UGLi Blog Update: The Book-mo-boat has not set sail

Dearest readers, for those of you waiting with baited breath to hear of Life Plans A, worry no more! I am happy to report that the Book-mo-boat -- i.e. the world's best Plan B -- is still chillin' in port at Muskegon (pronounced MUSK-uh-john) Lake, Michigan.* World Peace will have to wait because we two are too busy, working as newly minted professional librarian ladies!



Plan A-E
Emily has accepted a job as an Undergraduate Learning Librarian at our very own UGLi! Congratulations to Emily and friend of ugliblog Angie, who has also been named a UGLLLibrarian! MLibrary is so lucky to have you both.

Plan A-K
Katie has started her job as a Reference & Web Services Librarian at Gettysburg College Musselman Library and is settling in at her sublet townhouse in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She is blogging her new life at quintessential chronicles of kdt. Feel free to contact her for her Gettysburg address.

Plan A-U
UGLi Blog is in transition, and soon will be sporting a new domain, a new look, and a new identity. Emily and Katie will be having a Blog-In soon to determine how we can continue to nurture our beloved brainchild to 2010 and beyond. (I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too far, but ugliblog's next iteration may be even more podcastic!)

So those are our planz. Thanks for reading, everybody, and as always, our virtual suggestion box is open to comebacks!


Snappy Comebacks from PetaKids

*Our many thanks to those who applied to work on the Book-mo-boat. Captain Emily will keep your information on file and contact you in the event of crew member openings in the future.

This is SO Metadater: the Musical!

Web Site Story. See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Oh, 21st century dating -- "I can't wait to read about me later on your blooooog!"

I [heart] the University of Michigan

Guess who just got an email message that her diploma is in the mail? That's right!This girl!

I thought I would share the content of the email with you, since it kind of killed me:
First of all, I'm so impressed that UM sprung for 'First Class US Mail,' especially in these tough times. They couldn't even afford full quotation marks, but that diploma is coming first class, recession be darned! U-M Diploma Status would also like to inform me not to call the University of Michigan to ask when my diploma will arrive. I can just hear the harried bureaucrat on the other end of the line telling me, 'It'll get there when it gets there!' To tide me over (and prevent annoying phone calls), the folks over at U-M Diploma Status were kind enough to provide me with a link to a preview of my diploma -- WOW:

I am now, pretty much officially, a leader and best. Thanks for your message, U-M Diploma Status! I can stop fretting now -- my Master of Science in Information (Information) is in the mail.

Recent SI grads: did you get a diploma preview? If not, you may not have graduated! Just FYI (Information).

METADATER: The Startup Plan! OR My Master's degree in silly things

My last paper at SI (for the course 529: Analysis & Design of Online Communities) required me to create a start-up plan for a new online community. I realized my most entertaining idea for a paper topic had already been discussed on ugliblog: the concept of METADATER, the online dating site for information professionals. As I wrote this paper, I was inspired by Emily's coining of emoticon sign-flirting earlier this year, and an abundance of analytics indicating people in need of romantic advice are ending up here on ugliblog. For those of you who are curious about where my serious discussion of the intentionally silly took me, here are some excerpts from my final paper:

The purpose of Metadater is to provide resources and an online community for the type of people who Google phrases like “facts on flirting,” “dating advice for nerds or geeks,” or “he doesn’t even know I exist.” Metadater aggregates information about dating sites and advice on flirting, dating, and relationships, allows members to share stories, advice, and personal profiles, and lets those Google searchers know they’re not alone – it reminds them that there are like-minded people out there who turn to the internet for help in navigating the complex landscape of romantic relationships. Metadater is an online community dedicated to providing people with lighthearted, fun information, conversation, and activities that encourage them to transform their outlook on dating from clueless or confused to confident and amused.

A valiant purpose, indeed.

Using its member databases and algorithmic matching based on personality, interest, friend suggestions, and geographic criteria, Metadater hopes to playfully employ informatics theory to enable good conversation and promote people’s understanding of romantic relationships and each other. Metadater intends to be a stress-free environment, where there is no pressure to meet your soulmate, and the focus is on open discussion, community, and a shared, humorous take on the trials and tribulations of flirting, dating, and romantic relationships.

