How to Maximize Your Micro-Blogging

The use and impact of micro-blogging continue to amaze me. There are currently four major micro-blogging services available. There is Twitter, Jaiku and newcomers Plurk and identi.ca.

Each service allows users to send out, in 140 characters or less, a status update or a tweet (if you are using Twitter) or a plurk (if you are using Plurk) to make an announcement, ask a question, promote an event or new blog post, or update friends, and so on.

The Twitter phenomenon in particular and micro-blogging in general are weaving their way more neatly and ingeniously into the pattern that is the Social Web.

In the year or so since I started using Twitter, I am discovering ways to maximize your micro-blogging.

1. Participate

The first bit of advice is as simple as pie. If micro-blogging intrigues you, or you want to learn more about this form of communication, you should participate. Get involved. If you have heard too many stories about Twitter's stability issues (i.e. Fail Whale) and want other options? Not a problem. While Twitter remains a personal favourite (and hugely popular in spite of its on-going problems), I would encourage the new user to try out other micro-blogging services such as Plurk and identi.ca.

2. Choose Your Friends Wisely

The power of micro-blogging, like all aspects of the Social Web, is community. The more participation, the more community grows and the more the service becomes truly rewarding. It is about connecting with colleagues in the same profession or even different professions. It is about connecting with someone whose status updates are thoughtful, insightful, or perhaps funny. It is about connecting with those who share your views or who hold alternative or even opposing views. Essentially, the key is to follow or befriend other users.

But I suggest you choose your friends wisely. How does that differentiate things? In order to choose wisely, I suggest you seek out friends. Be proactive.

We could randomly add friends and follow them. Nothing wrong with that per se. However, after having used Twitter for almost a year, I am noticing the signal vs. noise ratio increase, mostly in favor of more noise (unrelated, useless information) over signal (relevant, useful information). I will discuss how to handle signal vs. noise in point 4.

To build a better list of friends to follow I use Twitter Search (formerly called Summize until Twitter purchased the company) to find potential new users. Twitter Search searches tweets as they are sent. This is truly live search.

For example, I am looking for other archivists using Twitter. Enter 'archivist' (or any other archives-related search term) and click search. If one or more user stands out, I will follow them. Chances are good that they in turn will follow me. A connection is made.

I also suggest looking at the date when the person last updated. If the person you intend on following last updated 6 or 10 months ago, I would not recommend following them. It is wiser to follow those who have a current update status.

3. Speak Up (or don't censor yourself so much)

People send tweets about any and everything. I will leave it up to your good judgement to decide what and what not to tweet about. But whatever you say or ask, don't censor yourself so much. Sometimes the most spontaneous tweet receives a tremendous response, while the most carefully crafted tweet receives nothing. So be spontaneous with your status updates.

One caveat, though: Make sure your tweets are valuable to your followers. Think for a second, but not much longer than that before posting.

4. Maintenance

The issue of signal vs. noise, that is, coping with more noise (unrelated, useless information) and attemtping to find the signal (relevant, useful information) not only occurs on the Web, but in the micro-blogging space.

To combat this I follow a simple maintenance plan on Twitter. First, I remove people if their tweets are deviating from what had prompted me to follow them in the first place. I do this maybe once every two weeks. It is nothing personal. My aim is to keep the Twitter timeline as useful as possible. Second, I add more people based on the process I outlined in point 2. Finally, I make sure I am tweeting something of value to others. Am I sending tweets that could prompt someone else to follow me? Am I engaging other Twitter users by replying to their tweets? Am I partaking in conversations?

5. What about You?

You may have different experiences or different ways to maximize micro-blogging. Do share them.

[P.S. I'm on Twitter. Follow me and join the conversation!]

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.

Quick Update

As I ponder the possible reasons why Scientology ads are appearing on The DIGITAL Archive (Google Adsense=FAIL?), I want to tell everyone that I am working on a few new blog posts that should be published later this week.

In the interim, follow me on Twitter and FriendFeed; the first is the popular (but long-suffering) micro-blogging service, which I use for status updates, the other lifestreaming aggregator, which I use to post items I find online and share among the growing community of FriendFeed users. There are also lively discussions on FriendFeed.

As more people participate in FriendFeed, the more diverse and interesting the topics and comments get. So, by all means, join in!

The Friday Abstract: Storytelling Goes Digital

Horror writer Stephen King, the author behind such hardcover and paperback bestsellers as Carrie, IT, The Shining and others, is not afraid to test his iconic storytelling skills on new media. Read more below. If you dare.

Portfolio

This is where I test the power (and limits) of blog publishing. By publishing a portfolio in such a manner, I am certain I am not doing justice to what I have done professionally over the years.

But this is essentially what Web 2.0 is all about: exploration, experimentation, discovery.

Information Management / Information Technology

At the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington, DC, I coordinated the evaluation and selection of a new archives management system together with the staff of the IMF Archives.

• Responsibilities: Needs analysis, system requirements, documentation, presentation, vendor meetings, software demos; evaluation and selection process; procurement; staff training; initial implementation plans;
• Organization: I worked with the Head Archivist, IT Advisor, Reference Archivists, and a team of 15 processing archivist;
• Actions: Performed needs analysis, edited systems requirements documentation; scheduled vendor meetings, software demos; scheduled staff training, and coordinated with technologists on the implementation of system
• Results: IMF Archives purchased a new archives management system to optimize staff processing activities and to provide better researcher access to collections

Also at the IMF, I was responsible for the design and implementation of a new digitization workflow for a $1 million digitization project to digitize and make available on the Web historical IMF member country files. My responsibilities involved revising scanning standards, quality control methods, and the material selection, preparation and transportation of documents to an off-site facility.

Meanwhile, at McGill University, I conducted research on behalf of the University Archives on electronic records management and digital preservation (the digitalpermanence project), producing a final report and presenting findings at an international archives conference (ICA-SUV 2005)

Web Design and Content Development

St. John Fisher Parish, Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada

Montreal General Hospital Medical Library

Montreal General Hospital Nurses’ Library

McGill University Archives, “The Journal of William E. Logan, 1845-1846”

McGill University History Portal

McGill University Archives “The History and Tradition Installation, 1823-2003”

McGill University Archives department website

GARM local archivist organization

Blogs

The DIGITAL Archive blog: Between 2004-2006, chronicled project progress; 2007 to present, a personal blog that reports on digital technology, with a focus on the Web, new media, digitization, digital preservation, and news (and views) related to information professionals in libraries and archives. http://digitalpermanence.blogspot.com/

Arch.i.vi.us blog: From February 2006 to present, aggregates news by and about archivists with a focus on digitization and digital preservation http://archivius.blogspot.com/

Archives*Open blog: A blog about archives, access, community and the Web focusing on how archivists and other professionals in the field are using technology in innovative ways to provide the public with better access to archival materials.

