Informationatrix

Goodbye Blogger, hello WordPress

2006-11-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've finally come to the conclusion that I can create a far more aesthetically pleasing and easily mutable (and I mean that in the most positive way) blog on WordPress. So, if any of the three of you I've actually shown my blog to are interested, my new blog address is: http://informationatrix.wordpress.com/.

Women of Our Time: An Online Photographic Exhibit from the National Portrait Gallery

2006-11-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

The photographic online exhibit "Women of Our Time: Twentieth Century Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery" does darn near everything that an online exhibit should do; it has a compelling purpose, it is aesthetically pleasing, and it attempts to not only show you the photographs of these women, but to give you some sense of who they were as people. The scrolling format is a little off-putting, and it would be nice if you could get a higher-resolution view of a lot of the photographs...but it's still visually very evocative. Thumbs up.

Why smart people are sometimes very stupid

2006-11-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

My new best friend, as I noted in the post below, is StumbleUpon, and, in using my new best friend (which, granted, sounds extremely inappropriate) I found this ditty of an article, titled "Why Smart People Can be So Stupid". I call it a "ditty" because it's a sort of a light romp through academic literature on stupidity. It's by no means "serious" read, but I think that's what makes it fun.

My infatuation with Firefox: part I

2006-11-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

I happened upon an article on Digg today about Firefox extensions, appropriately titled "I Want a Firefox Extension to...200+ Common Problems Solved" . Some of my favorites (I'm new to Firefox, so I'm sure this list will grow): I am a creature of habit, which is why Morning Coffee is my first choice. It does what all extensions should do; take what you already do online, and help you find a better/more efficient way to do it. You can add all of the websites that you browse daily (or daily by morning/afternoon, bi-weekly, weekly, etc.) and, when you hit the "Morning Coffee" icon in your browser, each of your selected websites will open in your Firefox browser. So handy! I'm a big fan of the feeling of serendipity that I get when "old-school" shelf browsing (which is not to say that I think the Library of Congress classification system translates well to an online environment...but that's a whole 'nother post), so I am inclined to say that I will, once I get used to it, like StumbleUpon. When you sign up, you're given a large list of very broad categories of interest (clothing, liberal politics, etc.). From these categories, StumbleUpon "randomly" selects websites according to your interests. As I mentioned before, I'm a creature of habit, both online and off, and I think this will help me get out of the online ruts that I tend to get myself into.

Pwned: USC offers a class on why DRM "pwns" you

2006-10-30T11:52:00.001-08:00

As I hope to someday work in archives and special collections, and these collections are increasingly either born-digital, electronically available, or both, the issue of Digital Rights Management has been looming larger and larger on my personal horizon for awhile now. To be perfectly honest, though, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around both the definition and the potential consequences of DRM....this isn't an issue that, to my knowledge, has been discussed at my library school, and so a lot of my information has been sort of informally gleaned from a combination of web trawling and the sites whose RSS feeds I subscribe to, a situation I'm trying to remedy. This is why I was so pleased when I noticed that one of the sites in my aggregator, Boing Boing, a self-described "directory of wonderful things" mentioned that a professor at USC is teaching a class on Digital Rights Management, titled Pwned: Is everyone on this campus a copyright criminal?". Thankfully, the article also links to the draft syllabus for the class, which looks to contain a lot of interesting reading material. The teacher has obviously taken a decidedly negative stance on DRM, so I'm doubting I'll find any attempts at a "fair and balanced" representation of information regarding DRM. However, unlike other disseminators of "fair and balanced" information, he's at least owning up to his biases, so he's all right in my book.

An informationatrix by any other name...

2006-10-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

I was going through my saved Gmail chats today, and I came across one with one of my very good friends that detailed the creation of the name of this blog. I've taken out her name, and done some cuts to tighten it up a little, but in length only. This only took up the span of about ten minutes, so, NO, we weren't slacking, we were taking our "ten". And thankfully, I don't listen to her, or the name of this blog would make absolutely no sense....as you'll see if you manage to make it to the end of our inane ramblings:

me: Oh, I forgot to ask you again...ideas for a blog name.

friend: Oh, yay!

I am no good with professional ones though.

me: Maybe not completely professional, just not unprofessional.

Nothing referencing sex or alcohol or anything.

Some sort of clever play on my name, being a beginning information professional/librarian/archivist, something like that.

friend: Fine, make me think. That takes time.

me: Hey, you said you didn't want to work.

