The poll choices are based on Pros and Cons on our class wall.
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Please take a moment to answer my poll… Thank you!
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Tanya Hollis and Rick Prelinger
Notes at the talk that Tanya Hollis and Rick Prelinger gave at the Mina Dresden Gallery ( http://scannersproject.com/archive.html ). Aarecording of the talk probably at archive.org.
Notes…
Prelinger has moved on to being a “meta archivist”
What is the role of an archivist in the public space?
Misconception: archives are only for “valuable” things
Underpinning of democracy! archives preserve freedom
RP’s bullet points: Archives are culture producers; archival work is civic activity; archives are places of origin, not death; archives are not just repositories, but art studios, laboratories
Defense against authoritarianism!
Always a lack of funds, space
Are there new problems in the digital era?
The expectation that EVERYTHING is online
“The giant mound of paper in the back room”
So much to digitize, so little time / money / resources
Do physical objects have rights? Like, the right to continued existence?
Not just issues of money, but archivists don’t generally have control
Doing more with less, breakin’ the rules!
“Linear footage” as a measurment of physical material — someone actually printed out their spam
Role as gatekeepers / preservers changes to…what?
The future of archiving is outside institutional walls
The problem of impermanence — media decay
Old thermal faxes have now gone blank (!) “might as well have been written in invisible ink”
The “Nicholson / Baker” example
A lot of paper records no longer exist in hard copy
“A classic existentialist dillemma”
Best intentions don’t always hold up
Many old newsreels have been destroyed
Digital is not forever — it’s fleeting, like everything else
Some will be saved, some will not
60% – 70% of people are “afraid of the internet”
Bit-rot, worries about Facebook, Google, the Cloud
“It’s no great loss if some stuff gets lost”
Format obsolescence -> personal archives
Facebook Timeline, Google, who houses personal info?
“Digital dark age,” “bibliomania” — fear of losing books
If Google goes under, we will NOT lose our cultural history
Hysteria about losing everything is not new, happens all the time
Geocities, Google Video, things get archived by third parties
You can download all your Facebook info / history
Obsolescence is always happening — old Word docs, or digital cameras
Capitalist Imperative
“Virtual Machines” that simulate old operating systems
What to do with old floppy discs?
People have to take personal responsibility for their own archives — “outsourcing”
We have to take responsibility for what we want to save
Getting people involved in actual physical activities
Public input is always necessary — identifying people in Jonestown pictures
The scrapbooking movement!
Putting things out there digitally allow for people who actually know what they are to speak up
Every bit of info written on the back of every photograph helps
“The pain of loss keeps every one of us archiving every day.”
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Reading to dogs
The library was having a back to school event for the children and their families, teaching them how to do the self check out, where books were located, etc. Towards the middle of the event, there were two therapy dogs that were brought in. After much “oooing” and “ahhing” from the children, the trainers told the children that the dogs love it when they read to them. The children started reading out loud to the dogs, while the dogs laid down on the ground. They usually have 6 therapy dogs come in every last Tuesday or Wednesday of the month. This is such a great, creative way to encourage children to read!
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Library link info
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/11/the-public-library-completely-reimagined/
“The American Library Association is protesting Penguin’s decision to limit library lending of its e-books – many of which libraries had already paid for.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/11/22/librarians-protest-penguin-decision-to-limit-e-book-lending/
If you’re tired of hearing the cutbacks, I suggest you skip down to A MODERN LIBRARY’S ROLE and start reading from there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/can-the-american-library-_n_1096484.html
Re: Library Budget Cuts Threaten Community Services Across Country
I’ve been following the whole series on HuffPo – Libraries in Crisis. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/libraries-in-crisis
http://boingboing.net/2011/11/15/nypd-raze-the-ows-library-th.html
Here’s something exciting being done in a public library, by (surprise!) an idealistic librarian fresh out of library school. Patrons can use software, machines and materials to make stuff.
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/11/the-public-library-completely-reimagined/
City officials said the collaboration would help schools comply with new standards that require reading nonfiction books, which weren’t commonly found in school libraries before.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204554204577022011713059968.html?KEYWORDS=library
How Does the CIA Use Social Media?
