LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Technical issues continue to plague us at Erie Looking Productions. LISTen #107 is a lost episode as there will be no recorded audio for this one. The unedited script that has none of the usual handwritten corrections or any ad-libs by the presenter is instead released for consideration. Links to matters referenced are shown as footnotes in the attached PDF file. This peculiar release is made under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

While we plan to release LISTen #108 on March 1st, this is dependent upon us chasing down electrical shorts and other complications. Thank you for your patience and cooperation in this difficult time.

(Mirrored at Internet Archive)

All the buzz around the nook, the kindle, and other e-reading devices gave me pause to ponder if they might make such a great gift after all. I've been a fan of the "affordances" of paper in the office and at home, despite being something of a techie, but I'm certainly not alone in my suspicious take on "the future of the book":

full article here:
All I Want for Christmas is an E-Reader?

This week's podcast looks forward into the past with a replay of archival audio of President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing the US Congress after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The dateline for this episode is the 78th anniversary of the event.

Also presented in the podcast was a brief discussion of the late-breaking story of Comcast's attempt to acquire a controlling interest in NBC Universal. There was originally going to be discussion of remarks by Rupert Murdoch concerning why news online should never have been free in the first place. The Comcast-NBC matter took precedence.

Related links:
FDR's speech at Archive.org
This installment of Profile America
MSNBC reporting on the Comcast-NBC matter
Greg Sandoval at CNET discussing the Comcast-NBC matter
One Reuters story on the Comcast-NBC matter
Another Reuters story in the matter
Discussion at the Erie Looking Productions blog of the recent coverage of remarks by Rupert Murdoch
MSNBC relaying an AP report on Google's new attempt to restrict how users can reach news sites
Linux Outlaws, a show produced by Sixgun Productions

You can subscribe to some of these sorts of video bits here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LISNewsVodcast

An Essay of the LISNews Summer Series

There are some obvious similarities between the quintessential Linux user and the classical image of the librarian, covering the gamut of good, bad and indifferent. Librarians foster the curiosity and intellectual growth of diverse patrons, connecting them with reliable sources of information and suggesting entertaining books, music and movies. The Linux community encourages users to examine, change, and take the operating system further -- regardless of whether "further" works out as modifying a kernel module or creating a new scalable vector graphic icon set for the desktop.

Linux users, when faced with a question that's been asked millions of times throughout the ages -- one with an easily discovered answer, if the soul asking had only taken a few seconds -- often respond with a resounding "RTFM" (read the f****** manual). Sometimes this response will be shaken up with a stray "Google is your friend." Librarians, by matter of course, prefer to teach a man to fish rather than feed him -- and sometimes patrons, quite capable of fishing when pointed towards the appropriate body of water, would really prefer to be fed their fish, with a couple side dishes, butter, lemon, dessert, and valet parking for good measure. That's when they tend to be greeted with the response, "Look it up." And yes, sometimes this response will be shaken up with a stray "Google is your friend."

By and large, the quintessential Linux user and classical librarian persona are stereotypes. Stereotypes generally have a grain of truth buried in there somewhere. I think what's most awe-inspiring about these two demographics -- similar, yet simultaneously so utterly different -- isn't the kindred philosophies or the occasionally pointed terms used to encourage others to seek answers on their own. It's the shocking way that skills learned in one setting (librarianship, fooling around with Linux in nearly any capacity) are so complementary and transferable.

In its elemental form: These settings are complementary because neither places high value on knowing the answer right from the start -- the value, the knowledge, the ability arises from understanding what question actually needs an answer, and then knowing how to track that answer down.

Think of troubleshooting an error as a reference interview. Think of a reference interview as troubleshooting an error. It works reasonably well both ways.

