Blogs and finding serenity (now)

In my first posting and my one month anniversary posting, I discuss my initial apprehensions about blogging and my experiences as a blogger respectively. My blog has not reached its second month, and I have not figured out if I have any new insights about it. However, a Chronicle Careers article by Kara Dawson discusses her experience with requiring students to maintain blogs in her classes.

As we all know, blogs have become an established part of the “Web 2.0” world. One would imagine that they make good teaching tools, and that “the kids” would want to get in on the trend with blogs of their own. However, at least in Dawson’s case, the use of blogs in two of her classes did not work as she had hoped. She believes that “blog overload” affected everyone involved. Students submitted rather dull material (usually at the last minute), and the few who have continued their blogs beyond the class write for people they already know. Nevertheless, Dawson still sees potential for blogs, and she outlines a few strategies to make their usage in the classroom more effective.

I think many people feel obliged to start a blog to show that they can “keep up.” As I outline in my very first posting, I decided not to start a blog for precisely that reason. Certainly on a regular basis, I felt that I would have little of interest to contribute to the discourse surrounding librarianship, higher education, and technology. Furthermore, the prospect of learning a new tool for communication seemed intimidating. The faddish aura surrounding blogs also made me cringe, and many of the ones I encountered seemed like little more than glorified hybrids of websites and diaries.

Actually, the hype surrounding blogs makes me think of the Serenity Now episode from Seinfeld, where George’s father starts a computer business because he saw “a provocative movie on cable TV… called The Net.” A new technology may have “provocative” implications, but simply deciding to do something with it to stay “up on things” can have disastrous consequences.

Do not start a blog because it’s a “big thing” right now, or you heard something “provocative” about blogs. You should start one if you like to write, think, and share your ideas on a regular (or semi-regular) basis with a broader audience. As one who likes to write, and who has no “official” publications to my credit, I probably should have started a blog long ago. To the rest of you who do not like writing regularly, think about what you would really like to do first, and then figure out which tool(s) would better suit your needs. Otherwise, you might end up like Frank Costanza, searching for that elusive serenity… now!

Opera remixes (with a cameo by Marlon Brando)

In a Playbill interview conducted by Elena Park of the Metropolitan Opera , Siva Vaidhyanathan discusses ways that opera can survive (and perhaps thrive) in the digital age. Contrary to facile presumptions that slap false dichotomies between “old” art forms and “new” technology, Vaidhyanathan outlines how current technological advances provide opportunities for opera to come “out of its temple.” However, his ideas go beyond simple delivery of content. Vaidhyanathan believes that opera houses have an opportunity to build communities of novice and veteran opera lovers through their websites. Going even further, he says that opera sites should give visitors opportunities to remix sound and audio clips. Although such ideas may offend opera purists, he believes that such interaction will take “cultural conversation” about opera to new levels, and that it will help the genre remain relevant. Vaidhyanathan also mentions how such “portability” can work to the advantage of opera houses, and how it can pique interest in seeing live performances. This point underscores the circular nature of culture that Vaidhyanathan mentions, which can benefit both the audience and the “custodians” of culture.

As my regular readers know, I am a lover of opera and classical music. When I found this interview on Vaidhyanathan’s blog, I had to read it a couple of times to really begin digesting the implications. I appreciate how Vaidhyanathan dismisses the old saw about opera being “elitist.” When people ask me about my interests, I almost feel embarrassed to say that I like opera for precisely that reason. Even my older brother, a well-educated man, “took me to school” on how opera and classical music are elitist. He based his opinion on the fact that both genres require more players than a band like The Doors (a favorite of his… and mine as well), and that they appeal to the upper classes while Rock ‘n’ Roll is more proletarian. I cannot argue with those facts, but I still don’t see opera and classical music as inherently elitist. Besides, tickets to big Rock acts can be just as pricy as (and maybe pricier than) opera tickets.

Anyway, off my soapbox… I found Vaidhyanathan’s point about kids playing video games interesting. Six to eight hours straight of immersion? That’s longer than any of Wagner’s operas, and half the length of the complete Ring. Of course, the difference is that Wagner expected undivided “passive” attention from his audiences. As you may have noticed, I put passive in quotation marks because I don’t completely buy into the idea that “passive” art forms cause passivity itself.

Okay, off my soapbox again… I wonder how I would interact with video and audio clips from an opera company’s website. I will say that, when I discovered the plethora of remixed movie trailers on YouTube, I got some inspiration to do a few of my own. My skills remain insufficient for the task now, but (if time and patience allows) I have considered the possibility of taking selected footage from a video of Richard Strauss’ opera Salome and mixing it with a version of U2’s “Mysterious Ways” (which actually alludes to the Salome story). To those of you who know my affinity for Strauss (and my special affection for Salome), such a “desecration” might seem mind-boggling. However, I think such a product could be effective if executed well, and it would be a perfect example of the interconnectedness of various genres.

As I have mentioned before, Norman “Death of Classical Music” Lebrecht takes a dim view of the “portability” of music. However, Vaidhyanathan describes how it could work to the advantage of classical music and opera, and maybe even counteract the dire predictions made by Lebrecht. I know that I like to listen to certain sections of certain pieces of music over and over, on different recordings of the same piece. Digital technologies give me opportunities to “take in” the nuances of the composer’s score (and performers’ idiosyncrasies), which one can miss on an initial hearing.

This brings me to the Marlon Brando “cameo,” which is based on the first paragraph of page 2 in this Slate article reviewing the “Marlon Brando Collection.” With the various technologies available to us now, one can review great performances to see what actually makes them great. As the Slate article author Stanley Crouch points out, the DVD set gives viewers an opportunity to review what made Brando a great actor, just as we have opportunities to hear what made Leonard Bernstein one of the best interpreters of Mahler. (Please… no flames from those who take issue with his “overindulgence.”) Let’s hope that these technologies allow us to further the cultural dialogue mentioned by Vaidhyanathan, and to create our own derivative works without fearing heavy-handed overreactions by information oligarchs.

The Search!Down! (Installment 3)

Well, I’m afraid there’s no snappy opening from me this week. That’s why Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and David Letterman entered the comedy series business, but I have not.

For ease of use, I have also decided to omit the three levels designated for likely search effectiveness. So, here it is, with no frills… the stripped down SEARCH!DOWN!

weekend librarian

Probably someone trying to find weekend librarian positions. Very likely, they ended up in a post where I describe what I did one weekend.

webcam vs headphones

This search takes people to my posting “Dad vs. the Webcam,” which mentions headphones. Unfortunately, nothing seems to exist with this exact phrase. Probably someone trying to find something about incompatibility between webcams and headphones, or the advantages of one over the other.

“In heaven there is no beer” mp3

Since I have talked about MP3s on my blog, and I mentioned a visit to a German restaurant with polka music, the person performing this search probably didn’t find anything useful on my blog. I suspect that they wanted an MP3 of the song itself.

