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Brand_New_World Uncategorized

Rosemary Beach




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Originally uploaded by griffey

We made a return trip to Rosemary Beach, FL this week. Eliza was just as fearless as she was a year ago, daring King Triton to send bigger and bigger waves crashing against her as she sat in the sand. She also wanted Jason to take her out into the “big part,” which he did, and she was simply mesmerized.

She also fell in love with the pool, which is where she would have stayed if we let her. She put on her floaty suit and pretty soon figured out how to paddle herself around, jumping off the steps into the deeper part. She gets her love of adrenaline from Dad, not from me!

It was also fun spending time with our friends Kevin, Leigh Anne, and their 2-year-old son, Griff. Eliza and Griff loved to chase each other barefoot in the nice grassy parks scattered all around Rosemary. They also liked sticking their feet in the fountain in the square and getting ice cream and candy from the Sugar Shack.

All in all, an awesome vacation! We hope to make it back next year and for many more years after that.

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presentation

IOLUG 2010 Mobile Futures

Here are the slides for my presentation given today for the Indiana Online Library Users Group 2010 meeting. I actually did an audio capture of my talk, using the Keynote record function…and Keynote crashed halfway through the video render, corrupting the file and forcing me to roll back to a previous version of the file (go go Dropbox). *sigh* So disappointed to lose the audio, because I thought that it went really, really well. In any case, here are the slides. I suppose one day I’ll learn to stop trusting technology.

IOLUG Mobile Futures Keynote

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Brand_New_World Uncategorized

Lovey




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Originally uploaded by griffey

I think it’s adorable that Eliza is one of those kids. You know, the ones that always have a stuffed animal in tow. The thing is, with her, you never know which one she’s going to choose. But if you look closely at a lot of our photos, there’s some kind of “lovey” there with her. She won this puppy dog at Lake Winnie and then took it with her to the International Dogwood Festival in Winchester, TN the next day.

She has probably 50 stuffed animals, and I can’t get rid of any of them, because they are all special to her. Most of them have names, and they have all been on some of her adventures.

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Brand_New_World Uncategorized

Ladybug Girl



Ladybug Girl, originally uploaded by griffey.

Eliza had an incredible time this weekend at Lake Winnie, an amusement park outside of Chattanooga. It was her first park experience, and she was completely fearless. She wanted to ride everything, to the point where we actually had to talk her away from things (“No, Eliza, I think that the Haunted Castle might be too scary for you.” “But Daddy, I’m really brave!” “Yes, honey, I know.”)

Her favorites were the kiddie rollercoaster and the swings, but she rode just about everything she was legally allowed to ride, and then went back for seconds. Combine that with pizza, ice cream, funnel cake, and then some bonus cotton candy for the ride home, and she was about as happy as a 2 year old can be.

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Brand_New_World Uncategorized

Tell Me a Story




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Originally uploaded by griffey

Lately, when I turn out the light before putting Eliza to bed, she wants me to tell her a story about a little girl named Eliza. The trick is, it can’t be fictional. She wants to hear about her day. Or a day in the recent past. And if you start recalling what you think are the important details, she will correct you or make you add things that you forgot.

“Once upon a time there was a beautiful, smart, and brave girl named Eliza. Mommy picked her up from school and we went to the park.”

“No, mommy. First we went to CVS.”

“Ok, so we went to CVS and then we went to the park.”

“We got juice at CVS.”

“Ok, so we got some juice at CVS and took it with us to the park.”

This goes on for a while until you get it just right.

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Digital Culture Media

Interfaces, part 2

This distinction from the post below, that media can either be collapsed (Content, Container, and Interface as a single piece, as a book) or expanded (each separated, as in a DVD, remote, and screen) explains a bit about why the Touch interface is so visceral. The iPad feels different from other devices when you use it, and one of the reasons that I believe it does is that it collapses what have been expanded media types. With the iPad (and to a lesser degree, the iPhone, Android devices, Microsoft Surface, etc) you directly interact with the media and information you are working with. When you watch a video on the iPad, the Content, Container, and Interface are as-a-piece, and you interact with the video by touching the video itself.

