Monthly Archives: June 2006

IM IT (and other miscellanea)

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This morning I helped a friend install a plugin in GAIM via IM.  She was having issues understanding exactly what she was supposed to do between unzipping the plugin file and then installing what where.  It seems the folders that the instructions said should exist did not and it was all just a bit overwhelming for her. 

She started whining about being too stupid to understand and that it was beyond her.  I immediately told her to stop that.  It just makes things worse as I know from my own personal experience.  I also know quite well how she was feeling.  Much of this stuff is far harder than it should be. 

So I crossed my fingers and told her that she could do it and that we would.  And we did.  She copied and pasted the plugin’s instructions into IM and I started asking questions one at a time.  Keep in mind that I do not use GAIM, nor have I ever installed a plugin in it.  This was also on a Windoze machine that was not in front of me.  Luckily, I had one near my PowerBook that I was IMing from so I was able to work in a not completely blind state.

Taking it one step at a time, we found which user profile GAIM was installed under, switched to that users Application Data folder, created the levels of subfolders we needed, and then copied the dll file she needed into the bottom-most folder.  Then she closed GAIM and relaunched it.  We got her to the GAIM Preferences pane and (luckily—cause I am now completely "blind" at this point) she was able to tell GAIM to use the plugin she just installed.  Hoorah!

I am very proud of her, and, truth be told, I am very proud of myself, too!  I am not sure where I finally learned to be so supportive of others, but I am glad I did.  This past week during on campus, one of my LEEP buddies told me that I have a reputation with the LEEPers as the patient and friendly tech guy to go to when they need help.  As much as I have a hard time believing it, and as much as I want to believe it, it does my shriveled little heart a lot of good.  I guess I am beginning to believe it since I have heard similar things from several other LEEPers and even on campus students.  It still baffles me though, as it doesn’t fit my own image of myself.  But I like this image much, much more than the ones I already hold of myself.

So thanks to all my friends for allowing me to help them!  I hope I also (sometimes) help them with their own self-images as they help me with mine.

Yesterday in the mail I got an Erin McKeown CD, distillation, and another Ani tee, 32 flavors and then some.  These are things I ordered when I pre-ordered Ani’s upcoming release, reprieve.  I’m liking Erin’s CD and need to look into others.  I’ve liked Erin ever since I saw her during my 1st ever Birthday Month in 2001 with three other lovely young women in Voices on the Verge.  I also have their live album, which is simply excellent.  I’ve been meaning to pick up more Erin but just never quite got around to it.  So if there are any Erin fans out there, please send me recommendations on what to pick up next.  Anna, what do you recommend?

Around noon today I took the previous CDs back to Urbana Free and got 14 more.  I got 6 by the Cowboy Junkies, another Suzanne Vega, 3 by Elvis Costello, 2 by yo la tengo, Neil Young’s Sleeps With Angels, and Ry Cooder’s Chicken Skin Music.  So far I’ve listened to CJs’ The Trinity Session and am listening to Ry Cooder.  They are both excellent!

Yesterday I rented 3 movies for the weekend.  I haven’t watched any of them yet, but they are The Same River Twice, Missing in America, and Munich.

Of course, I’m also working on the Carnival of the Infosciences #42 for an early Monday opening.  I do not have many submissions yet folks.  Please send me some before 6 PM CT tomorrow.

And last, but certainly not least, do not forget that tomorrow is Father’s Day.

Which way is the wind blowing?

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…and fate is not just whose cooking smells good
but which way the wind blows

Ani DiFranco.  "slide."  EVOLVE.

Lately I have been saying that with so much to do educationally, professionally and personally that I need a paid sabbatical.  Of course, being a student that prospect isn’t too likely.  But…

…yesterday I found out that 40-some odd hours of vacation carried over from last year and now I have a tad over 100 hours of vacation to take between now and Aug. 15th.  So.  If I work my 5 hours/week doing my 2 broadcasts on Wednesdays and put in 20 hours/week during the 2+ weeks of LEEP Bootcamp in July I have more vacation than I do hours left to work.  Woohoo!  I got me a paid "sabbatical!"

