Finding the Sweet Spot

Funny the way Twitter takes over your media life.

When I look out on the blogosphere, there are some people that are full fledged, all the time bloggers. People that blog often and have a great deal on a regular basis. Steven Bell, Michael Stephens, Meredith Farkas.

I have never been like these people. I am an occasional blogger. I, like many bloggers, MEAN to blog more often. I have many blog posts I MEAN to share or thoughts on our profession that I share all the time with Andy and other co-workers but rarely do I find time to sit down and get it all out on my computer. And admittedly, I feel guilty about it. Lately, I even ask myself if I should maintain my blog at all. This, in part, is because of Twitter.

I've had an interesting path with Twitter. Initially, I didn't get it. I didn't see the point. And I was philosophically opposed to condensing communication to 140 characters or less. And I still do have reservations about encouraging communication to be so brief. But Andy, my partner in crime at Champlain and generally awesome soul that he is, as usual, helped me see it in a new light. My experience at ACRL and LILAC helped take me from observer in Twitter to participator. And now, I find myself in Twitter more than I ever expected. And not just Tweeting about the weather. But asking questions and getting responses within seconds. For example. yesterday I asked how librarians are teaching RefWorks? Five minutes, six tutorials and three info sheets later, I have some excellent ideas and templates for what could do at Champlain. Another example is keeping track of issues. Whether it be the Iran elections, Information Literacy, or what's shaking in Burlington, Twitter lets me track it easily, quickly, and instantaneously. And that has taken me away from my RSS feed.

Don't get me wrong. I still read many articles, blog posts, and journal articles that are through RSS, references, citations, or referrals. But the point I am making is that my input and my output is shifting. I get information in a new way and I share information in a new way. I tweet an awful lot more than I blog. Yes, a lot of that has to do with how much time it takes to construct a 140 character tweet. But, I find myself wanting to share and see. What interests other people? What gets re-tweeted? What gets a response? While I have never felt the need to blog for others, blogging can be a lonely endeavor while Tweeting is an amazing communal one. Increasingly I find I work well with both. I appreciate the quiet of my blog. I appreciate the opportunity to go back and review what I've said. Even as I've been writing this post, I look back at my blog and realize how long I've been blogging and how much I have thought through things here. But on Twitter, I appreciate the ability to share without the added pressure of annotating and reflecting, or at least doing so very briefly.

So where am I? Where does this leave me in terms of my blog and my media? Thinking about how they intersect and diverge more than before. Certainly thinking about how I can use them effectively and interestingly in teaching. But also realizing the purpose and importance they both have for me. It does not need to be one or the other. There is a sweet spot to be achieved. And I am just starting to sort that out for myself. It has taken me a while and some experimentation to even come to that space. But I think that's what the whole "Exploring New Technology" thread has always been for me. It's been a chance to roam through these new and exciting things for someone who doesn't experience a great deal of techno-lust but is just a generally curious person who wants to try new things and see what they can do. It's always been about finding the sweet spot.

Maybe I will keep the blog after all. I'd forgotten how cathartic it can be. How refreshing. How sweet.

Wonderful

As a librarians, we don't often have the same gratification as professors. I feel fortunate to work at a small college where I form close relationships with a number of students. But sometimes, they don't come around to share their achievements. And while you see them succeed, our role is often more in the background than front and center.

But sometimes you do have moments when you see someone take something you introduced to them and take off. A close friend and colleague of mine recently did this with blogging. Gary travels a great deal for our college and a few years ago, I encouraged him to start journaling his travels on a blog so that his friends and family could share in his experiences. Who knew that he would take it so deeply to heart. As I read his blog today, while he is galavanting from China to the UAE to Austria to Turkey, I am amazed at how much of the world I see from his posts.

It's wonderful to see so much from so far away through a tool like blogs. And to see someone embrace something so fully as Gary has embraced his blogging. It's a special thing.

Social Media, Iran, and You

It's an amazing time to be paying attention to social media. Over the last three days, Twitter has been one of the only places where accounts of the protests are coming in. The #iran and #iranelection have been blowing the mainstream media out of the water! People, USERS, are sharing content and building community at an unprecedented rate. All the terms we read about (social media, user generated content, read write web) are typified by this moment.

I can hardly peel my eyes away.