To be clear, Metadater does not yet exist, but it really should. Any developers out there willing to take on this challenge? As a Metadater community founder, you'll be doing a service to nerds, geeks, and dorks everywhere. Contact me for more information and eCommunities jargon!

Congratulations Graduates!

We at ugliblog want to salute all 2009 graduates! Congratulations on becoming Masters (or Mistresses) of Information! We're so proud of you!

And, as a special treat, we bobble our heads to you in this world premiere short short film:

A really great afternoon

Now that Emily and I have graduated (stay tuned in the next few days for a special graduation ugliblog post), I have lots of time to create Care Bear data visualizations! This coloring book page describes the "pop" vs. "soda" debate in the United States by Juice Graph, Care Bears, and geographic distribution:
Data gathered from: http://www.popvssoda.com/

Life Plan B: World Peace

Bookmobiles bring books to people, meeting the people where they are. But what if the place where the people are doesn't have roads? Bookmobiles can't go there. Imagine yourself camping along the great coast of Northern Lake Michigan. You might be on Beaver Island. Imagine yourself running out of books to read. You are without roads. No bookmobile to save you. You are in danger of getting bored. Life Plan B is your saving grace.

Life Plan B is to commandeer a sail boat and turn it into a Book-mo-Boat. The Book-mo-Boat works like a bookmobile, except it specializes in locations only accessible by water. I'm creating a search committee for a qualified crew (p.s. I'm the Captian and Katie is the First Mate). Here are the main qualifications:

Applicants must:

• Put water safety first, understanding that if they do not know how to swim, they will be wearing a life preserver at all times.
• Have a sense of adventure, and dream of a life on the high seas of Lake Michigan.
• Like to read. There won't be anything else to do on the Book-mo-Boat.
• Be able to go for long periods of time without internet access.

Preferred qualifications:

• Not susceptible to sea sickness.
• Be a master at the art of the reference interview.
• Have experience in fending off Somali pirates.

The last preferred qualification brings me to my main worry about the Book-mo-Boat, and my suggestion for world peace. After our summer on Lake Michigan, the Book-mo-Boat will sail to the uncharted waters off the coast of Somalia. This is dangerous. About as dangerous as getting involved with un-chartered charter schools. But, we will be a brave crew. If the pirates want our Book-mo-Boat, they can have it. I imagine that the pirates will get so caught up in the wild adventures they find in books that they will abandon their wicked ways and civilize themselves. Andrew Carnegie would love this idea.

There are some Book-mo-Boats already in existence. We'll model our best practices on their experiences:

Norway has a book boat!

The book boat made the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Library and Information Science!

Sweden also has a book boat!

Lao Children's Library Boat (just photos)

Please just write a little sentence or two about why you want to sail on the Book-mo-Boat with me and First Mate Katie and leave it in the comments to this post. The Book-mo-Boat, should Life Plan A (full-time library employment) not come together, will leave port at dawn on July 1, 2009.

Plan D: Donkey Ball

I have made an important discovery for anyone out there looking for Life Plan D. If this whole librarian thing doesn't work out, I'm considering putting my marketing and outreach skills to good use by becoming a donkey ball promoter. The sport, also known as donkey basketball, is similar to standard basketball; the key difference is that a player must be on the back of a donkey in order to score points. Donkey ball events are often organized to draw crowds to fundraisers. As far as I can tell, scores are typically much lower than in human-powered basketball. Please see the following:

Thomas, Katie. (2009). Donkey Ball Stubbornly Holds on Despite Criticism. New York Times, April 17, 2009. Available online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/sports/othersports/18donkey.html.

• This article provides an introduction to the history, current practice, and controversy surrounding the sport of donkey ball.
• Donkey Ball Operator Leticia Kwall describes the whimsicality of the activity: "Normally when you see animals, people are in control. In this forum, the reason it’s so entertaining to children is that the donkeys are totally in control of the situation."
• As if you needed further impetus to click on the link above, here is a sample of what awaits you:
  

Thanks, New York Times!

For looking for further information about professional "assletes," I recommend these donkey athletic profiles put together by a donkey ball company in Vermont.

For fellow information professionals in need of direction, might I suggest you carve out a niche in the field of donkey ball informatics? There are myriad design possibilities in this market -- consider donkey ball trading cards (or e-trading cards), donkey ball apps for Facebook and iPhone, or building the first donkey ball online community. I'm issuing a call to action, friends: it's time to bring donkey ball into the Web 2.0 world.

