My recent article in NetConnect, Stranger Than We Know, is garnering a little attention online, although I haven’t heard any feedback directly. I’d love to know if the digiterati think I’m just wildly off base with some of my crazed ramblings.
Mentions thus far in:
Here are the slides from my part of the Academic Library 2.0 preconference from Internet Librarian 2008.
Favorite books: still loves her lift-the-flap books and recently has discovered Eric Carle’s 10 Rubber Ducks. Also likes any book, magazine, or catalog with babies in them.
Favorite TV shows (the only ones she pays any attention to): Yo Gabba Gabba and Sesame Street (especially when Elmo comes on the screen)
Favorite foods: pasta with tomatoes, toast (plain or with cheese melted on it), yogurt, broccoli
Favorite hobbies: pulling up on everything, cruising all over the place, practicing standing without holding onto anything, playing with her stuffed animals, “brushing” daddy’s and mommy’s hair
Favorite toys: remote controls, telephones, talking Elmo phone, all of her stuffed animals and dolls, anything she can reach but isn’t supposed to have
My article Stranger Than We Know was just published by NetConnect! I’m really very happy with the way that this turned out. One of my favorite articles that I’ve written…all about mobile technology, and speculation on where it’s going over the next 5-10 years. Here’s the intro, go take a look if this seems interesting. And leave some comments, since I’d love to hear what others think, and if I’m on or off track on this stuff.
Arthur C. Clarke once famously said that any sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic. The technology that is now a routine part of our lives would have been nearly unfathomable just a decade ago. Moore’s Law has ensured that the two-ton mainframe computer that once took up an entire room and nearly a city block’s worth of cooling now comfortably fits in your hand and weighs only ounces. It is difficult to put the truly amazing nature of this shrinkage into perspective, but consider this: you have in your mobile phone more computing power than existed on the entire planet just 60 years ago.
These new devices are changing the way we interact with information. Their capabilities are even changing how we conceive of information and information exchange, adding significant facets such as location and social awareness to our information objects. The physicist J.B.S. Haldane once said, “[T]he Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.†So while librarians are aware that the next five to ten years will bring radical changes to books, publishing, and the way we work with the public, we must remember: the future isn’t just stranger than we know—it is stranger than we can know it.
Let’s see how close we can get to knowing the unknowable.
In just a couple of days, I jet off across the US to lovely Monterey, California, for Internet Librarian 2008. I’m presenting on Sunday as a part of a preconference called Academic Library 2.0 with a host of really amazing people. As it turns out, I’m ALSO doing a preconference on Sunday with my old friend Karen Coombs as a last-minute fill in. So if you see me Sunday night, I’m likely to be exhausted.
On the other hand, I’m so looking forward to seeing friends, and seeing what the rest of the remarkably talented librarians bring to the conference. I always learn an extraordinary amount at these conferences, and I can’t wait to see what’s out there.
The daycare reports that Eliza took 2-3 steps yesterday, 10/13. However, we have yet to see it for ourselves. She continues to “cruise” like crazy, though. In this photo, she has somehow managed to make her way to the kitchen table and then get trapped underneath. I got her out, but not before a total meltdown (just after this shot was taken).
I was gone for three days for a conference. By the time I got back, she had gotten a lot stronger and braver. She’ll pull up on anything now and tries to go everywhere. We’ve sort of given up on real baby proofing, since we barely have time to shower and go to the bathroom, much less baby proof. Instead, we just watch her closely and follow her around. Consequently, she’s starting to learn the word “no,” although she still smiles when mommy says it. Bad sign.
We spent this past Saturday morning at Bearwallow Farm in Nancy, KY. Bearwallow is a classic Fall endeavor, with hayrides, pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and much more.
Eliza had a blast! She got to pet a goat, watch bunnies, and see how big a llama really is. She won’t remember it, of course, but it was still fun for us to see her react to all the new experiences.
The Brothers Griffey in the late 1930s. Picture taken on Griffey Branch, Olive Hill, KY.
Left to right: Milton Griffey Sr., Van Gordon ‘Jack’ Griffey (d. 10/18/1970), James Morgan Griffey, Clay Griffey
Clay Griffey was my Father’s Father’s Father, or my Great-Grandfather…Eliza’s Great, Great Grandfather. Clay had a son that he named Van Gordon after his brother (who no one in my family knew as other than “Jack”…even his gravestone simply says Jack). That Van Gordon was my father’s father.
I had no idea this photo even existed until my aunt was googling for some genealogy information and found it online…amazing the things you can find online these days. 🙂
Photo and information originally found here.
Sat through a webcast today updating people on the Open Library Environment project, a joint effort between a ton of amazing libraries to build a modern, open source library system. While I wish them the best of luck, I have to say that I have my concerns about the project.
My largest concern is that too many cooks really do spoil the soup. I’ve never seen anything truly great come from committee, and I worry that there are far too many hands in this to really push it where it needs to go. Really amazing breakthroughs and products are almost always the design of one or a very few people, pushing to make the thing inside their heads real.
With that said, I hope this project produces something amazing and proves me wrong. What would I want out of a ground-up library system? A modular design, with logical connectors that allow for data sharing…and that data sharing uses open, web standards (not another “library” standard). Support for a centralized cloud database, with local records being limited to unique, archival items in the library’s special collections. Support for open sharing between catalogs, as well as sharing data between other websites and services, built in. A standards-based OPAC. Built in support for mobile use, including the backend systems. A repository system built in, to hold digital objects of any sort…if I want to catalog a video, let me embed the digital copy right into the system.
There’s lots and lots more. I’m hoping they get it right…I’ll be watching, and hopefully helping where I can.
