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Digital Culture

Happy Birthday to Me

Looking back at birthday’s past, I find a rather maudlin note from 2003 and a happier note from 2004. Pics from 2004 as well in the Gallery.

This is actually one of my favorite things about blogging, is the ability to look back over the years and see where I was, what I was interested in, and what was going on in the world.

That said, this year is very good. I’ve got opportunities in front of me, and a satisfying life here with Betsy in TN. The external world sometimes presses in upon us, but left to our own devices the two of us are doing wonderfully. I can’t really ask for more.

By griffey

Jason Griffey was most recently the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he worked to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise was 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 Library IT and a tenured professor 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 a chapter in Library 2035 - Imagining the Next Generation of Libraries by Rowman & Littlefield. His latest full-length work Standards - Essential Knowledge, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, was published by MIT Press in March 2025.

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.

5 replies on “Happy Birthday to Me”

Happy Birthday.

It wasn’t intended as a slur, techie versus normal. I think normal sucks, I just like to wind my techie friends up about their geekdom. In Britain it is the highest compliment to make fun of someone. I am a geek in a different field, and highly appreciate it in any area of expertise.

I use the word techie because I spent a lot of time in theatre, and all the backstage people, who hate actors, call themselves techie, and they all carried cable around too, and knives to cut things, and probably a hammer in their belts. They are also all always dressed in black, and have access to special knowledge none of the rest of us have, so they’re like latter day benedictines. I have a friend who has a glow in the dark t shirt that says “techies do it in the dark.” I love that. It just extends and fits naturally to, as I would call you if I were the ala guy, “computer people.”

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