Publications

“The Web needs Information Professionals: Are Information Professionals Ready?” AALL Spectrum 6 : 32, 36. http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_sp0110/pub_sp0110_Persp.pdf

Presentations

"Managing and Preserving Electronic Records at McGill University: The digitalpermanence initiative.” ICA/SUV. East Lansing, Michigan, September 6-9, 2005. Available online at http://archives.msu.edu/icasuv/presentations.htm

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.

Dawn of Location-Based Information

In the real estate business, there are three words that determine the value of a property: location, location, and location. In social networking circles, where user mobility has become a standard with cell phones and the new iPhone 3G coming equipped with GPS, the same words apply, with a little modification. In order words:

• location-based micro-blogging: Blogging on the scene


• location-based social networking: Presence awareness by friends


• location-based information: Contextual information based on immediate surroundings

For the longest time, I have been a Map Geek. I love maps. Road maps, old maps, new maps, Google Maps, Live Maps, and even treasure maps (don't see too many of those nowadays, though). I guess I love maps because they provide their users with so much valuable information in a very clear and precise manner. A basic highway map, for example, which one buys in a pharmacy or orders online through a department of transportation office, are extremely valuable to the weekend traveller hitting the highways.

Navigation solution providers, such as Garmin and TomTom, whose street navigation products use global positioning satellites and digital maps to provide drivers with accurate driving directions and even in some models current traffic conditions, are very popular. Case in point: I recently took a taxi from the airport back to my home. Rather than providing the taxi driver with details on where to exit the highway or where to turn right or left, he simply punched in the destination address (or the closest match) and listened to a smooth female computer voice advise him on driving directions.

As usual, upon seeing this, my brain started thinking.

While these navigational devices target automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, and boats, I want to focus on personal navigational systems in a social web context.

With the launch of the Apple iPhone 3G and its Assisted GPS technology, which connects the iPhone 3G to the closest orbiting global positioning satellite, I believe Apple will make GPS, mobile maps, and geographic information systems mainstream and consumer-friendly.

The Apple iPhone 3G (and other advanced phones to come) will be the device on which the following applications will take life.

In the location-based micro-blogging space (a term I made up that has yet to solidify until the A-list bloggers coin a better one), there is Brightkite, "a Denver startup, [that] gives users tools to post about what's going on at a location, meet up with friends, and even, if you want, meet new people in the same place," according to a news article on ars technica. So far, Brightkite is invite-only, so I can add no hands-on knowledge other than to say I like the concept of on the spot location blogging and connecting with friends in the immediate area, but I still would like absolute control over the dissemination of my location to others. For more information, read Brightkite's blog.

In the location-based social networking space, there is a piece of software called Loopt for mobile phones. I never heard of this before until Michael Stephens, the author behind the Tame the Web blog, twittered and eventually posted a screenshot of Loopt in action. Using his iPhone's location (longitude/latitude), the iPhone calulated how far away his friends were from him. Pretty neat. For more information, read Loopt's blog.

In the location-based information space, there is the little-known but impressive-sounding Fire Eagle by Yahoo. According to Yahoo, "Fire Eagle is the secure and stylish way to share your location with sites and services online while giving you unprecedented control over your data and privacy. We're here to make the whole web respond to your location and help you to discover more about the world around you." If Yahoo can deliver on this promise, this location-based web service would be a very interesting development. Like Brightkite, Fire Eagle is invite-only. There is more information available on the web, however. A blog called Pointbeing.net has an interesting post on Fire Eagle.

In the not so distant future, when all the above have matured, I envision the following scenario. I am walking downtown, in a big city, and I want to know information about my surroundings based on my immediate location. Using my cell phone (could be an iPhone or another advanced phone), I open a location-based application (software or web-based) that shows me a dynamic map. On this map, I see my avatar blinking at the exact street location where I find myself. I activate the map's shopping layer and, based upon my preferences, the map blooms with store locations dotting my surrounding area. The information would be tailored to my needs. I then activate the map's food layer and, based once again on my preferences, the closest restaurants appear on the map. I then I activate the map's friends layer, and lo and behold, I see that there are two people I know at a coffee shop two blocks away. Maybe we could meetup and have supper at a Thai restaurant. It's only a phone call away. And this would only be the tip of the iceberg.

It is clear we live in an increasingly mobile world. Laptops are outselling desktops; cell phones are becoming more advanced; communication among people on the move is proliferating. The next frontier is to deliver actionable information to people based on none other than those three magic words: location, location, location.

Fail Whale, Epic Fail, and Other Stories of Missing the Mark

Web_Guy: You know about Twitter, right?

Girly_Love: The micro-blogging site? Yeah, sure. Use it a lot.

Web_Guy: Yeah, well, the site's been down so frequently--and I mean, so frequently that the folks over at Twitter post a picture of a whale being lifted by the little Twitter birds to notify users that there are problems. So that's been happening so often, that we now say Fail Whale to represent anything technical that fails.

Girly_Love: Fail Whale. Poor thing. Poor Twitter.

Web_Guy: Yeah, I know, it's rough being Web 2.0. Users are in control. What they want is what they get, 24 hours a day, 7 days week, even if the site's infrastructure cannot handle the load. It's gotta be running or else. :P

Girly_Love: You'd think they would have anticipated these things. :D

Web_Guy: Yeah, you'd think. But, man, nobody thought Twitter would fly. Seriously.

Girly_Love: Oh my God. I see what's wrong. They forgot to add beta to Twitter. Look, see? No beta. ;-)

Web_Guy: You're right. [LOL]

Girly_Love: Hey, check it out. I got an iPhone 3G. Isn't he so cute? I call him iPhoney Maloney.

Web_Guy: Sweet. Too expensive for me, though. What did you say you called it...?

Girly_Love: iPhoney Maloney. I used to call him iBrick because that's what it was after I bought it and could not download the updates to the firmware. It basically became a brick. An iBrick.

Web_Guy: Rough. What happened?

Girly_Love: You know, the iTunes servers crashed and burned. They couldn't handle the demand of thousands and thousands of users.

Web_Guy: Epic Fail.

Girly_Love: Totally Epic Fail. So horrible. Sigh. But I so love my iPhone. He's so touchy. [grin]

Web_Guy: Oh puh-lease. Listen, I gotta roll. Gonna try and download Firefox 3. Rave reviews, but on download day, the...

