Today, 6 October2011, I am attending the Digital Culture Public Sphere event in Sydney. This is part of the government consultation on the National Cultural Policy discussion paper.
Below is a CoverItLive window that is pulling in all tweets from @libsmatter during the day, plus the event hashtag #publicsphere from Twitter. If you are at the event and would like your tweets added, please let me know.
I am so, so lucky and happy. I found out this morning that I have been awarded a Mellon THATcamp fellowship to help toward my attendance at the Bootcamp part of THATCampCanberra at the end of the week. Thank you to the folk at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University who administer the Fellowship (and gave the world Zotero, too).
I have put up a couple of proposals for sessions that I am happy to facilitate during the unconference. It is really me saying “this is what I want to learn from you clever folk, please share”, so if I end up going to other sessions, that is just fine. If you read this blog and will not be at THATcamp, but would like to throw some ideas in the mix, feel free to do so in the comments and I will bring them up if the session runs.
This may be better as two topics, but many of the skills will be the same.
What specific skills do humanities researchers need to be sufficiently technologically literate to take advantage of possibilities offered by the digital humanities?
Whose responsibility is it to help them gain these skills?
What model would work to help support researchers to gain these skills? Is there a role for research institutions to provide:
Information Studies courses at universities claim to be producing graduates who are specialists in metadata, database design, taxonomies and information design. They claim that graduates will be experts in collecting, organising and retrieving digital and physical information.
What specific skills should be taught in Information Studies courses so that graduates can support the digital humanities?
How can libraries and librarians provide better support for digital humanities?
Have librarians and Information Studies departments missed to boat at becoming useful in this arena, or is there still a chance to be usefully involved? If so, what do we need to do?
The phrase “shoeboxes under the bed” is borrowed from Jo Ransom, the driving force behind Kete Horwhenua and one of my top role models about what it means to be a librarian with both heart and deadly tech skills.
This is a tentative exploration of ideas, so if anyone specialises in this, please jump in.
Official government information, historical records and newspaper articles tell part of the story of a community. The digital humanities community is working well to collect and expose this data.
Many communities have “shoeboxes under the bed” containing personal information like family photographs, recipes, memorabilia and artworks. People can be filmed or recorded telling their personal stories. Amateur historians, hobby genealogists, community arts projects, library local history collections, ABC Open are all involved in trying to capture these stories.
“Build it and they will come” models for harvesting this type of data have not proved effective. The internet is littered with beautiful looking sites with great architecture that have no data beyond the initial seeding data that was collected before grant money ran out.
Kete Horowhenua is an example of a successful site collecting many different digital formats and community metadata, harvesting the shoeboxes under the bed.
What is the best way to create a project to harvest these stories that has community ownership ?
Is there value in creating a model or guidelines to create an easy-to-implement platform for communities that want to harvest their shoeboxes? What features need to be included beside:
In a quest to be sparked into ecstatic action toward choosing a PhD topic, I am travelling interstate next week to mix with people who know much more than me about digital culture and about massaging large datasets for cultural good.
First stop, 6 October is in Sydney to be part of the government consultation on the National Cultural Policy discussion paper. Senator Kate Lundy and Minister Simon Crean are meeting with members of the traditional core arts sectors, creative industries and the cultural sector such as libraries archives and museums. How did I get to be part of it? I just registered at Eventbrite and received support from my workplace to attend. I am not going as an expert, but I am going as a someone who wants to learn as much as I can from the other participants and contribute my point of view if it is useful. Particularly interesting to me are parts of the report that emphasise using new technologies, inclusiveness and telling stories of people in Australia. The event will be livestreamed via video. If you want to contribute feedback or learn more about the discussions taking place around the policy – and I would suggest that this is an important thing for librarians to do – there are many social media avenues available right now and up to the 21 October .
THATCamp Canberra is a three day unconference for The Humanities And Technology, taking place at the University of Canberra 7-10 October . I have been meaning to blog about it for the last few weeks to encourage as many library types of folk as possible to join in. I know that there are quite a few library folk listed on the page of profiles of the campers, but I would love to see more who would like to work with me on a project to get hands dirty and build a library-y digital data-ish SOMETHING during the weekend.
