Polling Update

The response to the poll ("As a librarian or archivist, what is your employment status?") has been nothing short of incredible. The number of respondents and the responses themselves are making this poll a success in many respects. So much for the idea that I had but two readers. Thank you to those you have participated - and if you still haven't done so, go ahead, select a status that matches and push the VOTE button.

In retrospect, I may have to fill the gaps with a few additional questions, such as: How long before you landed a permanent position? Such data could eventually paint a more complete picture.

Survey Says...What is your employment status?

Using Blogger's Poll/Survey widget, I created a brief survey that I hope some of my readers, specifically the librarians and archivists out there, will answer. The survey is located on the top-right corner of this blog. It's very easy to use. I'll keep it running for a week.

Basically, I created this survey because I wanted to ask the powers that be at the American Library Association (ALA) and Library School Administrators across North America why so many recent graduates and not-so-recent graduates in library and information studies end up toiling in contractual positions for years without a single permanent position on the horizon. Additionally, why does it seem as though only a few people in this profession have permanent positions, like an oligarchy?

Since I am seeking facts, I want to know what is the employment status of the librarians and archivists among the readership of this blog? The choices are presented in the survey widget. Feel free to leave comments, too.

This survey is as scientific as unscientific surveys can be. Tell your friends and fellow bloggers about it.

Sugar, We're Going Up

A week ago today, I took a flight from Washington, DC, back to the familiar plains of the North, leaving behind the U.S. capital after 13 months of living and working in the city by the Potomac river.

It was a touch difficult to leave; afterall, 13 months in a city, some form of connection or even affection begins to take root and mature.

But as the Air Canada plane soared above the electric green National Mall and its stunning monuments and the behemoth Pentagon over there in Arlington County, Virginia, I waved farewell to the city that had become my home away from home.

To avoid stumbling into any further cliches, I'll leave it at that since I figure most of you reading--yes, the two of you--probably know the feeling.

Back now on Canadian soil, I am not sure what the future holds. As usual. But perhaps when the future seems unclear or blurry, it is best to enjoy and be grateful for the present. And that is what I will, or at least try to, do.

Brush with Washington Famous, Part 5

Since this installement of the hugely popular and successful Brush with Washington Famous took place shortly before I moved from Washington, DC, this is indeed the final Brush with Washington Famous episode. Yes, I know. All good things must come to an end.

So who did I encounter this time? Which famous Washington personality did I bump into on the street corner or in the grocery store line?

Like the encounter I had with ex-Alberta premier Ralph Klein, this personality was not Washingtonian per se, but he happened to be passing through the neighborhood, to say the least.

I saw His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI inside his white Popemobile ride down Pennsylvania Avenue amidst a crowd of the cheering faithful and curious onlookers surrounded by a motorcade of security trucks and police cruisers and motocycles.




It was an intense and unique moment seeing the Shepherd of a billion Catholics wave to the crowd from his customized, bullet-proof windowed Mercedes Benz.

Well, what a way to end this entire series. The Pope, no less!

Until next time!

Well, I've Been Busy...

The usual excuse I give whenever I have not posted anything new on The DIGITAL Archive is the old reliable: I was/am very busy.

In many ways, I suppose, that excuse is still applicable. But that is not the entire story, I admit.

While I am busy (beyond belief in some cases), wrapping up work and tying up loose ends before the end of my contract, I have been having many mixed feelings about the future of this blog.

I send out plenty of tweets using Twitter (come follow me, if you like), but this blog remains both a powerful platform and a burden.

What to say? What to write about? Not so sure anymore.

Many of my favorite bloggers seem to have no shortage of ideas (or time) to blog daily.

To tell you the truth, I am even having a hard time right this minute to compose a few short sentences about what has been stirring in my mind.

So, the big decision: The DIGITAL Archive will go on a sabbatical, much like its primary author. It is the right time for it to find its way, its voice, and return once again. When? Dunno.

I realize in making this decision I might lose a whole bunch of constant readers (yes, all two of them), but that is a risk I am willing to take. Blogs, blogging, media, new media, social networking, etc have evolved so rapidly even during the short time that I have been blogging. For my blog not to change in some shape or form, or at least consider change, would be unrealistic.

Hard to believe, but on March 4, 2005, I started blogging! An eternity in blog years. 3 years!

Hey, folks, stay tuned.

Hi everyone, this is...

Hi everyone, this is the Digital Archives. I know I have not blogged a lot in recent days actually in recent weeks, I am still here I forgot some ideas I just having had much time to put thought on the paper or the blogger, so just hang in there bear with me and I will be back shortly. Thank you. listen

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OpenID OpenSocial??

I have not gotten all the facts yet, but the following made its presence known to me when I tried to comment on a Blogger posting. OpenID??

Broadcasting with Y! Live and uStream.tv

User generated content, and more specifically, user-generated live streaming content continues to evolve (and hog bandwidth, but that's another story).