Girly_Love: ...the servers crashed and burned. Yep, I heard. Good luck.

Web_Guy: Thanks. No more Fail Whales or Epic Fails--

Blogger Error 7x4365 - Unable to Post Blog. Try Again Later.

10 Secrets of Highly Unproductive People; Or Warning Signs!

I started following tech geek blogger (and former Microsoft employee) Robert Scoble and his vast line-up of online content a few weeks ago, and every so often he writes or broadcasts material that resonates with me.

On July 11, 2008, Scoble's Workfast.tv web program hosted Matt Rissell, a web entrepreneur and founder of TSheets.com. Rissell talked about his on-going research on the principles that highly productive business people follow and described them during the show. Rissell also posted his list of principles on his blog.

After reading the list, which I recommend everyone should do, I could identify with certain items on the list - and in some twisted way, I saw how the opposite of these productivity tips were active in my life.

So without further ado and with tongue in cheek and satire stick in hand...

10 Secrets of Highly Unproductive People

1. Boredom

You are bored with your work. You feel indifferent on most days. You could not care less if the work you did or the company you work for suddenly curled up and died.

2. Surround yourself with cynical people

There is no better way to become more unproductive than by surrounding yourself with cynics, naysayers, and complainers. Observe how your innovative ideas are laughed at and then skillfully tossed aside to be replaced by the notorious 'same old same old' or the dreaded 'business-as-usual'.

3. Create an environment where shallowness prevails

There are many types of work environments. Some are energized, innovative and focused, while others are discouraged, depressed and demoralized. Be sure to pursue the latter environment to become unproductive and as mentally deep as a kiddie pool.

4. Complicate!

This is a tricky one to achieve since most folks want to simplify their careers. But to be truly unproductive, complicate your career. Make sure your employer and the entire company do not understand what you do, so that way you end up doing a whole bunch of stuff (and not get paid extra for it). You'll certainly do a lot of stuff, but you'll never become proficient at anything. Just another graduate chasing the four winds. Perfect.

5. Know your motivation and then throw them out the door

Yes, there are moments when you want to be the best, to deliver the best, to make sure the user is satisfied, that you feel satisfied. These are the correct motivations to steer you in the proper direction. But hold on, motivation, values, work ethic, there's that productivity nonsense again. You're at work to collect a pay check, thank you, and walk out the door at 5:00 pm sharp and look forward to the weekend. Period.

6. That "Special Something"

If you have a desire to provide excellent service to the community, to communicate and help others, to make a difference; in other words, if you possess that special something that you can bring to the table, well, in those immortal words, you know, fugetaboutit!! That's right. Forget it. Your career does not need your special something, so leave it at the door.

7. Don't make decisions

You are on a committee, either the Chair or member, and the committee has convened five or maybe six or more times on the same blasted topic and no decision has been made yet. While some folks will get restless, and others will be bold enough to make a decision, why not sit back, sip a coffee, and wait. And wait. And wait some more. Maybe in 2-3 years things will change and a decision will simply fall in your lap. Now that is un-productivity at its finest!

8. Unbalance

Besides simplicity, some of us strive for balance, making sure our days are rich and complete with a variety of personal and social activities. How boring! Become unbalanced for once and watch your days grow longer and nights get shorter. Soon you'll be so exhausted, becoming unproductive will be inevitable.

9. Talk talk talk and no action

To see this tip in action is truly a thing of beauty. To become proficient, observe the masters. They are often seen talking, and talking, and talking. They talk endlessly about superfluous nonsense that is wrapped nicely in a symphony of buzz words. But in the end, no one rolls up their sleeves and no one delivers the goods.

10. Don't pay attention to successful people and their silly principles

Successful people, smart people, rich people - each are probably doing something that we unproductives are not doing. But why bother listen to them? Their philosophies are so convoluted, anyway, they'd never work. Stay true and stick to what is familiar and comfortable.

Hope you enjoyed this week's Friday Abstract.

National Film Board of Canada Digitzing Its Collection

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Canada's public film producer and distributor, recently launched beta.NFB.ca, a website created to showcase the Film Board's wealth of films, documentaries, animated shorts, trailers, news clips, and other productions found in its 70 year old vaults.

According to the beta.NFB.ca website, whose "mission is to make these films accessible to all Canadians," there are so far 300 full-length films and clips digitized and ready to view on the website. Furthermore, beta.NFB.ca intends on adding more films every week. The website explains that this "project was facilitated by Canadian Culture Online, which has been helping us [NFB] to digitize our film collection since 2001."

Although the website is currently in proverbial Web 2.0 beta, the website nonetheless has some very promising and impressive Web 2.0 features. Besides offering high-quality streaming video, in addition to a robust hardware and software set-up (details here), the website has these notable user-centric features:

• Browse documentaries and animated films or search them by keyword search;


• Film selection is accompanied by a related films column (similar to YouTube) and a descriptive note by a Film Board curator, if available;


• Favorite films can be given a thumbs up (recommended) and shared with the social Web via such popular tools as delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, or FaceBook, or be embedded in one's website or blog, or shared by email;


• Viewing history panel is available resembling a roll of film (some work could be done on this);


• Three RSS feeds;


• News blog updating site additons and changes.

The beta.NFB.ca website looks and feels very good. The black background color invokes a movie theater, highlighting the films. The website's main navigation is clean and simple with four primary categories. As the user drills down, more navigation choices emerge but thankfully remain simple on all levels. A reasonably rugged search engine is available, though I found browsing for films more successful and rewarding. Speaking of browsing, the labels attributed to the four categories are intuitive, though I would recommend replacing "Explore All Films" with "Browse All Films."

Overall, this is a very slick web production, one that Canadians should be proud of - and the rest of the world can thoroughly enjoy.

You think you know Canada, eh? Well spend a few minutes (or hours) here and you'll learn something new. Guaranteed.

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.

Unemployed? Archivists Take Note

Kate Theimer blogging over at ArchivesNext revealed the results of her survey question "Will you be attending SAA this summer?" While the complete results can be viewed on her blog, the majority of respondents (48%) said Yes, they will be attending SAA and that their employer will be paying all or part of the expense.

On the heels of this survey question, Kate is launching another: "Does your job title have the word “archivist” in it?” Be sure to take a few minutes to respond.

Speaking of job titles and jobs, I conducted a survey back in May asking people in the fields of libraries and archives what was their employment status. The results revealed that 66% of respondents had a permanent position with a benefits package.