I will be happy if all I do is learn from the datawonks and codingmavens who care about smooshing cultural data to tell stories. I will be especially happy to attend the Friday bootcamp sessions. Who wouldn’t want to learn about coding and mashing with Paul Hagon or work through an imaginary research project to learn more about Google Refine ?
My aim from the week – rather lofty – is to find a PhD topic that I think I can work on for six years part-time and will be happy to have people perceive me to be “expert” in. I know some of the things I am seeking in a topic. I want:
What is my “so what?” from the weekend of library conferences in Perth?.
For me it was all about energy. Transfer of energy, feeling supportive energy and observing what happens when a group of whirlwinds meet.
It was about having an opportunity to stand in front of a crowd of bright, open new professionals and transfer some of the gifts that I had received from the bosses that I won in my boss lottery. It was about trying to make them feel more able to forgive when they misinterpret what is happening, or when they are being misinterpreted.
It was watching my home viewed through Kim’s eyes as she travelled to places familiar to me, and with her camera made me look again at what I had assumed was ordinary. It was seeing Matthias and Ghylene flitting around groups of engaged and involved people – people thinking, laughing, talking and doing – and then using their cameras to capture that involvement to share with the rest of us. Involvement like Fiona, dressed as a pirate and telling us to fuck Google, doing an interpretive dance to Molly’s words during the powerpoint karaoke.
gigglesigh. (2011). IMG_8361. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/52594745@N03/6162293305/
It was seeing the oversized rainbow buttons that Suzie had printed appearing on lanyards around the conference room in support of the GBLTQ community. It was seeing many nervous presenters sit in the audience with a slight rabbit-in-the-headlights look , then sweep up on to the stage and own the space and communicate their enthusiasm for what they do each day.
It was skipping out from a session to nip to the loo – and only returning an hour or so later because I had a spontaneous unconference session with Garry under huge windows that were bowing and flexing as the storm outside ruffled curtains somehow, even though the windows were not the type that could open. It was knowing that it was fine to leave my tech gear and bag on my seat because someone kind – Theresa as it turned out – would look out for me and let me know where they were.
It was seeing how two of the people I mentor have grown and developed and are really stepping up professionally. It was one of them seeing where she was a couple of years ago in the behaviour of others, understanding how she has moved closer to where she wants to be, and clicking to understand what I have been saying all along – it is about co-mentoring.
It was taking some down time with Kate for a couple of hours in the speakers’ room as she prepared for her keynote, because we both needed some time without so many swirling words and people. It was feeling the calm comfort of Teresa and Jo when we went to dinner at the sushi train and really understood why it was great to just sit and have quiet adult conversation. It was spending a quiet day before the conference with snail across my kitchen table, studiously avoiding looking at the powerpoint karaoke and feeling not at all comforted by Sue’s confirmation that the slide sets were, in fact – “mean”.
It was hearing from David that someone had told him that he was so glad that he was a dynamic speaker – because during the conference he had seemed so calm, relaxed and laid back that they were concerned that he may be subdued on stage. It was the fabulous five minute interlude during the last session of the unconference where people who have suffered name-butchering from the rest of us let us all know EXACTLY how their names were pronounced.
It was me really testing the waters of “no” to try to push people a little further than they thought they could go. Several times when someone wanted me to step up, or lead or take charge I deliberately said “no, you can do that”. It was a conversation that went something like “why aren’t you leading more sessions, we need you there, you know so much”, with me answering “you know stuff too and you can do it just fine”… and really meaning it. It was seeing how senior and wise Mal and Con are considered by their colleagues and the delightful mix of amusement and stepping up to the mark that they both show in the role.
It was seeing my imaginary online friends in pyjamas, behind cocktails, with headcolds, strutting their professional stuff, on trains, exclaiming over the beauty of the Grove Library, laughing together and reminding each other intensely why it is that we all cluster and flow together each day whether we are in the same space or not.
gigglesigh. (2011). IMG_8301. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/52594745@N03/6162216297/
I am attending Library Camp Australia on Monday 19 September. As a notetaking archive I am setting up a CoverItLive feed of my @libsmatter tweets each day. I am also adding in all tweets using the #libcampoz hashtag and all tweets from the @libcampoz Twitter account (with their permission).