All roads lead to ugliblog

Via the awesome power of Google Analytics, we now know that the demand for facks about flirting spiked on March 10, 2009.

Facebook, aka Fort Creepy

The term "creepy treehouse" seems to be a popular topic on various blogs focusing on social computing and education. The term is often connected with facebook interactions. According to Jared Stein of flexknowlogy, a creepy treehouse is:

n. Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled environment in which participants are lured in either by mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed environments, or by force, through a system of punishments or rewards. Such institutional environments are often seen as more artificial in their construction and usage, and typically compete with pre-existing systems, environments, or applications. creepy treehouses also have an aspect of closed-ness, where activity within is hidden from the outside world, and may not be easily transferred from the environment by the participants.

n. Any system or environment that repulses a target user due to it’s closeness to or representation of an oppressive or overbearing institution.

n. A situation in which an authority figure or an institutional power forces those below him/her into social or quasi-social situations.

Popular examples of this defination of a creepy treehouse are professors that make students follow them on twitter, or forced use of the blackboard facebook app. In our own words: would you take your Collection Development textbook to the bar to read while all your friends are there having a lively time? It would take a special person to say "yes" to that.

We think the concept of a creepy treehouse is best described as a social situation online that makes you uncomfortable. The action is invasive, and perceived as inappropriate by one of the parties involved. One element of this may be a social situation that crosses a contextual boundary (educators friending students and vice versa) or a generational gap. There are some people you'd just rather not hang out with online.

In conclusion, stop creepy treehousing. Use privacy settings, friend lists, and exercise your "ignore friend request" right. It's okay to feel strange about the amount of information people can find about you online. Define your personal limits (cough cough myspacers...). Boundaries are something to be thoughtful about, especially on new frontiers.

More info:
Attend our ML2SIG discussion Monday, January 19, 12-1pm, room 806 Hatcher.
Chris Lott: Social Networks vs. Tools
Classroom 2.0: avoiding the "creepy treehouse"
Get out of the creepy treehouse (check out the discussion thread)
for those still interested:
Wikipedia: Social software in education

Punk'd!

Funny thing happened this afternoon while I was working Ask a Librarian, our instant message chat reference service. To give you some context, the most common questions we get on this service are about access problems for our online databases, often a frustrating (and generally boring) topic for both the patron and the librarian. Chat reference is usually a rather proper exchange, as far as text chats go, and often concerns bibliographic information. But not today...

[15:58] meeboguest940311: Hi dude whats up

(I'm used to people being occasionally informal on chat, especially the millennials, but this gave me pause. I considered several lines of attack, including some uptight, librarian-y responses, before settling on a laid-back approach.)

[15:59] UMLibraryAskUs: hi
[15:59] UMLibraryAskUs: not much
[15:59] UMLibraryAskUs: what's up with you?

[15:59] meeboguest940311: can you tell me who the cool bald guy who does film is?

[15:59] UMLibraryAskUs: hmm
[15:59] UMLibraryAskUs: at Askwith?

(I was thinking "film" as in videos and DVDs, not film studies.)

[15:59] meeboguest940311: No at the grad
[16:00] UMLibraryAskUs: oh, yes. That's Scott Dennis.

(Scott Dennis is my librarian crush. He knows pretty much everything about electronic resource collection development. He is, in fact, a cool bald guy.)

[16:00] meeboguest940311: Oh yeah, that is his name. Thanks!
[16:00] UMLibraryAskUs: no problem!

[16:00] meeboguest940311: later dude
[16:00] UMLibraryAskUs: l8r

(I was particularly proud of my signoff. All in all, a quick, entertaining exchange.)

I emailed Scott to tell him he's famous -- that pretty much everyone on the library website today is looking for him -- and it turns out he was the patron at the other end of my fun chat:

Katie, I cannot tell a lie… That was me, doing a live demo for a Screen Arts class I was teaching. I wasn’t planning on it, but when I showed the Library Help feature in CTools, a student in the class said, someone is there right now waiting to chat? In a tone of disbelief. So I decided to prove it on the spot. I didn’t want to make whoever was on chat duty actually have to do any research work, and I wanted to be funny, so… It worked like a charm. The class roared with laughter (about 50 of them in Angell Hall Auditorium D), and they were very impressed with your hip current texting style! That’s really a librarian? One asked. I’m very lucky you were the one on duty! Thanks. --Scott

It's been a long week, but now I feel great. I'm so hip, a studio audience of 50 millennials can't even tell I'm a librarian.

