Confused and Confounded

You know what...I'll tell you a little secret about myself...I hate social media and I love social media.  Once upon a time I lived in a lovely safe bubble, if i didn't want to know what was going on in the world it was ridiculously easy to not know, flip off the nightly news, breeze past the newspapers, and delve into the current book from my shelf.  These days however one can scarcely get away from it, or at least the associated presses version of it.  I have heard a heck of a lot about Chickfilia, the Olympics, and upcoming syndicated shows.  What I haven't heard is about the floods in India, the hunger in Africa, and the many more important life issues from around the world.

Facebook has been flooded with messages concerning the Chickfilia issue, I haven't really chimed in as I wanted the full story before I opened my mouth.  You see personally I believe in traditional marriage, however I also believe that one should love one's neighbor.  Hate and discrimination are not a part of my life, at least any more than any other person.  I honestly prefer not to know someone's sexual orientation, or politics, or natural hair-color.  This philosophy comes from the fact that Jesus said to love one's neighbor, the Old Testament talks about not casting stones, the New Testament about logs in one's own eye.  I like meeting and judging people by their own merits, I believe it is important both Biblically and socially to be as respectful as possible, even if it means feeling like screaming into a pillow at the end of the day.   I have always been curious, curious about cultures, differences, and new ideas.  Other than math class, school was a joy because it allowed me to learn about all sorts of things that I hadn't even known to ask about. 

So yesterday when I went to Chickfilia, it wasn't about standing up for traditional marriage, it was about free speech and intolerance to people who think differently than you do.  According to the CNN report http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/us-chick-fil-a-controversy/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 the origin of the issue was that a business owner was being interviewed by a religious magazine and the issue of marriage came up.  All the man did was honestly answer a question put to him by a religious magazine.  When seen by the public the whole thing was completely blown out of context.  Had he been on a talk show, or if he called a press conference just to say that I could see how people may get their feathers ruffled, but to have this sort of media attention due to answering a question in what should have been a fairly safe venue.  It quite frankly makes me wish to quit all normal forms of society and join a commune.  However as the Bible doesn't really encourage hermit-ism I suppose I will have to stay and deal with the ridiculousness of this situation and the ones in the future. 

You see I think that most people are not okay with being different.  We say we are, but in truth we are really stuck in that preschool-about age 18 phase where being different, and especially having those differences pointed out to us is about the worse thing that could possibly happen to us.  So while we say we do not like being labelled or "put into a box", what do we do but add extra labels to our lives.  When we introduce ourselves we say, "oh well I am a Christian, I am a vegan, I am a naturist, I am a....".  We add more boxes to paperwork, we define who, what, from where, and form clubs for people "just like us". It all seems to break down our common bonds instead of helping us see them instead.

So you are probably asking why is it I love social media?  I love it because I have come into contact with people and places I have never met or seen.  I find out about amazing new places, recipes.  I keep in contact with my friends who are or have been around the globe. Though I must admit that I wish that letters were still something that were used, the instantaneous aspect of the web and social media is fascinating and a bit terrifying. It sort of makes me think of the Tower of Babel.  

So this has been a rather rambling blog, but I wish people would stop getting up on their soapboxes and instead think things through.  Because once it is on Social Media or the web it doesn't go away.  If we are preaching tolerance than don't ask those who do not agree with you to change based on your position, that is the opposite of tolerance.  We will never live in an entirely equal society or world, do do that would be rather equal to "Brave New World" or "1984" which has its own set of problems.  So please just be polite, let us use our manners, let us love each, be angry, but as the Bible say, "Be angry and do not sin."

Thursdays

My life almost every Thursday...I really cannot explain it.

Lead me to the cross

I feel rather trampled upon...and it is weird because I am not the recipient of all the heartache; I am merely the observer.  Between work and church I feel as if this year has been a harbinger of death, disease, unemployment, and discouragement.  There have been many positives, but with each email and get together there has been an element of disappointment or distress.  I know where to go, but often find myself distracted by trivialities. 

My hope, my goal, my purpose is to bring Christ to those who do not know him.  Showing through my own life how to obey, trust, worship, and grow.  However doing that is hard at times, I find that my relationship and my obedience happen most when I am overwhelmed...I really wish that like Anne Shirley's statement of "I never repeat the same mistakes twice." I could learn to trust and obey in the good times, the times of plenty the way I do in the times of famine. 

