Let digitization experts be like weeds

I have been reading the book Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants, in which Richard Mabey extols these plants that we call "weeds" and talks at length about how they have spread themselves around the earth.  For those of you with pristine lawns, I now know that you should fear the mail carrier who walks from one lawn to another, carrying seeds on the soles of his shoes from who-knows-where!

Weeds - those plants that we don't want in our yards - have the uncanny ability to mold themselves to the environment so they will flourish.  Weeds adapt constantly.  It is as if they raise their heads, look around, and then decide what form they should take in order to live in their new environment.  In some cases, they seem to move toward a specific environment that is perfect for them.

In a couple of weeks, I'll begin teaching "Creating, Managing and Preserving Digital Assets" as I do each spring.  This year, I'm teaching it in the classroom, rather than online.  In this face-to-face version, I'm going to incorporate student-led discussions that are fueled with content from blog posts and podcasts.  I'm also looking forward to challenging our ideas of what digitization is and where it occurs...as well as how we can help.

Although digitization programs have multiplied over the years, there are still cultural heritage institutions that have not gotten involved.  We do to get more organizations involved, often through one-off projects.  For example, here in Central New York, library and information science (LIS) interns are working with the Central NY Library Resources Council to digitize materials from several collections.  This has been a win-win situation for the cultural heritage institutions and for the graduate students.

Even though there are institution uninvolved in formal digitization programs, digitization has been adopted by many organizations and people, likely without them realizing it.  The ability to convert something into digital form occurs daily and effortlessly, even in some of those institutions that cannot digitize their historical materials.  How?  Those multi-function "printers"that we all have. They have spread like weeds and we have all adapted to them!  People have them at home and in the office, and they are moving content into digital form without - for example - understanding the implications around finding those items later or ensuring that they are preserved.

We all can digitize, but we all do not have access to someone to teach us how to care for our assets.  Those teachers - people knowledgeable in digitization - need to find the right environment for spreading what they know.  They need to find cracks in the conversations to insert information that will help someone take care of their digital files.  And we need to get the information the people where they are, whether that be at home or in the office, because that is where they are engaging in this activity.  Since we seem to think that everything can be solved with social media, is there a way of using social media for this?  For example, when a person shares a photo (e.g., Instagram), could that person gain access to tips on how to ensure that photo lasts a lifetime? Could we would with manufacturers to build information into those multifunction devices (or supply it through those devices)?

mmm...have I just come up with a class project?

U.S. Copyright Office study in process: Remedies for Copyright Small Claims

Since this is a study that is in process, there is no telling if it might result in a formal change or not.  I do, however, like that the Copyright Office is considering the impact on copyright owners if they want to file an infringement lawsuit, especially when "the prospect of a modest recovery may not justify the potentially large expense of litigation." As the web site says:

Congress has asked the Copyright Office to study the challenges of the current system for resolving small copyright claim disputes, as well as possible alternative systems. Specifically, the Office is to undertake a study to: (1) assess the extent to which authors and other copyright owners are effectively prevented from seeking relief from infringements due to constraints in the current system; and (2) furnish specific recommendations, as appropriate, for changes in administrative, regulatory and statutory authority that will improve the adjudication of small copyright claims and thereby enable all copyright owners more fully to realize the promise of exclusive rights enshrined in our Constitution. The Office will provide a report on this study by the end of September 2013.

Article: Copyright, Patents, Trademarks: The Outlook For 2013

This article written by Alexandre Montagu and Thomas Walsh says that these are the areas worth watching in 2013 in terms of copyright:

• Do individuals have the right to resell digital works?
• Is a DVR service that allows customers to skip commercials legal?
• Can individuals access broadcast television over the Internet?

Read the full article for the details.

Google Translate, Digitization and "What Turned Jaron Lanier Against the Web?"

Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article about Jaron Lanier, who is a computer scientist, inventor, author, and speaker.  He was a pioneer in the field of virtual reality.  Lanier helped to create the web as we know it today, yet in the last decade he has turned against what the Internet has become.  This is a fascinating article, even if you don't believe his point of view.  One of the things he discusses is how the Internet has changed our economy and he uses Google Translate as an example.  Google Translate is fueled - we can assume - by digitized and born digital texts.  Lanier said:

But there’s another way to look at it, which is the technically true way: You gather a ton of information from real live translators who have translated phrases, just an enormous body, and then when your example comes in, you search through that to find similar passages and you create a collage of previous translations.