Monday I’ll verify all this with the boss(es), but it looks like I am off for most of the summer!  Sweet!

Books to read.  Topics of interest to seriously research.  Articles to get drafted, written and submitted.  Tech skills to learn and apply to my long-term project.  Moving.  Crap (personal belongings) to weed out of my life, and possibly all consolidated in one (or 2; versus 3) place(s).  Rollerblading to learn.  Prep for fall classes to do.  And most importantly of all, relaxing to do.

This seems like the chance of a lifetime.  Seems I’ve caught a whiff of some mighty fine smelling cooking; now I just need to see which the way the wind blows.  Can I be productive on my own?  Will I do the things that I say are important to me?

So here’s to not "opening the fridge door looking at the mustard and the beer," to not laying down in my party dress and getting sad or stuck, to not letting my appetite steer, to quieting that "vicious whispering voice," to waking up and not "just drift[ing] in between."

"the pouring rain is no place for a bicycle ride…."  But will I make use of the clear blue skies?  Stay tuned.

I found a new job!

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21st century Bounty Hunter.

Guard your children folks!  If you have any friends who are Army retirees (and possibly other services) who are taking a new found interest in your young adult children or in you if you are a young adult, beware!

First, they asked for my help.  Now they want me to round up and sell you or your children.  [Hey Michael, I don't know if the other services are up to this too, but with your private detective skills and my knowledge of recruiting we could clean up here!  Even if it's just the Army, I'll be happy to split the profits with you.]

Just what the heck am I babbling on about?  A few days ago I received my newest copy of Army Echoes: The Bulletin for the Retired Soldier, Volume L, Issue 2, May-Aug 2006 [pdf].  On page 12 I found a wonderful little article entitled, "You could earn a $1,000 recruiting referral bonus."

Yes folks, you read that right.  It seems that Army retirees can now earn $1000 a head for referring non-prior service personnel to an Army recruiter if they enlist in the Army, Army Reserves or Army National Guard.

My government makes me ill!  When are "we the people" going to rise up and take our country back from these criminals? 

All I have to say to US Army Recruiting Command and everyone up the chain of command is "Go fuck yourself!  I will NOT be bringing you any more cannon fodder!"

Also on page 6 I found, "Attention, retired Soldiers, the Army wants you." 

Would you like to be back in boots, serve your country and help win the Global War on Terrorism?  If your answer is yes, the Army may need your military skills and grade.

Bwah hah hah hah!  It’s a complete shame I never realized how funny these people are while I was in the military.  Don’t hold your breath on either of these waiting on me folks!  Oh, wait a minute; please, do hold your breath.

Assisting others with education

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This summer semester I am broadcasting two classes and working with some wonderful folks who some of you may know. 

My first class was here on campus Saturday.  It is Administration and Management of Libraries and Info Centers (LIS505LE) and is being taught by Lori Bell (Director of Innovation) and Rose Chenoweth (Library Development Consultant) of the Alliance Library System here in Illinois.  Tonight was our 1st broadcast and it seemed to go well.

My second class was here on campus yesterday and today.  It is LIS578LE, Technical Services Functions and is taught by Steve Oberg, Family Man Librarian.  I had a great time hanging out with this class much of the time they were here, and especially getting in a couple of conversations with Steve.  This is the class I almost took until I decided I had to have a break; so I volunteered to broadcast it.

I think this is going to be a very good class.  Lots of interesting students with diverse backgrounds.  What is really intriguing is that Steve is gently nudging them towards blogs and wikis.  There is a class wiki, class blog, and they all now have individual blogs and have been shown how to use Bloglines to subscribe to an RSS feed.  Nobody’s grade is dependent on using these tools, but they are being encouraged to do so AND given the opportunity to play instead of being forced.

