Sues Bent

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig was first published in 1974 and is one of my all-time favourite books. It follows a couple of motorcyclists as they tour around the United States. Whilst on this trip the orator ponders the concept of Quality. Calling this discussion a Chautauqua, he begins with, “Quality…you know what it is, yet you don’t know what it is.”  The geyser at Yellowstone National Park is used as one example of this, saying that by putting a sign on the natural wonder of the geyser, labeling it, the quality of the spectacle in diminished.  I agree with this notion. It reminds you that someone else has seen this before your own discovery. And not only that, but they have named it, described it, and labeled it. This robs you of some essential and unique experience. It places in your mind smaller notions of the possibility of the natural wonder that it is.

We could apply this to all natural wonders. Pristine environments retain the ability to inspire and fill us with humility. Put a sign on it, a fence around it, and describe it and the awe is gone. Our own sense of personal discovery and adventure is stolen by small minds.

This argument applies to people too. Do we all fall into the false habit of labeling people, if not out loud, then certainly in our minds? This person is a baby-boomer. That person is old. That one is young. And the labels go on. This diminishes the person and impedes the labeler’s potential for an authentic interaction with the person they label. It detracts from the Quality of the relationship and fails to allow for a deeper experience to the detriment of everyone in our community.

Librarians are labelers; if not by nature then certainly by vocation. It serves as a way to find stuff and that is the crux of the job. It can be a pitfall though if it becomes habitual and when applied outside of the realm of information and artifacts.

Pirsig later states, through his character Phaedrus; “Quality is a characteristic of thought and statement that is recognized by a nonthinking process. Because definitions are a product of rigid, formal thinking, quality cannot be defined.” To me that states that quality and labeling are mutually exclusive. Is this correct? Food for thought.

I’d like to see an end to this trend of putting people into small inaccurate categories. The reality is that we are all here now in this time and space experiencing this world together as humans! The similarities of that experience are far greater that the differences, and the complexities and ever-changing variants that reside inside each individual cannot be neatly tied up with one meager label.

I was interested to know if this discussion about quality had continued since Pirsig’s novel in 1974 and so I did a bit of web-searching. I was thrilled to find the Metaphysics of Quality website and this provides a very detailed and academic discussion.

I am taking an ebreak to explore this beautiful physical Earth of ours. Au revoir. A bientot!

It was still dark as we donned our cycling gear at the shopping centre car park early on Sunday morning. The chill morning air froze our faces as we cycled along the new blemish-free tollway surface to the event start point.

A crowd of keen cyclists grew rapidly and soon a tangle of bright coloured Lycra and aluminium frames surrounded us and stretched as far as we could see. We stood shivering under an overpass waiting for the starters signal. I was anxious amongst the group worried I’d struggle to hold my space amongst the forward jostling.

The signal sounded and it began, slow at first as the crowds shuffled forward, then the cleats clicked into place and we were off. The downward run towards Frankston was unexpectedly well-spaced and smooth allowing me to enjoy the building momentum as we all gathered speed and settled into our varying comfort zones. Groups formed and reformed. A spill of bikes and riders caused us all to slow as the cry of “stopping” rippled back through the palaton.

This event promoted the completion of the Eastlink Tollway. Reports varied from 40,000 to 100,000 people who turned up to either cycle, walk, run or roller-skate this new expanse of bitumen. Six friends from our regular Saturday morning cycle group enjoyed the challenge of the 65 kilometre looped course. My time was 2 hours and 11 minutes averaging about 30km/hr, which is pretty good for me. It was a rare chance for cyclists to ride on good roads with plenty of space and no cars to be concerned about.

Australian surgeon and author Tony Moore, has written two books that explore the healing process eloquently. Cry of the Damaged Man tells of his near-fatal car accident and how this changed his attitude to patients, whilst trying to heal his own physical injuries. Echoes of the Early Tides is the sequel that goes on to explore the healing of his spirit.

The descriptions in Echoes of the Early Tides are often abstract as he describes the uncertainty of navigating around the dark pit of grief that often threatens to overwhelm him, or those that find themselves in similar territory. It is all at once heart-breaking, depressing, hopeful, and eloquent. He states, “There is no sound more agonising than the breaking of a human spirit, and there is no sound sweeter than the pulse of its recovery.” His daily walks along the beach frame this exploration of the traumatised psyche, using the changing moods of the sea as metaphors for understanding.

A walk along the beach or sitting in the sand dunes amongst the spiky tussocks soothes my soul when I feel overwhelmed by life’s complications. With the big wild sky above and the sea so large and alive stretching out beyond the horizon whilst simultaneously falling at my feet, it is impossible to dwell on the trivialities of daily gripes.

Tony Moore begins, “I will need to be brave.”

Have you seen the movie Cloverfield? I watched it on the weekend and loved it mainly because of the way it is presented. One character uses a hand-held camera to document events as they unfold. Of course the events quickly take an unexpected and awful turn for the worse, but the characters don’t know that at the beginning of the movie. It is not a cheap production by any means and the continuity of the events as they unfold makes you wonder exactly how they created the scenes and edited the content.