“tout ca change”

This search takes people to a posting that commemorates the anniversary of the premier of Richard Strauss’ opera Salome, where I use this phrase to describe the opera’s initial infamy as helping its success. It’s actually the first part of the French phrase tout ca change, tout c’est meme chose. Most likely, someone was trying to figure out what the phrase actually means.

webcam for idiots

Again, this went to my posting about Dad using his webcam. (He also celebrates his 77th birthday today.) Although the searcher probably wanted to find something with easy instructions on how to use webcams, the word “idiots” appears. It’s a favorite word of my father’s, especially when describing people in my hometown, ranging from the mayor to the people he encounters when having breakfast at McDonald’s. Perhaps his best use of it was when my wife and I were on a trip, when Dad cautioned us to, “Watch out for the other idiots.” (I’m sure he meant to say “other drivers,” or just “idiots.”)

librarians search everyone else find

Someone probably tried finding (or maybe searching for) Roy Tennant’s well-known aphorism about librarians. I devote a whole posting to it, which probably led the searcher to my blog. I suspect that the person was trying to find out more about the quote, but they weren’t sure how the quote went exactly. Since Tennant’s name does not appear, it also seems likely that they tried finding out who said it.

purgatory discussion mp3

In my original Search!Down! posting, I had three categories for search effectiveness, which I based on The Divine Comedy. In it, I mention searches for MP3 files. However, someone probably wanted to find an MP3 that contains discussion about Purgatory.

cellphones dangerous little devices bono

In the video of the Chicago concert from U2’s 2005 Vertigo tour, Bono talked about the subversive value of cell phones. In reaction to the leaking of footage from the execution of Saddam Hussein, I wrote something about the significance of cell phones. The person performing this search probably wanted to find the quote, but they probably ended up with more than they needed to know.

To my comrades in the biblioblogosphere (or to anyone else in the blogosphere), I cannot be the only one who encounters odd search engine searches that lead to my blog. I have a feeling that many of you have dealt with the same thing. With that in mind, I have decided to start a new wiki called False Drop Follies. This will give you an opportunity to contribute any “far out” false drops you’ve encountered to a “knowledge base.” In addition to a few chuckles, I hope that others will use it as a tool for teaching or research.

Should libraries offer video games?

As a librarian for Electrical Engineering (EE) and four other disciplines in engineering/science, I have subscriptions to several “What’s New in…” monthly e-mail alerts from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). They focus on various areas of interest related to EE, including signal processing, wireless technologies, and so on. If you’re interested, you may subscribe to one or several of them.

Although I generally glance through those, I pay particular attention to the one for libraries. This month’s “What’s New in Libraries” links to a story about the advantages of using video games to prepare young people for future careers. This idea comes from University of Wisconsin – Madison education science professor David Williamson Shaffer, who has recently written a book called How Computer Games Help Children Learn. Shaffer is especially concerned about the overemphasis on standardized testing, as well as the continuing use of an educational model originally intended to prepare students for factory work over a century ago. Along with others, Shaffer believes that video games offer students opportunities to learn in a manner that they find “relevant to their lives,” and that matches their ability to multitask. The story also provides a link to a list of games developed by a team led by Shaffer.

Of course, anyone who remembers older videogames will know that this is not a new idea. I remember having some educational games myself, which I played on my Atari 2600. I especially remember Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space, which I always failed (even in the basic mode). Furthermore, the graphics hardly matched the excitement of a real flight into space or the inspiring image on the box. A quarter century later, technology for such games has improved substantially, making educational simulators more closely resemble real life.

I do like the idea of using videogames as educational tools, and I believe that libraries should make them available. It seems appropriate that academic, public, and K-12 libraries offer good quality simulators that match the needs of those trying to develop a variety of skills. Naturally, librarians would need to sort through a number of issues, including licensing for commercial games and determining how patrons could access the games. At a university, individual departments might have educational games on their own individual servers, and the library should consider how it wants to provide access to them.

Libraries should also consider the possibility of providing access to commercial games that do not have an explicit educational purpose. The various incarnations of SimCity come to mind immediately; not designed as an “educational game,” players subtly pick up on the implications of long-term thinking and planning. (You can also try to “play God,” but things might not work out so well… another educational tool in itself.) Such non-educational educational games allow players to learn from them, and not even think that they’re playing something with educational value. Furthermore, as I mention in my posting on Wii and Interactivity, educational videogames with haptic technology might be useful in such fields as medicine.

Just so librarians do not go barking mad, we should not feel compelled to consider providing access to every videogame available. We should develop some flexible standards to determine which ones might fulfill the needs of our respective communities. (Anyone who has suggestions for such standards, please feel free to comment.) Of course, this applies to videogames that one would have to buy, not to freely available games online.

All that said, I hope that we will avoid relying on videogames in education. They may be good tools for a number of disciplines, but interaction among teachers, professors, and students will aid in contextualizing what one learns from the games. Furthermore, everyone involved should remember that videogames do not replicate exactly what someone will experience in the “real world.” Developers of videogames may be able to create simulators with interactions based on past behaviors, but no training (online or in real life) can take into account what might actually happen in future workplace situations. When they enter the workforce, students will deal with real humans who have complex motivations. Skeptical as I am about Second Life, perhaps its principles could work to simulate real-life interactions in some of these games. Since humans control avatars in real-time, its denizens are not preprogrammed. The possibilities for scenarios are practically endless…

If the potential for videogames seems murky for more “scientific” disciplines that deal with human behavior, it seems even more difficult to figure out how a simulator might work in “softer” disciplines. They might work at a broad level in history, such as using graphics to represent movements of individuals or groups; a big plus for those into military history. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem quite as useful for those investigating the motives of historical figures. There might be potential for re-enactments, but those have been around since the beginning of historical documentaries. As for literature, I’m at a loss in figuring out how a simulator would work in those disciplines. They might somehow work for contextualizing a novel, but that’s pretty much it. Filmmakers have difficulty translating a novel for the movie theater, so how well could a videogame simulate the writing of Vladimir Nabokov or Salman Rushdie?

I have no problem with the use of videogames in various disciplines, and they have the potential to give students a flavor of what they will face in the “real world.” On the other hand, they should complement other forms of learning, and those who teach classes in various disciplines have an obligation to contextualize what students learn from those games.

I’m sure that many of us remember teachers who showed videos of something tangentially related to the topic, just so they could avoid teaching for a day or two. When I was a student teacher supervised by a history teacher, I remember another history teacher in a nearby classroom who always seemed to show moldy old movies in his class. (Not classics, mind you… just crummy war and Western yarns, from what I could tell.) I always wondered if he actually contextualized the movies, or if he just let the VCR run for 45 minutes while occasionally exclaiming, “Hey! Quit screwin’ around!”

Let’s just hope that teachers who use videogames do not follow the same patterns of behavior.

(Hmmm… let’s try a simulation of that…)

Related to yesterday’s posting…

In “The Wired Campus,” The Chronicle has a brief about Thomas Washington’s piece in The Washington Post, as well as a link to it. There are quite a few comments already, and Washington himself has had a chance to expand on his original ideas.

Here’s what Washington himself wrote (comment #6):

Nice to see that my article is generating a buzz. The Post flipped this editorial content after they accepted it. Originally, it was more about students than about librarianship, students too busy and too distracted to take a time out with anything that might quiet their world, book or otherwise. That said, the piece is less about the books’ further demise-read your Sven Birkerts- as it is the busi-ness of these high achieving students. Most are on their way to the top schools, but as others have noted here, they can’t stay with a text for longer than ten minutes. Debatable principles on info lit? Hardly. The ETS is now measuring literacy by testing students ability to multitask information. In short, all I’m questioning here is how we’re defining literacy in the 21st century. It sure as hell is not about the 500 page novel anymore. Romanticizing? If the mark of a great mind no longer includes being well read, then I don’t know where we’re headed. My heart goes out here to those quoting Postman, who understood years ago what was coming down the pike. It aint pretty, and many educators are making the kids complicit in it. Finally, as far as “education preparing kids for the global workforce,” the Germans are better suited for this mode than we. I’d rather dig ditches than force them into the WORKFORCE. Good lord, is the ideal of a library?