I really enjoyed seeing my LEEP friends over the past several days.  I got to have some discussions, eat lunch and dinner with folks, get a handshake, hug, or back pat from folks and generally just catch up with some very interesting folks that I rarely get to see.  I even came in on my day off (Sunday) to make sure that someone took Helen to lunch for her birthday.  [I guess I have to give MySpace a small bit of credit for alerting me to the fact that it was her birthday.]

I got to know a few folks much better and I think the time I spent with my classes paid off in making many of the students more comfortable with the ‘man behind the curtain’ aspect of my job.  Just a bit of personal touch that I hope makes them more at ease in contacting me when they have tech issues, or even if they just want a lunch or dinner companion next time they are on campus. 

I loved seeing and making more friends and I miss them all already.  But I will ‘see’ many of them in the class chat room on Wednesday evenings for a few weeks anyway.

Helen, thanks for letting me join you for a birthday lunch!  And Annemarie and Dan, I had a wonderful time at dinner last night!  I can hardly wait for all of you to return in the fall; but before that I have the honor of welcoming both halves of LEEP Cohort 11 to GSLIS in just a few weeks.

I ask myself, “Is all hope lost?”

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Time for a new dream.  A new hope, perhaps.

I recently found out that the woman I’ve been building interest in is, in fact, a young woman.  Now we all know that "age is just a number."  True.  But it is a number that may well add up to meaning something important.

So what defines young, as in too young?  Well, older than my own kids is a wonderful (and required) start.  Somehow though, one year and 10 days older than my son just doesn’t seem to count.  <sigh>

Oh well.  At least I enjoy having these ‘kids’ as friends.

 

…there’s so many fish in the sea…

Elvis Costello.  "Accidents Will Happen."

Yeah, whatever!

"Back to the articles with you boy!  And quit with the dreamin’ already cause honestly, peace, love and understanding are pretty funny concepts in 21st century America."

Post title comes from Elvis Costello.  "(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding."  Both Elvis songs are on The Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions and both were produced by the inimitable Nick Lowe.

welcome to:

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welcome to the precipice between groundlessness and flight

Ani DiFranco.  "welcome to:"  evolve.

A few days ago, I wrote:

I’ve been getting involved in more things.  I have things to talk about and things to say.  Things to read.  Ideas for articles.  Conversations to engage in.  An upcoming Carnival to host.  I’m hoping that a few days before the Carnival (19th) is the day I get to leap into the ether again.  I want, no need, to soar.  I just need some breathing room.

Seems I have found a bit of breathing room, as expected.  Now to recapture the motivation and get busy.

One of the things I have (finally) gotten involved in is the local Metadata Roundtable.  This group consists mostly of some LIS faculty and some of the folks doing digital library-related work.  It is an interesting group and the topics and approaches are ones I need to know more about.  Timing just never worked for me before.  But I am really looking forward to the discussion in a few weeks about the Calhoun and Mann reports.

The catalogers at the libraries have their own Cataloging and Metadata Chat Group, which I have been attending for a while now.  I am also looking for other opportunities to focus some of my involvement.

Oh, I also finally made it to one of the Research Writing Group’s meetings.  Another thing I should do more of, especially if I start actually trying to write journal articles soon (see below).

"…[T]hings to talk about and things to say" should be fairly evident for me.  But it seems as if I’ve been quiet for a long time now.  There was a lot over the last semester (or 2 technically) that I just did not have the time to comment on.  Maybe now I’ll have more time.  I still have 4 draft posts in various states, some almost finished, that have been that way for months.  I hope to finish at least 3 of them soon.

I have lots and lots to read, and almost everything read leads to at least one more thing.  I have connections to map.  Authors to contact.  Questions to be asked.

I have a couple ideas for articles and a few ideas about where to possibly place them.  I am not ready to say much though as someone else must also be interested in these ideas. 

