I’ve been thinking a lot about the discussion last week about speaking, being compensated for speaking, transparency, the profession and it’s (perhaps?) inferiority complex, and so much more. Everyone contributed such unique and interesting perspectives, some I agree with, some I don’t, some that made me change my perspective a bit. We’ve all had different …
Rather than boring you to death with 31 Comment Challenge posts, I’m trying to condense a bunch of the activities into each post so if you’re bored, you can easily skip these. Day 8: Comment on a blog outside of your niche My husband is definitely a car guy. He watches car shows, reads car …
In case you were wondering, I haven’t given up on the comment challenge! I’ve just been rather involved in the comment storm that’s taking place on my blog right now. I definitely didn’t do all of these activities “by the book” but my goal with this is really to be a better blog citizen and …
A person I’m friendly with in California wrote me last night asking for advice about a speaking gig he just got. He’s pretty new to the speaking thing (though he is excellent) and wants to grow his reputation as a speaker, but also doesn’t get funding from his institution for professional development: I got accepted …
The first activity in the comment challenge is to do a comment self-audit. Here’s mine: How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week? It is so variable. Probably on average I comment on three blogs a week. Sometimes I don’t comment at all, sometimes I comment a lot. Sometimes my comments …
One of my favorite blogs is the Bamboo Project Blog by the brilliant Michelle Martin. Michelle writes about social software in the non-profit sector, e-learning, workplace learning and more, so while it’s not a library blog, there’s a whole lot to be learned there. Now, she is coordinating a project called the 31-Day Comment Challenge. …
I got this email about LOEX 2008 Encore from Catherine Pellegrino at Saint Mary’s College and wanted to spread the word: The annual LOEX conference is trying something new as an experiment this year: three of their breakout sessions will be presented as live, interactive webcasts a few weeks after the conference: http://www.loexconference.org/2008/virtualsessions.htm I think …
While I didn’t get tagged yet, the passion quilt meme really spoke to me. For this meme, you’re supposed to post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about. Here’s mine: Original image Vikings Originally …
Every few months, I get an email from someone in library school or a new librarian basically asking me how I’ve accomplished all that I have in this profession in three years and how they can do the same. It’s an awkward question to answer, because there are always so many factors that come into …
My father-in-law — who was big on the lecture circuit before he retired from optometry — always says that you are valued as a speaker in direct proportion to the distance from your home. So, the further away you are from home, the more you should be valued. If that’s true, then speaking locally is …
I just got back to work this evening and was pleased to find that the job ad for the Distance Learning Librarian position at Norwich has been posted. If you’re interested in a job where you get to do a little bit of everything, work in a change-oriented environment, and get bossed around by me …
I went to the discussion about the SWIFT conference platform, which I haven’t discussed publicly on this blog (though many others have on theirs — and many of them offer quite astute observations). I do think it is a deeply flawed tool that doesn’t provide value. I knew just about everyone in the feedback session …
the group – for Connie Originally uploaded by cindiann I had a really wonderful time at Computers in Libraries, as always. While there are always certain talks where the delivery is disappointing or where you don’t learn anything, I went to a lot of talks that were fun or educational or both. And of course …
This week, I’m at Computers in Libraries, one of my very favorite conferences. This year’s schedule seems to be even better than usual an I found myself torn between two (and sometimes three or four) talks during most time slots. Kudos to Jane Dysart and the organizing committee! I was also thrilled to see that …
I’m a pretty tolerant person, but there is one thing in this world that bothers me more than anything else: dishonesty. I am extremely trusting and will take what people tell me at face value. When I find that I’m being deceived, it really makes me angry and frustrated. When I suspect that I’m being …
Rachel Singer Gordon is one of the people I admire most in the profession. She thinks so much about all different aspects of our profession and has written so many thought-provoking, controversial, and helpful things. She has written two recent gems about the whole MLS vs. non-MLS debate. Definitely check out If it Quacks Like …
For the past few weeks, the Cloudbook has been a real disappointment, and it’s not like I was asking for much. All I wanted was to be able to access the Web and to use a word processing program. I got 50% of that. I was never able to really connect to wireless in a …
In spite of the fact that I’ve had one of those all-day sinus headaches, I’m walking on a cloud. Starting April 1, I’m going to be the Head of Instructional Initiatives here at Norwich, which means that I will lead and coordinate all instruction (and most assessment) work at the library. I’m also going to …
I was excited to see so many people I know and admire had been recognized this year as Movers and Shakers by Library Journal. Congratulations to everyone, but especially to my peeps: David King, David Rothman, Evette Atkin, Chris Harris, Peter Bromberg and Tim Spaulding, and the folks I’ve admired from afar: Char Booth, Caleb …
First Monday has a great issue covering Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0. The articles look at Web 2.0 phenomena (user-generated content, interactivity, social networking, etc.) from a socio-political-economic perspective and bring up some interesting paradoxes inherent in the movement. So far I’ve read “Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0” and “Loser Generated Content: …