I share many of Washington’s concerns, though his romantic attitude about libraries seems a bit too idealistic in relation to present realities. I also do not disagree with the importance of teaching information literacy and other technology-related skills. Still, I do worry that an overemphasis on such skills will create a society where “reactiveness” will override critical thinking and the ability to contemplate in silence. An irony, since everyone is supposed to be “proactive” nowadays. (I have always wondered how someone can be “proactive” if they don’t know what to be proactive about. To me, being “proactive” is a way of reacting to things before everyone else does.)

What are we selling (and should we buy it)?

In a piece for The Washington Post, school librarian Thomas Washington talks about his concerns about librarianship, and his disillusionment at the devaluing of books as information resources. He initially assumed that other librarians shared a love of books, but he found that the library school he attended focused more on technology. In addition, Washington questions the emphasis of information literacy over the kind of literacy that he considers crucial (based on his background as an English teacher). Washington’s concerns encompass declining interest in literary reading, as well as the declining ability of students to focus on single activities for extended periods of time.

This opinion piece does not necessarily tag Washington a Luddite. As far as readers can determine, he might have more nuanced concerns that do not fit the parameters of the newspaper’s guidelines. Maybe he doesn’t necessarily disagree with libraries getting into the technology and information literacy “business” per se, but Washington certainly seems concerned about the emphasis on those at the expense of books, along with the ability to read and think well.

I can sympathize with his story, though I have a slightly different take on it. I got my undergraduate degree in History in the mid-1990s, which means that I went to college when most research remained confined to print materials. I used Dialog a few times, for which I received training (and free pizza) once a semester since I worked as a student assistant at the school’s physical sciences library. Few students actually asked to use Dialog, which could be accessed through a special computer that we kept locked away. As the Internet became more ubiquitous in the late 1990s, I worked as a circulation assistant at a public library in a rural town with 8,000 people. During my time there, the library moved away from the traditional card-based circulation system to one based on Dynix. (We did have electronic circulation at the library where I worked at college, so it was nothing new.) The library also got computers specially designated for Internet access: four near circulation, one near reference, and (I believe) two in the children’s section.

When I finally went to library school in 1999, the sudden shift from the comfort of a small town public library to discussion about the importance of technology and “information science” put me into a mild state of shock. Nonetheless, my diligent student instincts kicked in, and I have managed to internalize the broader perspectives offered by going to library school. I also work in a large academic library (or a branch thereof) in a major metropolitan area, which requires me to keep up with all kinds of changes.

Perhaps my attitude adjustment derives from a basic survival instinct, because things have changed so rapidly over the past decade in librarianship, technology, and higher learning. Although I understand these realities, and I can see why they are important, I do have some concerns that echo those of Washington. Are we actually losing our ability to concentrate due to the faster pace of life, the massive quantity of available “information,” and the conventional wisdom that multitasking makes people better workers? Some people, including David Levy, have pondered the implications of such trends.

In my own life, I have actively tried to resist the compulsion to be “on” all the time. I value having time to step aside to read and think about things, whether professional or not. Ironically, a lot of the resources I get are available online, so I don’t see technology as a bad thing. Neither does Dr. Levy, whose lecture I saw last summer at my graduate alma mater. Unfortunately, a variety of factors have gradually turned technology into masters of our lives, rather than the other way around.

We have seen this mastery by technology taken to extremes in popular culture, especially in science fiction ranging from Star Wars to the Terminator movies. Perhaps those films are trying to tell us something about what could happen if we let technology define our lives. My fellow Gen X’ers probably remember the climactic battle scene in the original Star Wars movie, when Obi Wan’s disembodied voice tells Luke to use The Force, rather than rely on the controls of his X-Wing fighter. This underscores the point that technology is just a tool, and that we can’t rely on it to solve all our problems. (Thanks, Bill and Joe!)

As for books, they have gotten lost in the shuffle of this discussion. Although I read more online stuff than print materials, I think it would be foolish for any serious researcher to ignore the additional wisdom found in the printed word. (But then, serious researchers know this already.) Electronic resources may be better for finding quick information, short writings, and multimedia files, but the time has not yet arrived for electronic counterparts to supplant longer tomes in print. That time may come for newer books (if the right technologies converge, taking user comfort into consideration), but it would cost too much time, money, and effort to place all print materials online.

Despite all the changes that have occurred in librarianship over the past decade or two, my love for print materials remains. In fact, I think of it as a new “love that dare not speak its name.” We are admonished for saying that we got into librarianship because we “love books.” However, if a lot of us are honest with ourselves, that love of books certainly triggered us to enter a profession that is a lot less placid than people imagine.

The only place you need to keep that love tucked away is during a job interview. Otherwise, you may profess it all you want. Just maintain a level-headed approach to considering the advantages of print resources and various technologies, and you should be fine.

And may The Force be with you.

Banned in the USA

The opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.
H.L. Mencken

Although it has a popular reputation as the non plus ultra of “high culture,” opera can be just as vulgar and profane as other art forms. It can also fall victim to panicked censors. Today’s posting gives an example of one such instance that occurred in the United States a century ago, and how it has informed my views of censorship.

Monday commemorates the 100th anniversary of the U.S. premier of the opera Salome by Richard Strauss, which caused a great deal of controversy in its day. Based on the play by Oscar Wilde, Strauss’ opera premiered in Dresden on 9 December 1905. Before coming to the United States, Salome stirred controversy in Europe, and Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II worried that it would ruin the composer’s reputation. However, with his characteristic dry humor, Strauss observed that the “damage” done to his reputation by Salome allowed him to build his villa. As in the case of many controversies, audiences wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Despite the “popular” reception of Salome, members of “The Establishment” worried about it. With a plot that would probably scare away Jerry Springer, Salome focuses on two of the perennial big issues that create controversy: religion and sex. The titular sixteen-year-old princess sees practically no difference between the two, embodied for her in the figure of the prophet Jochanaan (John the Baptist). Salome’s mounting desire for Jochanaan culminates in the horrific and disconcertingly beautiful “final scene,” which she shares with his severed head. Before that, however, she does the “Dance of the Seven Veils” for her drunk and lecherous stepfather Herod… a set of circumstances that helps her get what she desires. On top of the opera’s plot and Strauss’ masterful orchestration, relatively recent memories of Wilde’s “gross indecency” trials likely heightened the opera’s shock value.

In the United States, it only took the sensitivities of one person to banish Salome from the Metropolitan Opera after its U.S. premier on 22 January 1907. Having attended a final rehearsal for the opera on Sunday, 20 January, a woman went to her father to complain about the spectacle she had witnessed. The appalled woman’s father called for a meeting with Heinrich Conried (the opera company’s general manager) as soon as possible. The day following the actual premier, the man unilaterally demanded that Conried cancel the three subsequent performances (all sold-out), and he further stipulated that the Met not engage in any performances elsewhere. The man who made this request was J.P. Morgan, the powerful financier who also happened to belong to the Metropolitan Opera Board.

Upset by the Met’s ban on Salome, Strauss gave the U.S. premier of his next one-act shocker Elektra (1909) to the Manhattan Opera House, which was run by impresario Oscar Hammerstein (grandfather of the lyricist of the same name). The Met ban remained in effect until 1934, by which time the opera had lost much of its initial shock value. Furthermore, Elektra already had its Met debut in 1932.

(For more on the Salome ban, read John Yohalem’s Opera News story The Salome scandals of 1907.)