Conversations to engage in.  Well, I may be lonely for a bit more with so many folks running off to ALA Annual soon, but I have no doubt that it will generate many lively discussions.  I really wish I were going to Annual but I cannot.  I simply cannot afford it financially, student or not.  Knowing full well that I need to experience the good and bad of what has become of New Orleans, I also know that I cannot handle it emotionally.  First-hand experience is almost always better, but some of us are sensitive enough to some things that we do not need the first-hand exposure.  But with so much going on in my corner of the library world (LC’s SARs decision, Calhoun and other reports on the state of cataloging/catalogs, NGC4LIB, and so on) I cannot believe that I am going to miss this.  <sigh>

I am hosting the Carnival of the Infosciences for the 4th time next week (the 19th).  Please send submissions to mark [dot] lindner [at] insightbb [dot] com.  Please send submissions prior to 6 PM CT Sunday June 18th.  Next Sunday is Father’s Day, the Summer Solstice is midweek, and ALA Annual begins later in the week.  There must be something you have to say before you run off to Annual.  Remember, you are free to recommend other people’s stuff too.  This week’s Carnival will be at Ruminations.  Please don’t forget to visit tomorrow.

So.  I have found a bit of breathing room.  Time to leap into the clear blue sky and soar again for a while.  Wish me well as I step off of "the precipice between groundlessness and flight."

besides which
welcome to
taking the good stuff down off of the shelf
and welcome to
the art of conversation with yourself
welcome to
humming an unbroken tune all day long

Ani

BTW, Ani has a new CD, Reprieve, coming out 8 August.  I pre-ordered it today.  A $2 discount and I get it a few days before it’s released.

Welcome my son,

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welcome to the machine.
Where have you been?  It’s alright we know were you’ve been.

Pink Floyd.  "Welcome To The Machine."  Wish You Were Here.

I recently (and tentatively) ventured into MySpace.  Although I’ve already said a bit, and I have more at the moment, I still don’t think I have much to say yet.  Senseless, I know.  But bear with me, I’m still working on getting less addled.  But then trying to figure out MySpace is kind of senseless, or at least makes me feel that way.

I opened an account, as I said, because my son posted a comment here that he had commented on something of immense value to me at his MySpace blog.  It seemed I needed an account to see it, so the motivation was finally there. 

I did end up talking to Jeremy about his explicitly inviting me into his MySpace during Sara’s graduation weekend, but I never did get to talk to Sara about it.

I’ve have not been doing much in my MySpace account.  I only wanted it as a way to see the kids’ stuff, if allowed.  But it doesn’t really work like that.  Of course, I do have a choice.  I could completely ignore it and try to only use it to interact with the kids, but that doesn’t look like it’d work well.  Admittedly, not fully tried in practice.  Here’s how I remember my arriving at MySpace went:

"Welcome my son,…"  As soon as my account was live I already had a friend.  I didn’t even want a friend and I already had one!  Seems Tom is one of the co-founders and ‘the face of the Man.’  Within another 2-3 hours I had a request from someone to be my friend.  I was starting to worry.  At first I didn’t place who this person was [how many people do I know in Vermont?], but they were library-related so I said OK.  I finally figured out it was probably one of our LEEP students, but I was still baffled for a while.  I told you I’ve been addled lately.  [Happy Birthday (soon) H-Dawg!  And I hope to see you on campus in the next few days.]

