The Self-Interview

In Conversation with Myself
BY DKEMPER

DKEMPER: Hi, Dave. How are you today?

Dave: I’m doing okay.

DKEMPER: Doesn’t it feel strange that you are interviewing yourself?

Dave: It doesn’t feel strange at all. Not at all. And, I don’t mind you interviewing me, or should I say me interviewing me. Anyway, I think it’s great. Let’s go, let’s see where this takes us. Go ahead.

DKEMPER: What have you been doing lately?

Dave: Since returning home from Washington, I’ve been keeping myself busy. I’m taking a few night classes at a local university in hopes of completing a certificate in Multimedia. I’ve already completed several courses already—I’ve been working on this certificate since 2003, taking courses on Photoshop, In Design, and Illustrator in addition to web and graphic design theory courses. I’ve also been busy with The DIGITAL Archive, trying my best to write daily. I haven’t been so successful on that front, I must admit. Blogging is tough, man, especially if you don’t want to hack out mumbo-jumbo. [Pauses] Besides all that, I am looking for work [Laughs].

DKEMPER: Speaking of work, you had an interesting year last year, right. Tell us about it.

Dave: Yeah, what a year! As you know (well, you should know, you were there with me), I lived and worked in Washington, DC on contract with the International Monetary Fund in its Archives unit.

DKEMPER: Wow! The International Monetary Fund! Isn’t that like two blocks from the White House? That’s pretty awesome!

Dave: I know…but I’m humble about it, really. I’m still this guy from a small ‘burb in Montreal.

DKEMPER: Who just so happened to have worked in Washington! So what did you do there?

Dave: I was hired as an Archives Records Officer, but on my business card, it read Digital Archivist. I was responsible for evaluating and selecting a new archives management system—a complete processing and web search software package—and for establishing a digitization workflow for a large-scale imaging project to scan historical IMF country files. Furthermore, I wrote procedures, quality control steps, things like that. I also wrote several reports and even corporate communication stuff that senior admin read and approved.

DKEMPER: Not so archivist in nature, eh?

Dave: I think I am part of the changing nature of archival work. As technology evolves and mixes with the profession, we’ll be seeing new and very different professional roles for archivists.

DKEMPER: Like what?

Dave: I suspect the changes will revolve around access—accommodating better access to archives material.

DKEMPER: Explain?

Dave: Meh, let me save that for another blog post [Grins].

DKEMPER: Good idea, if I do say so myself. So, let me get this clear: you finished the contract—it was a contractual position, right? You had a chance to stay on for another year, correct? What happened? Didn’t like Washington?

Dave: There’s been a fair bit of confusion over the whole thing. Let me explain. First off, the position was contractual, yes, and I was part of a larger, long-term processing project. I worked on the technical and systems portion of the project. Not processing. In that year I accomplished much. We selected a software package, scheduled training, and I was there to see an early install of the software. I was indeed offered a contract extension, but I declined.

DKEMPER: Why?

Dave: I underwent a profound transformation in Washington. I started feeling an increasing desire to switch directions in life, in general, and away from Archives in particular. In Washington—by the way, an unexpectedly vibrant city rich in American history, a city where American social, cultural, political, and military history has coalesced—I believe I reached a peak, a zenith, if you will, and I knew I needed to change. I was grateful for the offer to work in Washington at the IMF. [Leans in close] By the way, the world still has a few decent managers, thankfully. But at the same time I knew I had to change and declined the contract extension. I wrapped up as much as I could before I left, and I believe I left the Archives, and the IMF by association, in better shape.

DKEMPER: Any regrets?

Dave: No, none. Like I said, being in Washington, being surrounded by the history I had read about in history books during my university days, filled me with something I had not experienced before. I discovered something about myself and about the world. And I learned something that I now cherish more than ever, it’s a simple word Americans are fond of saying but perhaps have lost its true meaning through overuse.

DKEMPER: What word is that?

Dave: Freedom.

DKEMPER: Freedom?

Dave: Yes, freedom. Freedom is one of the most amazing things we have. We have the freedom to choose, freedom to live our lives as we want, freedom to make our decisions, even though we know we may end up failing or succeeding. We are free. Whether blessed by God, if you believe, or promoted by the State, freedom is wonderful; however, freedom is not free, as they saying goes. Freedom has a price. We pay a lot for it. As kids we pay for it by standing up to a bully and still getting shoved into a locker. But we pay the price because we want freedom. As adults, as citizens, we must remain free in life, love, vocation, or whatever. In everything we need freedom, and we must remain vigilant, steadfast, and prepared to fight for freedom.

