My dearest Sarah told me that she checks my blog nearly every day and I'm now feeling very negligent. When classes aren't in session, I've so little to confess. I suppose when I see blogs like Baghdad Burning it's hard to think that "intersession" minutia will suffice. I did attach a recent photo of my lovely lady friends (left to right) Karen, Me & Shelley. This is the balcony of the Cosmopolitan Hotel where my darling Shelley stayed during a hard core capitalist upload for BMO. She's a financial goddess afterall. We were celebrating Karen's recent engagement over Thai food and wine. I promised Sarah that I will post a picture of my Christmas tree with the pipe cleaner angel before New Years. I'm not done with Christmas, I've decided to evaluate the whole Christmas season before I answer the "how was your Christmas?" question. If I based it on 36 hours in the 'shwa, I may not reflect favourably. I have a few more objectives that I will list:

1. Yoga class every day.
2. Matinee movie with Gaby & Livy.
3. Wine and a fire at Ali's.
4. Movies with Sophie, Zoe & Jess.
5. Dim Sum with Johnny.
6. High Tea with Geoffrey.
7. Paint my desk.
8. Visit with Sarah... updates to follow.

Bethany

I just returned home from yoga/dinner with my darling friend Bethany. The Google darling is moving to the Chicago office in 6 weeks and I must publish on the web how utterly smashing she is. I am going to solicit a digital photo from Brigid so the world can put a name to the gorgeous face. I promise/regret that I'll be the first down there to crash on your Pirate Sand couch :) and help you stake out your new gig. I'm so thrilled for you my dear and will miss my yoga buddy like crazy. I love you. Chicago is so lucky...

In defence of Amazon...

Chad, K. & Miller, P. (2005). “Do libraries matter? The rise of library 2.0”

Remember this self-referential piece from last month? Something wonderful happened as a result of reading it, even though Chad & Miller's piece was so transparent. One of the recommendations made by the authors is that commercial systems like Amazon be integrated with public libraries so that a user who finds their book unavailable has the option to buy it, or borrow it from the library. The illustration in the article shows a list of libraries that a user could query in search of their item. I was on my third coffee in the Inforum while reading this and went to check out Amazon, because I wasn't familiar with the site. Chad & Miller talk like the site is so wonderful, I just had to give it the ultimate challenge. Ever since I had access to the Internet, I've searched for two books that I loved as a child: The All of A Kind Family by Sydney Taylor and What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew. Both are out of print and I've felt a little lost without them. I found both books from Thrift Books, used, for a combined total of $0.64. When I got a hit for All of a Kind I gasped and got all teary - Alli Larsh thought I had deleted my paper. Both books came this week and are waiting for their new home which will be delivered tomorrow. Witch was so much thinner than I remember, and a lot of space between the words. In my head the story is huge, they go to Mexico for heaven's sake. I'm not convinced that Library 2.0 is such a great idea for the library. Adding commercial components to public institutions is always the thin edge of the wedge so, I am feeling conflicted in my delight. Now to find a VHS version of the Dark Crystal...

Mancora

Minna

A positively divine Swede with very itchy feet. Minna has been travelling and working for 4 years. Minna's friends are coming to meet her in December and they are travelling the rest of South America until April.

Barb

I love this girl. Barb graduated from Margie's highschool Brother Andre in Markham and started her year off teaching in Altos de los Mores. She picked up Spanish immediately and navigates Piura like she owns the place.

We took the bus to the beach for the weekend. Barb learned to surf and got a stellar burn but, standing up twice made it all worth it.

Manifesto

Before anyone asks... yes you will only be seeing my companions in swim suits on the blog. When I visit Brigid in the spring, perhaps. I am debating about whether or not to tell a story about the white Italian Rasta and his obnoxious girlfriend, but I'm not sure I want to go there on this blog. I've been reading other blogs devoted to"honesty", but they read like bitchy teenage diaries. True, I mentioned the couple, but really just for contrast. I devote this blog solely to good thoughts and the people who inspire them, like Minna and Barb. When we laid our towels out on the beach Barb said "what a perfect day". I love statements like that - completely sincere and unselfconscious. We had fish for lunch and two milkshakes each.

Mancora

Mancora is a oceanside village a 4 hour bus ride from Piura. Very annoying surfers stop here on their way to up to Ecuador. I escaped Piura for the weekend with two of Margie's fabulous volunteers. It was only my second stay in a hostel, and I was blessing my dearest Jessica for lending me her silk sleeping bag. We bunked with a very pink Scottish guy named Tim. The poor thing fell asleep in the sun the day before and could barely walk. I found it hard to relate to the backpackers and surfers. They work seem to work very hard at impressing each other. The criteria is usually things like who's gone the longest without a shower, who's mellower, who rejects materialism more... it's a tough sell, I know how much a Patagonia costs.

Executive Summary - Greenstone
The Queens County Heritage Society (QCHS) contacted the Chief Librarian of the Prince Edward Island (PEI) Provincial Library for assistance in creating a digital library of the local history of Queens County. QCHS has amassed a rich collection from local residents who wish to present the collection in a digital library form. The PEI Provincial Library will host the collection on their web server and oversee the implementation, provided a solution with a “minimal cost” is found.