At this point (probably evening), I post on my blog that I’ve entered MySpace.  I woke up the next day to have friends requests from Michael Stephens and my friend and co-worker, the lovely Miss E.  A few hours later, my Boltini Bingo (666-themed) partner and frequent (and highly welcome) commenter here, Jenny, sent me a request.  At some point soon thereafter, planetneutral friended me.  Luckily, it has slowed down.  Counting Tom, I have 7 friends.  [Counting Tom, sounds like a good name for a band.]  Anyway, not sure I get the whole friends thing, but it is cool to be welcomed by folks you are already familiar with from other venues.  No, I am not complaining that you all friended me!  It’s just that my conception of ‘friendship’ goes back a couple of decades and perhaps a millennia or two.  I wonder what happened to the lovely word ‘acquaintance?’  [I see that my Merriam Webster Collegiate Thesaurus (1988) gets it completely wrong.  It says that 'friend' is the primary synonym.  It also has an incorrect defintion (or very loose at the least), but at least they agree.  My Oxford American Dicitionary amd Language Guide (1999) is far better in that it refers to slight knowledge of.]

I have done a few minor modifications and finally made 2 blog posts, one of which is a tattoo survey I found at my son’s MySpace.  I chose the appellation Metadater : One who "does" metadata.  Metadater comes from a slip of tongue and mostly fingers a while back.  What are they (we)?  Metadata librarians?  Metadata specialists?  Someone suggested Metalogers to me, and they even tried Catadata… until they hit the same issue I did.  Catadata is a sweet start, but there’s nowhere to go with it and we need a broader term anyway.  So I ended up with Metadaters.  The more uppity type of Metadata Librarians can hold on to their prissy professional title, I was looking for one that covers all who work with metadata whether they have a certified library degree or not.

I’ll just have to see how the MySpace thing goes.  As much as I don’t want to have two blogs, maybe I’ll use Metadater for more of my frivolous stuff, e.g, some of the surveys and so on.  I will not be using it for most stuff, and certainly not for professional writings and such.  I find the appellation humorous for several reasons, but I really doubt many people on MySpace want to read or talk about metadata, or at least in that venue.

I just checked in this morning and I now have an 8th friend.  Yesterday, I decided to check on some of my favorite musical artists seeing as MySpace mostly started with musicians.  I found Haley Bonar and Bif Naked.  I was able to add a Haley song to my page although it looks like Haley may no longer be active in her MySpace.  I asked to be Bif’s friend although she already has almost 23,000.  See?  No one has 23 thousand friends!  I have, at least, met both of these young women and have had short conversations with them.  Bif approved my friend request and is now my ‘friend.’  Can we really talk any sillier than this, I wonder?  Anyway, I do love her music and I can now get a bit more info about her tours and such.

Also, why the heck can’t I be graduated but still attending school?  I know us ‘perpetual students’ are a supposedly rare breed, but damn it, people do graduate and start a new degree at the same school!  I wonder if I can enter the same school twice….

As I said at the beginning, I’m not sure what to say about MySpace.  It is ugly, but can be improved some.  But I certainly do NOT want those stupid ads.  Not those for products, nor those for ‘Cool New People,’ nor ‘Featured Music Video.’  I guess that only the page header ad on my main page shows to others.  I see all that other crap when I’m logged in.  Still don’t like it.  Another issue is that the greedy bastard, Rupert Murdoch, claims to ‘own’ or at least have full rights to anything one posts on MySpace.  It has been pointed out in a few places, and the terms of use appear to have changed, slightly.  This is clearly something to keep an eye on.

For more intelligent discussion of MySpace, one place to look is danah boyd’s apophenia.  Not too likely that I’ll be connecting Habermas and MySpace, but danah certainly will.  A more populist explanation of MySpace is available at the Howstuffworks article, "How MySpace Works."  It has been pointed out at a few places in the biblioblogosphere lately, but I am unable to find the posts of  the few people I saw it from.  I did bookmark it and it is easy enough to find with a search engine.  Sorry for the non-attribution and it is certainly not intentional, but that is one problem with too much information being available  in too many places.

Reference Note: The title and intro for this post was located with the wonderful (*but not perfect) The Green book of songs by subject : the thematic guide to popular music / by Jeff Green.—5th ed., expanded & updated (2002).  [*It says that this song is on The Wall.]  This is a wonderful book when making compilation ‘tapes’, and you can write in it just like you are encouraged to do in, say, your Sears List of Subject Headings.  It just may come in handy for post titles too.

