Freedom

I have stood at the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, walked in the streets and ducked in the face of the military. The poorest people I have seen, in person. I never once saw another white person or any foreigner during my two weeks in Myanmar(Burma). The people are so oppressed and as the world looks on are not even allowed peaceful demonstrations, it almost seems unreal. "We cannot get books", they said to me, "can you please help us make a library, one that is hidden from the government, so that we can read and learn". Unfortunately, I could not help with such a project. Neither could I get them english books or those written in Burmese, plus I must admit, I was afraid.
I think of the freedom I have to write, to read and what is available to me digitally. I think of the power and freedom of libraries. As librarians, we are seekers and finders of information, creators of information spaces, designers of information architecture, and recipients of democracy.
I am glad that people are outraged at the attacks on the peaceful monks, I am glad at the talk of sanctions and I am saddened by the recent events. I don't know if I will ever be able to go to Myanmar and help them start a library, but thanks to the web, google books and digital access to information, they may be able to find a library without having to create it themselves. Of course they will need access but somehow that seems like an attainable goal and maybe that is where we can start to help.

Blog This

Andrew Keen portrays the Internet as a sort of congested hodgepodge of information in his new book The Cult of the Amateur. It is “the disappearance of truth” he claims and “the web 2.0 revolution is really delivering superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment. The information business is being transformed by the Internet into the sheer noise of a hundred million bloggers all simultaneously talking about themselves”.
Well maybe they are and what’s so wrong with that. There are also as many bloggers and Internet users who are speaking truth and blogging truth and art and poetry and music and intelligent banter. And guess what, it’s not that hard to separate one from the other. I have no problem using the Internet to find “reliable” news, editorials, blogs, wikis, encyclopedias, dictionaries, humor; communication in its various forms. Why is it that only those people, organizations, schools, professionals, academia, etc who have established reputations are worthy to speak their mind or report on current events or write a report. I agree that some of the lines are blurred and this is unfortunate, some will seek to manipulate public opinions and some will seek to bring the truth to light, how can we not have both? Unfortunately, as with most things in life, there is usually a down side accompanying the up side; deal with it.
And from a practical and professional angle, these are the mediums our patrons are choosing to use and they want our help to do it. They need help navigating, blogging, working myspace, setting up email and understanding some of the deliberate fuzzy lines used on the Internet. This is our job and the more we know the more we can help.
Mr. Keens statement that “the words of the wise man count for no more than the mutterings of a fool”, are a gross exaggeration and do not translate into the 2.0 world I see everyday. That would be the world of intelligent and thoughtful blogs (I mean really there are so many), websites with fulfilled democracy such as wikipedia and must I name the countless excellent information pages one can find on the web? Not to mention its function as a communication tool, an educational tool…………………………………..