How my life has changed / How will my life change
Via the lovely Australian collaborative library blog, librariesinteract.info, comes, How my life has changed / How will my life change, a chart that summarizes how life has changed for a librarian since leaving library school in the 70's and 80's.
Joyce Valenza's chart is a great summation of the impact of technology on our communities, on our lives. Although I do not work in the library domain, much of her distilled wisdom rings true for me.Learning happens between annual conferences.
While we were muddling on the Tech Report this week, one of the themes we have had at the heart of the report for two years was still strong. And it relates to Joyce's reflections. It is this dynamic of technology influencing the trajectories of communities, and communities influencing the development of technology. Sometimes it feels like it is is all being "done unto" us. But we are a force in the technology as well. If you look at the fourth column on Joyce's table, you will see hints of that force.
Blogs publish professional news, new strategies before it can travel through traditional publishing process. (Essential strategies for keeping up!)
Attend conferences without traveling—viewing keynotes online.
Some of this appears as practices to make technology useful. "Need to create signage, guides, pathfinders for new additions to “collection.” " Some of it is influencing the technology. For example, as staff help people create personal learning portfolios, the ideas of how these might be created and made portable using technology start to emerge.
For me, the practice of looking back and looking forward is very useful at this moment in time where shifts are happening everywhere I look. The grounding of my history, my memory, is not a ball and chain keeping me moving forward, but a gentle anchor to keep me on course as a traverse my journey, to give me moments of rest and reflection. That journey is shot through with threads of technology and I feel it is my responsibility to apply and shape that technology towards the best imaginable future possible.
Thanks, Joyce, for reminding me.
Tags: techreport, technologyforcommunity
posted by Nancy White at 7:51 AM
2 Comments:
I have always liked talking to myself and blogging certainly allows us to defend this practice. But sometimes I wonder if all this pushmi-pullyu type reflection paralyses rather than liberates us. Perhaps sometimes we should just “hold on or let go” and enjoy the uncertainty of the ride.
Dear Artichoke,
I too, like talking to myself. It helps me get my thoughts straight. But like anything else, too much of it and I should be sent to the funny farm. There is indeed a time for holding on and letting go. I guess that leads to the idea of wisdom of knowing what to do when!
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