Breathing freer

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As I was heading to school yesterday, I ran into Allen Renear at the local caffeine pusher and asked him about the syllabus for 590IM Info Modeling this fall.  He gave me some great advice on how to refresh my mind (or learning) before class.  I now know which textbook is staying and which one he is undecided on.  He suggested getting the one he’s definitely keeping and beginning to brush up on logic.  He also suggested digging out my Algebra text (from, oh, so very long ago) and brushing up on sets, functions and relations.  Oh, and the additional readings for the first 5 weeks are probably staying as is.  Time to get busy!  [So, which box in which storage area is my algebra text in?  Maybe my finite math book has those topics too, but where is it?]

Our last Thesuarus Construction class was held out at Pauline’s about 25 miles south of here.  We partied and mingled and had 3 thesaurus presentations.  It was a very realxing time.  I can’t believe I just said relaxing with what I’m about to say….

I had a nice discussion with someone I’ve worked with before about my current educational/work plans and they may well have some work for me in the fall.  As usual, there is the inevitable waiting to hear on the grant proposal holdup, but there are several things I could do.  The best part, hours, wage/hour, etc. are all already spelled out and accommodating to both.  Yay for possibilities!

I also asked Pauline to either put in a word for me with someone she is taking examples of our LCSH faceting to, or to just take me with her when she goes visiting.  She said she would give me a yell.  It’s good when your professors know what you want to do, either short- or long-term.

I rented a couple more movies Tuesday.  I watched one (really 3) Wed and the 2nd yesterday.  The first was Iron Weed Film Club, No. 06, May 2006 and includes The Education of Shelby Knox, Jesus Henry Christ, and Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness.  The 1st one is a documentary about 78 minutes long.  The other 2 are shorts and are btween 14 and 20 minutes.  I liked them all.  Maybe not great cinema, but interesting and enjoyable nonetheless.

According to the DVD, "Iron Weed is a new subscription film club that seeks to rally the progressive movement by championing independent movies by fearless filmmakers."

Yesterday, I watched Mrs. Henderson Presents.  I also enjoyed this one.  And before anyone points out that it was full of women’s breasts (which is certainly true), I also quite enjoyed the "token" gay guy.  I especially loved the scene where he gets everyone to take their clothes off.  Quite hilarious.  All in all, an enjoyable film.  Unless perhaps you have an aversion to female breasts.  And Dame Judi is, of course, simply wonderful.  It was great seeing her play a far more saucy role than normally.

In a couple hours, I’m heading in to school to address the Summer orientation students on the topic of ACRL@UIUC, the one and only ACRL student chapter.  Just some of the things we’ve been up to include getting a New Members discussion group started in ACRL.  Our past president, Annie Paprocki, will be heading up that discussion group.  We have also got a time slot for a program/meeting at ALA Annual in NO.  It is scheduled on Monday, 26 Jun at 10-11 AM, New Orleans Marrriott, Suite 4022. 

If you are going to ALA and are interested in attracting new members to college and research libraries, or perhaps in keeping the new ones who come to us on their own, then you might want to visit with the folks who will be there.  The tentative main topic is "ACRL Committee Appointments: How and Why?"  If you have some committee appointments to fill and would like an energetic student or new ACRL member to join you, then you may want to be there too.

See?  I’m easing myself back in to this.  Article comments coming soon.

“Stop babbling!”

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Hello World.

It really does almost feel that way with my online "community."  Well, really with most anything except thesauring.  Even work the last 2 weeks has been primarily thesauring, since my thesaur-o-mates and I were working on an integrated thesaurus for all of the tech-related support functions that will hopefully soon be built into an XML-based "knowledge base"of some sort.  As much as I distrust that concept, I’m really stoked about seeing how a thesaurus can be implemented and to what levels easily.  What’s easy?  What’s hard?  And most simply, just how is it done?  What does a full thesaurus with broader and narrower terms, related terms (and how many types of relations are there?), scope notes, history notes possibly, and so o,n look like in XML?  What schema (or DTD) are they going to use?