The documents are located in personal archives in a multitude of libraries on island. QCHS envisions a physical archive program in the future, but without funding, they must request assistance from public institutions. The project’s first obstacle is cost: the cost of acquiring and of implementing a digital library solution. Second, collaboration in the building of the collection is critical. However, logistical problems are present because documents are in various locations of Queen’s County. Lastly, there are several technical issues, such as the computer skills of library staff, the multimedia qualities of the collections and most importantly, parts of Prince Edward Island are currently not serviced by Internet Service Providers (ISP). These factors will present challenges to capturing and loading the documents and any solution must address all obstacles.
Greenstone offers a potential solution to the dilemma of QCHS Memory Project. Greenstone is an open source product available via Sourceforge; it allows multiple users to create collections remotely and the software developers added protections to avoid canceling the work completed in other library branches. Greenstone is, uniquely suited to capture cultural artifacts as seen in the Vimercate Public Library in Milan, Italy (Vimercate Public Library, 2006). These features make Greenstone a strong possibility but, due to several technical issues such as training and instability in new releases, the software is not recommended for the QCHS Memory Project.

pigs, piura & pressing assignments

this should be interesting, i am in an internet cafe in piura, peru and i can never find the bloody apostrophe. thank god for the expectations of academics. i will attempt to communicate with no contractions. i am falling woefully behind on my correspondance and will spend the next few days working on my assignments for 1311 and 1210. so far we have watered the orchard at altos de los mores, selected families for margie's micro lending program and begun to purchase the things they want. each family is given 200 soles, that margie raises in canada and the families apply for the loans. the requirements are: the family has their children in school with their fees up to date, the mothers come to help cook lunch (when the government sends it ), and both parents help out in the projects. we selected 10 families for loans last week. i spent this morning searching the piura and the surrounding areas for pigs. one of the women in the village named paola came with us in the truck. she bough three pigs with her money so that she can begin breeding them. she is a quasi-single mother with 3 children. i say quasi-single because her husband has another family in the village with 6 children. i chickened out and refused to ride in the back with the pigs. there were 8 in total thrashing around in bags(forgive me zoe, sophie & katie). depending on how far i get on my assignments, i will be going to buy sheep and turkeys tomorrow. they are less menacing, so i will brave riding along with them. chau - ca

Article Review Conclusions - Do Libraries Matter?

Chad, K. & Miller, P. (2005). “Do libraries matter? The rise of library 2.0”

The title, “Do libraries matter? The rise of Library 2.0”, prepares the reader to hear of a new kind of library service that addresses the question of whether libraries are still relevant. Chad and Miller authors suggest that Internet information services like Google and Amazon are poised to replace traditional libraries as the public's primary source information. They attempt to demonstrate that the implementation of Library 2.0, based on the principles of Web 2.0, is a necessary measure to some libraries from being eclipsed by web-based information services. The Library 2.0 model is consistent with Tim O’Reilly’s principles of Web 2.0, which will meet the demands of the “modern user” (Chad & Miller, 2005). Chad and Miller’s opinions are based on their work with Talis the “leading provider of products and services for public and academic libraries in the UK and Ireland (Talis).” They are major stakeholders to the adoption of Library 2.0 and believe there is “plenty of life left in the library”. However, they do not demonstrate that the library is in crisis or how Library 2.0 has been practically applied to correct one. Furthermore, the authors make assumptions about library users and their assertions are hindered by a clear bias. As a result, the article fails to establish that Library 2.0 is the best solution to replace service in the traditional library.

My favorite vacation waiting to happen...

I tried unsuccessfully to add a link to my friend Margie's school in Peru. I'm going to make another attempt tomorrow. For now the link is http://ayni.footboot.net/ Margie is there with her family and I'm going to join them on Oct. 27th. I try not to think too hard about it because I have a mountain of work to do before leaving and I don't want to form too solid an idea of the work and the place. I'm going to buy a new knapsack on Saturday from MEC. The one I used for England and treeplanting has earned its retirement. I have some bizarre artifacts sewn to it that should be removed. Notably, a sixer's pow wow badge from Brownies and a piece of fur from a very bad jacket worn to a Outland Christmas party. My first piece of third world travel advice from Doug Thomson was "don't bring anything that you'll cry if you lose".

Monday October 9th, three mintues before my 34th birthday...

I am a very late re-addition to fis1311 and must complete my assignments before tomorrow's class. I think this is the third blog that I've started; I'm not disciplined enough to dump my thoughts in one place every day. I used to have a journal that I was devoted to, but I certainly didn't encourage anyone to read it. It was full of all of the maudlin navel gazing I was prone to in my 2os. Lucky for anyone who reads this, drama doesn't do it for me anymore.

Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad was entertaining as always. I called Betty before I got there and requested/demanded my favorite cookies as a "essential" study snack, "the walnuts assist in cognitive function Mother!" Despite her perpetually stiff hip she baked them for me. Betty spends much of her time fussing when I'm home, so I it's better if I help her direct it in some way. I anticipate a terse posting from her sometime tomorrow. I love you Mom, you're the sweetest and most tolerant mother in all the 'shwa.

Dad has a sprained bicep and will spend the next few weeks with his arm immobilized with a makeshift sling. He made it himself out of a tie that he cut down and safety pinned in place. Anyone who knows Jack will find this uproariously funny. My only concern father is the extra strain it puts on the shoulder that you broke when you fell off the roof. :)