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Home again, home again, jiggidy-jig

Returned from the Big Apple on Monday, and immediately entrenched myself in work. The trip to NY was really interesting…I’m not quite sure what to think about it. First time there, and it was a bit overwhelming. I’ve been to many big cities…LA, New Orleans, Chicago, Washington DC…but this was my first big northeast city. I caught myself trying to imagine what it would be like to grow up there, to raise children there, what kinds of influence the surroundings would have.

Having spent 18 years of my life in a town with a population of 2000, it was really odd. At the same time, it was exciting and vibrant…I can totally see why people who leave a city like that go into withdrawl. It was easy to believe that I could literally leave the hotel at any time and get anything I wanted. Really need to buy a DVD at 4am? No problem. Need a new pair of shoes at 3am? Can do. That sort of availability has to tweak your expectations a bit.

This was even more interesting given that Bets and I are moving back to rural america, more or less, by going to Sewanee. I can’t ever, ever, ever see myself living in a big city, but I think I have a better idea why people might want that now. NY had a vibe unlike that of any other city I’ve visited.

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

4 replies on “Home again, home again, jiggidy-jig”

“I can totally see why people who leave a city like that go into withdrawl.”

Actually, that’s what happens when you leave the South and find yourself longing for the dulcet tones of a true hillbilly accent.

(ducking and running for cover now… 🙂

I loved NYC when I went for the first time, and I think I could spend some time there. But I would never ever want to live there in a billion years! I like Sewanee because of the access to Nashville, which is supposedly a happening city these days. And Chattanooga, which also has it’s good parts. But like my friend Tim said, you can visit the city. You can’t really visit the country. But you can live there!

Dude, NYC is kick-ass! That was my backyard for years and it’s somewhere you never lose the taste for. Be careful you don’t enjoy it too much or Sewanee will seem small and Southern in comparison. Much like a certain town in NC.

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