Here are a few articles and blog posts I've been putting into de.licio.us about it:
*The Inquisitor's piece is excellent in giving some context to how social media is over throwing some traditional media outlets.
*Excellent coverage from the New York Times on social media's role. To my mind, they are setting themselves apart with an article like this.
* The Huffington Post is doing great work on their blog. The Post at 2:42 am on 6/17/09 draws an excellent comparison to the Chinese's efforts to quell protest around Tiananmen. My only complaint here is that it is past tense. My excellent friend and mentor, Rob Williams, just returned from three weeks in China during which he and his team of mobile journalists were unable to Tweet, blog, or upload content as the Chinese "celebrated" the anniversary of Tiananmen. Their blog, China Mojo, is well worth reading for a variety of reasons. Check it out.
*Mashable has done an excellent job explaining what's happening on the social media scene and inciting action:

Social media comes fast, and because of that, the information can be overwhelming. Use filters and tools to help you understand what’s happening in real-time. If you’re looking for background on the situation, get yourself up-to-speed using Wikipedia (Iranian presidential elections 2009 and 2009 Iranian election protests are being constantly updated).
Finally, if you want to help bring awareness to the situation, then share! Share the videos you find via Twitter, blog about the situation, email your friends: everybody can play a part in this new media ecosystem.

So share, post, Tweet. This is an exciting moment for social media and a tipping point for the people of Iran.

What I'd like to see. And you?

As you may know, I am an ACRL Legislative Advocate. I was recently asked to share some of the actions I have taken in the past year and what suggestions I would make. Below is the letter I sent:

As the ACRL Legislative Advocate for VT, I have been in contact with my senators and congressman (we only have one!) a number of times on behalf of ACRL. I have also posted on my blog and Twitter asking people to reach out to their representatives as well. I have also spoken on the phone with aids and staffers at Senator Saunders and Senator Leahy’s office on more than one occasion particularly in regards to Copyright, LSTA, and general support for libraries.

I would love to continue as a Legislative Advocate but I do have a few recommendations for really making this program more effective and targeted to ways that fit ACRL’s mission. Perhaps first and foremost, contextualizing issues in terms of ACRL. While your team has been tremendously supportive and informative, there have been a number of times when I wonder how the steps we are being asked to take impact college and research libraries? Is there a way to make the connection between the goals, needs, and expectations of higher ed libraries and those at the legislative level more explicit?

I would also love to see more active participation of this program in social media outlets. In the age of Obama, social media is a powerful force for engaging our communities (particularly information professionals) around issues and mobilizing. Can we invent a hashtag for ACRL Legislative Advocates on Twitter that allows us to share information more readily? What social media are our representatives paying attention to and how can we leverage our adeptness for technology to make a greater impact? Believe me, I live in a state where I still get a person and a person who is local and interested in what a Vermonter has to say. But I am not sure that is the case in states with larger and broader constituencies.

Finally, is there a way to deepen the community of ACRL Legislative Advocates? I don’t know a single other advocate and while I recognize that there have been a number of opportunities to meet face to face, in a time of slashed budgets, are there ways to connect, brainstorm, and coordinate successfully virtually?

I would be more than happy to discuss these idea with you.
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity and for the excellent work you are doing. I am proud to be a part of this endeavor.

What suggestions might you make for ways ACRL Advocates could engage more fully with our representatives? What ACRL issues do you think need hearing at a higher level? As an advocate, it is my responsibility to put your concerns and issues out on the table. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

What am I doing this summer

Rudy posted this meme yesterday and I applaud her and anyone else who is posting their projects. But I am going to take a slightly different take on this meme. Rather than write about what I am doing for the Library, Info Lit, or Champlain, here's what I am doing this summer for myself!

* Gardening. I had a terrific conversation with David Silver last week and gardening was one of the topics of that conversation. He has some terrific pics up on Flickr of his garden and he asked me why I don't post more pictures. I didn't have a good answer so I went home and took some on the spot: This is one of our three vegetable beds and this one focuses largely on leafy greens. I am a pretty aggressive gardener and we just finished a terrific weekend in the garden so I will try to post more pics. And thanks, David, for reminding me one of the cardinal rules of blogging: blog the whole you. In the summer, my attention really does shift. I think I spend so much of the school year at my computer, in the classroom, in meetings, and thinking about logistics or lofty thoughts. It's refreshing and wonderful to ground down, to get dirty, and see the results of your labors. Or eat them.



* Reading. I am a voracious reader. Or I used to be. This being a meme, I remember this post into reading a the beginning of the fall semester. Sadly, with all the work I do, my reading has really suffered. NOT ANYMORE. This summer, I am reading. In the garden. I just finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. And I am now on to Eva Luna by Isabelle Allende. What else is on the list? Here's the stack at the library, waiting to be checked out:

Please notice: this is all reading FOR FUN. I also have a stack of articles and books for the library that I have going. But it is the reading for fun that makes me feel like summer is really here and I am meant to enjoy it.