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/07/142111403/how-does-the-cia-use-social-media?sc=emaf
http://imgur.com/gallery/T7wDx
The Fly Away Zine Mobile:
http://zinemobile.wordpress.com/what/
The Cesar Chavez branch library in Oakland, CA has just opened a seed lending library! Photos here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.278380702193776.74590.112178925480622&type=3
A local nonprofit, Seedfolk, set it up. All signs and instructions are in Spanish and English. Pretty neat!
This blog is about digital archivists with cool sounding archiving jobs describing their typical work day, what they are working on at the moment, as well as issues and challenges with the materials they are using. Very interesting!
http://dayofdigitalarchives.blogspot.com/
The Day of Digital Archives has been created to raise awareness of digital archives among both users and managers.
Here is a link to the website – I really like the mission statement.
http://www.2sistersbarandbooks.com/
Documentary title: Transcendent Man
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2475466009/
Information ethics
Tonight, I had the absolutely crazy thought that there could be “warnings” on books, just like on cigarette packages (that nobody who smokes pays attention to), that would satisfy those who want to regulate access to controversial material.
The backs of all books could have a spot (like the UPC code spot) designated for warnings. So, on a book that includes the topic of suicide, the “spot” could have the National Suicide Hotline printed and maybe some statistics about suicide attempts, etc. Or some government warnings division could print up and distribute appropriate “stickers” for all kinds of disputed or controversial content.
And so on.
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Do I contradict myself?
“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” – Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself.”
People self-censor or pretend to self-censor (to themselves or others) much of the time. People say one thing, and then say the very opposite, sometimes in the same breath. People say they do not believe something and then change overnight. People recant, get caught in hypocrisy, do what they say they will not do…and justify it all…probably to protect their own sanity. If we saw the true disarray of our internal thoughts, motivations, and decisions, without Mr. Whitman’s wisdom and acceptance… maybe we would all go mad.
I don’t know if I would call what the various writers are calling “self-censorship” an ethical issue or a behavior with ethical influences. I don’t know if most people actually “decide” to engage in something they would call self-censorship. It is more likely that people in one particular moment think they are exercising their responsibilities to protect, or that at a certain time they are sticking up for what they think is right, or that they know better because they have achieved this degree or that degree or have more experience.
I don’t think that most people are that “intentional” most of the time. People may be afraid, or tired, or in conflict for hidden reasons when they make negative selection and restrict another person’s choices. Maybe this is more a case of people’s natural vanity in thinking that they know more than other people. The results of people not recognizing that they are “multitudes” can be tragic, however.
The self-censorship issues raised by Lau-Whelan are related to the private acts of “doing good” or “protecting others” that are based on personal beliefs, which a self-censoring individual values more than the stated societal and institutional values of freedom of access to information.
The ideas raised by Asheim are related to noticing a cognitive tendency in some to select negatively, causing a “censored” result…rather than selecting positively, causing an “inclusive” result.
These are very interesting observations by both Lau-Whelan and Asheim that, combined, could give a clue to a non-judgmental approach to analyzing the “hot” topic of self-censorship. It is possible that a person cognitively predisposed to negative selections, who also has an overestimation of the worth of their personal choices in relation to the choices of others, may be, by the genetic and environmental cards dealt to them… destined to be a “self-censoring” type. It is probably good to recognize that we all have self-censoring “parts” that are more or less counterbalanced by pro-social respect.
And so, compassion would be in order (and a public campaign to bring the drawbacks of this anti-social psychological combination to light). Also, it might be kind of fun (and humor is always useful when people get super serious about a topic) to develop a “self-censoring” test to identify when we might be predisposed to this behavior. The whole predisposition and behavior could be painted as something that needs attention and work – maybe some simple rehabilitation steps for self-censoring-type thinking.
Asheim, L. (1953). Not censorship but selection. Wilson Library Bulletin, 28, 63-67. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/
offices/oif/basics/notcensorship.cfm
Lau-Whelan, D. (2009). A dirty, little secret. School Library Journal, 55 (2). Retrieved from http://
www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
article/CA6632974.html
Notes from SJSU LIBR 200 course
Interesting notes from course text Foundations of Library and Information Science, 3rd ed., Richard E. Rubin.
Libraries, or the institutions that are at the convergence of library science and information science, must demonstrate productivity in education, recreation, and information (ERI) in order to survive (4). Many of the terms used to describe information and the reception of information are negative or associated with stress (flood, whirlwind, hurricane, overwhelmed, glut), indicating a general anxiety about information (8).