I've not transformed any Linux users I know into librarians, but I've found there's a healthy appreciation of the skills required in the stacks. The library just isn't where they see themselves seeking employment. That's fine. I know many librarians who use Linux in some capacity -- to play around and learn, to develop applications, or some mix of the two. I know many librarians who appreciate the skills required in software development (or general system maintenance). They don't pursue it, it's not their thing. And that, too, is fine. But there's a response encountered just a little too frequently to sit right, "I could never do that. It's too [insert phrase that thinly veils the notion that computers are magical and completely undocumented creations]."

Troubleshooting is a reference interview. In many ways, it's the easiest reference interview you'll ever conduct. While Linux error messages and logs seem cryptic, or complete to the point of superfluity, it doesn't take long to narrow down the log files and specific lines that'll help identify the source of the problem. Yes, you'll likely get more information than you need from this interview, but you're going to get the information needed to find an answer and believe me, the system won't question why the hell you're asking all these follow up questions and not just providing a solution to the question raised.

The best part is, of course, you don't have to know what the error really means. In a general sense, perhaps, but that can also be rooted out fairly quickly by searching help files. Not knowing exactly what wlan0: disassociating by local choice (reason=3) means isn't a problem. If the time of a system glitch (say, a lost wireless connection) corresponds to the message, it's a fine place to start searching the most suspect looking phrases. We're librarians. We do this all the time.

And by the way, my wireless card doesn't have a superiority complex. The error was the product of a dodgy driver update.

Kristin Shoemaker ("shoe") is the collective effort of the Simmons GSLIS development project. Constantly in need of either a warm reboot (or at least a Ctrl-Alt-Bksp and restart of the graphical server), she is a contributor at OStatic, the GigaOM network's open source portal.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

This is the final episode of Tech for Techies. The show will return to the Twilight Zone from where it came (for the time being). Stephen talks about broadcast transmission, be it radio, television or cellphones. Another Federal Government PSA from the Census Bureau, Profile America. My close explains the present situation at Erie Looking Productions.

In connection with what I bring up in the close, I want you to read a recommendation from LinkedIn:

“Stephen is a top notch podcaster and the writer, producer, and presenter of LISTen: The LISNews Podcast. More than that, he secured and conducted some fantastic interviews with people in the library world and in the fields of technology and media journalism. He brings a professional quality library podcast into an arena that sorely needs one. Because of this, he'd be a good source of information and consultation for a library (or any organization) with a desire to branch out into the world of Internet broadcasting.”

That was written by Daniel Messer, alternatively known as the Faceless Historian and Great Western Dragon. Think about what he had to say. While there is an old saw about a kingdom being lost for lack of a horseshoe, should a podcasting effort collapse for a lack of greenbacks? One value, at the least, to what the network does is that it is not beholden to the ALA, OCLC, or any particular vendor.

I want to thank you for listening and that the past shows will remain available on LISNews.

Due to circumstances beyond the control of the Nevada production team, Tech for Techies #16 is delayed until further notice. Efforts are underway to ensure a release on Friday, though.

This week we talked about microphone usage and communications interruptions.

The LISNews Netcast Network schedule for this summer:

June 1: LISTen #74
June 8th: LISTen #75
June 11th: Hyperlinked History
June 15th: LISTen #76
June 18th: Tech for Techies
June 22nd: LISTen #77
June 25th: Hyperlinked History
June 29th: LISTen #78
July 2nd: Tech for Techies
July 6th: LISTen #79
July 9th: Hyperlinked History
July 13th: LISTen #80
July 16th: Tech for Techies
July 20th: LISTen #81
July 23rd: Hyperlinked History
July 27th: LISTen #82
July 30th: Tech for Techies
August 3rd: LISTen #83
August 6th: Hyperlinked History
August 10th: LISTen #84
August 13th: Tech for Techies
August 17th: LISTen #85
August 20th: Hyperlinked History

After August 20th, all network programs will be on hiatus. The hiatus will conclude on September 7th with the return of LISTen. Dates remain tentative as changes can happen. If news breaks out, unannounced specials may be released as necessary.