Sometimes, this side of my geekiness worries me.  I really have a guarded opinion of much of this automatic stuff.  Mostly, that is a philosophical and (you might allow) and religious (or spiritual) backlash to the proselytizing of some.  None of this stuff will "save the world."  But.  BUT.  We can do a lot with various automatic techniques.  Many of them amaze me (and often infuriate) me every day.  All I can say at the moment (see the post title), is it is all one freakin’ deep rabbit hole.

The other day I figured out that I’ve been feeling kind of "queasy" lately.  I put it in quotes because it only really works well (but not perfectly) for how I’ve been feeling physically.  The mentally and overall existential feelings are something else.  But queasy is close.  Maybe a "Roget’s" synonym, but not a true one; i.e., not fully and only coextensive with.  But I’ve been dealing with it very well and am quite proud of myself.

The other side of that, though, is that some things have happened over the last few "queasy" weeks that I’m not particularly proud of.  They aren’t exactly things to be ashamed of.  And with some (the most disappointing), I had no choice.  And everyone agrees.  So I feel bad.  But I’m dealing with it well.

I’ve felt like I’m mostly babbling in writing and orally.  Maybe it’s good I didn’t blog much.

Things are looking up though!  Earlier this morning I posted my last small assignments and can now go in good conscience to this afternoon’s party.  I’m now done with classes (as a student) until August.  Yippee!

Done?  Who am I fooling?  I’m chomping at the bit at so many other things.  I have so much self-directed stuff bubbling around in my head and life that I need a paid sabbatical or two.  <sigh>

I’ve managed to sneak a few articles in this week.  I have a plan to go see my wonderful friend and mentor in Normal on Monday and pick up their copy of:

Proceedings of the Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium : confronting the challenges of networked resources and the Web :  Washington, D.C., November 15-17, 2000 / sponsored by the Library of Congress Cataloging Directorate ; edited by Ann M. Sandberg-Fox.

I also need to (re)finish:

Hsieh-Yee, Ingrid. "Cataloging and Metadata Education: A Proposal for
Preparing Cataloging Professionals of the the 21st Century.  A response
to Action Item 5.1 of the "Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: A
Library of Congress Action Plan.""  ALCTS/ALISE Task Force, 2003.  The
web version, which I read, is available here as a PDF (468k).

I liked it before and still do.  Probably the best thoughts yet that I’ve seen or heard on cataloging and metadata education.  It is just that this document poses more questions than it answers in a way.  The program it outlines seems to be needed, IMHO, but how much of it is practical within the confines of current LIS graduate education?  I don’t know.  I am not pointing this out as a fault of Dr. Hsieh-Yee; she, in fact, points it out herself.  Implementatin is left up to the individual schools.  Probably can’t be any other way.

But the questions arise out of the many other initiatives or steps that she mentions that have now (supposedly) occurred.  What were the findings of that initiative?  Did that become this?  What else besides the Hsieh-Yee and Calhoun reports came out of the Library of Congress’ millennium conference?  Where is the complete Hsieh-Yee report? …

Time to do some research.

And then there’s the ideas for articles.  And the prep for (at least ) one of my fall classes.  I want to re-read some interdisciplinarity lit and maybe some social epistemology and find some new stuff.  I’d really like to go into at least one of my classes having a very good idea what way I’m heading.  And I really should check Allen’s syllabus for Information Modeling.  OMG!  I’ll be asking Allen how much of that is staying and (hopefully) getting started on it.  And I’m taking two of his classes.  :)

Of course, apartment and job hunting….