Interesting statistics: All media are experiencing a flat or decreasing growth rate except for video games and pure play mobile, which are showing growth rates of more than 10 percent per year (17 and 22). 31 percent of Americans finished high school, 18 percent have a BA, 7 percent have a masters, and 1% have a PhD. 73 percent of adults over 30 are engaged in structured adult education (19). 2006-2007 showed a drastic drop in Public and Independent TV watching (20).
Interesting comments: Libraries do not prosper in nomadic conditions. ??? Libraries may function as agents of social control in addition to being agents of social improvement (57). Some think that there is good reading and bad reading (59). ???
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Collaboration manages energy exchanges we don’t normally observe
One great thing that we experience through working online and engaging in social networking is the unreality of the solitary man. Humans are permeable, mashable, and interdependable. Our skin makes us look separate, but if we could watch the atomic, electronic, molecular, and cellular exchanges that are taking place while we walk around thinking we are separate entities, we would be astonished.
Collaboration is a formalization of energy exchanges that are already occurring at levels we do not ordinarily perceive or pay attention to. If we recognize that, by formalizing our natural and ongoing “exchanges” and directing those exchanges toward particular goals, we can multiply the power of personal energies. Basically, we are always collaborating or discollaborating. Recognizing and taking advantage of being electronically connected through the internet is one way to nix the old in-physical-classroom illusion that we are ever working all on our own.
Dr. Ken Haycock, former director of the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San Jose State University, alerts students in the MLIS program to some very practical things to watch for when working in teams.
To succeed in online efforts and contribute well to a team it is necessary to:
- be aware and be honest about personal strengths and weaknesses, and clearly communicate this information with instructors and team members
- be aware that all members of a team are building collaborative skills starting from different points of view about collaboration
- be aware of and acknowledge the personal pitfalls experienced by online learners and team-builders before us: poor time management, over-dependence on extrinsic motivators, absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.
- be aware of what will make a team successful: group goals with individual accountability, personal independence within the team framework, and evolution to self-responsibility and self-management.
Dr. Haycock also stresses the importance of organizational tools like calendars, and project management and communication software.
Enid Irwin, SLIS part-time faculty member, says that the attitude and planning of team members will determine the success of the team.
However, a major component of success is knowing that you can be successful. So many times we are called to believe that we are going to be successful just because someone with more experience tells us that we will be. Sometimes, I think that we are not given enough opportunity to be successful in very tiny team projects…just so that we can feel the success early. Our elementary, high school, and often undergraduate experiences with teams might have been unsatisfactory. People need experience of success after so many experiences of disenchantment and failure. No amount of positive coaching will take the place of positive experience. I would like my first team project at San Jose State University to be tiny, to almost guarantee success for the participants.
I remember that Michael Jordan described why he was such a remarkable basketball player. He said that when he was a very young boy, his father set up a hoop two feet above his head so that Michael could practice “always making the shot.” His father set him up for successful experiences with basketballs and hoops. I think it would be a good idea for professors to set students up the same way for experiences with teams.
Visual dumbing-down?
The following quote is from a training module in my introductory SJSU MLIS course: “The human eye is better adapted to read from a book page than from a computer screen for several reasons:…”
Years ago, as a teacher and as an advertising designer for a daily newspaper, I wanted to get to the bottom of this issue about the difference between digital and on-paper text. At newspapers and magazines, we would have to print articles and ads for the proofreaders because they would miss, on average, 10% to 40% of copy errors on a first pass digitally…outrageous for a good proofreader. I finally ran across a satisfying explanation, and one that explores brain processing along with simple visual perception.
Edward Tufte, in one of his visual displays of information books, explains that a piece of letter-size paper with type on it contains about 10x the “data” or complexity of stimulation for the brain (higher resolutions) than a like area on a computer screen. Tufte proposed that the digital “posterization” of visual cues from the type, because of lower resolutions, makes it more difficult for the brain to distinguish slight changes in pattern. It was more difficult for our proofreaders to catch errors on digital displays than on paper. Some propose that the greater difficulty in processing type on computers makes storing content in long-term memory more likely (as a result of the greater effort by the brain). Others, Tufte included, are concerned that the “chunking” or “posterization” effect “dumbs down” our brain’s perceptive abilities.
This whole area of what digital immersion is doing to our brains fascinates me. Everything on a computer is visually “simplified” compared to viewing physical objects and information. What kinds of effects will this have on long-term users?
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