Category Archives: Subscriptions

Finger on the pulse?

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I wrote this before I gave birth to my first child in May of 2012. Interesting what you think is realistic before having children.

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How important is it *really* to have your finger on the pulse?

What happens to the blood supply when you take your finger away?
Is the blood your blood, or is it everyone else’s that you’re trying to keep a handle on?

So many analogies! I could keep going. Alright I will, and lets bring some context to it so I’m not just talking about blood and guts.

Lets say the pulse, is the heart of the library and information profession and sharing community. The “th thmp th thmp th thmp th thmp th thmp th thmp th thmp” is the regular flow of information and conversation between individuals and organisations, people that are proactively *doing shit* in the industry, to further us so we’re not seen as still in the doldrums.

The blood is …. hrmmmm the blood is…. conversation.  The blood is conversation and communication and people, aaall that stuff that makes up blood (I’m not a med student)

Over the past week I’ve unsubscribed from at least 15 different news sources and listservs.  Just this morning I unsubscribed from:

That’s a fair chunk of information coming right to my inbox every day right there.  With Peanut on the way in the next few weeks, I want to have as little as possible in my inbox.  And even then, I only want contact from real people.

Yep, my finger is still going to be on the pulse for the next 12 months.  I’m just not going to be bothered reading every Tom, Dick and Harry’s post, thought, promo, or conversation.  And I’m ok with that.  Am actually quite looking forward to it.

Besides, I’ve decided to use this next 12 months to work (concentrate?) on one or two projects (other than Peanut) that have some depth to them, rather like what I worked on with Alison Fields last year with our ALIALibTec presentation.

Thoughts on list-servs as professional discourse

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So I wrote this draft response to the “content restrictions, available to members only” thread on nz-libs at 11pm last night. As you do.  I often draft things now and sit on them for a while, sometimes quite a while in that they never get sent or published.  I’ve decided I won’t post this to nz-libs as you can’t delete things from there. You do own what you say though, and I will own what I say here too, however I will be able to delete it if I no longer want it’s memory around.  Somehow it probably still will be, however I just want this out.

This is what I drafted intended for the nz-libs audience:

I believe the LIANZA website is only ever going to be as good as its member participants make it.

There is a small number of dedicated members who are utilising its functions and doing so with persistence and determination because they believe in sharing information with their profession via their professional association.

The website and its participatory functions haven’t been around a while, just a couple of years. It takes time to grow a community. Nzlibs has been around a fair bit longer. Email is another communication mode that many have mastered as clearly shown by the number of people responding to this thread.

Everyone: Have you ever posted something yourself to a group forum? Have you ever commented on something on the website? If not, why not?

There is a different audience on nzlibs, likewise within LIANZA. Every avenue has a different audience and there was a good reason LIANZA communicated directly to its members using the medium they did. As a bonus, its a medium they are familiar with. However when an email is sent to you privately via a blind carbon copy from a member association, it is not expected you post it to a public forum – not its intended audience. Doing so, calls into question information ethics.

A great community is not made overnight, nor within 2 years. It is grown, developed, fed and nurtured with care.

If our professional association has one fault, it may be that it’s too careful or conservative. That’s not a bad thing.

I’m not wading into the content restrictions debate, nor our associations response.  However I would like to know what you think of list-servs. What is their purpose again?  Should people be unhinged on there or collegial, professional and polite? (manager or future employer may be watching)  Perhaps unhinged is the wrong word to compare with the others. Should people be themselves on there?

Would be interesting to know what you think about list-servs as I have my opinions, but in a hypocritical way, I think I’m going to keep them hinged.

Your thoughts?

Subscriptions and Twitter

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I have just unsubscribed from the pub-sig list-serv and tried to unsubscribe from an nz school list-serv. The latter list conversation was doing my head in (books for teens and children etc). I should actually be reading these things, but I just have to say, although yes I am sort of verging on children’s librarianship at work with running Preschool Storytime, I’m not yet ready to hang up my interest in technology.

Just yesterday, I created a twitter account for the LIANZA Wellington regional committee, Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui http://twitter.com/teup0ko. I’m quite happy with it, and I’m learning heaps all over again. Social technology fascinates me.

With the second time now that I’ve created a twitter account, I’ve learnt how not to do things, so am taking this cautiously and am extra conscious of the information that I put out and the image I’m trying to create for LIANZA and our committee of being relevant. I think it’s working. Already I’ve been retweeted, and I have 12 followers, 11 of which aren’t me.

I have to say, you learn more in a day of interacting and engaging in conversations on Twitter, than you do .. uhh not interacting and engaging in conversations on Twitter.