Spent all day coding transcripts. What’s the appropriate drink with which to toast the end of the day?
Category: Uncategorized
Removing parts from the yak shaving machine
One of the goals I’ve been working on this year has been to gradually reduce the number of systems (read: networks, apps, channels, things-which-need-checking) in which I take an active role. Since my first foray into cobbling together tools like rss and bookmark managers circa 2006, I’ve long been fascinated by productivity-tech hacks. The result is that over the past decade I’ve built and habituated a number of workflows. I’m now beginning to think many of these are no longer necessary. I’m using technology less and less of late, preferring paper and pen to tools like Evernote or Dropbox. I don’t check feeds daily anymore and most of the time simply hit the “mark all as read” button in my rss reader.
With all that in mind, the latest two episodes of Back to Work have been a calming breath to my troubled mind which, despite my best efforts, still gets frequent bouts of fomo.
Still haven’t checked my email
Yesterday’s accomplishments: tried another new restaurant and KonMaried three closets. Today’s goals: try another new restaurant, visit the Museum of Jurassic Technology, and… wait for it… FINISH THE BAROQUE CYCLE!!!
Thus far on my vacation I have planted strawberries, made pickles, read half a book, watched a movie, gone swimming, tried a new restaurant, and made chicken stock. And I haven’t checked my email since Friday. For the first time in probably a decade, I’m doing vacation right.
Aletheia: I need a yoga mat.
Me: why do you need a yoga mat?
Aletheia: so I can do downward dog.
Me: ok.
Aletheia: and my booty dance.
Me: ok.
QOTD: The walléd web
“You can make the walled garden very, very sweet. but the jungle outside is always more appealing in the long term.” — Tim Berners-Lee (source: Wired)
The danger of academic elitism in libraries
One of the benefits of working for a Jesuit institution is having the opportunity, encouragement, and strategically-justified resources to engage in social justice work, both within the library, within the university, and in my community. However, having also worked within an institution where neoliberal ideals ran rampant, I understand Nisha Mody’s fear:
“But now that I am fully immersed in this deep dive, I also see the danger of academic elitism, an elitism which underpays adjunct professors and reflects neoliberal ideals. Will being an academic librarian make it difficult for me to effect change in the “real world” because I am so entrenched in academic lingo? Will lengthening my CV remove myself from applying the principles I promote? I often question if being a part of the academy will distance myself from those that are marginalized. So…do I still want to do this?”
The rest of the post on HackLibSchool is a worthwhile read and a good reminder for us old folks about the passions that drove us to library science in the first place.
Truth with a capital “t”
So long as we rely on code and algorithms to locate information, there will always be the hurdle of implicit bias. The same can be said of relying on humans.
“As long as Google has a commercial interest in appearing omniscient, it probably won’t work to improve knowledge panel transparency. That burden will fall instead to people like Taraborelli and nonprofits like the Wikimedia Foundation, which is working on an open-license, machine-readable knowledge base that will both source all of its statements and accommodate conflicting sources.”
The burden also falls to librarians and educators to teach the skills necessary for being a critical reader-researcher.
The opportunity to breathe
“The right to disconnect isn’t necessarily an obligation … but it’s an opportunity — to claim a little breathing room; to realize that the world won’t stop turning, or even producing words or widgets, without one person’s constant vigilance.”
Source: The French Counterstrike Against Work E-mail – The New Yorker
Overinvesting and “being busy”
Over the past couple months, I’ve tried to limit the amount of work I bring home. I’ve stopped staying up late every evening after the kids go to bed. I’ve stopped getting up insanely early to get a head start on email. Amazingly, I am still managing to get stuff done.
Like the author of a recent New York Times opinion piece, I could also be accused of lying to myself about how busy I am. I tend to only remember the busiest parts of the academic year–mid-semester and Finals–and forget about all the slow moments in between. I remember the days when I left the office with 20 unopened emails but forget the ones when I remained at inbox zero all afternoon.
A year ago, I would have answered “yes” to everyone of the questions in this Dear Kerry Ann article. The number of affirmative responses is down to four now.
I am growing.