Now, taking Kate's survey on SAA attendance, which I will categorize in my mind as professional development, and my own survey on employment status, something clear emerges. At least it does for me.

Unemployed and underemployed archivists or other records related professionals should demand more from their future or current employer. First, if having a permanent position is important, then unemployed archivists should seek out permanent positions. I know, there are bills to pay now, but short-term contracts without benefits simply short-change us professionals in the end. As I often remind myself, "Short-term gain, long-term loss."

Second, if professional development and attending conferences are important, then archivists should request and make it clear to employers that professional work is a two-way street. A professional cannot give and give and receive nothing in return. There must be opportunities to learn.

These requests are not pie-in-the-sky unattainable. Hardly. Look at the survey results again (here and here); as small a sample as they were, relatively speaking, they still revealed evidence that permanence and professional development are elements that unemployed and underemployed archivists can no longer set aside.

Archiving in Practice with JPEG2000

Presentation slides from the JPEG2000 for Archives and Libraries Interest Group.

ALAac2008 j2kIG - Presentations

Should We Abandon Twitter for Greener Pastures?

In the past couple of days, while I nursed a virulent strain of something or another (no more tomato and mayo sandwiches for me, thank you), I was busy following the happenings and going-ons at the 2008 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, courtesy of my Twitter peeps Michael Stephens, David Lee King, and Robin Hastings, as well as others who attended and sent 'tweets' from the conference. All did a fine job, by the way, and I recommend readers of mine should subscribe to them.

One caveat: I was able to follow the minute by minute reactions and observations as long as Twitter remained stable.

Sadly, Twitter was acting a little flaky, as in sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I would not go as far and say Twitter suffered a massive outage, like other times, but the service was and remains unstable.

I'm calling Twitter's recent woes growing pains. The Twitter infrastructure is new and clearly cannot handle a 24/7 onslaught of messages from thousands and thousands of users across the globe every minute of the day.

In the aftermath of these recent reliability issues, there is a small but growing movement among the micro-blogging community to switch to new, more reliable services that offer the same and perhaps even more features and functionality. [Read the TechCrunch article.]

One such exodus is to FriendFeed, a social media aggregator that allows users to post messages and comments, befriend other users and grow social networks, and link to photos and videos. Furthermore, FriendFeed aggregates (or shares) content from popular online services such as Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and from your personal blog. In total, FriendFeed can aggregate content from 41 services. If one has an account with any one of these services, one can add content to his or her FriendFeed feed.

Not too shabby!

But is it worth leaving Twitter?

When the hype surrounding FriendFeed started with a few high-profile bloggers, I decided to create a FriendFeed account.

What I immediately liked about FriendFeed was its ability to aggregate content from my other social media/networking sites, such as my Flickr photo stream, The DIGITAL Archive and ar.ch.i.vi.us blog feeds, Digg, as well as my Twitter tweets, and present them on a clean dynamic page to be shared with everyone, including friends.

Another feature I like is the ability to comment on people's postings. In my opinion, it's a lot more cleaner and streamlined than Twitter. Finally, I can create virtual rooms in which other users can join and discuss and share items of relevance to the room.

So, that said, should we delete our Twitter accounts and move to greener pastures? No, I believe we should not delete anything just yet. Twitter is still tops in my book because it introduced an innovative communication tool. The brain trust that concocted this must have more plans in mind, but putting out infrastructure fires is placing a huge strain on creativity. Twitter must become more stable and reliable--and introduce new features--lest it end up in that great heap called "great ideas, poor execution."

In an ironic twist, the exodus to other micro-blogging services such as FriendFeed may help alleviate the pressure on Twitter, as Jill-Hurst Wahl commented in a recent tweet, and allow the company to resolve its problems and re-energize its creative juices.

Stormy Seas for the Twitter 'Fail Whale'

Interesting People, Interesting Blogs (Part 10)

Wowza! This is the tenth--yes, tenth!--installment of one of my favourite blog post categories. Interesting People, Interesting Blogs, where I write about a blog that recently caught my attention (and drive server-crashing traffic to its doors). Well, maybe not, but I certainly hope I am shedding light on an interesting blog.

The tenth installment goes to an archivist named Heather, blogging over at Archives Found. The blog's tag line caught my eye: "Making history more accessible, one story at a time." In the about section, Heather elaborates on the goals of her blog:

I wanted to choose a catchy title, something that spoke about the experiences that I’m having, and that I hope to have in the future. An overgeneralization that works here– when I meet people for the first time, and we do the dance of the “what do you do? I’m in marketing, blah… how about you?” and I mention that I am an archivist, the general response is to ask what, exactly an archivist is. The same reaction happens when I mentioned that I was attending graduate school for library science– not only is there confusion about what an archivist is, but there’s also the much-hated response of “You need a master’s degree to check out books?” It seems that there is a need for general education regarding the fields of librarianship, archives, and even records management.

I have not drilled very deep into the content. But if someone is keen on making history more accessible, then I am in.

Take a Survey, Feel Good

If you are like me, feeling a bit under the weather (and we all know those summer colds are the worst), or even if you feel good and wish to feel even better, visit ArchivesNext and respond to the survey that is being conducted. The survey is titled: Attending SAA this year?

I like surveys and the results one can gleam from them. I found the survey I conducted a while back was very helpful and even insightful.

Of course, the more participation, the better. So head on over to ArchivesNext.

Technical Snafus

Due to a few unforseen technical snafus with The DIGITAL Archive's primary author and editor (cough cough, hack hack), there will be a break in blog posts. Stay tuned.

The Friday Abstract (II): Spore Creature Creator

If creating fantastic creatures, great and small, and watching them evolve, play, fight and breed is something you are interested in, then may I interest you in Electronic Arts' Creature Creator PC game? The free trial Creature Creator game is a design tool and part of a much larger--and highly anticipated--game called Spore, created by Will Wright, the brains behind such hits as The Sims and SimCity, to be released in September 2008.

From Macworld.com, reporter Peter Cohen writes:

Spore Creature Creator is a design tool that lets you craft your own alien critter. It’s a small component of Spore, an upcoming game from EA designed by Will Wright, the legendary creator of The Sims and Sim City. And in Spore, you affect the evolution of a race of beings from single-celled organisms swimming around in tidal pools all the way up to their emergence as a space-faring civilization. It’s the ultimate “God” game from one of the genre’s pioneers.

In a moment of divine creativity, I created (make that, assembled) a little alien creature I call Hugo and son, who are featured in the video above. Below is Rico, of the horned-knee creatures.

