Empowerment

Getting Net Neutrality Right Talk Recap

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Net Neutrality: it’s a hot topic and buzzword phrase in the news right now. But how much do you really know about Net Neutrality? It’s a fascinating, important, and complex issue that deserves careful consideration. Luckily for those of us who live in the Bay Area (and could make it to Berkeley last night), we were treated to a talk on Net Neutrality by Richard Esguerra (staff activitst) from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that works to protect people’s digital civil liberties. It was a great talk, even with some rather crazy technical issues, sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter of SLA. So I thought I’d try to share the highlights with you.* (If you just want the bare bones executive summary, skip to the end of the post.)

So without going back to the very beginning of the Internet and making us sit through hours of history lessons, Richard gave us “Internet Architecture Lite.” The most important concept is the “end-to-end principle” which, in simplified terms, means that most of the control, processing, and changes to packets of information (the requests sent over the Internet for data, webpages, etc.) should only occur at the ends of the process. So if you request a website by typing the URL into your browser, there should not be changes made to that request as it is sent through the various nodes as it is routed to the server that can serve up the website page. Control and processing should reside with your computer (one end) and with the server that is fulfilling the request (the other end). Thus the “end-to-end principle.” Net Neutrality could then be seen as the transferring of the “end-to-end principle” into a law or policy requirement, as Richard explained later.

But first we have to talk about a very important Supreme Court Case, National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services. (Trust me, this is important). This ruling decided basically that cable companies were not telecommunication services and therefore not subject to the same regulations. While telecommunication services, such as AT&T, have to let competitors use their infrastructures for reasonable rates, information services do not have to follow this regulation. Brand X, an Internet Service Provider (ISP), wanted to rent infrastructure from Comcast in order to run Internet service over Comcast’s cable infrastructure like other ISPs use different companies telephone lines to provide DSL service. Due to this ruling Comcast did not and does not have to let competitors use their infrastructure which is why if you want cable internet, you pretty much only have one choice of service provider.

After this ruling, the FCC issued a Broadband Policy Statement that had four clauses that became part of the foundation of Net Neutrality. In order to preserve open internet, consumers should have:

  1. access to the lawful internet content of their choice
  2. the ability to run applications and use services of their choice
  3. the ability to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network
  4. the right to competition among network providers.

All of this sounds good, but as Richard pointed out there is a major problem with the FCC issuing a policy out of basically thin air. Who ever gave the FCC the power to make and enforce such a policy? The story gets even more interesting when independent research by the EFF and Associated Press showed in 2007 that despite Comcast’s denials, it was actually throttling BitTorrent (it was denying requests for BitTorrent downloads on its infrastructure). This brings us full-circle back to the “end-to-end principle,” which Comcast wasn’t following as it was filtering and denying requests by users who wanted to use BitTorrent to share files. Now obviously ISPs need to have some ability to manage network traffic, so we get into a gray area of what is “reasonable” network management. The FCC ruled that Comcast needed to stop blocking BitTorrent traffic in 2008 and Comcast challenged the ruling.

Because of this, the court ruled in April 2010 that the FCC cannot enforce broadband policy. This nullified the FCC’s Broadband Policy Statement, which it had just expanded in late 2009. This leaves us in a bit of muddle because there is no clear way forward and no one wants to see an internet that is tiered like the graphic shown below:

Tiered Internet Service

Tiered Internet Service

From CrunchGear

So why is all this history important? Because, as noted before, we are in a quandary over how to proceed. Currently there are four main options put forth as the way to Net Neutrality:

  1. Reclassify broadband as a telecommunication service so it falls under more regulation
  2. Partially classify broadband as a telecommunication service
  3. Genachowski’s Third Way: the FCC would have regulatory control over certain, select bits of broadband
  4. Congress should pass a Net Neutrality law (which would probably give regulatory authority to the FCC

As you can see, there isn’t any clear path and any path to Net Neutrality has potential problems such as: Congress moves slow and has the potential to be swayed by special interest groups, giving the FCC more power might lead to “regulatory capture” where the FCC is eventually steered by the very companies it is supposed to be regulating, etc.