The word "collage" stands out to me.  A collage version of a photograph is different. It may evoke different emotions and meanings.  It may tell a different story.  Pulling together different pieces of translated text from digital works may leave the reader with the wrong impression.  It may be close to what a human translator would say, but it is not the same.

If you had asked me 20 years ago if digitization would lead to fuzzy translations, I would have said "no" and I would have been wrong.  

2012 Year in Review: My life as teacher and director

A friend asked me recently if - when I began teaching at Syracuse University - I thought I would become the director of its library and information science program...and the answer was "no!"  In 2001, teaching graduate students was something I was going to do for a couple of years.  But then, I kept doing it part-time and then...well...I realized that it was what I really wanted to do.  But be the program director?!  It wasn't until Dave Lankes became the director that I saw something that I wanted to do and so here I am.  [BTW Dave and I are like "two peas in a pod" as well as like "ying and yang."  It can be quite interesting, especially for the students!]

Teaching - I now teach four different graduate courses over the course of an academic year, two each semester.  In addition, I co-teach the graduate gateway course in the iSchool, with several other faculty members.  Teaching dominates my weeks during the academic year.  Besides class prep and time in the classroom (or on the computer for my online classes), there is time grading assignments.  Grading assignments is not something that goes quickly, so when you multiply the time for each student's assignment  by the number of students in the class, and then by the number of assignments in the class, it can be overwhelming.  Yet it is the feedback on assignments - whether individually or en masse - that makes a difference, so all of those hours sitting, reading, and commenting are worth it.  (I do have to remember to get up occasionally and exercise, as well as get another cup of tea!)

Directing - Add to the hours of teaching the task of directing the program, which is not a trivial task.  Which is more important?  That depends on the moment - literally. Some days are filled with meetings, emails and tasks that must be done then in order to keeps things - recruitment, marketing, course scheduling, new initiatives, etc. - moving forward.  And there are evenings when I come home with the best of intentions to grade papers, only to be faced with a slew of emails that need to be answered. My colleague Dave Dischiave says that email is not communication tool, rather it is a to-do list because every email requires an action.  True.

[By the way, my school does not have departments, so no one has the title of "chair."]

Jill & LIS students at NYLA 2012

What does the director do?  What don't I do!

• Meet and communicate with prospective students.
• Get involved in admission and scholarship decisions.
• Meet and advise current students.
• Write letters of recommendation.
• Hear complaints and hear words of praise.
• Arrange...stuff.
• Run and attend meetings.
• Email...about...stuff.
• Meet with prospective employers.
• Explain the program to....
• Assist with course scheduling.  (This is more work than you think!)
• Represent the program/school at events/conferences. Juggling conference attendance with teaching is an interesting act.
• Oversee accreditation related activities.
• Care about...everything.
• In the face of all adversity and disenchantment, stay calm and try to smile.
• Try to maintain a home life and stay healthy.

The last is important to mention because academic institutions do not have a start or end time to their days.  Things are happening all the time (literally) and that often translates into long days (and weeks).  I learned from Kenny Crews the importance of engaging in activities where you cannot do work at the same time.  Thank goodness then for bowling, gardening, canning, and walking.

The March Toward 2015 - For every director, chair or dean of an LIS program, the re-accreditation of the program is a huge responsibility.  Our next review is in 2015 and it has already been on my mind since I said "yes" to this position.  Look at my to-do list and you'll see tasks that are tied it.

I'm not sure where to put this...so...For those that are critical of LIS programs (and who isn't), a hint...understand the accreditation activities that the program is involved in, whether that's ALA or NCATE (which is changing to CAEP) or something else.  Can you turn your criticism into a help as the program prepares for re-accreditation? Yup, that will get their attention!

As I look ahead to 2013 - two years before 2015! - I see a full year in front of me...teaching, conferences, admitting new students, graduating current students, meetings, email, and more. (Can you say accreditation tasks?) Hard to believe that in May, I will be one of the people to shake hands with our graduating LIS students as they walk across the stage.  Yes, another duty of the director and one that I will do with great joy! In the end, it is seeing them graduate, land jobs, and become members of the profession that makes everything else worthwhile.

Here is hoping that your 2013 is as full, challenging and rewarding as I believe mine will be!