Now if only I could get my diet and fitness plan in order as well....

Vegan Ice Cream cake

Growing up my Grammi would often make ice cream cakes for our birthdays.  They were messy, packed full of sugar and chocolate and just plain marvelous.  However nowadays I have a harder time processing dairy and due to all the documentaries and books (Food, Inc., The Omnivore's Dilemma, etc.) I have read recently try not to touch dairy anymore than necessary.  Plus I have this friend who is trying to go vegan so I decided to try my had at making an ice cream cake similar to my Grammi's but more in keeping with my dietary requirements.

I know it isn't a brilliant presentation style, but it does taste rather nice and the wax paper does wonders for clean up.

Required items:
Trader Jo's Jo Jo's (or gluten free equivalent)
Earth Balance- 4 tbsps
1 container soy ice cream (I used Trader Joe's but I would imagine any vegan ice cream would work; I will note that the Trader Joe's Soy ice cream took a full 15 hours to firm up.)
Vegan chocolate chips.
Spring Form pan

Use a food processor to chop the Jo Jo's until they are mostly chopped.  Save a couple for the top to decorate or to add cookie crumbles.  Melt the Earth Balance and pour into a bowl with the chopped Jo Jo's.  Stir until the Jo Jo's are well coated. 

Line spring form pan with wax paper and then pour the Jo Jo mixture in and firm press down to create the crust.  Put this in the freezer for about an hour until cookie crust is firm and chilled.

If your ice cream is solid pull that out to thaw while your crust is firming.  If your ice cream is rather creamy then wait until the crust is firm.  Once the crust is solid scoop out the softened ice cream and smooth over cookie.  If you like you can layer in the chocolate chips, nuts or other goodies, but I simply added the whole container of soy ice cream.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips or cookie crumbles. 

Let firm in freezer for at least 10 hours.  

3 deaths and a wedding

Death is enveitable...and taxes as Americans are aware of as they are due this week. I am a bit befuddled, I work at an a place where people tend to be close, we tend to actually like each other and so that is one of the reasons why this year has been rather difficult. My workplace, my community has lost a number of people ths year, a brilliant and humble musician, a cheerful and humble teacher and Dean, and now a lovely energetic and passionate woman who knew how to bring out the best of buildings and people.

Dr. Hsu was an absolutely lovely man. Unfailingly loving, engaging, brilliant, and rather understating ly mischievous, Dr. Hsu wanted to bring his students to the same love of music that he had, as well as the same love of the Savior. I referred to him in a post on the Masland Library blog here.

 Dr. Hirt was also a great man, however I never had the opportunity to know him. My brother had that privilege as he was in his IJS class in 2006. He was always friendly and had a smile when he came to check out items from the library. Other people have shared their stories of Dr. Hirt on his Facebook page and it has been lovely reading them over and learning more about him and the way he invested in the lives of the students at PBU.

 Today we found out that Lisa Weidman passed away. She worked as the VP of Communications and Marketing, I was always impressed with her, from her stylish hair and dresses to her tasteful, but fun office decor I could see that she was a woman who had traveled and seen many things but instead of allowing any of them to jade her, or using them as a tool to gain anything from anyone, these experiences grew and shaped her into someone that was as passionate about people as she was about her job. Yet she contributed so much of herself into the atmosphere of PBU and yet she contributed just as much time and prayer into her student workers- into the students who wanted to be more than a face in the crowd. She invested her time and presence into their lives in a way that was as intense and sudden as her time was with us at PBU. I can even forgive her for not having attended PCB when in school herself. One of the things I loved about her was that while she had an entire school of agendas and needs, you never felt that when she was talking to you. She was able to make the most difficult of people feel flattered that she was listening to them an all without pomp or circumstance.

Her illness was sudden and rather brief so brief that I never had a chance to say thank you. I know that she knows, but I still wish that I had that chance. So here it is, thank you Lisa. Thank you for being you, and thank you for investing in the lives of so many students. Now I have the wedding of a friend on Saturday and it will be interesting. My prayer is that they will come to know the One that all three of these people knew. My prayer is that people see Him as clearly in my life as I could see him in their lives.

More than PowerPoint

We live in a world where there is color, life, and infinite possibilities. Why is it then that in most presentations we inevitably bore our audiences by reading and presenting in a way that detracts from our purpose and message?  By simply paying attention to style and design methods we can infinitely increase our likelihood of being heard.