[Uptight Librarian Note: I received permission from Scott to post this on the blog; I don't go around randomly publishing patrons' private messages to the internet.]

Nerds in possible like

Hey boy, why you didn't call me?
-The Blow

Lately, Katie and I have noticed on our ugliblog analytics that people in need of relationship advice are turning to google and landing on ugliblog. There seem to be a lot of people out there who need advice about flirting, flirt texts, flirting in Grand Rapids, flirting with librarians, good comebacks for flirting with nerds, among many others. Over the past three months, people have landed on ugliblog by searching over 20 different keywords dealing with the subject of flirting. In order to stay relevant to the needs and interests of our readers, I will now provide you with some innovative flirting advice (a special thanks to Katie and Greg who helped me brainstorm this system awhile back).

Scenario: You are at the bar. There is a rather cute person in the corner, reading a book. This person is so perfect that you may try to find them on Craigslist missed connections later. You look up from your crossword puzzle and stout, just as the person looks up from their book and i.p.a. You want to wink, but that's soooo 20th century. So go ahead, take those skills that you learned in the chat room and apply them to the bar. Throw that cutie a sign language winkey emoticon ;).


I hope that this helps those of you that are struggling with this whole flirting thing. Please note that flirting with emoticon sign language has never been tried by those who invented it, so the success rate is still unknown. Please share your success stories with us!

The secret about girls is that they want you to like them.
-The Blow

By Special Request: What is Community Informatics?

Questions abound concerning one of my specializations at the School of Information. Even SI is struggling to come up with some set definition. I think that basically it is about sharing information. How is this different from Library and Information Services? LIS is about the how. Community Informatics is about the what and the why. For me this means seeing libraries as community centers (both public and academic) that serve the needs of their communities. I think that a lot of community informatics involves getting librarians out from behind the desk and into the community, visiting different organizations and groups, finding out what they need the library to be. Information is meant to be shared, and this process won’t work if librarians are confined within the walls of the library. Sometimes this might mean creating unlikely connections.
I worked on a project a year ago that connected a public library and archive with the parks and recreation department, our local neighborhood association, and the city commission of my hometown. We brought an exhibit on a local pool created in the archive to the place in the city where it belonged, at the pool (see http://www.historygrandrapids.org or add to and edit the wiki version http://www.viget.org/Richmond_Park_Pool). This made people in the community aware of the archive and the library, while we all celebrated the rich history of our neighborhood pool. People asked me reference questions at the opening of the exhibit. Reference questions while waiting in line to do cannon balls off the diving board? Yes, please.

Want to know more about Community Informatics at the School of Information?
http://cic.si.umich.edu and
http://www.si.umich.edu/msi/ci.htm

Millennial Mania

Lately I've been thinking a lot about millennials.* The librarians I know often discuss millennials -- our current generation of younger patrons. How do millennials access and use information and how do they communicate? If librarians can pin down millennials' needs, we can better serve them and we can maintain our relevance in an increasingly decentralized information age.

I realized recently that the youngest of today's library school students are among the first crop of millennial librarians. In this vein, I have a confession to make. I am a millennial (a fact that I hadn't confronted about myself until, fittingly, I read it in black and white on Wikipedia). So what does it mean that we new librarians are in the same generation as the students that more experienced librarians are desperately seeking to understand?

As a millennial (however reluctant I am to admit it because it makes me feel like an awkward middle schooler), I am accustomed to rapidly-evolving information and communication technologies. I remember dial-up, but barely. I may not be a skilled texter, but I could be if I focused more. I rarely have the attention span to read a book cover-to-cover, but I can spend hours following a trail of interesting Facebook updates.

I've been asking around about millennials, and I've heard they expect information resources to be intuitive, to be Google or Wikipedia-esque in their ease of use. I've also heard that millennials are as likely to rely on peers as they are to rely on their superiors for "expert" advice. I’m not sure how true these things are of me, but I think they may be generally true of those youngsters born in the 1990s.