The Friday Abstract(I): Trippy DAy

digitalpermanence Tags
Originally uploaded by siansleep

This is The DIGITAL Archive. Now this is The DIGITAL Archive on, er, well, on wordle.net.

Go to wordle.net and you will understand what I mean.

4 Steps to Building an Online Profile

As more users participate in the social web, partaking in social networks for personal and often professional reasons, I think it is important to write a simple, practical, and representational online profile, particularly if users are seeking to attract new clients or potential employers.

The following are guidelines I developed to help you compose an online profile. To remember them quickly, think "The 4 F's": FORMAL, FACTS, FUNCTIONS, and FUN.

Let's start!

1) FORMAL: State who you are, in either first or third person, using either your current job title or your professional title, giving some emphasis to your area of speciality. Briefly.

For example:

I am an electronic records manager, focusing on managing digitized records and enterprise resource planning data;

OR

Robert Grant is an electronic records consultant, supporting clients transition from paper to digital records

2) FACTS: State your educational qualifications and work experience. Briefly.

For example:

I have a B.A. in History, B.Sc. in Computer Science, and a Master of Library and Information Studies, with 4 years work experience in an educational institution and a medical library

3) FUNCTIONS: State what you have done in those years of education and work experience. Briefly.

For example:

I designed and implemented a new taxonomy and trained staff and senior administration;

OR

Robert Grant has re-designed several websites, improving navigation and content accessibility, and making these websites the hub of information delivery

4) FUN: Express your personality using the most succinct and passionate words that describe you, while explaining how these qualities enrich your work. Ask family, friends, professors, employers (past and present), if necessary.

For example:

I am a creative, innovative, and team-oriented individual, whose passion for people, technology and libraries direct my decisions and work ethic.

Use The 4 Fs wisely, and add your own uniqueness to them, and I am certain your online profile will get noticed.

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?

Of Facebook and Friends

A few months ago, after several promptings by colleagues, I decided to join Facebook, the hugely popular social networking website. I was hesitant to join because I had seen another successful social networking website, MySpace, and was repulsed by its noisy layout and design. However, Facebook seemed different—more streamlined, more accessible, I guess you could say—and for the not so easily impressed critic inside me that was enough reason to take the plunge.

Besides, I thought, I could connect with a few old friends.

But my introduction to Facebook was more sobering than anything else.

In a matter of minutes, I discovered two friends who had been my best friends when I was a kid. These two guys were the best. We were all roughly nine years old, give or take a few months between our birthdays. We’d go bike riding around the neighbourhood from dawn ‘till dusk; we celebrated birthdays; we’d set out for adventures downtown, where we’d catch a few movies; and we’d play sports, like street hockey or parking lot baseball, on the weekends and during the summer when school broke for holidays.

The summer sun was endless, the fun was endless, and life was sweet. We enjoyed this life for many, many years until circumstances, such as college, work, and family relocation, slowly took us into different directions. We lost touch, for the most part, only seeing each other briefly at university (in the halls) or on the bus or train.

But I never forgot those guys or those days. How could I? Can one really forget those days, when one was nine years old? I loved them; I loved us, those crazy kids on their bikes, innocent, without a single care in the world other than finding out the time for our favourite cartoon show and the release date of the latest Nintendo video game.

On Facebook, however, I barely recognized their faces. The oldest member of our trio was–let me call him “Big T”—was the sports fanatic and music lover. He introduced me to baseball as well as to hip-hop music (KRS-One, Boogie Down Productions, remember them?). As a kid, “Big T’s” dream was to become a professional baseball player and a rapper. He had a passion for both.

In checking out his Facebook profile, and in chatting with him, he had become an occupational therapist by day and a Deep House music DJ by night, hosting his own late night/early hours show on the Internet. His passion for music never waned, only transformed into something different. His passion has made him widely recognized and well-travelled. Awesome!

Meanwhile, the youngest member of our trio – let me call him “Lil L”—was the book reading, D&D playing, adventure-seeking free spirit. He introduced me to role-playing games (D&D, AD&D, RIFTS) and to the then still embryonic world of PC games (the hilarious Space Quest series). We’d bike a lot together, through forest paths, getting bitten by mosquitoes, and to the outer limits of our neighbourhood, which was very far for our little kid navigational senses. His mother would take us to baseball games and museums and his grandmother would serve us lemonade and share her air-conditioned apartment on especially hot and humid summer days.

As a kid, “Lil L,” much like myself, loved role-playing games. We loved conjuring up stories for our role-playing characters. The more stories we made up, the more fun we had. Personally, I found making up stories and watching friends become engrossed very satisfying, as I often came up with one story after another. Some good, some duds, and some with the right mixture of mystery and action that I even surprised myself. At one point, during one of those tension-filled story moment, “Lil L” asked me, “How do you come up with all these stories?” It was a question I could not answer. I was afraid to answer. I didn't quite know; they just came. But the question stuck with me for many years. My imagination, it seemed, was rearing its newborn head.

On Facebook, I honestly could not recognize “Lil L” because the profile image I saw was that of a man carrying a baby. The shiny kid face I had known was replaced by a glowing fatherly face, complete with goatee and sunglasses, and in his arms he held his child. “Lil L” was married with two young boys and worked with a large telcom company. His wife was not the girl who he had an endless crush on as a kid, but someone else. His two boys had their father’s free spirit look (in a few short years, I thought, they will be biking around the neighbourhood from dawn ‘till dusk).

Sadly, I also learned that his mother, who had set up birthday parties and trips to baseball games, had died a few years back. I could not swallow that revelation. I had known her, and now she was gone. Not sick or ailing, but dead. I was stunned, shocked, in disbelief. And as clichéd as it may sound, I felt something die in me.

This is not what I expected from Facebook. I expected connecting, social networking, old friends, new friends, super walls and super pokes. Instead, I experienced sad, painful nostalgia.

The faces I remembered were from a different time; the faces I now saw on Facebook were changed by time and circumstances, for better or for worse. And the time we had known together, that I had known so thoroughly and enjoyed immensely, which I kept tucked away safely in a protected memory center, to be retrieved every so often, had moved on.

I clicked logout, something I would often do in the months after I joined Facebook. And I never bookmarked the website.

Nowadays, I hardly use Facebook. That’s not to say Facebook has no value in the future. But for me, at this time, I am content with the social networking websites and tools I use and the online friends I have. I do not wish to allocate any more time to Facebook.

If one of Facebook’s purposes was to assist users reconnect with old friends with a few clicks, it certainly succeeded. Though not its fault, Facebook simply failed to mention that a few clicks can also mean opening doors to the past that, in retrospect, should be approached cautiously and in some cases sometimes remain closed.