This has a lot to do with the revolutionary feel of these new touch devices…and I think it explains why previous attempts at things like Tablet PCs may have failed.

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Books Digital Culture Images Library Issues Media Music

Interfaces

I’m sure this isn’t an original thought (so very, very few are), but it was novel enough to me that I needed to write it down…and that’s pretty much what a blog is designed for.

I’ve written and talked about how libraries need to become comfortable with the containers of our new digital content, as since we move into the future the containers (ereader, ipad, tablet) will be important to users. We already know, more or less, how to deal with content. I’ve also been thinking about the interfaces that we use to access this content, and it just hit me:

Print is the only example of a media where the User Interface, Content, and Container have been, historically, the same thing. With music and video, we are completely used to the container, the content, and the user interface each being distinct: we put a tape into a player, which we control with kn0bs or buttons, and the content itself is ethereal and amorphous. With print, until very recently, the content, container, and interface were all the same thing…a book, a magazine, a broadsheet, a newspaper. All are content, container, and interface wrapped into a single unit. This may point to one of the reasons that people seem to feel a deeper connection to print materials than to the 8mm film, or the cassette tape.

I’ve been thinking a lot about these distinctions between container, content, and interface….I think that these three concepts could inform the way that libraries conceptualize what we do, and maybe find better ways to do it.

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ACRL ALA presentation

Creating a 21st Century Learning Environment

I and the amazing team from my place of work (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) are leading a preconference for ACRL at the ALA Annual Conference 2010 in Washington DC entitled Creating a 21st Century Learning Environment. I’m incredibly excited about this, as we’ve worked for years to create amazing environments for our patrons, both in our existing building and in the planning for our new library building (opening in January 2012). I fully admit and embrace my bias for the way we do things (transparently, collaboratively, driven by data), I think that libraries who might not be as lucky could learn some things from us.

From the description of the preconference:

Successful 21st century academic libraries serve students holistically by meeting academic as well as other needs. This preconference will introduce participants to techniques and strategies for creating 21st century library environments and spaces, including the use of data-driven decision making and 2.0 technologies, the creation of broad avenues of input and partnerships, and the development of associated timelines and budgets. Examine library culture, services, technologies, and polices that enhance student learning, the benefits and pitfalls of campus collaborations, and address the nuts and bolts of renovation and building projects.

If you or anyone from your library is interested, registration is still open.

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Brand_New_World Uncategorized

Concentration




Concentration

Originally uploaded by griffey

At the Chattanooga Market on Sunday, Eliza stayed at this table with giant magnets for the longest time, competing with the much older boy next to her to build the tallest tower. She was not at all intimidated by all the older boys around her. I hope this never changes. Eliza, my strong-willed girl. She always tells me she is “brave like Batman.” And it’s really true.

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ALA Media presentation Writing

Gadgets & Gizmos

Gadgets & GizmosI am so thrilled that my issue of Library Technology Reports, Gadgets & Gizmos: Personal Electronics and the Library, is now available. Of all of my recent writing projects, this one was the one that I had the most fun with. I also think it has a ton of good information in it to help Libraries and Librarians make some decisions about gadgets that they should be examining. I spend a little time at the beginning talking about why I think that we need to be worrying about personal electronics in the library:

Libraries have always been the democratizers of content. We step in to distribute the economic burden of informa- tion and allow access to those who could not afford to own the information themselves. As our content becomes increasingly digital, these gadgets give us the delivery mechanism for the content. In the traditional library, the content and the delivery device were one and the same: the book, the magazine, the journal. In the digital world, the two are distinct, but that doesn’t give libraries the liberty of continuing to be interested in only one of the two pieces of the access puzzle.

I’m even more thrilled that it’s available electronically through ALA in a ton of formats (PDF, Epub, prc for Kindle). I’m reading through it on my iPad, and the ePub version looks great.

If you are interested, I am also doing a companion webinar on the topic THIS THURSDAY, April 22, at 2pm EST. Register for the webinar, and you’ll get $10 off the print version of the LTR!

As always, I’d love to hear from anyone that has questions or feedback!