DKEMPER: Getting political here? Are you voting Obama or McCain?

Dave: First, I cannot vote in the US because I am not American. I have my political opinions, however. Let’s leave it at. But I do believe this is an important election in which Americans need a leader with vision more than a president. Know what I mean?

DKEMPER: Okay, moving along now. What are you listening to nowadays?

Dave: You mean music? [Nods] Yeah, I’ve been listening to SomaFM, an ambient music Internet station. Cool sounds, man. Glad Oasis is releasing a new CD, same goes for The Verve. Been also listening to classical music and jazz. Nice and relaxing.

DKEMPER: Classical? Jazz? You turning soft on me?

Dave: Hey, I balance things out with a daily dose of Foo Fighters and 30 Seconds to Mars. So there!

DKEMPER: Recently, you wrote a long blog post on “Why I blog.” Wasn’t that a little narcissistic?

Dave: No, I don’t think so at all. At least I hope no one took it that way. I just wanted to be honest with my readers, some of whom have been reading The DIGITAL Archive since day one. I wanted to tell that The DIGITAL Archive is no longer the same “archives and archivist” blog as it was when I started, because its author is no longer the same archivist as he used to be. As I concluded in Part 3, I am more an archivist advocate, believing in the value of institutional archives and wondering how technology can transform the field and profession, than an archivist processing materials or debating the latest controversies.

DKEMPER: You mentioned before that you are changing directions. Isn’t that a difficult task?

Dave: It is hard! It’s easier said than done. Believe me. It elicits both excitement and sheer terror. But, alas, and you are not going to believe this, but I was received Zen tweet a second ago that said, and I quote: "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life." Confucius

DKEMPER: Wow!

Dave: Yes.

DKEMPER: Summer’s almost over. Saw any good summer blockbuster?

Dave: Watched Iron Man and loved it.

DKEMPER: Saw anything else? Wally-E or Dark Knight?

Dave: No, unfortunately, not. Just Iron Man.

DKEMPER: You need to get out more often, young man!

Dave: I know, I know. Listen can we wrap this up soon?

DKEMPER: How is the job search coming along?

Dave: You had to save the toughest for the last, eh.

DKEMPER: That’s my job.

Dave: I’ll give you the sound bite version. It’s moving ahead but slowly. More slowly than I had expected. But that is life. Full of the unexpected. Transitioning from one career into another is difficult. It requires risk-taking on both sides; the employee and employer need to take a risk. I hope to find such an employer soon.

DKEMPER: No offense, Dave, but that is about as much deep thinking I can handle for one interview. Let’s eat.

Dave: Sure. What do you want?

DKEMPER: Don’t ask me that!

[This blog post was inspired by Stephen King's recent blog post.]

Twitter: Breaking (the) News

Circle this date on your calendars: July 29, 2008. On this date, Southern California (the Greater Los Angeles area) experienced a strong 5.4 earthquake, as reported by the US Geological Survey (USGS). But another news source, more notoriously known for its stability issues and pop culture icon Fail Whale, proved equally valuable: Twitter.

While USGS seismologists provided the world with technical data, for Web users, the first mention of an earthquake was made known by Southern California Twitter users living in and around the Los Angeles area who sent tweets detailing the rattling and rumbling, fears and concerns and reassurances that all were shaken, scared but safe, and countless other tweets from people around the world sending their thoughts and prayers.

A Twitter user named Zadi, who I follow, was the first person on my list to mention the earthquake.

The earthquake story was delivered by the people on the ground even before local news station reporters and editors had time to organize and file a report. Social networking news website Mashable went as far as to claim that, in spite of a flood of raw unedited tweets, it still scooped CNN and local news networks.

Is this the end of the old news? Has the old news been usurped by the new news? Of course not. But this story and this event do reveal the power of Twitter (and other micro-blogging websites) to break news and highlight the human element more clearly, intimately and directly than before.

