Chicago Cubs Win Central Division

Talk about baggage! The Chicago Cubs "clinch" the Central Division and the Sun-Times has to remind us of the following unhappy legacy:

"...[P]layers insisted this is only the beginning of their quest to end 98 years of empty and heartbreaking Octobers."

"98 years of empty and heartbreaking Octobers"? Who wants to hear this? Bring on the Parties! Break out the kegs! On to October!

Current Cites for September 2007

Current Cites for September 2007 is out! You can find the issue here...

Innovation Good and Bad

Aaron Schmidt rightfully quotes himself with pride from an article in the Chicago Tribune:

"There's a lot of dead wood in libraries, and I think there's a lot of administrations that are kind of just biding their time for retirement and don’t feel like putting forth a lot of effort," he said. "I think there’s a general culture of resistance to change. That needs to go away."

He's right of course but I think the problem is a bit more complicated.

"Dead wood" after all is an easy enough concept to grasp: You're either dead or you're not.

But if you go back and survey the record, you'll find that almost as common as the resistance to new ideas has been the lack of resistance to bad ideas. I mean, it's not as if we've been sitting around all these years doing nothing.

All you have to do is look at the very subject of the article that Aaron is referring to, namely, IM in libraries.

For years, we had no IM in libraries. Instead we had "Chat Reference" using quite pricey applications that promised such wonders as "page pushing" and "co-browsing". All I can say is: Où sont les Neiges d'antan?

It'd be an interesting (if painful) exercise to go through the library literature of the past 10-15 years and catalog the initiatives that failed, were abandoned or never quite got off the ground.

I don't bring this up as some sort of argument against change -- I mean, me? Rather it's healthy in understanding how true and meaningful change can occur, to acknowledge or at least to be aware of the boo-boos of the past. On occasion, the same dynamic can still be at work today.

OneWebDay (Video Taping at UIC)

[From my UIC Announcement:]

OneWebDay is a global online event celebrating the importance of the Web (website: http://www.onewebday.org [archived site]).

As explained by the event organizers:

"The essence of OneWebDay is to create a global constituency that thinks of itself as responsible for the future of the Internet, so that when negative things happen (censorship, restricted access, heavy-handed law enforcement control) people will act." (http://www.onewebday.org/?p=228)

This year they're encouraging people to make "short videos". As a personal project, I'd like to invite faculty, staff & students to come to the Quad (East Campus) on Wed.-Thurs. (9/19-9/20, 11:30a-2:30pm). There I'll be videotaping responses to any of the following suggested topics:

• how the web has changed your life
• how you’d like the web to change the world in the future
• highlights of what you’ve seen online the day you make the video
• your favorite online event ever
• something you’ve done online with other people in other countries

I'll take highlights from the taping and put together a 10-minute clip, then upload it on YouTube on Sat. 2/22 (the "official" day) with the tags "UIC" and "onewebday2007".

OneWebDay is a great idea and it's sponsored by academics and experts like Susan Crawford (currently at UMich) who believe in an Internet as wide open and accessible as possible. Help contribute to the day by relating your experiences!

Contact: Leo Klein, Tech. Coordinator, Partnership READ, COE, UIC

Note: I'll be on the south side of the Quad. Look for the camera mounted on a green tripod. Alternative location (in case of inclement weather, etc.): just outside the west-side exit of Student Center East.

You can read more about the event at: http://www.onewebday.org [archived site]