Summary
In short, Net Neutrality is a super-important, pressing issue and the implementation of Net Neutrality is so much more complex than I thought it was before the talk. There are so many areas of grey and lots of issues surrounding free speech, civil liberties, copyright, fair use, creative works, and innovation that I really hadn’t considered. I think, if nothing else, a safe lesson to take away from last night’s awesome talk is that everyone should have a healthy amount of skepticism about any plan about how to implement and regulate Net Neutrality. Stay tuned for further developments and check out the section on the Deeplinks blog about Net Neutrality.

Have a fantastic rest of your week. I’ll be blogging from Internet Librarian this coming week, so don’t be surprised to see many posts about conference talks and cool technology to use in the library.

*Any mistakes or inaccuracies in the history or technical aspects are mine and probably due to my hastily scribbled notes from last night and definitely not attributable to Richard of the EFF.

Balancing

/ dwakimoto

Do you ever think about balancing? And while you’re pondering that question, I have another one for you: how do you define balance? When you hear the word “balance” what does it bring to mind? Work-life balance? A balanced ecosystem? A balanced checkbook? Harmony? Balance is a hot topic in the library world right now, even if few writers actually use the term. We are trying to balance service to our patrons with acknowledging that we cannot do everything with smaller budgets and overworked staff. We try to balance fostering a personalized learning experience for our students with ever increasing class sizes. Balance, in other words, seems to come up most often when we are talking about systems, people, lifestyles that are out of balance. So today I’d like to write about a few different types of balance and a few technology tools that may help with your productivity so you can attempt to find balance in your work and life.

This issue comes up at my library when people talk about workload issues, especially when we talk about our teaching load. I always find it interesting to talk about workload issues because I am definitely for drawing boundaries (see last week’s post), I’m also someone who believes you finish the task you agreed to or were assigned and don’t count the hours. My philosophy has usually been work until you’re done. That being said, one can easily get consumed by work so when the school year starts (which coincides with the restarting of committee work on the library and university level and therefore an increase in workload), I always think about how to achieve balance. If I ever figure out the secret, I’ll let you know. But I did find this article by Lifehacker, establishing boundaries between work and play, to be a good reminder about the importance of getting both physically and mentally “out of the office.” WebWorkerDaily also has a great article to help out with the issue of balance, time management beyond the task list.

I think one of the biggest issues is how to decide how technology can help create a balance in your life versus which just sucks away your precious time. Now, depending on how you use it, a smartphone can either be an intense distraction that breaks your concentration or a huge time-saver. For me, as long as I don’t check Twitter every couple of minutes, it has been a great time-saver. For those of you that have smartphones, check out two guides from Lifehacker, best Android apps for getting things done and best iPhone apps for productivity. (Never let it be said I didn’t give equal space to Android and iOS.) So how do you balance your use of technology or use it to facilitate productivity and allow you more time to relax or do whatever else you want to do in your life? How do you help your patrons navigate the ever-changing realm of technology and communication tools? If you need something to get you focused on using technology as the tool it is supposed to be (and not the ‘end all and be all’), check out this lovely article, Achieving Techno-Literacy.

Balance takes on another cast when we talk about instruction in the classroom and at the reference desk. How do we balance different learning styles and personalities in the classroom? How do we balance the time it takes to help someone at the desk when there is a line of other patrons who also need help? I think that this is where the side of our profession and training that is an art form comes in. I don’t think there is a formula that can tell you how to manage a class or exactly how many minutes to spend helping someone with a reference questions. (Of course there are books one can read and classes one can take to get better at teaching or inter-personal skills, but there is no magic key that makes everything work out smoothly.) I think everyone has to learn this kind of balance for themselves. It comes down to being human.