Apple to Open Flagship Store in Montreal

According to numerous reports circulating the web (here, here, and here [en français]), the flagship Canadian Apple Store will open in Montreal this coming Friday, July 25 at 5:00PM.

It is located at 1321 Ste-Catherine Ouest, near by to upscale Ogilvy's.

There are some blocks on Ste-Catherine street, the primary shopping street in downtown Montreal, that are in need of serious transformation and revitalization (I hesitate to use the word gentrification), and I hope the Apple Store will do just that to the neighborhood.

Have You Visited arch.i.vi.us Recently?

About two years ago, I started arch.i.vi.us, a Web 2.0 experiment to aggregate news, blogs, and more recently Twitter tweets that discuss digitization and digital preservation from an archivist perspective.

In recent months, I have tweaked the settings on my news and blog feeds and added Twitter tweets using a service called Summize. The results have been astonishing!

• News about digitization and digital preservation from around the world


• Blog postings from fresh voices in the blogosphere


• Twitter tweets from archivists twittering away

Whenever I visit the page, there is something new that catches my interest.

I dislike plugging my other blog in this way, but I believe, now more than ever, the arch.i.vi.us blog is worth a look.

Vincent Cerf Gets It!

From the Special Library Association (SLA) conference, being held in Seattle from June 15-18, SearchEngineWatch.com reports that Vincent Cerf, Google's Vice-President, expressed concern over the state of digital preservation.

In an interview with Charlie Rose held at the SLA Conference, Cerf said "he’s deeply concerned about digital preservation and the 'born digital' challenge; he hopes to avoid a 'bit pile' of inaccessible, extinct content and urged companies to open up development for digital preservation applications."

Vincent Cerf gets it!

Will companies, organizations, institutions and hard-headed, stubborn senior admin types also get it?

Web Trends 2008

I came across a really good blog called Trendsspotting, which I discovered serendipitously via Read Write Web, that posted an online presentation showcasing the technology and Web trends to look out for in 2008.

View Upload your own

While we are almost halfway through the year, the ideas presented are clearly worth considering...and dreaming about how they could be used in our respective professional environments.

Personal favourites:

• Social Networks, Unstructured Data
• Web Gadgets
• Peoples Web
• Mobile and Mobile Web
• Virtual Worlds
• Video: Video blogs, video search, indexing videos

Montreal Tourism Board Launches New Website

According to today's (May 15, 2008) Montreal Gazette, the Montreal Tourism Board has launched a new $1.5 million website that highlights and showcases the city's many charms in an effort to boost a sluggish tourist season and, more importantly, to reach out to far away travellers (i.e. Americans living on the West Coast and Europeans) interested in visiting the city.

Technically sophisticated and visually appealing, the new Tourisme Montreal website, offered in both official languages (English and French) and customizable to the needs of select groups who have made Montreal a popular destination, aims to bring Montreal to the world with a very slick user-friendly navigation system and plenty of multimedia content.



The website also boasts a few cool features such as personalization, RSS feeds, Google Maps integration, among other features. I was surprised I did not see any user-generated content or solicitation for such.

Tourisme Montreal prepared a video explaining how it created this online project.

Visit the site. It's so full of information, you may not want to leave your computer.

ReadWriteWeb: The Alpha Geeks Start Talking Digital Preservation

ReadWriteWeb, a popular weblog that discusses web technology, has an article called "Digital Information 250 Years From Now," which delves into the complex issue of (yes, you guessed it) digital preservation.

It is interesting to see how long it took the "mainstream" technology media--by mainstream media, I mean those high traffic uber tech sites--to finally cover this thorny issue, whose eventual solution will involve not only archivists but technologists as well.

Now, let's get busy!

Adding AdSense

By now, I am sure many long time readers have noticed the addition of Google’s AdSense modules to The DIGITAL Archive page.

According to Google’s AdSense’s Terms of Service, I, as an AdSense subscriber

1) Cannot click on my own ads and;
2) Cannot promote or encourage visitors to click on said ads

I can, however, filter out irrelevant or questionable ads via the AdSense website.

That said, I hardly think I will actually monetize this blog or its content; but for the sake of journalistic integrity, I will certainly assess AdSense’s value, if any.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Librarians in Action?

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

Librarian wins couch potato contest

Happiness on the Job

A special thanks goes out to the Annoyed Librarian for pointing this one out.