The Birth of the Web Ego-Maniacs

I am noticing a troubling trend among the user-created content set. Don’t get me wrong, I am a strong supporter of user-created content, particularly when it is well-produced, entertaining, educational, and engaging and exhibits the fundamentals of Web 2.0 (social).

There are numerous websites (and more on the horizon, I bet) that enable users, like you and me, to publish our thoughts and ideas. There are blogs, naturally, wikis, photo-sharing sites, and, as broadband surges forward, the proliferation of podcasts and videoblogs.

Equipped with a laptop, web camera (or a camera-enabled cell phone), and a high-speed Internet connection, one can record shows or even broadcast live across the Web. There’s Youtube, of course, and there is Y!Live, Ustream.tv, Viddler, Vimeo, Qik, Kyte.tv, Flixwagon.com, and many more. All worth checking out, if you like.

But I am seeing a trend that I do not like among these websites:

First, I am seeing the same user faces across all these websites. It’s as though a dozen or so of these pro-bloggers or pro-vloggers are taking up much of the space and sadly with some less than stellar material. I don’t want to name names, although I assume some would not mind the additional attention.

Secondly, the material that is being produced, while "live" and "dynamic" (yeah, crossing the street, yeah), is for the most part pointless and trivial. Enough with the crap! You’re clogging up the arteries of the Internet with these narcissistic, self-indulgent videos.

Mind you, I am not condemning these top bloggers and vloggers, these shameless pluggers, because they are largely friendly folks with good intentions and some have found a recipe for success, being able to make a living off this new media lifestyle. These top vloggers have their good moments, true, but they should save their ramblings, pontifications, and walks through their basements and their freak-outs for their personal hard drives, not the Web.

How Blogs Can Save Your Career

Earlier this week I had lunch with a friend, a fellow library school grad. We had a conversation about professional development…or the lack thereof. We both graduated in the same year and we both had a roller-coaster ride during our first years in the library and information field following graduation.

While he has found himself as a librarian in a documentation centre and I continue to carve out a new career path altogether, we both agreed that professional development in the field (or any field, for that matter) had to improve.

“Aside from attending a few local conferences,” he explained, “I haven’t done much or learned much. I just do what I have to do at work. That’s it.”

I was shocked by his indifference. “So what do you do to stay current?” I asked.

“I read a few journals, but that’s about it.”

I told him that I had attended roughly 4 conferences / seminars / workshops in my 8 year career. And I bemoaned the fact that I had I wanted to attend more to learn, to connect, to meet with my peers, but was thwarted by a number of setbacks, including the usual limited budget.

Placing the blame on the usual suspects, such as limited funds, indifferent employers, or the limitations imposed on contractual positions, can often alleviate the frustration, but it does not erase the truth: professional development is a must.

In 2002, Barbara Quint, editor of Searcher Magazine, wrote a very insightful column in the July/August issue of the magazine. In reflecting on her career path, and offering advice to her readers, she stated boldly:

“When an information professional stops learning, they start dying, or at least their career does. And any information professional in this day and age, with all the changes upon us and more coming, who does not or cannot allot a significant portion of their work time to learning and study will not be able to perform well the job they have now for much longer, much less the future jobs they should have.”

I agree 100% With contractual positions, as I have been in over the years, the employer’s interest, for better or for worse, is to ensure the work he or she has planned gets done, not necessarily to support the professional development of the person hired.

So what should one do?

As I walked down the bustling streets, I was caught in my thoughts, wondering how I have managed to stay current (more or less) despite being on contracts or, more recently, unemployed.

One word kept surfacing: blogs.

Seriously, if it were not for the many library and archives, Web 2.0, new media, digitization, digital preservation bloggers and social networkers on the Web, I would be far, far behind the curve.

It is thanks to those who, in the spirit of sharing, write and talk about their work, projects, ideas either daily, bi-weekly, weekly or monthly that I have been able to stay current in the field.

I hesitate to list the blogs I read, so as not to alienate anyone, but my blogroll is to the right, and I continue to add to the list.

I believe in the power of blogs, their immediacy, their intimacy, and their uncanny ability to auto-generate communities, because I know I have benefitted from them and learned from them. And continue to do so.

For example: How did I find out about Twitter? Through a podcast I heard. How did I find out about the latest happenings in education and libraries? Through several bloggers whose daily commentaries are food for thought. What prompted me to be concerned about blog preservation? The many mil-blogs out there whose posts chronicle the story of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many more examples.

Professional development involves participating in several areas. Make sure the blogosphere is one of them. You never know who you are helping.

Interesting People, Interesting Blogs (Part 9)

The latest blog to be inducted into the coveted "Interesting People, Interesting Blogs" category of The DIGITAL Archive is Lynne M. Thomas's "Confessions of a Curator," which, in the author's words, is "a blog about Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University."

Hey, check it out!

The Friday Abstract: The Archivists of Hazzard

Job Search: Interview Questions

In the course of searching for employment, there comes a time (or, if you're fortunate, several times) when one is called in for a job interview. In a job interview one or two staff members, or perhaps even a large committee, sits you, the applicant, down in a room and asks you some fairly standard questions about yourself, your skills, your strengths and weaknesses in addition to your past achievements and future plans.

With preparation and practice, one can become very confident in answering these questions honestly and positively.

However, one part of the questioning that often disrupts my flow is the one where the interviewers ask me if I have any questions.

Naturally, the applicant should ask about salary, benefits, vacation time, etc. But this, I believe, should come a little later. First, there must be some clarifications concerning the job itself.

After some brainstorming, I've developed a few questions that could be asked of the interviewer. Send me your comments if you have additions.

1) What is/are the main role(s) and responsibilities of the position?

2) Describe for me a typical day for the person in this position?

3) What are the primary and secondary goals and objectives of this position?

4) What is the budget for projects, such as hardware and software?

5) What is the budget for attending conferences, workshops, etc (i.e. learning opportunities)?

UPDATE: Via Michael Stephen's Tame the Web blog, I found an interesting article in Library Journal written by Michael Casey and Michael Stephens. It is about finding a library job that fits your values. Whether you are contemplating a library or a factory, the article brings up some good points. I am glad the authors mention the importance for library administrators to promote staff development, among other things. Please do read the article.

Twitter Goodness For Information Professionals

It's no secret, the world's favourite microblogging tool, Twitter, has been experiencing some technical problems as of late.