Learning balance, in all facets of life, is a process, a process I think that goes more smoothly (and with less falling) if we help each other. So let’s all try to not get caught up in the mentality that ‘more hours at work equals better work’ or that being up on email at 3am is a desirable activity. And if you have any techniques for balance, in any area of your life, I’d love to hear about it.

And for Friday’s fun, check out this wonderful promo for the BBC show, Being Human, and be thankful that no matter what you have to balance, at least you don’t have to pretend to be human.

The Waki Librarian will be back next week; enjoy your weekend and let me know what you’re reading. Thank you and namaste.

Social Good Day

/ dwakimoto

Did you know that today is Social Good Day? (RED) and Mashable have gotten together and asked the question, “Can social media make the world a better place?” I have to agree with their thought that social media can be leveraged to make the world a better place. To find out more, check out their website and if you post something on Twitter about Social Good Day, tag it #SocialGood. Because people are encouraged to blog, in addition to tweeting about Social Good Day, I thought I’d share just three examples of people and groups that are using social media to better the world.

My friend, and former university colleague, Michelle Pacansky-Brock (check out her blog, MPB Reflections, here), uses social media to make the world a better place, one online class and instruction section at a time. While she is now an entrepreneur and frequent speaker at conferences and facilitator of workshops, she was (and still is at heart) a teacher. She taught art history for many years and used social media to connect with her students, to connect her students to each other, and to connect them all to the art. Her use of social networks, such as Ning, and online modules, such as VoiceThread are inspirational. The interaction, in an online environment, prove that with human connection comes inspiration and the ability to change a student’s outlook on learning. To me, that’s changing the world for the better in a profound and lasting way.

The second person that always comes to mind when I think about using social media for the social good is BJ Fogg, check out his website here. I had the good fortune to hear him speak at a conference a few years ago and was delighted to hear about using technology and persuasion (aka captology) in a positive manner. To quote from his website, “Another focus in my lab is what we call ‘peace innovation.’ We’re investigating how technology can help change attitudes and behaviors in ways that bring about global harmony.” This is a man, and his team, who understands technology, social networks, and psychology and can use them together to create something that may just change the world for the better.

Finally, in the realm of utilizing social media in positive ways to form community and “decrease world suck” is the Nerdfighter community, facilitated by the Vlogbrothers–Hank and John Green. I’ve featured many of their videos on this blog and use them in my classes. Not only is this a wonderful community whose members support each other, this is a community that does things like The Project for Awesome and positive pranking. This is one of the best examples of creating community and using social media to make the world a better place, both on an individual level and on a global scale, that I have ever seen. DFTBA! (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome)

So what does any of this have to do with librarians and archivists? Well, we all know how “library as place” is a super-important concept in the physical world and some libraries are already created digital spaces through Facebook accounts, Twitter feeds, etc. But what we really need to do is somehow create real, interactive communities so that we can work together to create changes in our local communities and reach out across the world. And I’m not just talking about public libraries, but academic, government, and special libraries too–not to mention archives and museums. We have some of the most tech savvy and creative people working in our profession, it’s about time we utilize our talents in recognizable ways. We need to be leaders and not just persuade behind the scenes, although that is important too. We have access to so much information and talent, why don’t we get together and do something? Suggestions?

One way to get excited about utilizing technology in new ways is to go to a conference, and one of the best is Internet Librarian. I’ll be there next month and will be blogging. If you are going, let me know in the comments and hopefully we’ll be able to say hello in person at the conference.

Have a wonderful Social Good Day. Use the day to help someone and support a cause you believe in. The Waki Librarian will be back tomorrow.

