What I learned-ed 1: Peoples' Stories

So between the CSSR and CAIS society meetings I attended one plenary, one workshop, one banquet, one business meeting and twenty-eight papers, and ate untold number of cinnamon buns over four days. Yeah, I know, brain strained, body tired, belly fat.

So what did I learned-ed at the Learneds Congress?

I was reminded again that in Montreal, traffic lights are mostly decorative.

I learned that there is fascinating research being conducted by scholars and librarians. Inspiring stuff, and I needed the inspiration. I’ll share some of the more personally intriguing papers over the next few blogs. I learned once again that not even brilliant content can overcome a bad powerpoint presentation. I chose to use Prezi software that, incidentally, went over very well. (Thanks again Karen.)

I learned again that behind the research are interesting personal stories. Most research does not pop out of thin air. As I talked to researchers one-on-one, I heard stories about personal struggles, compassion, anger and frustration. These are real people wanting to change their little corner of the world. It is too bad that the academic and publishing structures will strip the personal out of the research. Now some research is strictly an intellectual exercise (“what in the heck was that flow chart??? It even confused you and you made it!!!”)

I can’t share all the private stories, but next time you hear about interesting research, ask about the story behind the story; the passion that gave it life.

It just might surprise you.

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Thick with academics!

I'm off a-conferencing again; this time to Congress 2010 in Montreal. For those unfamiliar with the event (most of the population for instance), this is a gathering of scores of scholarly societies for business meetings, academic presentations and networking. Oh, and food (I've got a banquet to attend, poor me.) As last time, I'll blog the more interesting sessions. I'm presenting a paper on Thursday June 3; it remains to be seen whether it is one of the interesting ones! I'm still undecided on a few sessions; any suggestions?

The plan:

Canadian Society for the Study of Religion - Program
Tuesday, June 1st -

• Session 1: Religion and Technologies,
• Session 2: Religion and Aging OR Religion and Nature,
• Session 3: Graduate Student Luncheon (More free food.)

Canadian Association for Information Science - Program
Wednesday, June 2nd -

• Session 1: Information Practices,
  
• Session 2: Information Needs and Knowledge Sharing,
• Session 3: Information Behaviour,

Thursday, June 3rd -

• Session 1: Management and Role of Information Professionals (hey, the alternative was Indexing and Information Retrieval Systems),
• Session 2: Information Seeking Behaviour (eek, this is the session I present in!),
• Session 3: Social & Collaborative Tagging OR Infometrics OR Museum of Fine Arts
  
• Session 4: Cataloguing & Social Tagging OR Information Visualization OR Notre-Dame
  

Friday, June 4th -

• Session 1: User Centred Design
• Session 2: Information Literacy
• Session 3: Information Literacy 2
• Session 4: Information Literacy 3 (See a theme here?)
  

Homeward Bound!

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Facebook and Faith

Lately, privacy concerns around Facebook have somewhat soured my experience. (Don't tell Facebook, but I created a Orkut account behind its back.) I've written about Facebook and faith before, but I've been watching the recent news about Facebook and Youtube being banned by Pakistan.

It wasn't privacy that raised the ire of the Pakistan court; at the center of the controversy was a "Draw Mohammed Day" page. You'll remember the furor in 2005 when a Danish paper published satirical cartoons of Islam's Prophet, offending many Muslims, both for violating religious teaching on images of the Prophet and for the perceived disrespect. The administrators of this new Facebook page claimed their intent was not to offend Muslims, but to affirm freedom of expression in the face of extremism. From a sociological perspective this is a fascinating example of how religious belief can shape technology use. Young Muslims are also responding both against the ban, and using social media like Facebook to oppose "Draw Mohammed Day." I'm not including links here either to the page or to the many Muslim responses (you can find lots online.) I simply don't believe that needlessly offending others builds any bridges.

I also respond to these events on a personal level. I'm torn on this one. My faith is important to me. I don't like it when people belittle it. The TV comedy South Park's portrayal of Jesus bothers me. Silly books like Dan Brown's are just plain provocative (though ok adventure stories). And no, jokes that start: "Jesus walks into a bar..." do not interest me. So I understand the offense many Muslims feel.

Yet...one of my personal beliefs is that God gives us the freedom to make our own choices about who I will follow and what I will believe. The concept of freedom of conscience and thought finds many of its roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition, though we Christians have too often forgotten that. The Apostle Paul for instance in the Bible wrote "For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks?" Now, I may challenge you if you are unfair in your portrayal of my faith, but you are free to believe as you will. (I might think you are wrong, but you are free to be wrong!) I also believe in your right to express your beliefs (and me mine.) There are obviously limits on what we can say, but those must be few, and government must always tread carefully.

So where does that leave me? The internet is challenging many of the limits to expression, faith and community that we have relied on. As a researcher I'm intrigued; as a Christian I am sometimes unsettled. Personally, I'm not always happy with the outcomes. But to impose my conscience on you would offend the very faith I seek to protect. I can testify, persuade, and cajole, but you must make your own decision. Does that put my faith at a disadvantage to those that seek to respond through force of law and arms? On the contrary, it makes it strong. To paraphrase a very ancient Bible story: God doesn't need me to look out for his interests, and to avenge offenses or slights to him. God can take care of himself.

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I'm not afraid of no ghosts!

I am an information professional. My job title is librarian. I connect people with information. Not just information but the right information. I think I'm rather good at it.

I think libraries will be around for years, but even if they disappeared tomorrow I'd still have a job. Some librarians wouldn't, because they are too entangled in the buildings and processes we constructed to help people find useful information. They forget that the point is the people. I was reminded today of some of the pessimism that has seeped into many libraries, particularly law libraries. Years of budget and staffing cuts have created a kind of fatalism. Someone asked me recently about innovations in Canadian Law Libraries. There are a handful that stand out. But largely we are not a very innovative bunch. I think we rested on our laurels too long. We are now paying the price.

Am I afraid of the future? Not at all. How can an information professional not be optimistic at the dawn of the information age? I was made for this; bring it on. I don't have time to mourn past glories, nor tend the ghosts of libraries past. I have people who need my help.

Now back to religious information....

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