Don't use words too big for the subject.

I think the thing I love the most about the book The Professor and the Madman is that its Wikipedia article's "see also" section cites crowdsourcing.

Simon Winchester is arguably (ok, not arguably) one of my favourite authors.  The first thing I read from him was Hong Kong: Here be Dragons and I quickly followed that with The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time (I'm not going to lie, reading these two books played no small part in my decision to go to China between my third and fourth years at university). At 17 I was bored with geography class, and being the slightest bit sarcastic, I wanted to cite something ridiculous for my final big project. The titles drew me into Winchester as an author, but what kept me going back to him is I loved how he wrote. He made these huge subject matters accessible, something I could understand. I was thrilled when he wrote The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology in 2001 (look, it's not a secret I'm a geek).

Either way, the Professor and the Madman is one of my favourite books of Winchesters - how could it not be? It's about the writing of the OED (amazing) and I found out it was basically written by an American living in a British asylum, who wrote it because he was well off enough to collect books, quite rare books and while he was deemed criminally insane because he murdered some guy in a fit of paranoia he was given enough freedom to write one of the greatest dictionaries of all time (10,000+ entries of it, at any rate), all the while having some of his rare book collection coming from the widow of the man her murdered, and thought there were small people in the floor and ceiling who came out at night to torture him.  It's also important to realize that Minor and Murray had a close friendship for over two decades - but only through correspondence. After Minor (who also, by the way was an American Doctor) sent ten thousand definitions to the dictionary, a puzzled Murray set out to visit him, and only then found out Minor was a murderer, clinically insane and locked up in Broadmoor (England's harshest asylum for criminal lunatics).

The book is brilliantly written, and the subject matter is completely fascinating. Go read it.

The Immortalists

So I may or may not have a bit of a secret fascination with People Who Want to Live Forever. The idea of immortality is something I've personally never understood: as Einstein said "I do not believe in immortality of the individual" 

This being said, I do have a fascination with immortality-questors, bio-hackers and transhumanists. Blame it on my degree (or, more correctly, my roommate's take on our degree) or on my already there fascination with open source and information access, but I've always loved the idea of loving the idea of living forever. This being said, it was a no-brainer for me to have picked up this book at Chapters a few months ago. It got pushed a bit to the way-side during my last few months of only reading Urban Fantasy (judge away).

The Immortalists is about the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh and his somewhat macabre scientific collaboration with Dr. Alexis Carrel and their shared quest of conquering death and attaining immortality. It's an honest look at the two men who achieved brilliance in their own rights, trying to achieve the impossible while not ignoring the character flaws and fears the each man had. The book looks at Lindbergh & Carrel attempt to challenge nature's oldest rule, and examines the personal, professional and political consequences that this resulted in. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, it reminded of one of my favourite books, The Professor and the Madman (Did YOU know the Oxford English Dictionary comes in now small part from a retired American army surgeon who was incarcerated in an insane-asylum in England?) (You really should read the book).

Something like that

This is the back of my business card. I use it for consulting in research, libraries and grant writing.  In LIBRARY SCHOOL they teach us about the reference interview, and in the reference interview, our job is to find out what the real question is. The real question is usually easier to answer, then to figure out.

I'm feeling vague about what the real question in my life is right now. Excited, but vague. So many great options, I don't think there is a bad answer, and I'm pretty sure it's the simplest one.

Either way, this weekend I'm celebrating the 30th birthday of one of my favourite people. Happy Birthday Mr. Smith.

Where I'm going, where I've been.

My mom's in NYC for the week - she grew up there and can only handle staying away for so long. So, I'm house-sitting. More exactly, cat-sitting, but that's semantics. It's strange being in the house I grew up in (from grade 9-12, but still) alone. I went from having an amazing job at a huge grocery chain's head office, to nothing when my boss quit and the company threw me under the bus in... punishment? I don't know. After he left, it was awful - weeks of not doing anything, sitting at my desk and listening to people whisper about me.