I think we will see more and more of these types of movies due to the availability of hand-held digital cameras and their ease of use. The school library where I work has dozens of cameras that we regularly loan out to the students and teachers for school projects and events. Because of this I have learnt how to use them and then how to capture the video and edit the movies using the software on the pc’s. It is all so easy and the results can be fantastic. The students work is often outstanding as these digital natives have such an inherent ability to handle these tools in a fresh and creative way.

YouTube offers instant publication to a global audience. So some kind of success can be measured by the number of views that accumulate, as well as network spread.

My own humble attempts have been to use MovieMaker as photo stories as each of my three “children” turned 21. Adding music, using slide transitions, and combining still photos with video clips makes for a dynamic and interesting result that can be kept as a digital scrapbook. I plan to document my upcoming trip to Europe in this way. It is a heap of fun.

The scene before me was mesmerizing. I stood at the entrance to a cavernous room: circular in plan, the walls soared upwards on all sides towards a domed ceiling; shelves of books lining the walls. Ladders were propped intermittently against the shelves on various levels. There was a hush over the interior; this was a library – the State Library of Victoria. People sat studying at wooden desks that were arranged in rows like spokes of a cartwheel converging at a central hub. Green reading lamps glowed across the room illuminating the study areas and softly lighting the gloomy interior. This first memory of mine was when I was about five or six years old and already having a love of books and reading, this cathedral of books validated my own obsession. This awesome vision planted the seed of my desire to become an architect. It is ironic that becoming a librarian did not occur to me.

I had cause to visit the State Library of Victoria again this week and it never ceases to inspire me. The thoughtful and spectacular renovations have brought the library into the 21^st century. I could not resist a visit to the domed reading room that is no longer gloomy as the skylights have been rebuilt. The Redmond Barry Reading Room is such an inviting place I wished I could stay all day. Their approach to their collections and exhibitions also send out firm messages that this is not an old stuffy and irrelevant institution. With offerings such as Inside a Dog for teenagers, Mirror of the World for book lovers, SLV21 for electronic media, and their new Ergo site for student researchers, they truly do try to engage and inspire us all. I looked in at the Medieval Books exhibition that was so busy it was difficult to squeeze in between other people to see the rare books on display.

Dorothea MacKellar’s famous ode to Australia echoes loudly down through the generations.

The harsh Australian sun has taken its toll on my fair freckled skin after a youth spent outdoors. This week I have had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my forehead.

Spending my childhood and teenage years outdoors without a hat or sunscreen was normal for me and my generation. I spent most of my free daylight hours outside playing tennis, swimming, and water-skiing. Cracked lips, peeling noses, and sun burnt skulls were badges of honour as proof of sun-worship. My skin did tan to a light golden colour and to me this was some kind of validation of my Australian identity, shunning my English, Scottish and French ancestry. I inherited my skin type from my mother and aunt and they both have had many nasty things cut and burnt from their skin. My aunt who will turn 90 years of age this year has had so many cuts made to her face that she looks like she has been in a car accident. She is not the slightest bit vain about it and I admire her common-sense and practical attitude.

I still enjoy an active outdoor life but nowadays I wear a hat and sunscreen. Unfortunately the damage is already done and I fear this little operation may be the first of many.

The recent Web 2.0 conference resulted in some new connections with suggestions and requests for more work. With a couple of days off work I know my workload is piling up. I have lots to do. I need to report on the conference; think about writing an article for an organisation whose representative approached me after my presentation, create more wikis, find some appropriate videos for classroom projects, transfer the library content from our intranet to the new content management system, as well as my usual library work. Not to mention catching up on reading the email, blogs and twitters that will be accumulating.

Wiki software allows any dummy to create a website. No need to know html code, nor be able to use intricate web creation software like MS FrontPage or Dreamweaver. No need for access to servers. It’s all free online.

Wikipedia provides this definition of wiki and tells us that it is derived from a Hawaiian word meaning “fast”.

As a person who knows html code, takes pride in my use of website creation software, and works diligently to create webpages that are well designed both graphically and informatively, I find the wiki tools to be extremely restrictive. The wiki people control the look and feel of the finished wiki. Attempts to push these constraints to the limits are frustratingly awkward and never provide the desired result.

My job as the eLibrarian in the school though means that I have been using wiki tools to create wikis for the staff and students. So far this year I have created 30 wikis. There is no doubt that wikis provide an online platform that is perfect for collaborative projects; and the web-wise students take up these tools with ease and enthusiasm. So I create the wiki skeleton, invite the participants, provide the access points on the library website and in the library catalogue, and provide any training and assistance as it is required.

This week I presented at the SLAV Conference in Melbourne on the topic of wikis. My session was a joint effort between myself and work colleague and Web 2.0 convert Jenny Luca.