I first came across uStream.tv a few months ago and now Yahoo! has started a service it calls Y! Live, still in beta.

Armed with a desktop PC or laptop, high-speed Internet connection, and a Webcam, one can broadcast live across the Web as though one's bedroom or basement were a TV studio. So the video and audio quality are not high-definition, but start-ups, like uStream.tv, and established companies, such as Yahoo!, are entering the live streaming, broadcasting arena, hoping to attract users and would-be Web show hosts.

In keeping with the Web 2.0 ideals of collaboration and community-building, these websites offer the opportunity for users to create and share their online content and build communities of viewers, who can participate and transform the production from a one-way street (I produce, You watch) to a two-way street (We produce, We watch).

Even if you do not consider yourself ready for Web Prime Time, visit these websites and think about what could they offer your projects, your professional field, your company, your institution.

Potomac Primary Fever

I have Potomac Primary Fever. Never heard of it? Let me explain the symptoms:

• Strong urges to vote in U.S. primary;
• Increase in viewing 24hr cable news networks;
• Uncharacteristic shouting and pumping of fist when viewing candidate rallies and speeches;
• Enhanced ability to remember campaign slogans;
• Uncontrollable blurting out of "I'm John McCain and I approve this message; I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message; I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message"

The illness, thankfully, is non-life threatening but it does interfere with small talk at parties or conversations with other sufferers.

The treatment, it seems, is the opportunity and ability to vote. But, alas, as a foreign national living and working in the Washington, DC area, I am not allowed by law to vote. Therefore, I must suffer, and sit and watch the evening news broadcasts, follow the daily and sometimes hourly polls, and wait and wait until delegates of both parties, Democrat and Republican, figure out who they will send into the jungle and bloodsport known as the the Presidential Campaign.

If you are suffering with this fever, do what I do and check out The Washington Post's very comprehensive Campaign 2008 website, with RSS feeds for each candidate, among other Web 2.0 thingys!

Japan: Culture + Hyperculture

The Kennedy Center for the Perfoming Arts launched its newest event earlier this month called, Japan: Culture + Hyperculture. To say Japan is a laid back country would be an understatement, as evidenced by the country's love of all things technological.

No longer satisfied with boring old humans, the Japanese are attempting to create robots that look and act like humans.

To view video, tilt your head to the side. Sorry.

A Twitter Tragedy?

I have TwitBin, a Mozilla Firefox add-on that allows me to view and post 'tweets' to Twitter. It is very convenient, and tucks nicely inside my browser window.


This morning, however, I encountered this error message: "Unfortunately you've exceeded Twitter's maximum hourly requests.Please check back in a bit."






Huh?!

UPDATE: It looks like Twitter limits the number of times per hour one can make requests to the system. And, during moments of Twitter maintenance, no requests can be made. So it was not TwitBin's fault. Thanks Brian Breslin!!

Departures and Starting New

The news is circulating around the office, so I feel it is now proper to share the news with readers of this blog. I notified my employer that I will not be renewing my contract with the institution. After much soul-searching and discussions with family and close friends, I have decided the time is right to take a long break from the archives profession. I will complete my contract and fulfill my contractual obligations, and will certainly miss the people I have been working with over the past 11 months, but will not pursue the archives field at this time.

There are several reasons behind this decision. But there is one central theme: A strong need to close this chapter, of life and of career, and to start another, completely different one, one that truly reflects my skills and knowledge and values.

My interest in and love of history and stories of the past remain as do my curiosity and involvement in web technology and content development and new media. But something new has materialized in an unfortunately still vague manner: A strong desire to learn, explore, chronicle, create, share, teach, and to help. I can honestly say that in my current contractual capacity I cannot achieve this level of authentic satisfaction without changing careers.

The DIGITAL Archive, thankfully, will continue to blog along with news and stories and tid-bits of interests, as it has done before when I moved on from my previous employers.

In the coming weeks, I hope to blog about my adventures in Washington, DC. A kind of retrospective look back at the past 12 months.

Do you Yahoo! / Microsoft?

When the news surfaced last week about Microsoft's massive $42 billion bid for Yahoo!, I was not completely taken by surprise. Call me psychic, but the night before the takeover bid was announced, I was thinking: "Whatever happened to that Microsoft/Yahoo! merger?"

I am serious. I did think that.

Well, overall, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Being both a long time Microsoft user and Yahoo! user (heck, I can recall sitting in the Concordia University's then rudimentary computer lab, plugging away at a Lynx browser, finding something called Yahoo!), I believe the 'joining of forces' would benefit both companies.

1. Yahoo! is a very popular website. Very popular. Its brand conjures up very little public negativity. But as of late, the company has floundered. It is innovative but lack s direction, spreading itself to thin in all areas (hence that infamous Peanut Butter memo to Yahoo! employees). Worse, it cannot seem to monetize on its massive traffic and content.

