Happy Blog Day 2007

I have been silent for quite a while (a few things going on in life. More on that later.), so I almost forgot about Blog Day. However, I could not just let it pass. I suppose I could have picked more than five, but these are ones I have come to follow regularly. So here we go with my five choices for this year:

• The Annoyed Librarian: Whether you agree or disagree with her, this pseudonymous librarian blogger always has something to say about libraries and librarianship (and a few other things). She questions and pokes fun at a lot of things in librarianship. Often, she will say things few, if any others, will say. More importantly, for me at least, reminds us that the profession should not be taking itself so seriously. A nice blend of argument and humor.
• The Zenformation Professional: This is not just another librarian blog. Jason, the ZenFoPro, describes himself as "an intellectual freedom fighter and professional information bounty hunter." As he warns, it is not a professional blog. He is a good storyteller and great writer.
  
• danah boyd (who blogs at Apophenia) and Fred Stutzman (who blogs at Unit Structures) are two people I read that explain social software very well. Whether it's Facebook or MySpace, when I need a good analysis or insight, I can count on these two bloggers.
  
• The Rude Pundit: This is a political commentary blog, and it is not for the faint of heart. If you offend easily, then this is not for you. This blogger is "proudly lowering the level of political discourse." Given that political discourse now is not exactly at any high point, bringing it lower may not be a bad thing; it certainly gives him a lot of material. He can be funny, but he can also be reflective and moving. He definitely tells it like it is. I would have left him a comment on his blog, but as he says, "mostly, the Rude Pundit doesn't give a shit what you have to say. . . ." He does provide an e-mail though.

(Crossposted to The Itinerant Librarian)

Added a book reader's widget

I have added the GoodReads widget to the sidebar of this blog (as well as over at The Itinerant Librarian). I got an invite to the site from one of my coworkers, and so far I have enjoyed its ease of use and adding in books I have read as well as those I plan to read. What may happen is that I may make less booknotes here. Basically, if it is a short "ya, I liked it" sort of note, I will just put it over there with the list. If I want to write some substantial response to the book, I will put it in here. Anyways, just part of the experiment.

On Using Facebook Professionally

I never gave that much thought to using Facebook as a professional tool. Sure, my thinking when I got the account is that it should be reflective of my professional status. I often make the joke with some students that they are not going to find my drunken pictures in my Facebook. To my two readers, don't get too excited. There are no drunken pictures of me anywhere. At any rate, Stephen Abrams points to two posts on using Facebook professionally. The posts are well worth a look. The one from Web Worker Daily is the one that started it all. Here is the list, with some of my thoughts on the matter:

• "Think of it like personalizing your desk." This is a pretty good way to look at it. You would not put up a picture of yourself in your office desk hanging out with some stripper. You may hang it in your garage, but certainly not in the office or cubicle. Personally, I don't usually keep photos at my desk. I do have small knick knacks, a poster here or there, but photos are rare. I guess for me photos are a very personal thing. That I put some pictures of myself during my recent road trip (see the Flickr link in the right column) was a big leap for me. Notice the pics are of me. I left my family out of it for now. What you choose to put on your FB profile tells a lot about you as your desk does.
  
• "Look for old coworkers and current connections." I have not used FB for this a whole lot. However, the attempts I have made to look up any old coworkers have pretty much failed to yield any results. None of the ones I looked up have a profile on FB. Not a one. So, at least for me, this advice is not very useful considering also I am not too likely to invite anyone to join FB. I am not one to impose on others.
  
• "Add friends selectively." This should be self-explanatory.
  
• "Add apps selectively." See above. When FB opened its system for developers to make applications, a concern out there on the blogosphere is that FB would become like FB. I will admit my bias here: a big reason I stay out MySpace is that MySpace is pretty much a big mess. Facebook was supposed to be a bit more tidy; then again, it was supposed to be for the college people, and we know how that ended. Adding one application too many is a surefire way of making your profile look messy. Is that the impression you really want to give others? I recently added the Flixster movie application to my profile, mostly to experiment with adding an application. The jury is still out on that one for me since the integration does not seem totally flawless. I was debating on adding the GoodReads application, since I have an account there as well (thanks to a recent invite by a friend), but my concern is if adding one more would add too much clutter. I like the WWD author idea that one could add an application and not let FB display it publicly. I may consider that as I experiment more. This goes with the next list item I am highlighting:
  
• "Incorporate the tools you are already using into your profile." I would say to do it if it makes sense to you, and if it will help to maintain that professional image.
  