This collaborative way of approaching knowledge (and in a sense determining our truths by the consensus of any given moment) signals a shift in society discussed --and sometimes bemoaned-- by philosophers and pundits alike. But older generations have a history of worrying about what cultural dead-ends those young kids are leading us into. And as of yet, cultural evolution has continued apace both despite and because of the innovations of the young.

Personally, I don’t think we need a revolutionary response to millennials’ supposed information, communication and technology prowess. I don't think we need the brand "Library 2.0" to open ourselves to a paradigm shift. Libraries have always evolved to reflect society’s views of knowledge, and have so far managed to remain relevant and useful. Maybe we respond a little more slowly to the latest technology, perhaps with slightly more deliberation. But we adopt the things that work and we empower our patrons adopt them, too. I value this traditional function of libraries as much as the next librarian, millennial or no.

So, what does it really mean to be a millennial librarian? Is there really a generational gap here, or are the reports of our differences greatly exaggerated?

* Beware that Wikipedia link, the year range listed for the "millennial" or "gen y" generation changes regularly. I guess that's a symptom of society's attempt to describe itself as it evolves. Or the lack of authority and dependability of Wikipedia articles. Take your pick. For more on naming the millennial generation, see this Washington Post article.

METADATER: a long explanation for a short joke

Caution: This post contains a hearty portion of information nerdiness/ geekiness/ dorkiness. I will try to "overexplain" some things a little for the benefit of our average reader (returning readers will notice that "overexplanation" is something I do on the regular, for real).

So, feel free to skip ahead if you already know a thing or two about metadata. Or don't, if you want to see me try to explain it.

Context: What the heck is metadata, anyway? According to wikipedia and SI, metadata is "data about data." Metadata helps us make sense of information by providing us with context. It allows us to better communicate and organize information and thus retrieve information more efficiently.

Titles and formatting are examples of metadata often used to describe text. For instance, the metadata I apply to READ THIS NOW! tells you a lot more than a less invasive "read this now" would have. The metadata (bold, caps and exclamation point) I use to describe the data (three words which represent your imperative) helps me communicate my meaning, draws your attention and hopefully inspires you to continue reading. It also allows me to classify what I say as important, rather than just plain old words like the stuff around it.

Recently, when I asked a fellow information professional if he had any thoughts on metadata, he asked, "Can you be more specific?" I said no. He said, "It's a ... good thing?" Metadata. It's a good thing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata

Aaaaanyway...

What's the deal with METADATER? Last semester, I was writing a literature review on Metadata Standards and Interoperability for the Digital Libraries course that Emily and I took together. While this may sound vaguely impressive, I can assure you that I had almost no idea what I was talking about, but I sort of guessed at a string of plausible words and ended up sounding mildly coherent. Professor, if you're reading this... sorry dude. Thanks for the passing grade.

So Emily and I were both typing like mad in the office trying to get these overly technical lit reviews done and submitted on time, and I typoed "metadater" and I sort of cackled and said "METADATER!" in this incredibly nerdy affected voice and we both died a little in a good way. We wrote the term on the office white board and it lasted for a while.

Since then, we've realized what METADATER is really all about. We've learned the true reason I discovered the concept in the first place.

METADATER is an online dating site for information professionals. Or it should be. It doesn't actually exist. But it could.

After all, http://metadater.com/ was recently "registered\purchased." And who knows what it'll be when it finally goes live.

I'll give you a few moments to think about the ramifications.

Seriously?
Yes.

Well... seriously bad/good joke. I mean, word play and information science? It doesn't get any better/worse. I warned you it was nerdy.

Why I am becoming a librarian

Today Katie and I were having a discussion about why we are becoming librarians. Katie suggested that we both make pie charts of why we are choosing this profession. I sort of ran with it, and then Katie helped me make this sweet pie chart.What are your nerdy motivations for your profession? Dear reader, assure me I am not the only nerd out there.