I'm just trying to help.

friend: Here are the ones that I suggested last time you asked:

The Library Information Scientess

The Brink of Librarianship.

Informationista?

me: That's nice.

I like things that end in -ista and -atrix.

Informationatrix.

friend: That is good too!

me: What are other -ista and -atrix-y endings?

friend: -grapher

me: I could be Informationatrix (in training)

friend: -oid? –opolis?

me: I'm not a whole city! Meanie.

friend: Datalyptica

me: That makes no sense, but it sounds neat.

friend: I know!

Like apocalyptica.

me: Yes.

friend: Informationutrition.

me: Ha.

friend: Portmanteau that!

me: Yeah!

Informationteau.

friend: Informationthropomorphism

me: Yes! That's it!

Kidding.

friend: Aw, come on!

me: I'm going with informationanteau.

Because it sounds like I'm french.

Or, French.

friend: Stewart.

me: NO!

I don't want to be French Stewart!

*feet stomping*

friend:: Too bad, you are cursed now.

me: Information French Stewart?

friend:: That is pretty snazzy.

me: I think so.

Story in six words? No way!

2006-10-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

I admire (but don't usually practice) the "vigorous" brevity of language prescribed by Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Still, I was tickled to see that Wired magazine had coerced (or otherwise convinced) dozens of my favorite writers to compose six-word stories. The premise for this was that Hemingway had once written a story in six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn") and called it his best work. No disrespect to Hemingway, but I think that my personal favorite out of this bunch, Margaret Atwood's ("Longed for him. Got him. Shit!") is far superior.

Digital cameras + blog publishing = paranoid informationatrix

2006-10-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm contemplating the purchase of a digital camera...or, more accurately, I'm adding a digital camera to my Christmas wish list, as I'm currently skint. In any case, I was very happy to find this very helpful article today, which provides both a broad sketch of photographers' rights to take and publish photographs, as well as some links to other websites for further clarification. Here's hoping that knowing my rights will prevent any potential future frog-marching out of public places, having my camera taken away, or being set upon by angry librarians who only want to be photographed on a certain side.

Cleanliness is next to godliness

2006-10-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the nonist this morning and came across a very interesting image of a vintage poster, bearing the words: You may think she's just your 'gal,' but she may be everyone's pal: Prophylaxis Prevents Venereal Disease". Needless to say (well, if you know me, it's needless to say), I was curious to find out more about the site, so I did some browsing and found that this poster is part of the Social Hygiene Posters database (c. 1910-1970), which is one of many in the University of Minnesota IMAGES repository. A lot of the really interesting ones are from two parallel poster presentations from the U.S. Public Health Service in the 1920s, and they (literally and figuratively) provide vivid historical slices of life that (I believe) just aren't possible with purely text-based sources. There are a lot of other very interesting posters in there...another one of my favorites is Beware of chance acquaintances. That's right, ladies. Don't ever let a strange man take you auto-riding or to a cafè, because he might attempt to entice you into sex relations and then you'll get the clap or syphilis, get pregnant, and your child will die or be born blind. In other words, it's a vintage episode of House, M.D..

Comfortable and cute

2006-10-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

Though my blog's tagline would seem to indicate that I completely refuse to wear comfortable shoes, my real beef is with people (yes, these are mostly women, and I'm only referring to those of you without any actual foot ailments) who insist that it's impossible to find shoes that are both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. Ladies, I submit for your approval... Adorable (and mostly reasonably priced) flats: Naturalizer's horribly pun-riddled but nonetheless adorable Flatery. Cole Haan's (with Nike Air cushion built into the heel) Air Bronte Ballet Nine West's suede Edwin flats, available in several great fall colors. And, if you're feeling adventurous, your work environment doesn't require (or strongly suggest) closed-toe shoes, and you have a really kicky color of nail polish on, why not try some Steve Madden leopard print peep toes ? Or how 'bout some buttery soft chocolate brown boots from Aerosoles? I could stand all day in all of the shoes I listed...and my feet would look damn good while I did it. If you still doubt me, try some Foot Petals...they make even the three-inch (and sometimes slightly higher) shoes I wear bearable. And, if those aren't heavy-duty enough for you, Dr. Scholl's makes gel cushions for the balls of your feet. Now if I could just figure out how to remove tapered, pleated pants from the shelves of all major department stores....

