23 Things Kansas--sharing photos

 It's a little chaotic with the photosharing--there's so much out there. Here is my "Photostream": http://www.flickr.com/photos/ems_flash/  Just have the pups up right now. Trying to get the hang of searching. There are so many "cute dogs" that I can't find them right now. I guess on to RSS now ...

How are the X-games like a library?

Some of my colleagues have already heard me talking about this week's X-games (check it out at: ESPN). If so, or if you're reading this and you know me at all, you also now know that I'm a big fat liar, as I've often said that I'm not into sports at all. X-games isn't so much like watching sports, though; it's more like watching magicians. So here's how X-games is like working in the library:

Radical performance measures (did you see that cool spike measuring the big air?)

Performance measures work together: it's not just how high or how many but how you're stylin' If you do three massive tricks but ultimately fall on your face, you still have to get up and go again to reach the podium.

Friendly competition and camaraderie.

The successful are magicians, but even to participate you must have the courage to risk a fall.

23 Things Kansas--Online meetings

For week three in the program, we're doing online meetings. I admit that online meetings have been part of my job for many years, since I formerly managed a satellite office for OCLC. So, I'm now beginning to look at the online meeting more from the point of view of a presenter (although I've not yet been a presenter at an online meeting). It may be useful later for our consortium.When exploring some of the online meetings available on the lists, I found one that doesn't seem to work anymore (which will be a good thing for me to avoid as a possible presenter). 

Because of 23 Things Kansas, I discovered both WebJunction Online Conference in Feb. and The Kansas Creativity Group (which was in Sept.). I knew about WebJunction, I had an account, but I guess I needed the structure of 23 Things Kansas to get me going. I knew this would be a good idea!

Information tsunami

In library school, and before for that matter, we talked about "information overload." One of the primary reasons I believe that I am a librarian is that I don't have to "pick a topic." Honestly. It's one of the reasons I followed art, and one of the reasons I studied poetry. And one of the reasons I stayed in study hall in sixth grade when other kids were playing baseball. I figured that any information I encountered would be fodder for my development. All topics, all the time (although I guess baseball was down on the list). When I hesitated to dive into the deep end of the swimming pool, I never hestitated to dive into the information tsunami without a surfboard.

But here's the deal; my path is motivated by my passion about a particular topic, and I don't put a lot of limits on that topic (limit passion?). Where's the reason? Reason is by definition dispassionate. But I consider myself a very reasonable person.

In the information tsunami, how do you balance passion and reason? How do you find your path? Is it linear? What shape is your path? Is your career guided or pushed by the information tsunami? Are you a surfer or a swimmer (or a diver)?

Week One: Blogging

What does "Week one: Blogging" mean? I am participating in "23 things Kansas" to get myself kickstarted in social networking etc. http://www.23thingskansas.org Although I started my blog last semester, there hasn't been a whole lot of networking here yet :) and I'm still really getting my feet wet. Although I have a beginning knowledge of some of the tools we'll be using in 23thingskansas, I'm really clueless about some of them. Blogging seems to me second nature in some ways and radical in others. The most radical is the activation of the internal censor in a journaling venue. I'm used to off or on--full throttle, uncensored journaling or none at all. Just have to find that middle voice ...

eM's Web--What is it?

So, here we are in 2010. I promise to write my blog; I promise to write my blog; I promise to write my blog (I'm pretending this is a chalkboard). I'd say now "All kidding aside ..." but, although this will be mostly a professional blog, I can't say all kidding will be set aside. They say that a blog should have a theme to be successful. However, I tend to get claustrophobic with too narrow a view, so the theme is very broad--the "information planet," or the "information universe" or "information and society." "eM's Web" is my brain on the information universe. I'd be happy to have you visit sometime. And, yes, as you can probably tell, I am kind of new to The Blog. Here's a little list of topics that might show up here:

Cataloging--specifically: metrics in cataloging and measuring outcomes of technical services; psychology of detail-oriented jobs; how best to teach cataloging in a way that reveals how much fun it is and keeps it fun.

Graphical information transfer; the information transfer cycle (which I love); aesthetics; communication theory; anything about art or science or nature and information transfer in art or science or nature; measuring student outcomes in the university; mind mapping; interesting new teaching methods; cognitive theory.

I first studied art, then literature, then information science, so you might see where a lot of this comes from. And, I think I'll keep blogging on these books, as what I'm reading always get smushed into this big Web in my head, sometimes creating semi-truth and mythology, and sometimes, well maybe most things are semi-truth and mythology after all, depending on your point of view. See? The Web is tricksy and water flows right through :)

What I'm reading--Oct. 2009

Justinian's flea : plague, empire, and the birth of Europe / William Rosen.

Heavy on the history; light on the Plague. I am learning a bit about Justinian, and very interesting bits about Belisarius, who was quite the effective general. Nicely written. Proof? I'm still reading it, despite the Roman-this and Visigoth-that. Pretty good for this author's first book.

Yeah, why did I start my blog with this? No idea ...