Activity Week 3

My favorite library blog is actually a photoblog called This is What a Librarian Looks Like.  The blog consists of user submitted portraits and short captions. The mission is to break the librarian stereotype and show the world the interesting people who choose the profession. 

I selected this blog because I think it serves a valuable purpose. The librarian stereotype is pervasive in our society, most people think librarians are angry sshhing old ladies. We need to change that stereotype and show our society what librarians actually look like.

I think the main characteristic of a successful blog is an interesting topic. You have to write about something that people will care about and write on a regular basis. The blog I selected is successful because the librarian stereotype affects a lot of people and the idea of people changing this stereotype on library at a time is really interesting.

We need to go from this

To this

Images belong to lookslikelibraryscience.com

Week 3 Captain's log

The readings this week brought up an interesting question. Just how important are blogs? How many people actually read blogs on a regular basis? I have observed the impact of blogs and social networking on mainstream media. CNN has plenty of professional bloggers and twitters, you see them not only on their website but on the television channel as well. However it still begs the question, how much do non professional blog matter?

My answer is that blogs matter to certain communities, for example this blog will probably be more meaningful to librarians rather than quantum physicists. In a small way they make an impact on communities and promote free discussion of literally anything.

I would love to hear what you folks think! Feel free to comment or shoot me an e mail.

X Men and marginalized groups

I've been a comic book fan for a long time and something that's always struck a chord with me is the X Men.  In the Marvel comic X Men,  a series of ongoing natural mutations have accelerated the evolution of certain humans. Some mutants develop superhuman powers and often cannot control them without sufficient training or technology. Other mutants experience physiological changes such as Beast who went from being human to a blue haired beast.These mutations manifest while the person is in their teenage years and the "coming out" is a traumatic experience   Mutants often struggle with self identity and are usually persecuted or exploited by those around them.  Mutants choose their own path, some choose to join mutant groups such as the X Men headed by Professor Charles Xavier, others choose to join the Mutant Brotherhood led by Magneto. Most however don't choose any side and try to lead a normal life.

Now the X Men represent the effort to facilitate the peaceful co existence of mutants and humankind. The Mutant Brotherhood is essentially a militant mutant separatist movement, Magneto considers himself the advocate for mutant self defense against the prosecution of mutant kind. This is way I always thought about the difference between the two leaders. Charles Xavier is Dr. Martin Luther King and Magneto is Malcolm X. Neither position is inherently "better" than other, it's a matter of philosophy. It's the open palm or the raised fist.

Think about people who identify as LGBTQ. They experience face legal and cultural discrimination on a daily basis. Sexual identity comes about the in adolescent years. The identity crisis associated with feeling as the other. Some choose to come out and others choose to conceal their sexuality. There are various LGBTQ rights movements ranging from the Marriage Equality movement, who demand equal marriage laws, to the radical anarchist Bash Back! movement, who advocate the change of cultural values and self defense.

Personally I always identified with these mutant characters because of my own issues with racial identity. I am a first generation American and I've felt the sting of prevalent institutionalized racism and class barriers.

I think anyone who is or looking into becoming a Young Adult librarian should really consider reading some X Men and consider the potential for outreach and the promotion of a safe library space.

Now I leave you with a video which I hope explains Xavier and Magneto's relationship.

Week 2 Captain's log (personal reflections)

Stardate January 18 2013,
Some things didn't surprise me in the readings. Perhaps the advantage of being a millennial? Lenhart's study confirms something I've long observed that most young people 18-25 use social networking and I suspect that's because this generation grew up with personal computers and the web. Young adult interest in social networking is on the rise because more millennials are becoming adults.

One thing that really struck me in the O'Reilly readings was the idea of collective intelligence and how central it is to web 2.0. User generated data augmenting data provided by the website is really genius. I found that this collective intelligence is extremely helpful when dealing with matters are not not covered adequately by authoritative sources due to funding decisions or lack of academic interest. Subcultural movements are a great example of this. Underground cultural movements such as crust punk culture or shoegaze music are usually not included in musicology books however they are covered by active members of  those movements using blogs and wikipedia. What better way to document these movements and ideas associated with these cultures than having the members write about themselves?  Of course the reader is responsible for evaluating the quality of the work and the credibility of the blogger. Which is why I would recommend reading as many sources as possible, you'll be able to construct a pretty good idea of a movement by hearing multiple perspectives.

Activity week 2

Part A
Social networking is the  public display of friend networks using user created profiles and user generated connections. Users can view lists created by others within the system and interact with other users.
I currently use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Myspace, Google Plus and Steam. I use different sites for different reasons. I use Facebook the most because all my musician friends use it. Almost all the shows I attend are advertised on Facebook, so it's how I find out what's going on around town. I also like to keep up with my college friends and family. I'm a very active Facebook user, I post status updates everyday, along with photos and hyperlinks.
Honestly I don't use Twitter very much, I don't really see the point of writing two different status updates, I'll just write one on Facebook and be done with it. Sure I follow a few famous punk musicians on there but I don't really like that it's just text posts. Tumblr I use everyday. I love the fact that it's mostly a photo blog but it has plenty of variety, text posts, hyperlinks video, audio. Lastly I use my Tumblr more as a personal dairy, I know less "real"friends on there, so I let my heart out.
I haven't been active on MySpace for a long time. I should just delete it but I like how it's become a time capsule of how I was in my high school years.
Google Plus, great interface, fast, the hangouts are a lot of fun. I want to love it but not enough people are on it to really keep it interesting. Now it feels like Google is desperate to get people to post on it with all those +1 links on Chrome. Good effort boys and girls but no dice so far.
Steam is really more of a PC gaming console/service but it has a large social networking element now, which includes live voice chat. I use it everyday to see which one of my friends are playing what game and sometimes I message them and join in! What better way to keep with friends near and far than blasting zombies into oblivion together?
Part B

Week One, Year Zero

The following is a special message for LIS5937SMS13 class. This message will self destruct in one minute.

Hey class!
This is the first time I've started a blog. I did have a LiveJournal back in the early 00's. What weird, angsty teenager didn't have one back then? That was really more of a dairy. I'm excited for this new outlet though!
I've kept up with a few guitar and music related blogs in the past. I like hearing what the big guitar companies are doing. The music blogs are great because they are a gold mine for finding very obscure music and the people who create them are usually experts in the genre.

The stuff I like about blogs is the ease of customization. I like making my webspace personal. Plus I can post from my phone! What I don't like about blogs are their lifespan. Some blogs die out way too soon.

Well that's it for now dudes and dudettes!

Greetings from Mars!

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the Outer Limits." -The Outer Limits intro

Welcome, here in the limitless void of cyberspace you will discover one Jonathan Rodriguez. A unique character, a strange yet friendly aspiring librarian. Here you will hear his thoughts, opinions and general musings.
Part of this blog will be posts for a certain library science class, others will be far more interesting personal anecdotes. So try to keep up, be careful around the tar pits, watch for disintegration rays and avoid the little green men with the atomizers.