But have no fear, with today's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Twitter plans on strengthening its infrastructure and boosting system performance. (Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.)

In the meantime, enjoy some Twitter goodness:

1) Twitter for Librarians: The Ultimate Guide

2) Summize - Search Twitter in realtime, searching conversations. Yeah!!

The Friday Abstract: Suite Online Mischief

From the department of "Who needs Microsoft Office Anyway" I discovered Adobe's Acrobat.com online office suite (via ReadWriteWeb). For an online office suite, it looks very promising. If you wish to sample, you first must register. Don't worry, it's free. BTW, read Adobe's Acrobat.com blog for further news.

Interesting People, Interesting Blogs (Part 8)

If you are reading this post on a Saturday or Sunday, then I caught you at the right time (if not, I hope you have a few minutes to spare).

I want you to visit a blog called Zen Habits, a blog that mixes productivity, life hacks, with a soulful Zen twist. It is written by Leo Babauta who covers a variety of timely topics, including: "achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits."

This is not your ordinary productivity/life hack website, I have discovered. As the author explains, "...I believe that goals — especially ones that are worth reaching — are ultimately achieved through the building of good habits." Becoming a better Microsoft Outlook user is one thing; becoming a better human being is another.

In an effort to simplify my life, I am finding his material easily applicable and refreshing.

The Friday Abstract: Desktop Wallpaper

No, it's not the name of a band. It's what I hope will be an on-onging topic every Friday.

For the coming month of June, spruce up the old computer desktop with a set of professionally designed wallpapers.

Visit Smashing Magazine. You've been warned, however. Your desktop will never be the same.

Job Search: Network Network Network!!

It's weird--in fact, it's kind of ironic--that in this time of the Social Web, where information professionals are blogging, social networking, Twittering, flickring, and generally connecting and collaborating with each another in a variety of ways, the act of searching for work (a long time hobby of mine, tragically) remains a very solitary endeavour.

There's the long hours of searching through job postings, online, offline, etc; revising one's resume; writing cover letters, tailoring each to the specifics of the job in question; and on occasion, being interviewed by a search committe. And on and on it goes. All solitary.

Making matters more challenging is the decision I made to transition from the purely archival field to the field of web communications and new media.

A few friends have suggested taking a long, long sabbatical, that is, a vacation away from searching for work. Take up another hobby, they say, adding that searching for work should not be considered a hobby. Get fit. Lay off the laptop. Hit the outdoors. Take more pictures. (Practice makes perfect, they say.)

Another astute friend, however, suggests I network network network. (If I recall, she did indeed say network thrice.) Contact colleagues, ex-colleagues, professors (if they actually remember me). Just network, let people know you are looking, and, like karma, something good will come your way.

(network + network + network) + good karma = job

To those unemployed (and I know who you are since you responded to my employment survey), let me know if this equation works.

Bizarro and Blogging: Funny Observation

From Bizarro, May 24, 2008, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Podcasts and New Media: Are they in your future?

Podcasting and other forms of new digital media are evolving and, I believe, entering the mainstream, as broadband connections and mobile computing proliferate.

Is your organization producing and publishing podcasts (or other forms of digital new media) to the Web?

With digital new media, I find, there is a unique intimacy between content creator and content consumer, unseen and unheard of before in my experience, in which the content consumer is not passive but rather active, communicating and networking with others in the community of listeners and/or viewers and in some cases influencing the direction of programming.

For example, Star Quest Production Network (SQPN), a Catholic new media organization founded by Father Roderick Vonhögen, a Roman Catholic priest based in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, produces and publishes family-friendly audio and video content to the web.

About a year ago, I blogged about SQPN, explaining how it was producing some very good, high-quality content that one could download to an iPod or other mp3 player.

Fast forward to today, and I am pleased to report that SQPN continues to produce more programming worthy of watching - and emulating in your own personal or professional context.

Its latest show is called "Grace Before Meals," a lively, funny, entertaining and educational cooking program hosted by Father Leo Patalinghug, a Catholic priest with a penchant for cooking practical and healthy meals (with a dose of the divine and a sprinkle of humor). Running time: Approx. 9 minutes.



What a fine piece of online media! With the proper tools and training, can you envision your organization creating podcasts and other digital new media?

Memorial Day (US)

To all my readers based in the United States, I wish you all a very reflective Memorial Day. I took this photograph of Arlington National Cemetery (below) while living in Washington, DC. It was taken this past January.

More Web Trends 2008 Goodness

From Read Write Web (yet again - RWW is starting to become my new thought-provoking blog of choice), a presentation called "Web Technology Trends for 2008 and Beyond."

View Upload your own

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

5 Things I Want in My Next Job

Being unemployed after successfully completing a contract fills me with a sequence of emotions: pride, reflection and conflict.

I feel pride because I am satisfied with having achieved the objectives of the contract. Whether 6 months, 12 months, or 24 months, I feel pride with my accomplishment.

Then I enter into a state of reflection when the last day of work arrives and I must, albeit reluctantly, start planning my next step.

And, finally, more often than not, I feel conflict, inner conflict, that is, an uneasy, nagging sense that the hard work and excellent performance I have thus far produced and delivered are not coalescing into a structured, developing career path of satisfaction and professional growth, like many of my library school peers and former colleagues now seem to enjoy.

In an effort to resolve these repetitious mixed feelings (and perhaps help others in the same situation at the same time), I put together a list of wants and needs, professionally speaking, that I want to see in any future job offer.

The list items are personalized, in some ways; but feel free to tailor them to your needs, if necessary.

Moreover, I want to hear what you think about these items. Am I too idealistic? Am I missing the point? Or am I hitting the nail on the head, so to speak?

Here they are:

1. Hired as a Professional, not as a Jack-of-all-Trades

2. Work in a University or other well-funded Institution

3. Attend Conferences, Seminars, Training Sessions

4. Work with a Team, and in a Healthy Environment

5. Work / Life Balance


1. HIRED AS A PROFESSIONAL, NOT AS A JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES

I have a BA in History/Religion and a MLIS degree, plus I have close to eight years experience working in this field, focusing on web design and content development, digital preservation research, and digitization projects. As such, I want to be hired as a professional (no, I am not the department’s “web guy”). I want to be hired because of my skills and abilities, and not because the employer needs a Jack (or Jane) of all trades who will act as a warm body in boring meetings, pitch in when there is a huge backlog, fill in for the front office administrative assistant, or troubleshoot that virus-infected, spyware-saturated public access computer workstation. No, I have heard from enough colleagues to say this practice needs to stop.