I will activate each window on the morning of the day and hope to remember to close it at night. Press on the grey “play” button to see what is about to happen/is happening/has happened .
You may find it useful too 
Today I presented a keynote at the New Libraians Symposium in Perth. It was all about seeing yourself more clearly because if you want change in libraries then you will need to work on the only things that you can change – what you do, say and think.
The talk was recorded, so I will put a link on this post when it is made available. In the mean time, here are my slides from the talk. Like most of my presentations, they are synced with what I say and do not make much sense without me there talking as well. The Hidden rulebook: building bridges not banging your head against a brick wall.
I am attending the New Librarians Symposium 5 between Friday 16 September and Sunday 18 September. As a notetaking archive I am setting up a CoverItLive feed of my @libsmatter tweets each day. I am also adding in all tweets using the #nls5 hashtag and all tweets from the @nls5 Twitter account (with their permission).
I will activate each window on the morning of the day and hope to remember to close it at night. Press on the grey “play” button to see what is about to happen/is happening/has happened .
You may find it useful too
My Library Camp Australia tshirt arrived last night:
Then at Sam Hughes’ session opening the New Librarians Symposium, we all sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Twinkle Twinkle New Librarians.
I am attending the New Librarians Symposium 5 between Friday 16 September and Sunday 18 September. As a notetaking archive I am setting up a CoverItLive feed of my @libsmatter tweets each day. I am also adding in all tweets using the #nls5 hashtag and all tweets from the @nls5 Twitter account (with their permission).
I will activate each window on the morning of the day and hope to remember to close it at night. Press on the grey “play” button to see what is about to happen/is happening/has happened .
You may find it useful too
I am attending the New Librarians Symposium 5 between Friday 16 September and Sunday 18 September. As a notetaking archive I am setting up a CoverItLive feed of my @libsmatter tweets each day. I am also adding in all tweets using the #nls5 hashtag and all tweets from the @nls5 Twitter account (with their permission).
I will activate each window on the morning of the day and hope to remember to close it at night. Press on the grey “play” button to see what is about to happen/is happening/has happened .
You may find it useful too
In the first half of this year I was unit coordinator for three units – Introduction to Libraries, Public Librarianship and Information Management Technologies. Each lot of lecture notes is around 3500 words, with a few sitting at 5500. Some of the material had not been given a thorough going-over in a long time- some week’s topics had no notes at all, some were so outdated that I did not think it was exactly ethical to release them without a lot of research, updating and rewriting. (Honestly, I purged some material that had been topical – and I remembered being on the course – when I took one of the units over 20 years ago. Australia Card anyone? ).
So – three months of reading and editing – or totally rewriting – about 9000 words per week. Enough to dry up any blog-juice I might have had left over.
This semester I only have about 100 students in a single unit – Information Management Technologies, spread over 4 months with half the cohort starting 6 weeks after the first lot. So – now, a year after starting this job, I have more time to look at the research writing part.
I am currently working on:
Probably procrastination, but I have been experimenting with these three tools.
I use the iPad version of Popplet. It is a bit like mind-mapping software, but more for drawing out the relationships between ideas. One can create little boxes (popples !) and link them to others. The boxes can contain words or images or movies and can link to a number of other popples. It is a great way to group like ideas and see how they interrelate. You can flick each box around the screen with your fingers and easily rearrange them. Here is a schematic map I made when I wanted to work out how specific examples of library hacking matched general computing examples of hacking – and what the common features might be:
The beta stand-alone version is now available. I gave this citation management tool a burl this morning. I think that it fills a gap for people who do not use Firefox as a preferred browser, or who are often not connected to the internet. Only one version of Zotero will run at a time with the same database, so I have to close Firefox to use the standalone version. Not so useful for me.
Zotero itself has taken the place of any social bookmarking like delicious or diigo. Con and I used it to collect references for our VALA2010 paper over the last couple of months – just adding to a shared group library. We read through and tagged these references and pulled out useful quotes, so now as we write up the paper, we just click on a tag and instantly have a list of references on that topic.