More about privacy and language

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers. A post on the weekend? I know, it’s shocking. But I feel I need to apologize for my last post after being told by a friend that it contained rather atrocious sentence construction and lacked a certain level of variety in vocabulary so as to irritate those most demanding critics, English majors. My apologies. If I am allowed an excuse, it was a long and tiring week and I really wanted to share some cool technology lists, but lacked the time to edit the post to exacting standards given the 5 hour meeting yesterday. (I also happen to be a fan of Godin’s “just ship it” approach and the Cult of Done, but that’s to be discussed at some other time.) So I feel that I owe you, dear reader, a bit more coherent and thoughtful post. Therefore, let’s talk about two subjects that just keep popping up in the blogosphere: privacy (a very important topic) and language (something I love to talk about, and hopefully will not mutilate in this post). Allons-y!

EDUCAUSE has a new publication on the 7 things you should know about privacy in Web 2.0 learning environments which would be lovely to share with your patrons and instructors given the increasing level of interest and use of Web 2.0 technologies in education. While I’m all for being in compliance with student privacy acts and regulations, I do hope that the legal concerns over privacy do not dissuade instructors from incorporating emerging technologies and tools in their courses. As Michelle Pacansky-Brock notes over on her blog, MPB Reflections: 21st Century Teaching and Learning, there are so many possibilities of incorporating interactive, social media tools in the classroom that it would be a huge disservice to our students to exclude these tools. Instead, we as librarians and educators should frame this issue as an educational opportunity to teach our students (and faculty) about safe and effective uses of Web 2.0 technologies–a great opportunity to show the value and applicability of information literacy for the instructional librarians among us.

If you are leaving a job and need to return a laptop to your employer, check out Lifehacker’s What should I do to my work laptop before I leave my job? article. This is a must read if you want to make sure that your files, passwords, etc. do stay private even after you return the laptop. Just another facet of privacy that may interest you.

Secret codes happen to be a way of communicating messages semi-privately, even on a PA system, if most people don’t understand the code. If you are interested in some of the more commonly used phrases and codes, or just wanted to know what “paging Dr. Firestone” means, check out the post. See, learning can be both fun and useful.

While secret codes are fun to learn but may or may not be that useful, this post on commonly misheard expressions to avoid (or fix) in your writing is quite useful. I’m sure all but the English majors among us have committed some of these errors and could use a quick review. Now you should be able to avoid these mistakes that may cause confusion in your communications. And, limiting confusion definitely will increase your productivity (as you won’t have to answer emails explaining to people what you thought you had explained already) and decrease the time spent wanting to bang your head against a wall, both of which are very good things.

I thought it might be nice to end with a fun video (which I unfortunately cannot embed) from The Big Bang Theory. (If you haven’t ever watched The Big Bang Theory, I suggest that you do–it is quite funny.) I’m a bit rusty in physics, so if someone could explain to me how, in a multiverse, being a clown made of candy in a few universes means one cannot dance in any of them, I would be most appreciative. Please leave your explanation in comments.

Dear readers, I hope this post made a bit more sense than Friday’s post. As always, I wish you a fantastic weekend and a productive, stress-free, and lovely week to follow. The Waki Librarian will be back on Friday.

Apathy, technology, searching, and names

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Isn’t it just lovely that it is Friday and the start of a three day weekend? I am ready for a break. Today’s post is a bit of a hodge-podge of stuff; in a way, it’s kind of how my brain has been feeling this week–lots of disparate pieces of information swirling around that I’m trying to make sense of and put in some kind of logical matrix. But never fear, The Waki Librarian will make as much sense as possible in this Friday’s post. Allons-y!

Since we are getting close to the start of fall quarter at my institution, I have been thinking a lot about apathy. I worry about apathetic students and how to combat apathy when I’m teaching. While not specifically on teaching, Seth Godin’s post, Better than nothing (is harder than you think), still rang true for me in regards to teaching which may sound weird at first because Godin was writing about sales, but bear with me. If I’m competing against my students’ apathy or even worse, actual disdain, towards the course I teach, then I have be such a great teacher and guide that I can pull them out of their apathetic stupor and into the realm of learning. And this is a serious and quite a large task, but it’s also the fun bit of teaching. (It’s also nice when I get students that are genuinely excited about learning and are curious people, but the real challenge is the apathetic ones.)