Time Magazine has produced an interesting interactive career satisfaction scale that displays the level of happiness (or lack of happiness) people feel about their jobs. Sadly, I could not find any mention of archivist. But I did see the entry for librarians (close enough, I guess).

Don't just sit there reading this post - get on over there to Time's "One Day in America: Happiness on the Job" web page!!

Canadian Dollars Does it Again

The Canadian Dollars, affectionately known as the Loonie (those fearsome birds), has hit a new high against the US Dollar. So much for earning a once sweet American dollar!!

Follow this bird's ascent on Yahoo! Finance.

Gaming in the Working World?

The news story on BBC News online--"When work becomes a game"--sounds interesting. I remember way back, when I was a young kid playing video games, I was often scolded for playing too long with my video games and not spending enough time doing my homework.

Well now look here. The tables have turned. It looks like the skills needed and acquired in playing video games, particularly team-based games, may become required skills for the workplace of the future.

Time to dust off my Nintendo!!

Brush with Washington Famous, Parts 2 and 3

A few weeks ago, I walked past the former Director of Central Intelligence and former head of the Central Intelligence Agency F. James Woolsey. I chronicled this event in a recent blog post.

Yesterday, Saturday, I had two--yes, count 'em, two--encounters with the Washington Famous. I was doing my usual Saturday grocery shopping when I bumped into Ben Stein's shopping cart (or, to be more accurate, his cart almost bumped into me - but he quickly apologized).

Ben Stein is an economist, writer, comedian, TV personality, game show host, reality show host, and on and on the list goes.

Bumping into him near the cold cuts and cheese section was a surprise and then seeing him line up in the express check out lane was equally surprising. I guess these Washington elites and Hollywood types are not all that different from us (aside from a few million dollars in their bank accounts).

My second encounter with the Washington Famous occurred later on in the evening when I was leaving the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts building following its daily free show program.

I was crossing the street from the Kennedy Center to the Watergate complex when I saw a sleek black Cadillac slowly pull to the curb, followed by two large, black SUVs. The slow, deliberate movement of the three vehicles alerted me that this was a coordinated motorcade.

Two secret service agents jumped out from the SUVs (looking suspiciously like Agent Smith from Matrix fame), and I continued crossing the street, actually walking between the two now parked SUVs. The driver of one SUV looked at me with piercing eyes; I could see his communication ear piece and its coiled wire running down into his shirt collar. Another agent with bulging eyes saw me coming and probably sized me and concluded I was no threat.

In an almost surreal moment, I looked to my left and saw another agent open the door to the first SUV and out stepped US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her long black legs reaching toward the sidewalk. She walked toward the Watergate with purpose even when someone from a local cafe shouted, "Hi Condi!"

While I have serious mixed feelings about living and working in this city, these encounters with the Washington Famous add some needed distraction to the daily routine.

The big question is: Who will I bump into next. Stay tuned!

O.J. 13 Years Later....

This morning, upon switching on my computer, I headed over to the celebrity gossip website TMZ.com (okay, okay, forgive me, it's Monday morning, all right).

Lo and behold, who do I see: O.J. Simpson's latest mugshot, this one taken after his arrest in Las Vegas, Nevada over his alleged attempted robbery at gunpoint, no less, of his own sports memorabilia from a private sports collector.

The story is more clearly elucidated on TMZ.com. But, for me, the important part was two-fold:

1. It's like deja vu

2. It was 13 years ago when O.J. made his first sensational running-from-the-law media splash

13 years ago. Back then, I was just about to start university, just about to start my B.A. in History major, just about to embark on a new journey. My God. Time flies. What have I accomplished? What have I done with my time? Earlier this month, on September 11, the U.S. marked the sixth anniversary of 9/11. 6 years already.

Do these types of anniversaries and events put your life into perspective?

My Brush with the Washington Famous

I was taking a leisurely stroll past the George Washington University last week, walking by the the main student gathering area and classrooms, when walking toward me was the former Director of Central Intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) R. James Woolsey.

I recognized the former top spy and it would seem as though he knew that I recognized him, for he seemed to pause as he saw me looking at him. Well, there was no discrete exchange of information or clandestine activity. Mr. Woolsey had probably given a lecture at the university and thought I was a student.

One of the perks of living and working in Washington, DC.