Scrivener is a tool designed for long-form writing like novels, screenplays and theses. I am trying it out for our VALA2010 paper. I found the text-heavy one hour tutorial invaluable for understanding how it works.
Scrivener Organising It lets me divide the paper into “chunks” and work on just a single chunk. I can then see the chunks represented as index cards on a pinboard and rearrange the sections into an order that suits me. Con and I have divided up the headings for our paper. In Scrivener, I have made cards for each of my headings, but then subcards where I can work on individual paragraphs that I may want to shift around. When I am happy with the order, I can then choose which bits I want to sew together, arrange it and export the whole lot into something like WORD for a final tidy up.
Scrivener Storing Scrivener also allows an author to store, organise, access and notate documents relevant to the work, like pdfs, audio files or video files. So if I had 20 key references I could store them in Scrivener. I use Zotero for this already. I can understand, however, someone who wanted to keep track of characters or events in a novel using this extensively.
A bit of a deal-breaker is the lack of easy integration of Zotero with Scrivener. It is understandable that, with a much smaller user-base, there is no plugin written for Scrivener like there is for WORD. It would be great to be able to drop references in-text and have an automatically generated Reference List. Elizabeth Goodman has written a workaround for Integrating Zotero and Scrivener for citation management , which I aim to try out in the next couple of weeks.
Young Adult novellist, Justine Larbalestier blogged last week about how she used Scrivener to write her award-winning novel, Liar. Scrivener’s functionality is clear in her account of how she used the program to make sure she kept to her structural pattern of “Before”, “After” and “Backstory”.
Scrivener started as Mac-only software, but there are now beta versions available for Windows and for Linux . It is shareware that costs around $45 after the first 30 (nonconsecutive) days of free trial.
Where have I been? The last few months have been the biggest gap in posting since I began this blog.
I have been getting back into writing and learning. You would think that this would mean a spike of entries in my blog as I tried to hash things out and explored ideas. So would I – but it did not happen that way.
So, the next two posts are about where I have been with writing and learning.
(I am still creating a daily image over at Flickr if you *really* want to stalk me )
Thanks to my friend David from Canada, these arrived in the post on Monday:
DRM is Digital Rights Managment – the technical “wrapping up” of electronic content in its formatting so that only some devices or users can access it. It is a way to apply to easy-to-copy-and-distribute digital objects “ownership” models that suit hard-to-copy-and-distribute physical objects.
My major problem with DRM is that it locks up cultural growth and creativity in a way that is very hard to technically archive or preserve. It stops sharing – not just sharing via piracy, but the type of sharing that communities have for years entrusted their libraries to facilitate.
This cartoon from Randall Monroe’s xkcd, Steal this Comic, explains the problem very well:
The image on the “Librarians against DRM” buttons was created by artist Nina Paley for Readersbillofrights.org. The site has been set up to raise awareness of the issues around ebooks when considering the right to read – and to invite critical examination and discussion of this. There is a bibliography of further reading and a readers’ bill of rights for digital books section of the website. It is also interesting to check out the site to see that the ways they are communicating – no Facebook page,for example – match their commitment to the free and unrestricted flow of information.
Nina Paley – an advocate for author-led distribution models – is interesting in her own right. To be the subject of an entire other blog post, I think.
Relaxing #blogjune weekend continues, and so does this week’s video blogging.
Sunday morning coffee at our local farmers’ markets – solo singer with guitar, coffee, garlic seedlings, locally baked bread, market stalls, breakfast tables in 30 seconds Sunday Morning Coffee.
Post number 18 for #blogjune 2011.
Again this year I am participating in Blog Everyday Of June . Follow the link over to Libraries Interact to see who else has committed to making one post each day on their blogs this month.
This blog has had only 56 posts since June last year – about twice as many as I did for all of June 2010. Time to get noisy again.
Khazov, A. (2011). June iPhone Calendar 2011 – Rus. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/45991448@N06/5759498818/
You can see below in reverse chronological order what I blogged about last June – my cat (by request), the new Grove Library, ebooks, using WordPress, the future of public libraries … sounds like me…
Post number 1 for #blogjune 2011
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