Although Salome may seem tame by contemporary standards, approaches to the opera can still cause controversy and raise some eyebrows. A 2002 production in Canada precipitated a heated exchange in the press between critic Tamara Bernstein and Atom Egoyan, whose staging made her feel “violated.” Paul Mitchinson wrote an opinion piece derived from that controversy, examining other operas that have offended certain sensibilities. (More recently, a production of Mozart’s Idomeneo in Berlin led some to fear riots by those offended by the appearance of the severed head of Mohammed. The BBC reported on this in September and December.)

On a lighter note, there’s also the question of what’s beneath that seventh veil. Most performers opt for body stockings to match flesh tone if all the veils come off, but a few have decided to give much braver renditions. Karita Mattila did so in Paris and at the Met itself a few years ago. One can only imagine what “a certain Mr. Morgan” and his daughter would have thought…

Okay, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about Salome to demonstrate that opera can be controversial. Now you’re probably wondering, how does all this relate to my feelings on censorship? For one thing, it helps me suppress a sinister urge that can be just as strong as those found in Salome: to ban something because one doesn’t like it.

Although I consider myself fairly open-minded, I will admit that there are certain things that bother my sensibilities. The recent popularity of films depicting torture, dismemberment, disembowelment, and so forth, is a primary example, mainly due to my squeamishness and an already-overactive imagination. On the other hand, I feel uncomfortable saying that others shouldn’t watch such movies. After all, look what happened to Salome when Mr. Morgan’s daughter complained. If I start saying that slasher flicks should be banned because I’m too squeamish, then I forfeit my right to say that other things I like should not be banned. I would also need to develop some kind of sliding scale of standards, which would be difficult since some of my favorite movies happen to contain violence and bloodshed (see my list of favorites). Such standards would make me look stupid if I tried applying them universally.

In addition, some gruesome films might seem valuable as “cultural artifacts.” As Fort Worth Star-Telegram critic Christopher Kelly points out in a column he wrote last year, they may reflect contemporary insecurities related to the post-9/11 world and the war in Iraq. Similarly, as Sander Gilman and others have suggested, Salome reflects a number of concerns from around the fin de siecle. (Perhaps the character of Salome remains relevant today, as a kind of hybrid between Paris Hilton and Leatherface.)

One hopes that people will use good judgment when exercising the freedoms encompassed by the First Amendment. Unfortunately, we have all seen instances where this is not always the case. However, under the First Amendment, people can engage in dialogue to reach some kind of consensus, or to express differences in opinion without fear of punishment from those who hold power. It also gives us opportunities to experience many perspectives in various media, and we have the choice to avoid things we may find offensive, whether they be slasher movies from a year ago, or operas composed over a century ago.

The Search!Down! (Installment 2)

For gluttons of punishment who remember my first Search!Down! posting, or for new readers who have no clue what they’re getting into, I would like to welcome all of you to the second installment of… THE SEARCH!DOWN!.

It’s amazing how people can get misdirected when searching. I had quite a few interesting searches leading to my blog this week, so I thought I’d share them with you in this week’s installment of… THE SEARCH!DOWN!.

Varying from last week’s posting, I list Paradise first and Inferno last. Purgatory remains second.

Paradise

library robot Chicago, with robot library fetching and robot retrieval library systems

Two searches leading to my blog were executed using the first string. Since I wrote a posting last month on retrieval robots at Chicago State University’s library, the search sounds specific enough that the searcher(s) probably found what they needed. In the other two searches, people were probably trying to find something about robots that retrieve items in libraries. Again, they ended up in my posting about the CSU retrieval robots.

Purgatory

interactivity of Wii

The searcher probably found my posting about interactivity and Nintendo’s Wii. However, I wonder if they actually found useful information.

Inferno

classical commentary mp3

Sounds like a search for commentary related to classical music in an MP3 format. However, this search leads to a posting I did about MP3 players, which discusses classical music and has “commentary” in the title.

librarian robot movie

Well, I’m confused. None of the search results made much sense, including my blog entry on the rights of robots. I talk about some relevant feature films and I mention librarianship, but I’d doubt that my posting was very helpful. Perhaps the searcher wanted to find a documentary film about a robot similar to the one at CSU’s library, or possibly a feature film with a “robot” librarian. (Desk Set, perhaps?)

film the shining free dissertation

As I suspected, this went to my posting about remixed movie trailers, which happens to mention the trailer someone did for The Shining. More or less related, I also mention Diane’s dissertation about image retrieval, as well as discussions we had about the ways images can be manipulated (as in the case of the remixed trailers). As for “free,” that’s nowhere in the actual posting; it appears on my “Favorites” list due to the inclusion of Meredith Farkas’ blog Information Wants To Be Free, as well as a link where you can get a free blog from WordPress.

I can only assume that the searcher actually wanted to find a free dissertation about Kubrick’s film version of The Shining. Although they did not find it on my blog, I hope that they enjoyed some or all of the trailers I mention in that posting.

trailers en youtube

I’m assuming that this somehow led the searcher to the posting mentioned above. This search sounds pretty general, though “en” is an odd word. I’m thinking of the French word en, which means in.

Im Himmel gibts kein beer mp3

I suspect that this searcher wanted to find an MP3 of the old German Polka song “In heaven, there is no beer.” In this case, they appear to have ended up on my main page, which has a posting that mentions a visit to a German restaurant, as well as something from the first Search!Down! about someone seeking MP3’s. (The Search!Down! is cannibalizing itself already…)

\”love me tender\” analysis in poetic de

This is completely bizarre, though I can say that probably this relates to the German restaurant story above (where the owner sang “Love Me Tender”). I suppose when that searcher went to my blog, they went into my main page at some point where the words “analysis” and “poetry” may have appeared in other postings on the same page.

Oddly enough, “de” makes me think of the domain for websites out of Germany (Deutschland). Just coincidence, I suppose…

dad webcam

Two searches for this one led to my postings about my father’s experiences with using a webcam. It also leads to some websites that appear to have heartwarming stories, while quite a few others sound just plain disturbing. (Hmmm… might be time to start a “special circle.”)

Innovation Bandwagons

Once again, an unusually brief posting from me. ACRLog has something about the problem with “bandwagon innovation”. This issue resonates with me, actually, because I question the notion that libraries should jump on every technological trend and “paradigm shift.” There’s nothing wrong with innovation, but I’m not sure if these “quick fixes” provide the solutions we really seek.

The ACRLog posting links to something written by Jim Carroll, a futurist (and trends and innovation expert). His short piece lists some good reasons why we should avoid a reactive “this is cool, let’s try this” mode of thinking, and how such thinking can actually get in the way of more profound innovation. Admittedly, what Carroll writes is just a small piece to get one thinking, but I think it’s a good start. Such ideas get obscured by admonishments to librarians to start social networking accounts and play video games, and then be told that they’re still not doing enough to “keep up.” I can see how such proclamations can get rather wearing, and how they might even reduce one’s professional morale.

“How to Annoy People Using Instant Messaging”

Web Worker Daily has a posting that tells how you can annoy people with Instant Messaging. I would normally add some commentary, but I’ll let the posting speak for itself.

For more on my feelings about Instant Messaging, I already did a posting a while ago.

Iced in for the weekend

Before hiding out in anticipation of the “ice storm” hitting Texas this weekend, Diane and I had some comfort food for dinner at Denny’s on Friday night. We followed that with a trip to the grocery store to get enough provisions for a few days. After battling a touchy self-checkout machine and hauling groceries to our car in near-freezing rain, we went home and we have stayed in since. I have taken our pomeranian-chihuahua mix Arabella outside a few times, but we have avoided the great outdoors otherwise.