But enough on apathy, check this post of Godin’s, the blizzard of noise (and the good news) leads right into the Lifehacker post on why technology is so addictive, and how you can avoid tech burnout. Don’t go over to the dark side of technology! Resist the addiction and go talk to someone, in person. (Yes, I know, it’s a crazy idea, but go do it anyway.)

While you are talking with someone (face to face, naturally) you can ask them if they know about having free access to SAGE journals through October 15th? This is definitely information to share with your library patrons.

And while you’re out there meeting new people, please, please, please read and take to heart this article on how to remember people’s names. It really is true that having someone remember your name is fantastic and having someone screw up your name is like listening to nails on a chalkboard (or that horrible dying noise your computer makes right before it gives you the blue screen of death). It is especially annoying when, as Philip Guo wrote, people spell your name incorrectly in an email after they have to type your name in your email address. (I speak from experience. And no, telling me that Diane is close to Diana and I shouldn’t get upset is not helping your case. Also, trust the advice on avoiding nicknames.)

I really appreciated the tips in the article because I’m not naturally good at remembering names, but when you teach you have to remember a lot of names quickly so I’ve gotten much better. Plus, remembering my students’ names is just one more way to demonstrate that I’m not apathetic about teaching. And, if nothing else, it is common courtesy to remember and to get a person’s name correct in conversation and in writing. So take a couple extra seconds and cement the name in your memory the next time you meet someone new.

Speaking of teaching, have you seen Sweet Search: A Search Engine for Students? My question is: is this really helpful for our students? Or is this just a stop-gap measure and a substitute for teaching students to develop critical evaluation skills? Life doesn’t come at a person pre-screened and evaluated. Part of the learning process is figuring out who’s a charlatan and a quack and who is actually sharing factual, helpful information–be it online or in person. It reminds me of the quote from Don Marquis that says, “If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you. But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” So are we getting our students to think they’re thinking by using a “better,” vetted search engine and therefore they will throw evaluation out the window? Are we playing into apathy about learning the hard and sometimes time-consuming ability to discern valuable information out of the “surplus of digital data” that Godin writes about? Or, is Sweet Search actually a better way to have students interact with the web? I’m not sure about the answer and would like to hear your thoughts on it.

Oh, and a PS to the post on privacy, a judge with common sense says cellphone tracking is as intrusive as a GPS tracker. I love to see that common sense hasn’t been supplanted by the lure of shiny technology.

Finally, enjoy “Simon’s Cat in ‘The Box'”:

Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to read something fun.

Some thoughts on privacy

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Just a quick post about privacy as I’ve been meaning to share these links for a while but just haven’t gotten around to it. Privacy seems to be a buzzword lately with all the talk of loss of privacy due to social media, GPS, etc. So if you have library users who are curious about how they can better protect their privacy, you can send them the sources noted below. They are also helpful if you have questions about maintaining some semblance of privacy in your life.

Lifehacker, of course, often has great posts on privacy and technology. For example, do you use the incognito browsing in Google Chrome? If so, Lifehacker warns you to not trust private browsing modes for true privacy. Luckily Lifehacker also provides some alternatives to help you browse in secret. (A good thing too with the holidays coming up so your family and friends can’t tell what you’ve gotten them!)

Also, this is a great tip to securely overwrite files with a built-in command line trick.

And, if you really want to have privacy on your system, check out Lifehacker’s guide on how to encrypt and hide your entire operating system from prying eyes.

Oh, and don’t forget to protect your passwords too so you don’t end up in this situation, as Leonard did in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. (Sorry, the embedding feature was disabled for this video, so you’ll actually have to go to YouTube, but it’s worth it.)

Enjoy! And The Waki Librarian will be back soon with more fun stuff.

