Hiatus

Not much going on since class ended last.  I have started my management class for the summer.  I don’t mind the class, but it does feel more like a management workshop-without the boring keynote speakers.  :)  I am sure that I will learn some stuff, but at the same time, I have been a business manager for the last 7 years, so management is not too hard to learn.  BUT, I am in it until the end, of course.  And, I think I would rather take it in the summer than in the Fall or Spring.  The less time, the better.  I will have more to post once I read a bit more-I have worked on getting the first two weeks worth of readings done, and Friday will be more readings. 

In my down time, I did get to read alot of books…but, nothing to do with LIS.  I mostly read tons of Neil Gaiman stuff.  I am working on a book right now, but it is long and I feel like I don’t have time to just sit and relax and read it.  I mean, I could, but there are other things to do in the summer.  I am really at a loss to say anything interesting, so I will try again another night.

 

Reflections on a semester

What did I learn this semester?  I learned that people seek information differently.  That is a shocker, right?  I learned that information is all around us and people have a hard time defining what should actually be considered information because it is all really contextual anyway.  I learned that there is a digital divide and issues with the USA PATRIOT Act (beyond what I already thought).  But, I also think that many of these issues that are running rampant in this field are being blown out of proportion.  As a field have we lost sight of the public good in order to preserve an old way of life?  I know people who would rather never have a computer, so where do they fit in the digital divide?  Free access to all, even if they don’t want it.  Where is the line drawn? 

I also learned that I am still very passionate about censorship and intellectual freedom and I have found a group of people who mostly share my views…and really do just want the world to be a better place where people can think freely and learn what they want.  Or believe what they want. 

I learned that I can still handle school after all these years and that my head can still hurt when I think about something way too much.  That there are times when I have to put it away and think on it another day.  Like right now… 

Degradation of Society?

My book Review for class…

Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter.  Johnson, Steven (author). 2005. 238p. Penguin Books. ISBN: 1-57322-307-7. $23.95

 

Have you ever wanted an argument that proves you are not wasting your time in activities like video game playing and watching television?  Well, Johnson’s book “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” is the perfect book for you.  This is a book of persuasions meant to convince the world that pop culture has become more complex and intellectually engaging over the last thirty years, rather than a constant race to dumb down society.  Johnson discusses elements of many entertainment forms, like video games, films, and the Internet, to make his point. 

 

In a world where pop culture is inundated with violence and nudity, it is easy to decide that pop culture is debase and vulgar.  But Johnson “think[s] there is another way to assess the social virtue of pop culture, one that looks at media as a kind of cognitive workout, not as a series of life lessons.”  Johnson is rigorous is finding the gems in pop culture that enhance our cognitive abilities and sets out to prove how these “diamonds in the rough” really make us think more instead of less. 

 

As a writer of the “Emerging Technology” column for Discover magazine, Johnson is well versed in today’s technological advances.  He has written other books on popular science intended to reach a wide audience, so his writing style is very engaging and he states his point with humor while using personal stories to engage the reader.  It is an easy read from start to finish, though most of his points are repeated throughout his argument.  He uses extensive notes to clarify passages within the text to make the reading even easier and provides notes on further reading if a subject sparks your interest.

 

If you have a loved one who is a video game zombie or others consider you one, pick up this book to put your mind at ease.  You will have arguments galore to validate your right to enjoy all forms of entertainment, even video games.

If you are interested in this book or author, you can check out his blog/homepage at www.stevenberlinjohnson.com and I hope this isn’t illegal. 

What I wanted to add on top of my review is that the argument made against reading declining in this country is interesting.  Basically, according to Johnson, our reading hasn’t decreased, but our TIME has.  I can agree with this somewhat.  There is just so much to do in a day…and not even things that need to be done, but what we want to be done. For instance, in a day, I go to work, I come home, watch some TV- if I can find something worth watching- read some, do homework or read for class, watch a movie, play a video game and get online to check email or my online class content.  If I were lucky enough to have a creative bug that day, I might paint or write or so some other craft.  There just isn’t enough time in a day to sit down and read like I would like.  I read here and there and I still finish my share of novels, but not as many as I would have in high school…when there wasn’t much else I wanted to do.  Growing up in a family with an older sister and an older brother, I rarely got to watch the TV programs or movies I wanted to watch, so I spent most of my time with my nose in a book.  But, now that I live in my own house and own my own TV, I get to watch what I want, when I want.  With the advent of DVR (which I don’t have) it is easy to loose yourself in programs on TV.  Luckily I have not gotten to the point where I have to be home for a certain show.  I will always be glad that TV does not mean that much to me.  But, there have been shows that, I think, are worth watching.  Johnson points out the West Wing.  I resisted watching this show for a long time.  I finally caught an episode late into the 4th season…and was hooked.  I watched it in re-runs on Bravo until I got caught up-and this was every night.  Which is the joy of “sin”-dication.  (Perhaps that is what the Catholics were afraid of when they made Gluttony a sin.)  And I felt like I was missing something when I didn’t get to see an episode.  This happens to me alot.  I tune ou TV as best I can, then find a show about three seasons in and I can’t get enough of it…then it either ends too early, or not early enough.  You know what I mean…when a show should have been cancelled two seasons ago, but they still pull out the same tired jokes and re-used plot lines, because it gets the ratings.  A diatribe on my TV watching isn’t really what I set out to do here.  I meant to say that I really found this book interesting inso much as it really does give a good argument on how the average IQ has risen over the last thirty years.  There are parts of the book that I thought were over done, and he repeats for clarity alot, but it made me think, at least.  How do we reach an audience that has too many activities and not enough time?  This is a big question to ask when, as librarians, reassess our audiences in the next 20 years…or even two years.  In closing, the thing I found most interesting is that those of us who were not born into the ”technology age” cannot comprehend how someone can sit at a computer for hours, rather than curl up with a good book-but what if computers were all you knew?  The people curled up with a book would look weird to you.  Something to think about.