Typically as a Librarian I am an introvert and not a confident public speaker, however I know my topic and this helped. I could sense that the audience was keen to hear the practical how-to steps into the Web 2.0 world, so I concentrated on delivering that content to them. As I spoke I could see them taking notes in earnest. I gave the URL’s for the instructional information I have placed online and hopefully this will help others to take up this tool in a thoughtful way. How to create a wiki and How to create a wiki using pbwiki2

The keynote speaker was Will Richardson and his opening address was thought-provoking, informative, and rich with knowledge from an obvious expert in this field.

Just do it! A term coined by a man I’d bet. Many women who are mothers don’t have time to “just do” anything else except be a mother.

Trying not to lose track of the lap count in my head, I thought about my exercise routine as I enjoyed my early morning swim. I have always tried to be active but when women have babies their bodies are not their own, and then when the babies grow into children and teenagers, the mothers time is not their own. Twenty years can disappear in the blink of an eye while all the attention for nurturing is on the children, not oneself.

It feels like a luxury for me to do as I please now without having to first consider the schedules, demands and needs of others. Having said that, I miss the daily conversations and interactions with my children, that I enjoyed for all those years.

So I swim, do pilates, lift weights, practice yoga, cycle and walk; all of these regularly. It feels great and I feel stronger, fitter and healthier than I have for a long time.

Given the choice I would exercise before I went online. A walk outside breathing in the fresh air interests me more that surfing the net. I admire those who have a regular exercise routine and use their web time to try to inspire others to exercise by logging their efforts. Keep it up Leo.

Like me, you would have seen some fantastic videos online.

Common Craft make simple and effective how-to videos telling us about web applications “in plain English”. Like this one: Social Networking in Plain English

Professor Michael Wesch conveys messages about how technology has impacted the way we learn and use our time. Here is one example of his clever efforts: A Vision of Students Today

The TED Talks offer top quality presentations by some interesting and influential people on a wide variety of topics. This talk by Sir Ken Robinson is great: Do schools kill creativity?

And there are a million other amusing and inspirational creations by some very talented people. Watch the Worlds by Robbie Dingo is awesome.

Providing links to these from either the school’s library website or library catalogue for the benefit of the teachers is not the best way to share these due to security firewalls and bandwidth. YouTube is blocked for the students as are many Web 2.0 applications. For the teachers it can sometimes take so long to start a video on YouTube that the lesson plan is totally impeded.

A solution is to use an online file converter to convert the YouTube URL to a FLV file. This file can then be saved to the hard drive, and with a free FLV player downloaded, these files open and play automatically. Access points are then added to the library catalogue that includes all the relevant bibliographic information such as author. This is what I’ve been working on this week and we now have a little collection of “inspirational videos”.

Copyright and intellectual property is always considered. This kind of format shifting could be a breach of copyright. The loophole for the school environment is that these resources are used for education. Since these issues are apparent it makes for timely discussions.

The combination of easy to use multimedia creation tools with awareness of intellectual property, has resulted in people now creating more of their own original work than ever before. YouTube provides assured publication and popularity is reflected by the number of views, usually through electronic distribution networks of online friends. Move over corporations. Frozen Grand Central Station by Improv Everywhere

What a fantastic and fun world we live in! How great for coming generations to have this freedom of expression! Our inner creativity is finally being called upon and appreciated. Pink Floyd’s Brick in the Wall is certainly a thing of the past, thankfully. 

Walking briskly along the track after work I pondered the incongruity of online personas.

At the simplest level there are the super-hero cartoon avatars on Second Life that may represent the real life homely cake-loving knitter. (Not that there’s anything wrong with cake or knitting!) There are the more complex, fluent, grammatically-correct and over-wordy bloggers who write online like there’s no tomorrow.

Then there is Eckhart Tolle! He has my mind ticking over on so many levels. The content of his books shove my consciousness sideways as I consider his theories. But then there is the man! Seeing him on YouTube speaking to an audience while wearing a gold vest stunned me. In A New Earth he tells us that the path to enlightenment requires us to recognise our ego as being separate to our Self. So the vest seems at odds with his message.

The shadows from the Banksia trees grew darker as I followed the path. I wondered how to shape my words to find some clarity. Don’t mistake the message from the messenger, is wise advice to recall, and this applies to online personas as well. To criticise and be judgemental is not my intention. Finding integrity in both the message and the messenger is what I listen for.

The beauty of Web 2.0 is that it builds bridges across the chasms created by geography, distance, age, gender, race, education and lifestyle. We can connect with like-minded others in a positive way; reading, appreciating, connecting and affirming others lives; and this enriches us all.

Just be aware that even if people are honest online and aren’t hiding behind a fictional character, a wall of well-placed words, or a super-hero vest, we still can’t really know the real person behind the online persona. In the words of Mr. Tolle himself, “All we can perceive, experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip of an iceberg.” And even less so online.

U2 3D at the cinema was fantastic. I swear drops of sweat from Bono fell on me as I reached out to touch his hand.  Powerful message, powerfully delivered by cool messengers!!