Diane and I normally like to go out on weekends (at least in the evenings), but the ice storm has given us incentive to stay home and work on some things. No big world waiting for us; just potentially treacherous roads. Our kitchen is clean, our laundry is done, and we did some “home work.” I will be teaching as an adjunct for the first time (albeit online), so I put the finishing touches on my syllabus.

Working on my own syllabus has been an interesting challenge, but working with Blackboard is the sort of challenge I can do without. Now I understand much better my wife’s frustration with it, because I hear about it every so often. Copying and pasting from Word into Blackboard makes an abomination of my nuanced manipulation of fonts, and I kept getting some weird messages while on Word about having no more storage space. Between terse grumblings of not-so-choice words, as well as frustrations with Blackboard and Word, I felt technophobia creeping back in a way I had not felt in years. Diane helped me through both problems, so I finally got my syllabus online (to be launched “officially” on Tuesday).

It wasn’t all work for us Saturday. We ate well for breakfast (eggs, bacon… typical cold weather fare), lunch (frozen Indian meals), and dinner (cooked shrimp and salad). After dinner, Diane had me pick something from our video library, so I selected North by Northwest. I suppose others have written about the things I like about the movie, but some “me too” comments intermixed with my own thoughts would probably be fine.

Of course, there’s the direction of Alfred Hitchcock. Things are wonderfully disproportionate or overblown, underscoring the crazy existential crisis imposed on hapless Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), who is mistaken for another person by some goons who work for the gentlemanly and sinister Phillip Vandamm (James Mason). The principal performers are all wonderful, including Eva Marie Saint as yet another member of Hitch’s legion of blondes, Jesse Royce Landis as Thornhill’s bemused mother, Leo G. Carroll as the avuncular and mercilessly pragmatic “Professor,” and Martin Landau as Vandamm’s henchman Leonard.

(As for James Mason, he is one of my favorite actors. Vandamm is one of many Mason characters who disguise a maelstrom of emotions behind a thin veneer of detached cool. His performance as Humbert in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is another great role in a similar vein.)

Snappy adult dialogue makes Hitch’s film even better, along with its various subtexts. (Yeah, I know it’s “stylized.” However, “realistic” dialogue can sound pretty stilted as well.) Sophisticated late-1950’s audiences probably had a field day with the film’s two “triangles.” Both involve Vandamm and Saint’s Eve Kendall, with Thornhill and Leonard at the margins. (Hmm… probably need a Venn Diagram here…) Dr. Freud probably would have stroked his beard with interest as well, especially with Thornhill’s mother tagging along for a little while in the film. Of course, Hitch explored mother-son relations with more disturbing implications in his next film.

Best known for the violin shrieks in that film, Bernard Herrmann composed the score for this one. He actually collaborated with Hitch on several films, and he composed the scores for a number of others, ranging from Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver. If I may indulge in bad metaphor, Herrmann’s score for North by Northwest is the topping of the film’s cake, including the film’s “fandango” overture, as well as the “love music” that puts me in mind of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. More people say that about his music for Vertigo, but I hear Tristanesque elements in the intimate moments between Thornhill and Kendall as well. For some reason, the music especially reminds me of the “Night Motive” from the opera’s second act. As this synopsis says:

This motive throbs through the rapturous harmonies of the duet “Oh, sink upon us, Night of Love,” and there is nothing in the realms of music or poetry to compare in suggestiveness with these caressing, pulsating phrases.

On a related note, Jack Sullivan (who recently did an interview with John Williams in The Chronicle) has just written a book about the importance of music in Hitch’s movies. So, it seems fitting that Hitch selected one of film’s greatest composers for his own works.

Anyway, enough about North by Northwest and my musical proclivities. Back to working more on my class and keeping warm…

The Search!Down! Premiere (and Final(?!)) Installment!

The Background!

Looking at a comment written in response to my posting about a month of blogging (which has the creative title “A month of blogging”), I decided to begin a regular feature about the searches people have used to get to my blog. I couldn’t think of a title, so I had to come up something. Fortunately, my good imaginary pal Steve sensed my predicament, so he gave me a coded message through the television.

Call it “The SearchDown,” Jason.

I nodded my head, and my wife Diane just started looking at me strangely. She got really spooked when I said, “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll take it even further, and call it… The Search!Down!!”

“Are you all right?” Diane queried.

“Never felt better.”

The Premiere Search!Down!!

Starting on Monday, I decided to compile searches done this week that have misled people to my blog. As I shall do in subsequent(?) installments, I shall hypothesize the level of potential relevance. However, unlike most stuffy studies that rely on metrics, algorithms, and other high-falutin’ measures, I have developed my own system. It was suggested to me by a clerk at a convenience store in New Jersey:

Inferno – You didn’t find what you needed.

Paradise – You found exactly what you were looking for.

Purgatory – You might have found what you were looking for.

From my experience, it seems likely that most people would end up in Inferno or Purgatory, rather than Paradise. However, if anyone ends up in Paradise, I’ll call it.

Anyhow, without further ado, here’s… THE SEARCH!DOWN!

Inferno

the librarian trailer

Probably someone trying to find trailers for one of the Librarian action-adventure flicks. Unfortunately, they might have gotten my posting about remixed movie trailers.

henry viii amber lynn

Interesting, indeed. However, I can understand how someone got to my blog through this search. In a posting about an exhibit I saw at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, I mention photographs taken of wax figures of Henry VIII and his wives. I also receive occasional postings from someone named “Amber Lynn.”

Here’s a clue worth noting. A while ago, someone apparently submitted a comment to the discussion list Tudorhistory.org, which has the following sentence:

I’ve become very angered at the fact that my history teacher did not know whom and of the Tudors were, or Anne Boleyn (he thought her name was Amber Lynn) and so I need someone who can share information about the Tudors with me!

beethoven requiem

Someone probably tried to find something about a requiem by Beethoven. I suppose they might have had better luck with a search for Missa Solemnis. However, I wrote a posting about the closing of the independent bookstore Shakespeare Beethoven in the Dallas Galleria, which I entitled “Requiem for Shakespeare Beethoven.”

Purgatory

Continuing on the Beethoven theme, I found similar searches that might have led people to potentially helpful information. These include “shakespeare beethoven dallas,” “dallas galleria shakespeare store,” and “’shakespeare beethoven’ dallas.” The same goes for other music searches. Since I write about classical music and opera occasionally, it seems no surprise that people might end up viewing some of those postings.

Probably due to my posting on Zune vs. iPod, people searching for “furtwangler on itunes,” “complete opera recordings mp3,” and “compact disc sales versus mp3 sales” ended up on my blog. However, I’m afraid that these searches might need to go to Inferno as well. For the first one, the searcher might have been trying to find recordings made by the conductor on iTunes. Regarding the third search, I mention nothing direct about sales of MP3s and compact discs. The second search… eh, I dunno.

I also got a few searches for “Chicago , library ,robot” and “csu robotic library.” I wrote something about the use of robots at Chicago State University’s library. My story might have been useful, but others have written more about that topic.

Paradise

pragmatic librarian

The person who searched for that definitely found information… well, paradise. They also get a gold star.

Concluding rigmarole!

Thanks for making it this far. I will reward(?) you with a second installment when I gather enough material.

A Millennial’s perspective on libraries

Over the course of a few days, a posting at Meredith Farkas’ blog Information Wants to be Free has prompted much conversation. One would need to look at the posting and subsequent comments to get the gist of the posting, but I would like to focus on something brought up by an anonymous poster in the process.

