Author Archives: infophibian

Fans as archivists

I love stories like this one Boing Boing reported yesterday about fans who take it upon themselves to preserve material that creators can’t be bothered to save.  The BBC has decided to get rid of several websites, without archiving them. … Continue reading

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Guest post on SIMcast

My colleagues at the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University asked me to guest blog for them this week. I wrote about gender identity and usability on the new social networking site Diaspora. When Inclusivity Trumps Usability: Gender as … Continue reading

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Quick Hit: The phonebook as precursor to social media

I got a kick out of this post on reason.com about how the phonebook changed the world. From the article: They were the first step in our long journey toward the pandemic self-surveillance of Facebook. “Hey strangers!” anyone who appeared … Continue reading

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Night Twitters and Facebook Faxes

I kind of love it when old and new technology meet. I love it when things that were born online go offline and stop making sense, or make different sense. Especially when it’s for no good reason other than maybe … Continue reading

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Hashtags deconstructed: #speakloudly

The hashtag: #speakloudly The idea: People speak out about book banning and censorship. The background: On September 18th, a Missouri newspaper published an opinion piece by some fundamentalist Christian guy, who wanted some books removed from school curricula because they … Continue reading

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Should we use social media to archive our lives?

I read an article today that asked if the new location-based service, Facebook Places, is a “benevolent archivist.” As an archivist myself (though not a professionally practicing one right now), I wonder this too. Especially since I sometimes use social … Continue reading

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More tools to help me downsize my book collection

I wrote last month about using Bookcrossing and Bookmooch to help me get over two stumbling blocks in getting rid of book clutter: my desire to give the books to someone who will appreciate them, and my need to have … Continue reading

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Hashtags deconstructed: #18thcenturyinternet

The tag: #18thcenturyinternet The idea: common internet memes (Double rainbow!), catchphrases (“Pics or it didn’t happen!”) and frustrations (spam offerings) are translated into eighteenth century (or what we imagine to be eighteenth century) speech. “Click here” becomes “depress thy rodent … Continue reading

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What do I want to know?

Sometimes I don’t even try to be a smart consumer anymore. Anyone who has gone grocery shopping with me knows that I get paralyzed if I try to choose bodywash. I can never seem to remember what I bought last … Continue reading

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The Food-Tweeter’s Manifesto

Whenever I end up talking with non-tweeters about why I love twitter (or why it might be a good tool for outreach to prospective students), somehow a variation of “I’m just not the kind of person who needs to share … Continue reading

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