Style and design

View more presentations from Laura Saloiye.

For a list of other online presentation tools see below:

• ·       Prezi
• ·       Powerpoint
• ·       Keynote
• ·       Sliderocket
• ·       Kizoa
• ·       Qarbon
• ·       Camtasia
• ·       Screencast
• ·       Screencast-O-Matic
• ·       Jing
• ·       Slideboom
• ·       Slideshare
• ·       Vyew
• ·       Sparkol
• ·       Prezage

This isn't a complete list, but rather a sampling of ones that works best for presentations given at the undergrad/graduate level.

There are reasons that we present a certain way.  The human brain can only accept so much data at a time.  So to avoid overwhelming our audiences and thereby losing our audiences we need to limit the number of points we are attempting to make to 3-4.

Presentations and Learning Theory on Prezi

For more information on these tools you can download a brief Pros and Con list. 

More than PowerPoint: Pros and Cons

To see more on why this is important in the academic setting you can see the following presentation.

Assessment of Library Bibliographical Instruction

View more presentations or Upload your own.

For a complete bibliography you can download it here.

If you would like to see an early version of Style and Design it is below.

www.flickr.com

Links

Modern Apologetics

Last night Philadelphia Biblical University hosted a chat with Dinesh D'Souza which was highly entertaining and challenging. Mr. D'Souza is an apologetist who has written a number of books including "What is so great about Christianity", a biography on Reagan and one on Obama. He also is known to be outspoken on his views and therefore is frequently on the debate circuit defending Christianity to "New Atheists". New Atheists differ from the intellectual atheists of the eighteenth century in that they no longer ignore the issue of faith but are forcibly against it. According to CNN, "What the New Atheists share is a belief that religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises." Due to this harsh and critical stance it is necessary for Apologists to stand up and create meaningful and accurate responses. Therefore Mr. D'Souza's lecture covered 3 main questions.

1. What has Christianity/Christendom done for the world?
2. Does Science disprove Christianity?
3. Is Religion or a Belief in God responsible for the majority of the world's murders/genocides?
   

The first question was an interesting one. Atheists, especially the New Atheists frequently stand up for charity, human dignity, compassion and a plethora of moralistic values. Their argument lies in the fact that Classical Western thought and ideas created these intrinsic human values, however if you study Greek and Roman philosophy you will note that Socrates and the Romans didn't subscribe to these ideals at all. Compassion for ones enemies was seen as a weakness, the Spartans left their weak and in-firmed lying in the open so that they could die of the elements or from being eaten by wild animals.

Slavery was also a common practice in ancient antiquity, the only group that protested slavery was Christendom (and slaves). Christendom was the first protesters who talked about human dignity or the rights of men to own other men. Democracy was built on the idea that no man can be master over the other without having his permission.

The next question was regarding whether or not Science disproves Religion. Mr. D'Souza's position is that not only does it not disprove religion, but due to most of the scientific discoveries during the twentieth century, religion and most especially a belief in a creator is proved by the discoveries. How? There are certain rates that must stay constant, sound, light, mass, gravity, otherwise the universe as we know it would literally not exist. Stephen Hawkings admitted as much, and most people agree with him that our universe is built like it is to maintain human life and the universes' dimensions.

The final topic we covered was whether or not Religion is/was responsible for the majority of warfare and genocides in the world. Mr. D'Souza's argument is that no, religion is only a valid main talking point in Islam, not Christianity/Christendom. In the 1100's the Crusades were violent and about Christianity, but in more recent history the Inquisition had about 2000 people killed during 350 years, and the Salem witch trials had less than 20. And while that was still wrong, the numbers or the concept has been blown out of the water. Israel/Palestine, Turkey/Pakistan are all about land, not religion.

Instead the crimes of Atheist rulers/leaders and their numbers is what is truly horrendous. Stalin, Hitler, China's Communist history have been responsible for more deaths than any other all in the name of no god, but man.

What Christians really need to do is to be informed and to stand up for their beliefs, wish-washy relativism is useless in the face of these learned men. They will not back down from their hostility of God, so we cannot back down from our faith in God. Become informed, and learn to critically think through an argument on faith and reason. Work in the media/publishing centers of the world if you want to make a difference in the world, otherwise we will only continue to give up ground. If Christendom were to stand together and stop fighting each other we might have a chance to truly counter the remarks of the enemy and change the "public" opinion and laws.