The poster is 23 years old and works in a library. That would make this person a member of the Millennial generation, which supposedly enjoys being “connected” all the time. However, this person’s initial comment demonstrates that such a notion does not apply universally to Millennials. Here’s most of it verbatim:

I’m 23. I work in a library, but do not consider myself to be a librarian. As a “digital native,” I’m supposed to be really into all this stuff–the social internet. I’m not. For the most part, I think it’s stupid. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around classes and libraries in an online world such as Second Life. I played around with it two years ago when I was an undergrad. It was a silly pursuit then. Back then, the only people in Second Life were computer nerds and sexual perverts (predominantly furries). Somehow, I doubt very much has changed, but it’s pretty apparent SL has grown a few heads since then. Even still, it’s embarrassing to be associated with people that take this Library 2.0 stuff seriously. Most of the applications are useless fads that have no use in an academic context. In my opinion, since it seems most librarians are middle aged, it seems like they’re collectively having a midlife crisis.

I mentioned that I found the comments interesting, considering the conventional wisdom about Millennials. I asked the anonymous commenter if this had been a topic of conversation with friends. I received the following response:

And to address your question, Jason, I do feel that the higher-ups in the library staff perceive that my generation wants information in a different manner than we actually do. Ease of searchability is a big deal, but I don’t want the library to provide me content or contact me over myspace or facebook, which is what certain people think ought to be done. Just because a particular library created a myspace page that has a lot of friends on it doesn’t mean it’s not silly or unprofessional. It’s just one more “friend” someone can add to their list, because, let’s face it, a lot of people treat the social internet as a popularity contest. I think college students hate the fact that high schools are on facebook now and think even less of there being figures of adult authority on it as well. The dissemination of information through this medium, including Second Life, has a very limited appeal to would-be patrons of an academic library. While some people might find it interesting for a little while, I think most people would reject it outright. To me, it seems like something that should be left as a hobby, because I see it having no role in the education system in the future. God help me if I’m wrong, because I wouldn’t want to live in a future where all of our classes and libraries are in persistent online worlds. It’s just dehumanizing. Trust me, many of us in the “Y Generation” still like books (or at least printed material) because it’s annoying reading three hundred pages of text on a computer monitor. When I was doing research last semester, I *printed* all of the JSTOR articles I found. And I know I’m not alone in my perspective among students my age.

I realize that these comments are based on one person’s experiences, so it is anecdotal. However, I want to use this posting to launch a thread where others share their experiences involving Millennials and libraries. I hope to hear from more Millennials, but comments from librarians are also welcome. It might take a while to build up enough comments to make some generalizations, but I hope to return to this when the time is right.

I would like to thank the anonymous poster for allowing me to post their comments, and anyone who wishes to add anything else pertinent.

Do librarians really like to search?

Everyone in librarianship has probably heard Roy Tennant’s well-known quote, which states that, “Librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find.” I have considered the ramifications of this quote every so often, especially when someone uses it for the umpteenth time. In a meeting at work recently, someone giving a presentation quoted Tennant’s aphorism. This prompted me to find out more about this quote, and to write my own thoughts about it.

Since I didn’t know the exact quote, I did a search for “librarians search find tennant” on Google. From what I can tell, it initially appeared in an October 2001 Library Journal article entitled Digital Libraries- Cross-Database Search: One-Stop Shopping. In the article, he talks about searching in multiple databases through a single interface. The first paragraph contains his iconic quote:

You know you want it. Or you know someone who does. One search box and a button to search a variety of sources, with results collated for easy review. Go ahead, give in—after all, isn’t it true that only librarians like to search? Everyone else likes to find.

If I understand the mildly suggestive first sentence correctly, I wonder if Tennant was actually saying that librarians wanted the same thing as users. At the end of the second paragraph, he actually seems to be reassuring librarians that they can perform such searches:

In the past, we might argue that such a wide-ranging search service was too difficult or impossible to build. It remains difficult, certainly, but such a service can no longer be called impossible, as these examples show.

Tennant lists several services that would allow librarians and users to gather search results more easily from a variety of resources. He concludes by saying that implementing such systems will pose challenges, but that librarians realize the importance of trying to work with them.

Looking at Tennant’s article, it does not sound like an admonishment with his aphorism at the center. It actually encourages librarians with the prospect of making searches easier for everyone, albeit with some hard work at the “backend.” However, it seems that Tennant’s quote has taken on a life of its own. To librarians hearing it for the first time, it can sound like some kind of admonishment. It’s easy to picture “everyone else” growing impatient with some bunned and Birkenstocked librarian, who enjoys tinkering around in a database while their patrons just want a quick ‘n’ easy answer.

Such an image seems unfair to librarians. It may appear that we like to search, but it’s probably because we know the difficulties of hunting for things in prepackaged databases with differing standards for indexing. If patrons have the time to listen, we feel an obligation to explain to them the quirks and “workarounds” of various databases so that they can find what they need.

Speaking for myself, I am a librarian who likes to find, as in the case of doing background research for this posting. I don’t want to spend a bunch of time hunting for resources when I could be “synthesizing” and writing about them. Besides, even though I exercise courtesy with patrons, I don’t have the time to “like” searching (though I do like the end result, which is finding). I have too many other obligations as a professional librarian, including guiding patrons through the idiosyncrasies of various databases. Every so often (but less frequently than when I started), I do use subject headings, etc., in the event of an emergency. I mainly do so to lessen the distance between my patrons and the information they need.

Pondering Tennant’s quote, it almost sounds like saying, “Garbage collectors like to gather trash. Everyone else likes to throw it out.” Like garbage collectors who take away what we don’t want anymore, librarians try to help patrons sift through “infotrash” so that they can find the information they really need. Until we develop perfect search systems, the assistance of a fellow human who understands the craziness behind searching will remain a necessity.

Oh, all right…

I suppose I should comment on iPhone, which is currently the top story on CNN’s website. My initial reaction? A neat idea, but the price and storage capacity do not work for me. You have to shell out 600 beans for an iPhone with 8 GB capacity (and just 100 beans less for half the storage). This may be fine with those who have the money, don’t want to carry multiple devices, and don’t have a lot of music (or movies) they want to store. However, I don’t mind carrying a cell phone just for calling, and I don’t plan to use the Internet while away from the computer. (But then, maybe a lower-priced iPhone would persuade me to do otherwise.) No matter what, I just want more storage capacity for my music. So, for now, I remain a cheapskate who still has his eye on the 30 GB iPod, which costs at least half as much as the two iPhone models.

Will those of us in higher education need to consider the ramifications of the release of iPhone? Probably not immediately due to the high cost, but we should try to contemplate the potential popularity of subsequent models since they will likely be cheaper and have more storage capacity. With their ability to access the Internet as well, I could see iPhones (or similar products) becoming powerful and practical tools in higher education.

Madness, movies, and committees

Actually, I have decided to take a respite today from my own extended musings on a single topic. Instead, I have decided to provide you with three unrelated, well-written pieces that might be of interest to those interested in information science-y things. Well… two, actually. The third piece is probably something to which most of us in higher education can relate.

Madness

In a column for The Guardian, Charles Brooker begins by talking about an enthroned existential epiphany he had about the death of human “civilisation.” He believes that we will go out with neither a bang nor a whimper, and that we are not being dumbed down. Instead, we will “die screaming” because our brains are succumbing to what he identifies as a “dizzying madness.” Brooks made this realization while looking at (not reading) a magazine with “rowdy colours and exclamation marks,” where the faces of celebrities are accompanied by bits of text that boil down their “essential” characteristics.

