gimme, but I love it!

We are nothing without each other

// May 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Libraries, Photography

Book Titles
Originally uploaded by London Public Library

I’ve been working today on a TechSource post about creative ways to use a digital camera in a library and have been wowed and awed by all the great programming that is being documented by libraries on flickr. There’s the usual–storytime, gaming events, Meet-the-Authors. My favorite so far is an event held by the London, Ontario Public Library: “Human Book.” Community members from all walks of life volunteered to spend a few hours at the library posing as “human books,” meeting with interested “readers” and telling their life stories. Regardless of how many books we circulate, articles we download, what matters most (IMNSHO) is the impact that we have on each other. Fabulously done, London PL.