2. WORK IN A UNIVERSITY OR OTHER WELL-FUNDED INSTITUTION

An academic setting seems ideal for someone in the library and archives profession. The edenic campus grounds, the quiet library buildings, the youthful energy of hungry minds. But positions in academic settings are not easy to find. While I believe the academic environment would be perfect, I am still willing to accept a position at a well-funded institution. By well-funded, I mean an institution with sufficient resources to fund people and projects, and not just talk about them and sound hip.

I know the usual line in the library and archives field is that there is no money, there is no funding. But ironically there is money to pay for salaries of senior level staff and to fund a project or two that will make the department look good and therefore increase visibility and perhaps boost further funding prospects next fiscal year.

Listen: There is money; it is time to start using it wisely. Good professionals want to contribute, but also want good compensation (and benefits).

3. ATTEND CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, TRAINING SESSIONS

I want to attend conferences, seminars, and training sessions. I want to do so because I want to come in contact with other professionals, share and discuss ideas, form connection and perhaps fuel future collaboration. I want to be part of a greater community of professionals to learn, contribute and grow as a professional.

I want to attend training sessions—to learn something new—because there is nothing worse than professional stagnation. Any professional, regardless of field or years of experience, needs to be fed and supported by his or her institution. There are no excuses.

[Interestingly, there is a blog post by a librarian at Princeton University Libraries that discusses the issue of attending conference and giving speeches and who should cover the costs. The Princeton librarian also cites Meredith Farkas’ recent blog posts on the same topic, here and here.]

Many of us will never attain the frequent flyer miles as some of the more prominent professionals in the library field, or the opportunity to attend gaming and education conferences, or the technological ticket to attend a conference in Second Life. But as an optimist (or simply to stupid to know when to quit), I will never say never.

4. WORK WITH A TEAM, AND IN A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

Some of us like to work alone, while others like to work with a large team. I fall somewhere in between, preferring the solitude in times of project planning and welcoming a team when the time comes to execute the plan. I do not want to work any more in isolation, carrying the weight of a large-scale project. It is neither good mentally or professionally. We need each other to support our strengths and overcome our weakness. We need each other to get the job done correctly.

I also want a healthy work environment. Sadly, far too many archives offices are located below ground, in basements, in windowless rooms with poor ventilation systems. No more. Been there, done that. I need windows, sunlight.

5. WORK / LIFE BALANCE

I work hard, I put in the time required to complete the task. I know work is something we all do that consumes a large of amount time on a weekly basis. But at the same time that does not mean I wish to have my life outside the job to suffer or be limited. There is a line between work and personal life. I need to draw that all important line early on.

There it is.

Boomers and Scarcity of Library Jobs

It is a holiday today in Canada, and depending on your political, social, cultural background, it is either Queen Victoria Day, Dollard Day, or Patriots Day. For me, it is a rainy and dreary day - perfect weather, I say, to read the Annoyed Librarian. Yes, she/they is/are still blogging in spite of what seems to be a deliberate slowdown in her/their usual prolific output.

In light of my recent survey on the status of employment among librarians and archivists, whose results revealed many librarians/archivists have permanent positions (contrary to my own thoughts), I found the Annoyed Librarian's blog post, "Those Darn Boomers," rather interesting. Of course, the AL is to be taken with a grain of salt (or with a martini), but she/they usually infuse(s) her/their posts with some truth.

In the blog post, the AL argues:

• Library grads have no reason to moan and groan about the scarcity of library jobs (AL writes: "If you went to library school because you were told jobs were plentiful, then you were duped.");
• Library grads should not assume that permanent positions belong to some exclusive group (AL writes: "Some new library school graduates seem to have been under the impression that librarianship was a non-competitive field.");
• Library grads use faulty logic if they complain that boomers in the profession are the ones responsible for the library job shortage (AL writes: "Are these boomer librarians not people who deserve jobs, too?")

After many years of being in the field, roughly seven years, these are valid points. Like any other profession, there is strong competition, there are more candidates than positions, and professionals in the field with senior titles are not likely to retire any time soon. So what should one do if one still finds him or herself underemployed or unemployed?

As my survey revealed, there are still many with contractual or no jobs at all. So, honestly, what should one do??

FOLLOW YOUR PASSIONS!! (...even if that means stepping outside your comfort zone...)

God, that was hard to write. I tried to be as eloquent as the AL. But sometimes bluntness rather than eloquence is best. And more truthful, too.

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.

More Random Changes to the DA

A few changes, enhancements, modifications to the blog. I wish Google would provide us Blogger users with more, ahh, Wordpress-like templates. Blogger seems so boring, blah, basalt.

Survey Analysis

"As a librarian or archivist, what is your employment status?”

In total, 66 readers of The DIGITAL Archive responded to the survey. I want to thank them for participating and for writing comments (thanks to Heidi and the Lone Arranger for their unique comments), and to thank those who promoted this survey on their blogs.

By the numbers, the votes revealed the following:

• 44 people (66% of the vote) indicated they had a permanent position with a full benefits package;




• 9 people (13% of the vote) indicated they were unemployed;




• 7 people (10% of the vote) indicated they had a contractual position with a full benefits package;




• 6 people (9% of the vote) indicated they had a contractual position but with no benefits package

For the sake of transparency, I would be part of those unemployed.

While Blogger surveys are not formal, nor the most scientific vehicle to gather such complex information, and while my survey question had a few holes in it—I should have asked how long the respondents took to find or land a permanent position, for instance; or what career path they had chosen, librarianship or archives; or whether they were recent grads or those who had been in the profession for many, many years—I was still able to conclude that:

1. There are a large number of people with permanent positions;

2. There are still a sizeable amount of people with no jobs or with contractual jobs

I was surprised such a large number of people had permanent positions. I was really surprised. I was also surprised there were more unemployed librarians and archivists than those with contractual positions.

In reading the poll results, I also concluded, on a personal note, that I need to revise my career strategy, or more specifically, my job search strategy and then my career planning.

After 8 years in this field, after working at various locations in mainly contractual positions, each with its own share of opportunities and challenges, I still find myself no closer to a permanent position. The survey numbers reveal that there are permanent positions, but thus far these positions have remained elusive to me and the 22 other respondents.

Surveys, opinion polls, and statistics can draw different conclusions, depending on the perspective, biases of the individual analyzing the data.

What conclusions can you draw from these numbers? Were you surprised or shocked or indifferent by the numbers?

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!

Polling Closed: Analysis Soon

The employment survey is closed. But look at those results. The number of responses was larger than I expected and the results are very interesting, to say the least.

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.

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.