While reading the article, I couldn’t help but think of social networking sites (if they’re still the “hot thing,” which they likely are not for all we know). Fortunately, unlike the sheet Brooks was reading (errr… looking at), users can cram a bunch of information about oneself into a social networking account and reduce the likelihood of fast-and-easy essentialism. Still, I do wonder if some people are content with presenting themselves in the same manner that various publications present celebrities, saying in a sense that, “This is who I am, and that’s all. Therefore, I’m kind of like a celebrity.”

Anyway, enough about that. It’s now time for…

Movies

David Denby in The New Yorker ponders the future of movies, beginning with his experience of viewing Pirates of the Caribbean on iPod’s two-inch monitor. His piece is a bit thick for a decent summary and analysis (as is the case with many decent New Yorker articles), but I’ll take a stab at some of the things that resonated most with me.

I found Denby’s experiences with viewing different movies in different media fascinating. Later in the article, he describes watching some films on a large flat-panel television, which comes closest to approximating a cinematic experience. He describes how The Philadelphia Story and Spider-Man seemed to work well, but that the experience of watching Taxi Driver seemed more rarified than it should have been. I have only seen the last movie on a television screen, which is smaller than a large flat panel. I got the “general effect” of the film just fine, but I can only envy those who have had the experience of viewing it in the theater. The same goes for 2001, or any other favorite films that I have not had the opportunity to view in the theater.

Some may be content with viewing stuff on a tiny screen, which is fine. However, connoisseurs of film should not be denied the pleasure of feeling overwhelmed by the experience just because “the kids” apparently want movies anywhere, anytime, 24/7 (to repeat the mantra of contemporary life). As Denby says, “In a theatre, you submit to a screen; you want to be mastered by it, not struggle to get cozy with it.” I know that idea might make some people a bit uncomfortable, but that is what makes movies so special. Within the cinematic realm, you can either “escape” from harsh realities, or you get in touch with something very real within yourself. (Personally, I find such distinctions rather arbitrary.)

Committees

This deviates from the two information science-y stories from above, but I felt that many of you would appreciate this First Person piece about committee work from The Chronicle. Of course, I’m sure some of you are already thinking that it could relate to the first topic listed in the title of today’s posting. Reading about the experiences of “John Lemuel,” such an assessment seems fair. I won’t say much, however, since I suspect that some of you can readily relate to being overcommitted (or “overcommitteed”), which could ultimately lead to being just plain “committed.”

Virtual predictions

Here’s a little something David Letterman fans might appreciate. The ACRLog provides a link to the “top ten technology forecasts” put forth by the World Future Society, which did not predict the end of libraries. Apparently, they have done so before, but not this time. While I feel relieved to know that libraries won’t become obsolete, I do have a lot more questions than warm and fuzzy feelings about futuristic techno-utopias and Second Life, which the blog also mentions.

Prediction #4, which ACRLog specifically mentions, is of most interest to education. It visualizes the redundancy of classrooms and teachers in a world where students will learn in virtual realities with avatars as guides. Visiting virtual worlds may be fine for some disciplines, but they cannot apply to all. It would work in science and technology, but their usefulness seems murkier in the social sciences and humanities. Admittedly, something like SimCity would be useful for some social science classes. However, virtual reality would work at a very superficial level for history, and it would be nearly impossible for studying literature.

Regarding the idea of avatars guiding coursework (a prediction made by the World Future Society), I have difficulty imagining such a scenario. I understand the desire to loosen the reign that human teachers have on classes, but I feel that the use of avatars would replace one “oppressive” form of teaching with another. These avatars might “know” what you need to get through a class, but the information students enter about themselves would necessarily be too superficial for real interaction. Getting into privacy issues, exactly how much information would one need to give to have a “tailor-made” course guide? I would not want an avatar to discount my complexity as a human being, or to have potentially sensitive information about my personal life. I prefer to use my own brains and tangential intellectual leaps, or to discuss things with a human (including the teacher). Avatars might be fine for “paint by number” classes, but I have doubts about its practicality for classes that require thinking.

I guess I’m thinking about my “profile” on a number of websites. I’ll use Amazon as an example. The list of recommendations is based on very superficial information about items I have ordered, written reviews about, and searched for under my account. However it does not understand my motivation for those actions.

I would like to believe that things will be easy as technology becomes more advanced. Certainly, I don’t mind the ease with which one can do the busywork in everyday life. I just have concerns about the notion that technology will be the salvation of learning, and that we will sacrifice deep understanding of our “first life” in favor of approximations within a “second life.”

The ACRLog posting links to an article about Second Life, which has become the latest “hot thing.” The article still doesn’t have me convinced. I don’t think defying the laws of Physics is all that great… especially if one is in Physics class. (I suppose the teacher could use it as a “teaching moment,” which could get way off topic if too many people do too many physics-defying tricks.) Anyway, we get bamboozled enough as it is in the movies.

I suppose one can develop a sense of community and collegiality in Second Life, but we have yet to see if virtual dune buggying does such a thing. Besides, if I want to practice dance moves at a Tiki bar, I would go to one in the real world, not in a virtual classroom. I could even have a couple of Mai Tais to loosen me up, which one cannot do in Second Life. (And what’s with the “retro” stuff? I thought we were in the 21st Century!)

I do have to wonder about the overly-optimistic predictions of these futurists. In addition to Cynthia Crossen’s article about predictions of the past, Siva Vaidhyanathan recently wrote a column about the futility of trying to predict the future (which inspired me to write an entry in my own blog), and how doubt rarely enters the minds of grand visionaries who talk about changes that will supposedly improve things.

I do not discount distance education. It certainly has the advantage of convenience, and it may offer the prospect of “having fun” while learning (however one defines that). Still, we have quite a bit of work to do in approximating the non-digital world. I doubt that we will reach that point in 25 years. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if it took much longer.

As a real kicker, even the World Future Society President doesn’t believe that the forecasts have any metaphysical Nostrodamus-type quality. His quote at the end is worth noting:

Much of what will happen in the future depends on what we humans decide to do… If we could know the future with certainty, it would mean that the future could not be changed. Yet this is a main purpose of studying the future: to look at what may happen if present trends continue, decide if this is what is desirable, and, if it’s not, work to change it. Knowing the trends can empower you for effective action.

Not much different from science fiction, I suppose. Still, I hope that at least some of these predictions will come true within 25 years, and that we can continue to use technology as a tool to improve our lives… not to become our lives. I especially hope for #10, as well as the predictions about new energy sources. I do have ambivalent feelings about #9, which relates somewhat to the education prediction.

In the meantime, I’ll stick with David Letterman’s Top Ten lists. I have a much easier time believing those.

A month of blogging

In my first posting, I actually wrote about blogging. My initial skepticism about blogging has softened, but I still have many of the same concerns. A few weeks later, I wrote another post about blogging, this time in reaction to an article from the Wall Street Journal about the poor quality of many blogs.

With the one month anniversary of my blog, I feel compelled to commemorate it with yet another posting about blogs. This time, I will assess my own experience.

Mr. Popular

Since I launched my blog fairly recently, and with the large number of established blogs available, it comes as no surprise that mine remains fairly obscure. Although I have registered with Technorati, I have no blogs linking to mine yet, I rank somewhere around 2 million-something in popularity (explained here), and I’m not in the apparently important “Top 100,000” yet.