When I rule the world

2006-10-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through the Smithsonian Store catalogue today, and I've come to a very important conclusion: When all of my megalomaniacal tendencies have reached their peak and I finally rule the world from my limestone cave lair (which, according to NARA, is both secure and preservation-quality), I will have the kind of study that movie super-villains do, complete with built-in bookshelves (stocked with leather-bound volumes, of course), a floor globe , dictionary stand, and the Compact Oxford English Dictionary . Also, if you are a super-villain/librarian-in-training like me, and don't yet have the dictionary stand, floor globe, or cave/lair, the Oxford English Dictionary website offers an RSS feed for its "Word of the Day."

Because "Calendar Girls" wasn't enough...

2006-10-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

The "Friends of Kingsteignton Library" in the U.K. have created a nude poster to protest the potential closure of their branch library. I could very easily interject a cliché in here...but I'll refrain. Not because I'm a lady, but because it's just too easy.

Top Ten "Do's and Don'ts" for program organizers and speakers

2006-10-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

I am the Education Co-Chair for a regional professional organization, and, two weeks ago, with the help of my fellow Co-Chair, ran the first professional event that I had ever personally planned and organized. It went very well, but (though I had a great deal of help from several important people in my life) I would have loved to have had these top ten lists as references. They're definitely going to be bookmarked on my del.icio.us page! Rachel Singer Gordon's "Liminal Librarian" blog entry "Ten Do's and Don'ts for Conference, Workshop, and Program Organizers" from September 11, 2006. Jessamyn West of librarian.net 's complementary blog post "Ten Tips for Presenters" from September 25, 2006.

Libraries are limited & obsolete

2006-10-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been keeping up to date on library goings-on in Lawrence, KS, there's a bit of a brouhaha about updates (and funding for the updates) to the local public library. On October 2nd, I'm guessing as a result of the brouhaha, the Lawrence Journal-World published an op-ed piece entitled "Libraries are limited, obsolete." There have been several responses to this incredibly narrow-minded and ill-informed (which, really, was the nicest phrase I could think of to describe it) opinion piece by: readers of the Journal-World , and the bloggers Michael Stephens and The Librarian in Black that sum up the majority of my views on this subject very nicely, and in a much more diplomatic fashion than I'm capable of, so I'll leave that to them. I do have to say that my favorite response was the much-deserved "dumbass" tag that the article received when it was listed in Fark on October 4th. Thumbs up. And the stream of fantastic PR about the state of Kansas continues.... Edited to add: Since my post, Library Journal published an article about this debate, and listed John Blyberg's blyberg.net response. After reading his blog post, I decided that, though I agree with the sentiments of the previously listed bloggers, his response gets more to the heart of the issue. Information professionals need to admit to and address the weaknesses of our profession if we can hope to respond effectively to (and, hopefully, be proactive about) public perception of who we are, what we do, and why the public should care.

Amazon offering services for libraries

2006-10-08T04:52:00.000-07:00

During my morning Amazon browsing, I scrolled down the page and noticed, under the "More to Discover" browsing section, a link called "Librarians: Order in Bulk." Since I'm off to class this morning, I don't have much time to poke around to see what's being offered, but I did notice that, not only are they willing to ship in bulk, they will actually do some library processing for their "corporate account" customers, including mylar covers and MARC records. I'm a little too much of a library n00b to have a reasoned perspective on this, but I did think it was pretty interesting. Check it out!

Connotea - Social bookmarking for scientists

2006-10-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

If you frequently do online scientific research and have any affinity for del.icio.us, you'll love Connotea. It's a social bookmarking tool modeled after del.icio.us, designed specifically for scientists by the Nature Publishing Group. Like del.icio.us, you can store all of your references and bookmarks, tag your own material, and share your discoveries with others in the Connotea community. Also, best of all, when you add a reference to Connotea, it tries to find and import the bibliographic information for you! Get an account and take it for a spin!

Beau

2006-10-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Beau
Originally uploaded by librarykatja.

Meet the neediest yet most wonderful dog in the whole world.

Yes, I know it's completely irrelevant to the topic of the blog. But look at that mug; he will not be denied. He's a star. It's his world, I'm just living in it.

The Birth of an Informationatrix

2006-10-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I'm currently a Library and Information Science student, graduating in May of 2007. This blog is primarily experimental, so please don't judge my first few posts too harshly.