~LAS

Hooper, Simon. "The rise of the New Atheists". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/08/atheism.feature/index.html. Retrieved 2010-03-16.

Job and character

This article is one of the better ones I have read recently about working in today's society. The working world is not always an easy place, we are often called to move outside of our comfort zones to work on projects or teams for which we have had little practice. Instead of getting stressed and frustrated it is sometimes better to step back and see what God and Life are trying to teach you. Every new experience adds something useful to your outlook on life, and sometimes provides new listings for your resume.

Most of the students who interview at work have had little to no prior experience working in a library. To me that isn't as much of a problem as the student's attitude in the interview. It takes a special person to thrive in a library environment. Some of my best workers are students who had no experience, but were very hard workers. Attitude is at least 60% of the battle when working with new or learning students. (The other highest characteristic is someone who can think in an organized and structured way.)

For more job related tips check out this article from Relevant Magazine. http://ow.ly/1SZLO

Conferences are great, but boy do they make me tired

I am currently attending Computers in Libraries in Arlington, VA (#cil2010). I think that it is one of my favorite conferences. There are some definite perks to this conference...1.) The food, free breakfast and 2 receptions, 2.) The technologies are library related, 3.) The topics discussed are current and most are free and instantly usable.

I could go on, but with just those few considerations I have already exceeded the benefits of most of the other conferences I have attended. The only problem with conferences such as these is that there is so much information to absorb and work through. One of the other problems is trying to determine what options from these workshops are actually something that is doable at your particular university.

More to come later as I clean up my notes.

Relationships

Life is an interesting thing. I am constantly surprised by life and watching people live it. This is the season of weddings and working at a Biblical university means that there is a large portion of the student body getting married during their time here. I would imagine that all but 10% of the men in my graduating class were either married or engaged by graduation. At times this really bothered me, and when my student workers approach me about their relationships, which is somewhat inevitable, I always try to give them good advise. It isn't always easy, I am an observer of human nature and life, but I have not yet been on a date myself. So my advise doesn't necessarily have personal experience behind it.

I just read an interview from E-harmony with Steve Harvey, and it was something that I wish my school and church would talk about at an earlier stage in most of these students lives. His advise is biblically sound (for the most part, however the Bible does preach total abstinence before marriage not 90 days), and just very practical. I dearly wish I had this advise when I worked with Student Life.

So for now I will continue to observe and to understand, but I just thought this article was something that should be shared. It is hard for women my age in the church to find a spouse within the walls of the church. Most men my age are out "sowing their wild oats" and do not generally come back to the fold until a relationship brings them there. So many of my unmarried friends are disappointed with relationships but constantly longing for one. Maybe some of this advise might be good for them.

Computers and Libraries 2009 or What I think I may have learned...

~Blogging is Dead...sort of.
~Twitter is dead...sort of.
~Second Life is dead...yes (and thank heavens.)
~Usability is Alive...let the people rejoice.
~Web 2.0 is dying...well sort of.
~Facebook apps are either the best thing ever...or they are the kiss of death.
~We live in a post-desktop world, mobility is key.
~RFID tags will be everywhere (and in everything) so if you think we are currently living in the the land of too much information can be answered in the over used phrase "You ain't seen nothing yet."
~The Library world needs to create custom API's that users will love to use.
~Open source all knowledge.
~Create an environment that encourages learning.
~We need to re-think the Learning commons.
~Librarians need to be "Live-brarians."
~We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. Listen more than you talk.
~Make your library utterly irresistible and desirable.
~Teach your patrons to focus again.
~Test your labels. Change the environments.

These are just a few of the big ideas represented by the workshop and keynote leaders during the 2009 conference. Having never attended this event before I can state that I would love to go back and see what predictions for applications from this year will be on the chopping block at the next conference.

I took a lot of notes, I have complied a massive book list. Now I must take the information from this conference and try to assess what will work for my university and library. Watch for more to come, I am still digesting.

P.S. Apparently trips to Karaoke night are dangerous...

TCLC Summer Camp

I am currently attending a TCLC summer camp on blogs and wikis in preparation for the launch of our Masland Library Blog. We are trying to create a better and more active library. Therefore we are working on the nitty gritty with blogs and wikis. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to let us know.