LEEP Oncampus starts tomorrow and goes for about a week.  I’ll be helping with workshops on LEEP technology, HTML and web stuff, and meeting my instructors and classes.  All of my instructors are new to me, but not necessarily to GSLIS.  I look forward to making new friends and especially to seeing my friends that I only see once a semester.   Yay for friends!

So hopefully the old (but changed) Mark is back.  I look forward to rejoining and even starting a few conversations.

"Self-directed is so much better."

Movies, past and present

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It seems that life has started down the far side of the plateau finally.  In a very small sense, I caught a breather.  That’s good.  Life was getting unbalanced.  I don’t intend to scramble down for too long.  I intend to leap into the clear blue soon and just soar down.

Only one more big assignment due in Thesaurus Construction.  We spent a couple hours on it yesterday and are meeting again tonight.  We have two of the staff evaluating it for us tomorrow morning.  Then we may or may or not make some updates, think about what we’re saying about it and its evaluation on Tuesday, and then post it in the shared space for the others to look at before Tuesday afternoon [My thesaurus team].

Movies (as in post title referents):

During my short break (the week or so before I officially graduated) I watched a bunch of movies, although I never mentioned the last three.  So, here they are:

10-12 May 2006
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Story of the Weeping Camel (Mongolia)
Dark Blue World (Czech)

If I remember correctly, I liked them in reverse order.  Memoirs was OK.  Lavish.  Watched a lot of the extras; interesting.  Camel was excellent.  Dark Blue World was also excellent.

Last night, I watched The Weather Man and today I watched Transamerica.  I wasn’t that taken with the first.  Michael Caine was exquisite, as usual.  All the main characters were well acted.  I think I just have some issues with the story morally and didactically that I can’t quite put my finger on.  Ah well.  OK for $1.50.  Transamerica was good.  I’m going to live with it for a bit before I say much more I think.  Well worth the time and $ though.  Well worth it!

I have a confession to make.  I do not use my public library much.  Yesterday, I decided to do better and went over, had a look around, and borrowed about 14 CDs (Limit of 15, 2 week checkout).  I got some Tom Waits, Duane Eddy, Marianne Faithfull, Eurythmics, Genghis Blues soundtrack, Loudon Wainwright III, Concrete Blonde and others.  I didn’t even have to work hard to find that many and there were so many more interesting ones checked out.

I have hereby resolved to patronize my public library, one of the finest in the nation actually, The Urbana Free Library.  I only have 8 of my pre-rented movies left I think, so maybe I’ll see what I can find in the way of movies too.

Anyway, just wanted to give a shout out to UFL and its wonderful staff.

One more week of Thesaurus Construction and then LEEP On-campus for Summer semester starts Friday and lasts through the next Thursday.  Workshops to help with and teach.  New instructors to work with.  Distance ed friends to see and new ones to meet.  Passwords to change.  On-the-spot tech tips and assistance to give.  One of our busiest times, although Summer’s lighter than Fall or Spring (which is mid-semester unlike Summer which is at start).  It is awesome, actually, working with these distance students.  I seem to have the best of both worlds by being an oncampus student and getting to work closely with many of the distance students.  [Note to self:  I need to remember to think like this more often; especially about, oh say, Tuesday the 13th.  ;) ]

I think I’m babbling again.  Been doing that a lot lately.  So maybe it’s best that I haven’t been blogging much.  Don’t feel too generally steady lately.  Just a bit too much going on too quickly with too many other important things just getting forgotten about, much less done.  <sigh>  There is value in undergoing this; the question is "where is the balance?"  And that I do not know.  I only know that this isn’t doable for long.

I’ve been getting involved in more things.  I have things to talk about and things to say.  Things to read.  Ideas for articles.  Conversations to engage in.  An upcoming Carnival to host.  I’m hoping that a few days before the Carnival (19th) is the day I get to leap into the ether again.  I want, no need, to soar.  I just need some breathing room.