Where do we go from here?

I'm no longer constrained to a particular posting schedule for class, but I do think I'll probably keep up with this at least until I graduate. It's a useful place to gather my thoughts and prod ideas into a semblance of coherance. Work on final project for intro to tech has been challenging - sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a frustrating way. 

I don't really feel that the amount of practical experience we've gained through a few projects is enough to call myself experienced at web design, or even really conversant... but it has given me an appreciation of the amount of work it takes to maintain a complex site, especially to host something as complex as most libraries do, with online catalogs, database subscriptions etc.

IT work... not my forte, but I'm glad to be a bit more knowledgeable about it. If nothing else I can appreciate a bit more of the conversation between the family tech geeks.

I have a new favorite quote.

Courtesy of  Max Evans article in Volume 70 of American Archivist, Archives of the People, by the People, for the People, and it is this:


"It is not just minimum metadata; it is extensible metadata."

Big Brother is Listening OR Consumer Culture Strikes Again

I have a smartphone, and I am generally very cautious about my use of the GPS locator, and when and how I post information to social media about my physical location or activities.   While there are many beneficial uses for GPS, there are also potential drawbacks. This article from Tech Republic points to another culprit I hadn't even considered - information picked up through the microphone.

On the surface, a nice idea: I get consumer loyalty credit for entering a retail chain. But there is, as one of the quoted panelists discusses, a distressing lack of upfront information about how this gathered data is being used, and how control of the information capture is actually handled.

It's a bit like the risk that by signing up for a website that gives access to coupons, for example, I may inadvertently be exposing my online banking information accessed from the same computer and browser....except my phone is much more linked to my physical person, not just to my residence or workplace. In fact, I would even say that my smart phone is much more integrated into my daily life than even my laptop.

I find this new twist in consumerism subtly disturbing, though I suspect it is a trend that is only just beginning.

I caved....

...and got the Adobe creative suite 5 .  They had cool tutorial videos for Photoshop too.  I could spend a day on their site, I really really could.

Javascript is going to be the bane of my existence...

I can already tell. 

Feeling a bit overwhelmed this week.  This is a heck of a lot of new information to be processing, and I feel like I'm not grasping it well enough to move forward at the pace required.  We somehow passed from, "Oh, yeah, I get this - no problem!" to "I'm completely lost and confused" somewhere in the last five days - and there was absoloutely nothing in between. 

It's like my brain went from first gear to third and completely burned out the clutch. 

Automated shelf reading?

Okay, I may be a tad bit behind the news curve on this one, but does anybody else think this has real potential?  Article couresy of wiredcampus is here.  (Thanks Chris, for the heads up!)

Dickinson Magazine Spring 2011...

Features an article called "Parsing the Past" about alumni archivists! Props to my alma mater for a feature piece, though it appears that the web content and print content are slightly different.

It's kind of nice to know that I have a tradition, of sorts, to be following here!  I may also have a chance to put my skills to some use in the near future, as I have been asked to be a part of the organizational team commemorating the 60th anniversary of Dickinson Christian Fellowship.  Sounds like an excuse to go diggining for photos and other documentation in the school archive.

Incidentally, Waidner-Spahr is the first library at which I had a paying job. (Student work study wages, but still...)  I wonder if anyone I knew is still working there.

(Edit: Yes, there are!!)