Feed testing

I believe I consistently and correctly used the microphone throughout.1 I have not checked the recording to confirm; I am unfond of my voice, and I was there so I don’t really need to listen to the panel again. Though if you weren’t there, Teressa Raiford is most definitely worth listening to, both from a … Continue reading Conference presentation post-mortem the second

I finally did a presentation as part of a conference panel.1 I kind of feel like I am too old to be hitting this very modest professional milestone, but I also feel like I ought to mark it because it is a Thing I did, and it’s not like I’m the only career-changer out there.2 … Continue reading Conference presentation post-mortem

Some folks in my social media network have expressed surprise or dismay at the force of negative reactions on display this week. For those of you who legitimately (as opposed to rhetorically) don’t get it, let me do a bit to address one piece of the puzzle: the immediate and personal fear expressed following the … Continue reading A quick and incomplete explainer

Earlier this summer, the SAA-ACRL/RBMS Joint Task Force on the Development of Standardized Statistical Measures for Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries drafted proposed standards for public service metrics. If you’re an archivist, librarian, or other interested party, please do take a look and offer feedback. The document and directions for submitting … Continue reading Comment on proposed standards for public service metrics

I play Ingress casually. I know people who play it somewhat obsessively, who spend a fair bit of time, energy, and money on strategizing and building community and traveling to anomalies. I’m not in that category. It’s worth noting that it’s possible for me to play casually due to geography (for all that can fall … Continue reading Something else about Pokémon and something about Ingress

I do feel a little silly writing about Pokémon today, on the heels of a coup in Turkey, mass murder in Nice, sniping in Dallas, videos of police killings, bombings in Iraq, and things that happened before July. But when reading about issues of greater weight, I at least am much more interested in reading … Continue reading Something about Pokémon

On July 1st, I took over the Chemical Heritage Foundation Twitter account to talk about my work digitizing materials for the Beckman Legacy Project. In case you a) missed it, b) care, and c) want to catch up in a reasonably user friendly layout, you can check out the Storification.

It’s International Archives Day, and the theme is “Archives, Harmony and Friendship.” I would like to take a moment to point out that archives—the collections and the profession—can benefit from a lack of harmony. Archives have a tendency to reproduce structural inequalities: your documents, your story, are much more likely to be preserved (and deemed … Continue reading International Archives Day: Harmony is overrated

It’s International Archives Day, and the theme is “Archives, Harmony and Friendship.” A blog post seemed appropriate, but on what subject? As the parent of young children, the theme immediately suggested My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Twilight Sparkle’s performance as a librarian has already been analyzed, and she is not herself an archivist—though her use … Continue reading International Archives Day: Archives are Magic

Important happenings at the Chemical Heritage Foundation: the 2016 Museum Dance Off! Go vote for our video so we can advance to the second round. This is the most important vote you will ever cast in an online poll today. (I technically participated in the filming, and can be seen very briefly at a couple … Continue reading Museum Dance Off