My paper if anyone cares.

Here is my paper if anyone cares. But it explains my use of Berners-Lee.

Done!!!!

I really do hate long papers. I have such trouble with communicating the thoughts that are going through my head. It would take a book series to completely express all of the information that I went through for this paper. I have something like 60 articles, and 9 books on my dining room table. The problem is I couldn't add them in, without sounding like a brainless moron. There is so much stuff out there. Much to my chagrin I didn't feel like it worked to add in hardly any of the philosophers but Berners-Lee. (Odd, I wanted to add this one Lessig comment dealing with the Kindle so badly, so I will leave it here.

Lawrence Lessig: I have been doing this for about two years--more than 100 of these gigs. This is about the last one. One more and it's over for me. So I figured I wanted to write a song to end it. But then I realized I don't sing and I can't write music. But I came up with the refrain, at least, right? This captures the point. If you understand this refrain, you're gonna' understand everything I want to say to you today. It has four parts:

• Creativity and innovation always builds on the past.

• The past always tries to control the creativity that builds upon it.

• Free societies enable the future by limiting this power of the past.

• Ours is less and less a free society. 1
  

I just couldn't seem to add this without going off on some completely random tangent.)

Dr. Shulman, I do believe in Service learning, I am a convert, but doing it for one class I think is the problem. I think I am more of a advocate for it as a whole year or program long activity. I am only starting to receive back answers from a couple of the organizations I sent inquiries to now. Slow response time.

Okay I am off to work on some Christmas presents. Have a lovely Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

1. http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/214

Mad as Hatters

Where things stand now.

++ what is the central question you paper speaks to?
The central question or observation is that there is indeed a divide, but the divide is different depending on your audience. Some of the questions being asked are "What can Service learning or Web 2.0 do to lessen these divides. Do student's or senior citizens acknowledge the divides? Is access the problem or is it more psychological?

++ what are the most relevant theories?
This is what I am currently working through. Rawls and Mills are two that I am currently working on. I also want to include Berners-Lee and Lessig.

++ who are your straw people?
Ignorance, Mis-communication, still working on it.

++ what are your tentative findings?
There is a digital divide, it has levels, and it will only get worse if something isn't done now. the best way to work on the digital divide is to be proactive, access is important, but so is early training. If you want your citizens to be digital you need to have additional benefits for those people who can't afford it. As you can see they aren't clearly defined yet.

It didn't post for some reason.

Sorry my outline and bib didn't post, not really sure why.

I am not sure of all that I will write. I haven’t finished yet. I am a former psychology major, so a reflection paper is something of a personal thing to me. I have never before achieved a 15 page reflection paper, let alone one that involves theories and other students opinions. So this will be my first time, and hopefully my last. Long papers are not my favorite thing, it is one of the reasons pursuing a doctoral degree holds so little interest for me.  The other reason is that I do not ever want to be called "Dr. Laura".  

1. Introduction/Thesis
a. What is Service Learning
b. What is Digital Citizenship
i. Theories
ii. Digital Divide
2. My interactions
a. Work
b. Margaret Grundy Library
3. Web 2.0
a. Effects on Libraries
b. Effects on Citizenship
4. Conclusion/ Lesson’s Learned

Bibliography (Not complete, still working on)

Halahoan, C. (2007, November 14). Hip-Hopping the Digital Divide. Buisness Week Online, Retrieved November 20, 2007, from Academic Search Elite database.

Dervarics, C. (2007, October 18). High-tech Help on the Way. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 24(18), 14-15. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from Academic Search Elite database.

Nicholson, P. (2007, March 9). The Intellectual in the Infosphere. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(7), B6-B7.

Galuszka, P. (2007, March 8). Digging Out of the Digital Divide. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, 24(2), 20-22.

Metcalf, D. (2007, February). Reducing the Digital Divide. American Libraries, 38(2), 29-29.

Lewis, A. (2007, January). Digital Divides the Poor. Education Digest, 72(5), 71-72. Retrieved November 20, 2007.

Swaminathan, N. (2005, November). The Making of a Good Samaritan. Psychology Today, 38(6), 33-33.

Brescia, W., & Daily, T. (2007, Winter). Economic Development and Technology-Skill Needs on American Indian Reservations. American Indian Quarterly, 31(1), 23-43. Retrieved on November 20, 2007, from Academic Search Elite database.