Experience before text

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday (I don’t care that it’s the 13th–it’s still a Friday and that is a very good thing)! I hope you had a lovely week and are looking forward to an even better weekend. This week’s post is a bit of a departure from the normal (though there are some links to fun stuff, of course). I want to take some time to talk about experiences and some intersections among various aspects of my research and work interests.

So, I was re-reading the introduction to Alessandro Portelli’s The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue when I came across a sentence that completely stopped me in my reading tracks and I knew I had to write about it. Portelli wrote, “Each interview is an experience before it becomes a text” (p. xiii). I just thought that the sentence is wonderful and so applicable to so much of our work in libraries and archives. (Portelli, for those who are unfamiliar with his work, is an amazing oral historian and considered one of the leading voices in the field. And yes, I am one of those people who reads and re-reads introductions–moving on.)

We too often forget about the experiences in life. Because we can now digitally track and count and monitor statistics so easily, we sometimes lose touch with the fact that each statistic is a person or group of people. We forget that humans are social creatures and (most) like at least some social interaction. We forget that there is wonder and can be joy in our work. We run from one meeting to another, from one project to the next with barely any time to look out the window yet alone stop for a break to actually just chat with someone. And I’m not saying that I’m the best person at stopping to smell the roses, but I think it is important to remember to experience things before we get into the analyses.

Which is pretty much what Portelli is getting at in the above quote. Interviews, or any interactions, are experiences before they become text–either literally with the transcription of oral history interviews or text in the more general term for a unit to be analyzed. We put off tomorrow the interactions we could have today because somehow we have separated the experience from the interaction and it is just another thing to get through, to survive. And that is just sad.

Now before anyone jumps on my case about this being completely divergent from my usual posts about evidence-based practice and evaluating new programs, please don’t get me wrong–evaluation and analysis are extremely important in our work BUT they should not come at the expense of losing the wonder of experiences. If we lose touch with experiences and just race through our work and our analyses, we miss opportunities to wonder and to actually connect with others. So just experience something, laugh, enjoy, and connect before getting into the nitty-gritty of analysis. Trust me, the connected experiences are what will propel you through the long hours of assessment and slogging through data while not losing sight of the goals of evidence-based practice and assessments.

Okay, so that is my soapbox speech for the day. I’m stepping down now and just want to share a couple of potential helpful links that have come through my feeds recently before leaving you to enjoy the rest of your Friday and the weekend.

First, from WebWorkerDaily, some Tips for Managing Social Media Information Overload. And if you are going to take the tip on checking social media streams on your iPhone, you’ll want to check out Lifehacker’s List of the Best iPhone Apps. For Android users out there, check out Lifehacker’s A Guide to Organizing your Android Home Screen and How to Turn Your Android Phone into a Fully-Automated Superphone, and How-To Geek’s Complete Guide to Maximizing Your Android Phone’s Battery Life.

For some help with job hunting in library-land, check out a collection of the best advice on finding a librarian job from around the web.

Finally, a tip for everyone from Lifehacker, Top 10 Tools and Tactics to Trim Your Bills.

And for the final bit of fun because it is Friday and also because a couple of my friends had really bad weeks and could use a laugh: “Big Bang Theory Moves Furniture”:

Have a wonderful weekend filled with reading, laughter, fun and enough time to enjoy the experience. The Waki Librarian will be back next week.

Productivity, Hugs, and Communication

/ dwakimoto

Hi, all. I’d say, “Happy Monday,” but that seems a little cruel. (Although I do hope your Monday is going, and continues to go, well.) I thought to myself that to make Monday a little better we’d talk a bit about fun stuff, like hugs, and useful stuff, like productivity and communication. So grab a cup of tea and take a break to read some of the interesting stuff going around the web.