*Being outside, preferably with Rigi. In case you didn't know, I have a German Shorthaired Pointer named Rigi (pronounced REE-GEE, with a hard G). In the summer, I bring him to the office on occasion. Here he is at work last Friday:
I love how the quiet summer and the relaxed atmosphere at my library allows me to bring him into work with me a bit more. It makes the work day so special. While he does well at the office, this is a dog that is meant to be outside. And I hope to spend as much time with him outside as possible. Burlington is incredible in the summer. Between the Lake, the music that comes to town, the outdoor cafes, and then all the things that take place out on the trails, Rigi and I will be out there enjoying it (with my husband too!).


So, while I have a lot of work to do, I am also focusing on one of the best parts of this time of year: the time to not work. The time to rejuvenate and recharge. So while I'd love to hear about your projects, planning, and preps for the year to come, what else do you have up your sleeves for the summer? What are you doing for yourself?

Why do we cite?

I spend a lot of time talking over the last three weeks talking about citation and documentation with faculty. What is it that we want our students to be attentive to: correctly identifying and attributing someone else's idea or citing a source correctly. Don't get me wrong. Both are important. But in the grand scheme of things, I am more interested in talking to students about documentation, attribution, plagiarism, and intellectual integrity than talking to them about MLA or APA. Styles seem like the cherry on top (did I just equate citation styles to the cherry on a sundae...I did. That happened.)

I guess this is where I remember arguments in ontology and want to parse our what we mean by citations and documentation.

Here's a first go:

Documenting is really about giving credit where credit is due. This is a tough one for students who are just starting out and I think that is worth really thinking about. It's difficult to remember what an 18 year old who is new to college, let alone college writing or research, is taking in on any given day or assignment. At times, I wonder if the expectations we make for students in their first year assignments are truly setting them up for success. When it comes to documentation, the key point is that a student can identify an idea as their own or as someone else's that they are building on. It is, essentially, providing evidence.
This gets into why do you provide evidence and how.

Now we get into citations.

The real question is why do we really cite anything?

The answer that I’d like to advocate for is that citations are the most consistent way of sharing information. We cite because we have information we see as worth sharing. Citations aren’t just to prove your point. They aren’t even about being a part of the scholarly community. With so much information in the world, it’s about SHARING that piece, that piece that did something you wanted, needed, or made you think. That piece that stood out. That piece that was relevant and valuable to the questions and issues you are exploring.

Once we have a handle on what needs to be cited and why it should be cited, then we can get to that final layer: how we cite it. APA, MLA, AMA, IEEE. In the end, the important thing is that the information is findable. All key components are present.

This is my philosophy on citations and documentation. To my way of thinking, there is not a real good reason to teach one style over another. Students are using web-based citation tools whether we like it or not (more on our hunt for one of those in a forthcoming post.) There is a good reason though to talk to students about why it is an important thing to do. There is a good reason to talk to students about what they can get from these "stupid citations". Perhaps we could bring it back to the most basic of lessons: sharing. We are sharing information with one another every day in many different ways. Citations are a way to do it in writing so I can FIND what you found.

And then comes the hard part: teaching this in the classroom. Any ideas?

Back in Action, Taking Action

I am back from vacation and putting on my ACRL Legislative Advocate hat. This is a call to action by any of you librarians, educators, or concerned citizens out there to get in touch with your Senators to ask for their support of the Library Services and Technology Act. (Find their contact info here).

Please contact your Senators and ask them to sign the "Dear Colleague" letter being circulated by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI)
and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in support of funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program.

The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) is the only federal funding program exclusively for libraries. LSTA offers a variety of competitive grants available to librarians: The 21st Century Librarians Program; The National Leadership Grants; and the Native American Library Services: Enhancement Grants. Around the country, knowledgeable librarians use the flexible LSTA funding to help patrons access essential information on a wide range of topics. They offer training on résumé development; help on web searches of job banks; workshops on career information; links to essential educational and community services; assistive devices for people with disabilities; family and youth literacy classes and services; homework help and mentoring programs; access to government information; a forum for enhanced civic engagement; summer reading programs and much more. These are essential for libraries survival in these challenging economic times when our communities need library services all the more. LSTA funds help libraries provide persons of limited financial resources or who live in remote areas, access to books and reference materials, computers and the internet, and community-based social services that are often available nowhere else.

The deadline for supporting this legislation is MAY 14th!

While I did the normal thing of sending an email and filling in an online form asking for Senator Sanders and Senator Leahy's support for this legislation, I also called their offices. And let me tell you that the response I received was encouraging, friendly, and supportive. The people I spoke to appreciated my taking the time to call rather than just email. They appreciated my having some information at hand (like the deadline). So do what you can, put if you can pick up a phone as well as send a message, THANK YOU!