Just a quick note to let anyone interested know that there will be some broken links on my site as a whole over the next few days/weeks. This will esp. impact my Gallery pages (which I am re-evaluating and will be down for some time).
This blog should stay up and functional for a bit, but there could be random wierdness (thanks a lot, Linda!) weirdness otherwise. Be warned. 🙂
An interesting article came across the wire today from the Chronicle of Higher Education, entitled Bloggers Need Not Apply. A few snippets from the article, with commentary:
What is it with job seekers who also write blogs? Our recent faculty search at Quaint Old College resulted in a number of bloggers among our semifinalists. Those candidates looked good enough on paper to merit a phone interview, after which they were still being seriously considered for an on-campus interview.
That’s when the committee took a look at their online activity.
In some cases, a Google search of the candidate’s name turned up his or her blog. Other candidates told us about their Web site, even making sure we had the URL so we wouldn’t fail to find it. In one case, a candidate had mentioned it in the cover letter. We felt compelled to follow up in each of those instances, and it turned out to be every bit as eye-opening as a train wreck.
I can certainly understand following up on the provided URL (since the candidate clearly wanted it followed, or he/she wouldn’t have provided it), but how much detective work is too much? Yes, a Google search takes 2 minutes, and can provide you with a lot of publically accessible info on the person. But LOTS of public information isn’t allowed to be asked in an interview (for instance, whether the candidate is married is public information, in the form of a marriage license, but it is off limits for a job interview). What would the legal ramifications be if Job Applicant A was denied a position, discovered that it was partially due to a Google search (which happened to reveal his/her marital status) and sued the university on that grounds? I don’t know the answer, but I’m willing to bet that it’s possible there’s a case there.
Worst of all, for professional academics, it’s a publishing medium with no vetting process, no review board, and no editor. The author is the sole judge of what constitutes publishable material, and the medium allows for instantaneous distribution. After wrapping up a juicy rant at 3 a.m., it only takes a few clicks to put it into global circulation
“Worst of all…”????? That’s the best aspect of the publication medium in question. The harkens back to the academic bias I talked about in the past, as well as the wonderful piece by Jeff Pomerantz that I’ve pointed to before. Unfiltered writing is powerful writing.
The most worrisome part of the article by far is this jewel of a paragraph:
The content of the blog may be less worrisome than the fact of the blog itself. Several committee members expressed concern that a blogger who joined our staff might air departmental dirty laundry (real or imagined) on the cyber clothesline for the world to see. Past good behavior is no guarantee against future lapses of professional decorum.
Sure…and a clean record of sanity and lack of criminal record is no guarantee that the applicant won’t come into work and bludgeon everyone to death with his copy of the OED either. If you don’t trust your potential employee because he/she writes things that others might read…well…let’s just say that’s a bit on the paranoid side. Ok, I’ll be a little more blunt: it’s fucking stupid (see, that’s exactly the sort of thing they were worried about…).
I’d love to hear others thoughts on this topic….esp. the legality of the searches/disqualifications due to online information. The “to blog or not to blog” question is one that came up repeatedly during both Betsy and my job interviews these past couple of years, and I’m not sure there’s an easy, across-the-board answer. I made a choice that if a committee decided they didn’t want me because of my blogging, then I certainly didn’t want to work there, and that was fine.
EDIT: Thanks to Justin, here’s a couple of other people discussing this article: Tygar-blog and Planned Obsolescence.
EDIT (2): Another note on the article over at PomeRantz.
I’ve struggled with how much to discuss my new job (Reference/Instruction Librarian at UT-Chattanooga), and I think that I’ve decided to just say what I want. I never censored myself before, and I see no real reason to do so now.
That said: here’s my first impressions. I love the place, and I love the people. I’m going to really enjoy getting my fingers into the place…because honestly, they need it. Short list of things that I see myself doing:
Yeah, I’m dreaming, but I might as well dream big.
Yep, I’m still kicking around. Major training going on at the new job…still going well, and I’m starting to feel more and more like a part of the library.
Update on Origins (much fun, and I’m on my own card now!) and more job updates to come.
I’ll be at the Origins game Fair for the next couple of days…possible posts from there, but it may be a day or so before I get back on.
See ya all soon!
This one is for all you undergrad buddies who might still read this…from BoingBoing:
EDIT: from Justin’s comment…sorry, for those who didn’t know: I went to undergrad in Morehead. It’s the home of Morehead State University, my alma mater. My mother still runs the bookstore on campus.
A monkey named Boo-Boo apparently bit a drive-through worker at the Viking BP Mart in Morehead, Kentucky. It seems that Ashley Rodgers was handing a customer a beverage when the monkey tried to grab the drink. (See image.) Rodgers says that Boo-Boo then bit her. According to WKYT 27 Newsfirst, Boo-Boo’s human companion, Jamie Dehart, is paying Rodger’s medical bill. The animal will eventually go to live at the Nicholasville primate center, a move Dehart says was planned before the monkey business occurred. Link to WKYT article, Link to WPVI article with security images
The monkey in the above image is hard to make out at first…the white splotch at the bottom is the monkey’s diaper.