In keeping with Friday’s post about back-to-school or, more specifically, back-to-college, I have this New York Time’s article, Failure to Communicate. Unfortunately, I can completely relate to having students who are unable to deal with conflict and only want to communicate via text messaging. And, truly unfortunately, I have been called by parents who want their students to get into my department’s classes. Really, I’m not making it up. This would all be slightly amusing, like the Threadless shirt about the art of conversation, if it weren’t so true. So really, get off your computer today and actually have a conversation with someone. If you teach, actually have your students interact with each other. Remember to connect and communicate. That’s all I have to say about that (although I’m always happy to continue the conversation with you later).

You want to be productive, you really do, but it is just so difficult with all the fun and distracting stuff on the web. I understand, and so do the people at Lifehacker. Check out their article on How to Deal with Distractions in a Web Worker’s World. Great advice and tips, as always, from Lifehacker.

Now we get to the super fun stuff. (I know, you thought I had forgotten about the hugs, didn’t you? As if I would do that.) Check out this guest post on Zen Habits, How to be Insanely Productive and Keep Smiling. I love this post probably because I like being productive and like being in a place (and headspace) where I feel like smiling. Also, it probably has to do with the introduction to the post, “You can be insanely productive–and still smell the freesias, savor a Pinot Noir, or enjoy a languid hug.” I’m a big fan of hugs; there should be more hugs in every day (Pinot Noir isn’t bad either, but I’d like to swap the freesias for roses, thanks for asking.) The advice, or lessons, in this post is great. I am very lucky in that I love what I do and definitely have a lot more days when I’m truly thankful to be doing what I do than when I want to pull my hair out. Granted I still get stressed, and I haven’t achieved perfect patience, but overall I know I’m on the correct path for me. And that is where I hope (and wish) that all of us are at in our lives.

So get out there and enjoy your insanely productive week. Give someone a hug and tell them they’re awesome (extra karma points if you also give them cookies). Walk over and actually talk to your colleague whose office is next door instead of sending another email. And finally, get outside and enjoy some fresh air (preferable on a break, with a book). The Waki Librarian will be back with more goodies on Friday.

Busyness and Priorities

/ dwakimoto

Hi, all. I hope everyone is having a fantastic day and gearing up for a lovely weekend. I thought I’d take a little bit of time to write about busyness and give you some thinking points to mull over during your weekend between running errands and relaxing. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topics in the past few weeks as have a number of deadlines coming up in quick succession. So “allons-y” (let’s go)!

I think about about the links between busyness and priorities a lot. It is inevitable that the subject comes up at least occasionally in most people’s lives because everyone seems to be super-busy and have way too much to do. Until we come up with time-turners or a working replica of the TARDIS, we are still stuck with just 24 hours in a day.

I think about priorities and busyness more than I would like because people often ask me how I manage to get everything done. My answer is two-fold: I prioritize and I don’t multitask–I just work. Now I know that we don’t have total control over everything at work or in life, but for that which we do have control over–I say prioritize the heck out of it. And, like a lot of the self-improvement gurus say, if it is important to you it will get done. Just like making time for family, friends, and significant others/spouses/partners, we always have time for what is important to us (and it’s important to remember that nothing is written in stone and if something important comes up, the calendar can totally be cleared). So I just have a few resources to share today to maybe help you prioritize the tasks in your life and some fun stuff (because it’s Friday)!

Seth Godin has some awesome advice and thinking points over on his blog, as always. I am currently enamored of his post that validation is overrated. While I think it is human to crave validation (I mean who doesn’t like compliments?), needing validation before we do something is the way to stasis and not getting anything done. If you have a wacky idea (and it doesn’t hurt anyone), I say go for it. See what happens and maybe you’ll get validated later. And remember, there is a definite difference between needing to be told your idea is okay before you take action and liking the praise you receive after you’ve finished a project, plan, whatever. Oh, and if none of this makes any sense whatsoever, just watch the great Validation short below and smile.

Okay, are we all feeling better after that video? I know I always feel better after watching it.