Checking on visits to my blog, it averages 16 visitors per day (500 total since starting my blog). Fortunately, WordPress does not count visits to one’s own blog, which makes the numbers fairly accurate. Barring a few occasional glances, bloggers shouldn’t just go visiting their blogs without logging in. Besides inflating statistics, it takes the fun out of seeing how one’s blog is doing. (It’s almost like buying oneself a trophy at the novelty store.)

Looking at individual daily numbers, this has been my best week. In a few postings to discussion lists, I have placed my blog’s URL under my signature, which appears to have helped. Not counting today, I have averaged 36 visitors per day since Sunday. Not surprisingly, the largest cluster of low numbers appears during the few days surrounding Christmas.

Of course, I do not want to try promoting my blog like some vulgar huckster. Promotion of my blog has remained confined to “signatures” in discussion list postings, as well as mentioning it to a few people. I’m not one who likes to impose myself on people, but I do like to wait patiently for opportunity to knock.

They found me by searching for what?

This can get very interesting. Looking at “Search Engine Terms,” I can figure out how some people have found my blog. For some, the intent of the searcher seems fairly obvious, and they probably found something reasonably close to what they were seeking. Such searches include “wii interactivity,” “meldrum sasquatch,” “shakespeare beethoven dallas closing,” and “CSU library robot.” A few sounded rather odd, such as “dad vs father.” It sounds like the searcher was trying to determine the difference between the two terms, but they ended up finding my postings on “Dad vs. the Webcam.”

For today, I got two very different kinds of searches. One was for “FURTWANGLER MP3.” In a posting about Zune and iPod, I mention the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler in passing, as well as MP3’s. However, I have a feeling that this person was seeking MP3’s with performances by Furtwängler. (Sorry to disappoint.) Someone else found my blog today by typing “Search amberlynn.” As some of you may know, someone named Amber Lynn has made a few comments to postings on my blog. My curiosity almost got the better of me when I tried figuring out how someone would get to my blog with that search. However, I figured out immediately that it might not be wise to duplicate the search after all, and that whoever tried finding “amberlynn” was probably even more disappointed than the Furtwängler fan (unless the latter was looking for performances of him conducting Wagner’s Liebestod).

But how do I feel about it?

Overall, I have enjoyed blogging. What surprises me the most is the fact that I have somehow managed to squeeze out a decent posting almost daily. Drawing from my list of “Favorite,” websites, I usually find at least one story that inspires me to write something. I have yet to suffer from blogger burnout, but I won’t promise that this blog will reach a one-year anniversary edition.

I will admit to feeling some pressure to get “something” out on a regular basis, which is probably the case with most blogs. However, at present, it’s due to time constraints instead of lack of material. I wonder if someone will post on the same topic. If they do, I won’t… unless I have a slightly different take on the topic.

As a positive, I have become better-read on topics affecting my profession. I’m not sure if I can speak impromptu on such topics without resorting to rambling after a few sentences, but it has more or less helped with memory retention. Still, I will say that my memory retention appears to have improved, especially on topics about which I write.

I also enjoy the opportunity to post about my personal life. Naturally, some details have little place in a blog, unless you’re a spoiled hotel heiress with nothing to lose. (In that case, you could probably skip the blog and go to YouTube.) Nevertheless, as in the case of my holiday postings, it is sometimes refreshing just to write about interesting things I have done, or observations about life in general.

Ideally, I prefer to write about my personal experiences within the context of librarianship, information science, technology, and higher education. In discussing life experiences in relation to those topics, I veer away from exhibitionism and narcissism. It also provides an opportunity to show that I do have a life beyond work, but that I can draw upon my personal life to ponder issues related to academic librarianship.

A prediction… NOT!!!

Normally, I try to refrain from brazen allusions to cultural artifacts of my generation… the so-called “X’ers.” However, the bon mot made famous by Wayne’s World seems suitable for describing a column written by fellow X’er Siva Vaidhyanathan, an associate professor of Culture and Communication at New York University.

I first heard of Dr. Vaidhyanathan when I attended the Texas Library Association conference in 2004. I saw him give a presentation called “Anarchist in the Library” (based on a book by the same title), which described the different ways that “information oligarchs” and “information anarchists” appropriate various modes of communication for their own purposes, and how use of information by “anarchists” can prompt legal overreactions by “oligarchs” wishing to protect intellectual property. (You can find more on these ideas in this posting by Vaidhyanathan from a few years ago.) My little newsletter summary touched on the broad concepts of his presentation, as it could do no justice to the nuances described by Vaidhyanathan.

Regarding his present column where he doesn’t predict anything, I will say that I agree with much of what Vaidhyanathan says. In fact, some of the same ideas drove me to begin my blog in the first place.

I thought that I was the only one who had not thought much about MySpace and Facebook until fairly recently. (About a year ago… which may not be so recent nowadays.) However, when asked by a phone interviewer to predict what would happen with social netoworking five years from now, Vaidhyanathan told him the following:

“If we were having this conversation 18 months ago, I doubt we would even mention MySpace or YouTube,” I said. “I doubt the phrase ‘social networking’ would even come up, despite the fact that millions of people have been electronically networking since the rise of e-mail and instant messaging.”

In his column, Vaidhyanathan tells how people have asked him for various predictions related to technology. However, as he points out, he would be very rich if he could do so. Vaidhyanathan also mentions that various technology visionaries and gurus may be very smart people (and that some of them make tons of money, besides), but that they do not express doubt about the validity of their predictions.

Actually, I think the lack of doubt is what really bothers me when I hear the proclamations of various big names in the fields of librarianship and information science. They get up in front of librarians and other information professionals, make grand proclamations, scold librarians for being “out of touch,” and probably leave many of us feeling more shaken than confident. Either that, or we have a situation similar to that described by a colleague of mine: We learn about visionary things, think Well, that’s nice, and return to our “hamster wheels.”

Even when these visionaries do tell us what we can do to keep librarianship “relevant,” many of us don’t have the time or funding to do anything über-visionary. For a skeptical opinion piece about the “visionary” phenomenon, read To the Frustrated Trendsetters by The Annoyed Librarian.

If an expert like Dr. Vaidhyanathan refuses to predict what will become “the next big thing” in communication and technology, how can librarians even begin to follow the admonishments of visionaries? Retreating to what we used to do is certainly not a solution. However, looking at the historical role of our profession should give us a few clues, and a lot more flexibility than simply trying to outguess technological trends. (I suppose others have said something similar, but I think this is a good starting point.)

Looking at this posting, you might conclude that it’s little more than one X’er agreeing with another, throwing up our hands, and saying “whatever” while taking a sentimental journey towards Nirvana.

All I have to say is… NOT!!!

Inspired by Sugimoto

After Diane and I left the Sugimoto exhibit at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (see Diane’s posting below), I got some inspiration. We happened to have a camera, so I decided to snap some pictures around the exterior of the museum.

Looking at Richard Serra’s Vortex I decided to use that for several of the pictures. Diane took a few pictures of me dwarfed by Vortex and inside it. I also took pictures of Diane inside and outside, as well as another one looking up from the interior of Vortex.

After the museum visit, Diane and I went to Montgomery Plaza to use part of the Starbucks gift card I got from my mother-in-law. However, before getting our usual mocha and vanilla latte, I took some more pictures. These included a telephone pole obscuring Pier One corporate headquarters, a railroad crossing that happened to have no cars, and a set of telephone poles and street lamps next to the railroad.

As you can see, I have a long way to go before attempting to mount my own exhibit. Still, I think my pictures are a pretty decent (if amateurish) attempt at artiness.