• "Edit your profile and security settings." This is another one that should not need explanation. Folks, make sure you edit your privacy and security to your satisfaction. To do this, you do have to take some time to look over the settings. There are controls, but you have to use them.
  
• "Join groups related to your business interests." This is basically to say "be selective" here as well. The WWB author observes that there are a lot of dumb FB groups out there. I know. I have taken the time to look at a few of them, only to wonder what some people were thinking in creating, let alone joining certain groups. Personally, I am not one to join many groups. I have a couple of groups related to librarianship and to my old school. However, if my old high school chums start putting things in the group that may be questionable, rest assured I jettisoning it out of my profile (or at least changing my privacy settings).
  

Now, I know that Facebook was not necessarily made to be a professional tool. It was made to be a social tool for college students. It has been discovered by college faculty and staff as well as others by now. That is fine. But if you are a professional, and you want to keep some sense of professional decorum in your profile, the advice from the posts is pretty good to consider.

Article Note: On Reflective Journals for Research

Citation for the article:

McGuiness, Claire and Michelle Brien. "Using Reflective Journals to Assess the Research Process." Reference Services Review 35.1 (2007): 21-40.


Read via Emerald.

On initial impression, I thought this article was a bit heavy on the literature review and sampling. However, the concept is a simple one. For me at least, it is something I have known about from my days as a composition teacher, just applied to IL. The article does provide a good description of how to set up the journals and the criteria for evaluation, allowing for replication. The idea is to use reflective journals to provide a more authentic form of assessment.

Booknote: Rumspringa

Schachtman, Tom. Rumspringa: To Be Or Not To Be Amish. New York: North Point Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-86547-687-X.

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Religious life, teens, social sciences.

I pretty much picked up this book out of curiosity. Hey, sometimes curiosity is a very good reason to pick a a book. Plus I lived in Indiana for about 16 years, and I knew of the Amish in North Central Indiana, having lived a part of my Indiana years up in Mishawaka, which is not far from places like Shipshewana described in the book. In the opening chapter to the book, the author poses the question for us readers of why we would want to read about the Amish given that they are such a small percentage of the population overall. Here is his answer:

"The Amish are more like most mainstream Americans than almost any other minority in our midst. They share with the majority, and with this author, a common heritage: they are of 'white' European stock, they embrace the Judeo-Christian ehtos, and they come from families that have been in the United States for more than one generation. Also relevant are the ways in which the Amish differ from the majority, namely, in practicing an intense Christian religiosity that suffuses their daily lives, in deliberately attempting to live separately from the larger society, and in refusing to adopt precisely those practices and products of our mainstream society that have come to define and represent America and the Americans to the rest of the world--our cars, our entertainment, our consumerism. This combination of shared heritage and deep cultural differences makes the Amish a particularly significant mirror for the rest of us" (11-12).

The author suggests that often Americans find it easy to dismiss criticism from others who do not share the same Judeo-Christian values, say Arab Muslims or Asian Buddhists, but it is not as easy to be dismissive of the Amish. And, as we learn in the book, the Amish teens are very much like any other group of teens: rebellious and trying to figure out their place in the world. In fact, as I read some of the youth's narratives, they seem very familiar.

For those, like me, who did not know what rumspringa is before reading the book, it is a period that begins "when an Amish youth turns sixteen; at that age, since the youth has not yet been baptized, he or she is not subject to the church's rules about permitted and forbidden behaviors" (11). It is a time when young teens can go on their own to the outside world and experience it. The period lasts until they are ready, if they so choose, to then return from the outside world, be baptized, and become adults in the church. They can return from rumspringa at any time, but it usually runs during the teen years. And therein lies the risk: will they return or will they stay? For the Amish, the risk is that if their kids do not return, the sect gradually dies off. However, they hope that by allowing this time of roaming around that the kids will get some exposure early on and make an informed choice rather than defecting later. As a note, this is not practiced by all Amish, but mostly by old order Amish, and they do have what can be viewed as a good "retention" rate.

The book draws on extensive interviews with teens and parents, which Shachtman then uses to create great little narrative scenes. In addition, the author provides various segments that provide an informational and educational overview of the Amish and their culture, making the book a good, accessible way to learn about them.