I think we can agree that there is always too much to do in the library and archives. What are your priorities? What must get done in order for it to function? What would be wonderful but isn’t a priority? What do you know is a priority, but you don’t want to do it so you keep putting it off? If you can honestly answer these questions, you are well on your way to accomplishing tasks versus feeling (completely) overwhelmed with busywork. Also check out the lovely zen habits blog which has wonderful ideas for simplifying your life and getting rid of the feeling that you “need” to be busy just to be busy.

If reading RSS feeds from Lifehacker has you a bit overwhelmed, check out Lifehacker’s Newsletter. It’s a daily digest of their posts–fantastic for those who get stressed out by seeing lots of unread posts in their feed reader.

Oh, and for those of you that still have vacation time to look forward to, check out the Geek Vacation Checklist. And yes, I’m a bit obsessed with checklists and travel tips–I love traveling. Maybe a bit of a break will allow you to step back and re-prioritize your work life.

One of my priorities in life is baking. I know that sounds weird, but hear me out. I enjoy baking: I like how my kitchen smells when I’m baking cookies, I like trying out new recipes, I like that it is a task that can’t be rushed and gives me time to think, and I really like the smiles that come from sharing baked goods at work. I like to think I’m making my colleagues day a little brighter by bringing in some yummy, homemade baked goods. One of the recipes that is just too perfect for summer is Joy the Baker’s Strawberry Blackberry Shortcakes. Check her blog out, it is fabulous.

Finally, because it is Friday and now you have a lot to think about (re: priorities and being productive versus being busy), enjoy this video that has been making its way around the bibliosphere: “Zombies in their Natural Habitat.” What a creative way to ask for funding!

Have a wonderful weekend, read a lot, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more (productive) fun.

Books, Data Usage, and other Random Stuff

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! I know, finally a post that is actually posted on Friday. I thought it would be a good idea to get back on schedule. So here is a Friday’s worth of random academic, library, and technology fun facts and tips. From textbook news to characters falling back into their books, it’s all here so let’s get going.

As an academic librarian (and a student myself), I’m super-excited about the news that universities receiving federal financial assistance must “provide students with accurate textbook information including retail price at the time a student registers for the course.” Read the full article on Campus Chatter. This should really help the students looking for textbook information and the librarians–maybe once students find out about this new requirement, there will be fewer panicking students at the reference desk during the first days of classes. (A librarian can always hope!)

If you’ve been reading this blog for a bit, you know how much I like productivity tips and articles about self-improvement. So obviously, I really like this article: Saying ‘I will do it in the future’ is an Excuse for Failure from the simple dollar. Great advice, and a kick in the pants, that should have you evaluating your to-do list and actually getting things done. (It also reminds me of an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon talks about his future self creating a time machine and giving it to him in the past so that it takes the pressure off working on the machine in the present. But really, I like the article because at it’s heart, it is simply and powerfully a call to just get started and then inertia will take over.)

My sister and I were discussing data plans for smartphones over dinner last night (yes, we are both geeks…moving on…) and it reminded me that I hadn’t shared this great Lifehacker article: how to keep track of your cellphone data usage. Check this out for simple ways to track your data usage so your carrier won’t have an excuse to slap you with data overage charges.

Also, speaking of Lifehacker and technology, check out this slightly older post on the top 10 privacy tweaks you should know about. You probably already know about some of these, but even so, the list is a great review and helpful for making sure you don’t overshare without knowing it and tips for keeping what you want to keep private. Very good information in this age of perpetual connection online.

If you haven’t seen this Flickr set by Lissy Elle yet, you really need to go see it now. Get Back in Your Book is a fantastic series of “a collection of characters who strive to stay in the real world,” but are falling back into their books. Really, the photographs are amazing so take a little break and thank me later.

Finally, let’s end with a fun Vlogbrothers video, Book Nerd PARADISE, from John’s time at ALA:

Have a lovely weekend full of reading and fun. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology news.

P.S. I’ll be working on changing up the theme/layout of the blog over the weekend, so don’t get concerned if it looks a little bit strange for a bit. It will just be me and it will all be sorted out, promise.