It’s Already Been Broughten, or the story of one librarian’s journey to the 1st Annual Bilderberg Challenge

On May 30th, 2007, an historic call to arms was issued via the SI listserv:

------------------------------------------------------
[BRING IT] softball -- archivists vs librarians (BRING IT)
For literally hundreds of millions of years, tension has been brewing between archivists and librarians...
Well stop your shushing, put down your acid free folders, and get ready because forever is about to be decided:
THE 1ST ANNUAL BILDERBERG SOFTBALL CHALLENGE
When: Saturday, June 7, 2008, 1 pm
Where: Burns Park Softball Diamonds (look it up or follow the information scent)
Who: Archivists vs. Librarians
What: A duel on the diamond - standard softball rules - bragging rights at stake - in a word, BRING IT!
------------------------------------------------------
This email, issued by Maureen and Bill, ARCHIVISTS AT LARGE, started a revolution in the SI community. No longer was the listserv dominated by a handful of HCI enthusiasts. It was time for the traditional information professionals to take the stage, and take it we did, rocking the status quo.

This challenge marked my entrée into the world of SI-all email communications and sparked a fever in my heart that could only be cured by MORE SOFTBALL.

On 06/07/08 at approximately 1:23 pm, the 1st Annual Bilderberg Challenge began, a softball showdown between archivists and librarians. The archivists, hosts and home team, were decked out in black. The librarians wore white. There was tension in the air and a storm was brewing. Everyone in attendance recognized an epic battle was underway.

Photo Credit: Dawn B.

As a proponent of librarianship and former captain of the Oberlin varsity softball team, I knew it was my duty to unite LIS students and allies to overcome ARM’s attempts to undermine us. We dominated from the moment we stepped on the field; the Bilderberg Trophy was at stake and we could taste victory with every pitch.

With our reputation on the line, we put the archivists’ trash talking to the test, and they crumbled under the weight of our heavy bats and profound fielding prowess.

The final score:
Librarians 16, Archivists 7.

Archivists, I have but one thing to say for my profession: IT’S ALREADY BEEN BROUGHTEN.

[If you're curious, Wikipedia has more on the Bilderberg Group. For Quaker porn, please visit Maureen's blog at: http://patriarchive.wordpress.com]

What you can really do with a library degree

Katie and I were in the office today avoiding writing our papers for Digital Libraries. Katie was paging through a book we recently found in the office titled What Else You can do with a Library Degree: Career Options for the 90s and Beyond. The book inspired her to perhaps switch her specialization to tailored and take classes that would enable her to become a private investigator. I was in sort of a tizzy and was feeling very uninspired, until Katie said, looking up from the book and at the computer screen at the introduction to her paper, "I wonder how many words I have already." My response, "200." Katie hit word count, "200!" The next edition of What Else You can do with a Library Degree: Career Options for the Internet Age will most likely list psychic.


I guess that librarians do need to be a bit psychic though. How else could we find the right source with so little to go on? (true example; student: "I have to write a paper about my passion." librarian: "what's your passion?" student: "War"... moments later the search/ student's passion is defined as American opposition to the Korean War).

Sharks Part 2: Told You So...

Internet connectivity has been sporadic for our friends in Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, India, and Bangladesh this week due to three broken internet cables in the ocean. Though repairs are being made, the progress may be slow. Sources don't seem to know what caused the break in the cables, and it is suspected that at least two be the cables were possibly cut by a ship anchor. But, the third broken cable, off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, has not been explained. The cable was a mere 35 miles from shore. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History most sharks congregate and attack not far from shore and are drawn towards metallic objects, thus leaving my prediction as shark attack. This has been one of the largest outages since an earthquake in Taiwan in 2006. Remember dear readers that we can create things such as the internet, but we pesky humans will never outsmart nature.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Internet-Outages.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=internet&st=nyt&oref=slogin">http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Internet-Outages.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=internet&st=nyt&oref=slogin
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/01/31/dubai.outage/index.html?iref=newssearch
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/attacks/howwhen.htm">http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/attacks/howwhen.htm

Shark Attacks and Internet Connections

Katie and I are in a course on digital libraries this semester. As you know, I have issues with the tangibility of the digital world. We recently read an article for class that attempts to make tangible the intangible nature of networks such as the internet. So, in the article this guy just travels around the world following broadband wires. This "hacker tourist" reveals to his readers all sorts of mind boggling things about broadband wires, the most mind boggling being that the broadband wires in the ocean have a "steel anitshark jacket" around them. I never had given any thought to the fact that a shark attack might tamper with my internet connection. Now I do. I was having trouble signing into facebook earlier today so I could play Scrabulous. I instantly thought "shark attack." (How many times have you thought about a shark attack threatening your Scrabble game?) Printers are slow today at the UGLi-- it's probably just another shark messing with the connection.