I don’t believe that I just typed “monkey’s diaper.”
As I mentioned yesterday, Betsy did quite a nice job of detailing the meal-to-end-all-meals that we had at the fabulous Commander’s Palace in Las Vegas. The original Commander’s in New Orleans has been voted time and time again the best restaurant in NOLA, and the Las Vegas branch has continued the amazing food and service.
But you knew that.
I just wanted to take a moment and talk about the actual food we had, and the preparation and tastes involved. We had a combination of three appetizers:
Crab Batons: a new menu item, comprised of lump crab inside a crispy oriental wrap. There were hints of ginger, and it was served with a really light wasabi cream sauce and a homemade warmed thickened soy dipping sauce. The soy had a slight sweetness, but served warm it was the scent that hit first…an earthiness that completely grounded the sweetness of the crab and the spice of the wasabi. A perfectly balanced asian taste sensation.
Louisiana Alligator “Cordon Bleu”: a healthy fillet of alligator, stuffed with a housemade mozzarella and prosciutto di Parma. Unlike the delicate flavor combinations of the Crab Batons, this is more of a big item for the mouth…it was flash fried, so the texture was very crisp on the outside, while the cheesy interior allowed for a creamy finish that wasn’t entirely expected. Combine that with the sharp salt bite of the prosciutto, and it was an appetizer that could hold its own as an entree.
Foie Gras Gumbo: a gumbo with foie gras, a variety of wild mushrooms, and andouille sausage. This was nearly the most perfect thing I’ve ever eaten…thick and rich, with the creamy flavor of foie gras in every bite, but with the spice of the sausage as an afterthought. The serving was small, but it would be difficult to eat any large amount of this due to its density. It was like melted foie gras with a kick of creole spice…perfect. The sous chef told us that this was prepared in a secret corner of the kitchen so that no one knew how it was made, and I believe it. The preparation must take hours to meld all of the ingredients to the perfection that we consumed.
My entree was a Creole spiced Buffalo chop, which was an absolutely immense. It had to be an inch thick, and 7 or so inches in diameter…I requested that the cook prepare it as he would eat it, expecting to get it roughly medium rare. It was perfectly cooked, juicy and pink all the way through. Tender, with a ton of flavor, it was just a great piece of meat. It was accompanied by steak fries that had been tossed in a buttermilk blue cheese and spices, and served with a housemade creole ketchup. My only regret was that I was unable to finish it. With the meal I had a glass of red wine that complimented the buffalo without competing with it, smooth and crisp with nearly no sweetness.
And speaking of sweet…the desserts. Ah…the desserts. We were presented with 5 different selections, but if it were up to me there could have been 5 Bread Pudding Soufflés. This was a dessert that made me question my atheism. It was the normally dense, flavorful dessert reimagined into an edible cloud. Combine the flavor with the sweetness of the bourbon cream sauce that accompanied the soufflé, and you’ve got perhaps my favorite all time dessert. Don’t get me wrong, the white/dark chocolate stuffed beignets were heavenly, and the creole opera cake was a treat, but when you set them down next to the bread pudding soufflé, I don’t even know they are there.
In all, it was definitely one of the two best meals of my life. The only place that comes close is the Fearrington House in NC, and I’m not sure I could rank the two against each other. Combine all that food with a bottle of great French champange, a couple of cups of chicory coffee with dessert, and you’ve got an event that is hard to beat. The entire process was just over 3 hours, and I wouldn’t trade a minute of it.
Now I’ve got to figure out how to swing a trip out to visit Justin and his little local eatery The French Laundry. 🙂
So I’m finally back and mostly recovered from my amazing trip to Vegas (much, much more on that over the week…I’m still trying to comprehend the meal we had at the Commander’s Palace that Betsy blogged about). Imagine my surprise when I return and find that Peter Suber had blogged about my Master’s Thesis, and that Library Journal had the announcement of my new job up.
Proof that the world keeps moving while we’re on vacation, I suppose.
More on the vacation, on the more recent library happenings (I understand that our good friend Gorman has been a bit in the news again…can’t wait to catch up on that) as the week goes on.
Well, it appears that ibiblio pulled the plug on my virtual hosting, which was why the pics didn’t work these last few days. I’ve also been politely asked to take a look around for other hosts, which I’ll happily do if Ibib doesn’t think that what I’m doing here conforms to their mission. They’ve fixed the hosting issue (at least mostly) and after I get back from vacation I’ll see if they still want me to move, and look around for hosting.
…again today. Headin’ towards Las Vegas for a few days, visiting an old college friend who has lived there way too long for this to be our first visit. I’ve got my money set aside for a day of $2/4 limit hold’em, so wish me luck.
Here’s some pics of Epcot, since Trish asked for them.
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