Twenty Years

Friends, think back with me to 1998.   What stands out in your mind?

Because I was younger and a more rarin' librarian then...giddy with excellent book budgets and the emerging world wide web, I had bigger expectations of what this year 2018 would look like. After all, we were knowing better, weren't we?  We were learning what was causing diseases, we had the tools to measure and compare effective treatments, a century of information to look back on as well as the outcomes of so many wars and political conflicts.

In my little higher education bubble where I was focused on the happy humanities (art!  music!  literature!) and the power that new technologies like instant communication could bring, I wasn't expecting scenes of misery and destruction.  That was the past, right?  Now (then) we had the powerful WorldCAT database, decades of journals online, databases of full text of information formerly trapped in microfilm to explore.

So, how is this little experiment turning out?

The ugly has been unveiled.  I know now I was living in a luxurious bubble.   I remember you fondly, Camelot.  But I'm going to hold on to the idea then when you know better, you do better.

The bigger truth I'm seeing is that there are in fact people who do not want solutions.  People who enjoy their sense of power so much that they will do anything to keep it. They are not logical, they are not kind, they are not caring, and they don't feel responsible.

I'm angry and I'm also disappointed.  I'm a citizen of one of the wealthiest countries AND one of the wealthiest counties in this country, and this is how we're behaving?  We collectively have access to more types of media the world has ever known, but the gaps of people left behind (digital divide sounds too quaint anymore) combined with the people who weaponize mis-information and fear mongering have left us more divided. 

Two places to find encouragement:

The brave young people of Majory Stoneman Douglas High Stone who are banding together and supporting each other.  They also have the knowledge and presence of mind to acknowledge the work of activists who have been working on the issue of gun violence and they are demonstrating their awareness of the divisive tactics of the gun lobby.  They are saying enough is enough.  A national walk out is planned for March 14, described by organizer Cate Whiman:  "It’s going to last for 17 minutes to commemorate the 17 lives lost on February 14, and we are asking people to wear orange in solidarity. We want each school to spend those 17 minutes doing whatever they feel comfortable with and whatever they think is going help them heal most and whatever they think is going to make the most impact."  Source:  https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/2/28/17059254/gun-control-parkland-florida-shooting-students-national-school-walkout

Sister District Project.  I attended a meeting this past Thursday of the South Bay chapter of the Sister District Project.  I was humbled to hear from the founder of this project, Rita Bosworth, and two other leaders who have stepped away from their careers to work on the Sister District Project.  I am deeply encouraged by the success rate of the SDP in supporting candidates across the country to leverage grass roots change and increasing the number of democrats and progressives in elected positions.  Find your Sister District chapter here:  https://www.sisterdistrict.com/

This past week-end was the annual remembrance of "Bloody Sunday," the march for the right to vote in Selma Alabama that resulted in the attack on the peaceful protesters by state troopers.  I used to think that was a long time ago--not only personal age wise, but also as in "well that was the past."  The stories, narratives, evidence of so many people, our own people, our citizens, our fellow humans...that we are not done beating on each other but have moved on to devastating levels of violence on each other?

I had a recent conversation with Mr. Bookcharmer about my puzzling over the rise of rapid technology and the increase of the spread of vapid or useless information.  As usual, he had an excellent answer for me:  curation.  With few curators, i.e. editors, mis-information is galloping out of the starting gates faster than ever.

While wandering around the Internet today, I found a marvelous document I didn't know about before and that I think is well worth people reading today:  the report of the Hutchins Commission.  You can read it online from our good friends at the Internet Archive, which, by they way, is the open access publisher I would urge you to donate too rather than the one that rhymes with Ickypedia.  Here's the link to the Hutchins Commission:

https://archive.org/details/freeandresponsib029216mbp

Care to discuss?  Hashtag #HutchinsReport on the Interwebs.