2. Enter Microsoft. The company is cunning and possess the killer instincts that could revitalize Yahoo's sense of direction. Moreover, Microsoft has admitted, mainly indirectly, that it has failed to capture the online world--search, advertising--like its rival Google. Acquiring Yahoo! would certainly position Microsoft in a better place than it is now.

Will this merger really challenge Google's dominance?

The other night I wanted to embed a Google Map on a website. I read about fancy APIs and other third-party services, but all I wanted was something simple and straightforward. I visited the Google Maps website and clicked a few links until I found an embed script, which I had not seen before. A new service, I thought. Wow!! It's as though Google read my mind, knew what I wanted.

Maybe Google is psychic. Maybe that is why Google is number one.

Retro Friday

Speaking of YouTube, ain't it sweet to find some gem of a music video from long ago?

For example, Halifax, Nova Scotia based band Sloan with "The other man."

Since You Asked...

A few people emailed me about my recent use of videos on The DIGITAL Archive. Well, actually, no one emailed me, but I think it is appropriate to talk a little more about the videos, or more specifically the video streaming services available online that I used.

Everyone knows about Youtube. I have a YouTube account and from time to time I upload a video or two.

However, I recently came across a new service called Viddler, which is like YouTube but without the clutter of copyright material. So far. Yes, for now, Viddler remains in a pure state: community-created content only.

But what really stands out for me in Viddler is the feature to comment on videos at specific frames along the video's timeline. One can post a text comment or video comment. A discreet overlay appears with either a text comment or video comment. Pretty neat. Plus, there is even an opportunity to monetize one's videos. Besides text and video comments, ads can appear as well. Like or hate it, ads on online content are hear to stay.

If interested, give Viddler a try.

Thief in the Archives

By now I am sure readers of this blog have read the sad and disturbing news about Daniel Lorello, a NY state archivist accused of stealing valuable historical documents from the archives where he worked and attempting to sell them on the online auction website eBay. For those who have not read the story, the gory details are available via the Associated Press (AP).

According to AP, Lorello was earning $71 000 + a year in the state archives. What was he thinking? Blaming his need to pay bills and his daughter's credit card debt, Lorello stole several invaluable items from the state archives, selling them online or at trade shows.

I guess Lorello thought no one would notice, no one would care if a few items went missing. A few documents here, a few documents there; no one would find out the items were gone. No one would notice a few missing papers and artifacts. How else can you explain his actions?

Working in an archives, one either naturally respects or learns to respect the documents in his or her possession. It is as simple as that. Apparently, Lorello lost that respect and somehow figured he could make a profit.

Thankfully, there was someone who did care and respect the value: a history buff who spotted some of the unique items on eBay.

In many ways, I am glad Lorello stole the items and was eventually caught. He must have thought he could have gotten away with these thefts.

His actions, while thoroughly deplorable, unethical, and criminal, shed light, once again, on the need for individuals, communities and governments, local and federal alike, to seriously look into the institutions resposible for preserving the past, lest the past that sustains our present and guides our future vanish - or be stolen by those whom society has tasked with protecting it.

Library of Congress and Apple iTouch??

Question: What does the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and Apple's iPod Touch have in common?

Answer: Check out these 3 videos I shot when I recently visited the Library of Congress' "Exploring the Early Americas" exhibit.

Weekend Reading and Contemplation

Where to begin?

Well, for one thing, congratulations are in order to Ed Bilodeau, who recently blogged about his promotion to Director of Knowledge Management at Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) in Ottawa. Way to go, Ed!! I recommend reading his post because he chronicles his path and career decisions from Carleton University to CFC. Very good reading, especially for my readers, since many are on a career path that stirs mainly mixed feelings.

What else?

I have been reluctant to blog about the future of archives or what does the future hold for archives purely because I am feeling less in tune with archives but more connected with other areas, namely web technologies and content development.

Thankfully, ArchivesNext has begun what I believe to be an excellent series: a focus on critical issues facing archives in the coming year(s). By all means, head on over to ArchivesNext to read more.

Librarians in Action?

Oh no! Please let this be a typo or something:

Librarian wins couch potato contest

Open Letter to 2007

Dear 2007,

Just before you walk out the door, 2007, I would like to tell you a few words. Yes, I see you want to leave and let 2008 fully take over. But I have a few things to say.

What a year you have been. You were full of ups and downs, good times and bad times, like most years, really. But, 2007, you were different in many ways, too.

I found myself in relocation mode in 2007, living and working in a different city, something which I had not even considered until, well, until 2007. The experience has been enriching, perhaps more personally than professionally. I had a hunch that this would have been the case, but I have taken the ride all the same, for the sake of, well, for the sake of second chances, a new start, a new path, perhaps even a new beginning.

But, 2007, a new beginning--those intricate tiny cautious steps down an untraveled road toward an unknown destination--often spans longer than 365 days.

And so that brings me to 2008.

Welcome 2008, you look brand-spanking new. You are a clean slate.

What resolutions should I impose on you? Better blogging habits (a post a day?).

While I think about New Year's resolutions, dear readers, what are yours?