The point is, when I left the company, I was faced again with What do I want to do with my life. I was never sold on a corporate job - I fell into the position with extreme luck, and was fortunate enough to have an amazing boss who taught me a huge amount in a short short time. When that finished, I don't know if there's much in that world for me. What I DO know is there there's a lot outside that world for me. When I was there, I missed everything I loved about the information field - working with people, different people to solve every changing and dynamic problems, answer fun, intriguing, interesting and complex questions, meeting new people and most importantly, helping people find what they need.

Coming to Waterloo, to mom's (sometimes) dark and scary (usually) peaceful and beautiful acre on the river helped me get my priorities in line. I applied for a job in Edmonton, and withdrew my application. I'm not ready to leave and go west to the different and unknown. I think I wouldn't mind it, but I think I'd rather go back out East if I have to move, but really I'd rather stay in Ontario - anywhere in Ontario. I'm ready for another adventure, and I'm ready to figure out exactly what it is that I want out of life. My feelings about living in Toronto are generally complicated. I love this city, it's where I was born, raised on and off, and where I came back to. I love the people, the feeling, and the energy. But I do miss the quiet. I love my field, I just need to figure out what I love the most about it - what my niche is, and where in it I belong. I miss working in the community, and being part of a community. I don't like I can't volunteer because I don't want to make a commitment that I might have to break.

So, here's to not knowing what you want, not knowing where and how to find it, but knowing that you will.

PRChina White Papers now available in English!

I remember about 6 years ago when I lived in China, I was blown away by how there was no public or unified system of availability of information. In Canada, I was so used to being able to find anything online, go to a library or, if I was desperate, shoot off an email. When we got to China, my classmates and I were baffled at how we were "not expected to need a library" and how "if we needed information ask" or having livejournal (yes, really) and google was blocked - facebook wasn't really a ~big deal~ then (yes, really). At any rate, I loved China - it was an amazing experience where I crossed amazing things off my bucket list (including climbing the Great Wall, and seeing the Xi'an warriors)

At any rate, the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China has provided English-translations of Government White Papers. White Papers are authoritative reports or guides that address issues and how to solve them. Some of the topics covered are:

National Defense
Ethnic Minorities
Energy
Environmental Protection
Democratic Reforms
Human Rights

These papers can be found HERE!

In other news, the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit is on at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Go see it!

Google, Once more, is King.

Google's Project 10^100 Awards LAW.GOV $2 Million to Make Government More Transparent
Law.gov has just been being awarded $2 million by Google as part of the Company's Project 10^100. From Google's September 24th announcement:

Idea: Make government more transparent
Project funded: Public.Resource.Org is a non-profit organization focused on enabling online access to public government documents in the United States. We are providing $2 million to Public.Resource.Org to support the Law.Gov initiative, which aims to make all primary legal materials in the United States available to all.


Amazing. Now someone bring this to Canada!

American Government is Getting Hip. That's what the kids say, right? Hip?

The Government Printing office has done it - they've ventured into the world of comic books. I really really want to be jaded and mocking of this, but man, this is adorable.

Squeaks Discovers Type! is the story of a video game space mouse (yes yes yes!) who helps an elementary student Jake discover the invention of printing and its evolution through the ages so Jake can write a report. It may not be a Sandman, but the comic is illustrated and in color, the art is outstanding and rivals anything you'll find in a comic book store for kids. It's 24 pages long, and costs $5. I think I'm in love with this mouse. Seriously - is he not adorable?

Census. Indeed.

I haven't really gotten into the whole discussion about the long form census fiasco because... I don't really know what to say about it.

On June 28, the following email was sent by the Chief Statistician of Canada, Munir A. Sheikh (Munir.Sheikh@a.statcan.gc.ca):

Subject: Update on the 2011 Census

This is an update on the 2011 Census. On June 26, 2010, the census questions were published in the Canada Gazette as required by the Statistics Act. The 2011 Census will consist of the same eight questions that appeared on the 2006 Census short-form questionnaire. All households will receive a short-form census questionnaire.

The information previously collected by the census mandatory long-form questionnaire will now be collected as part of the new voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). The NHS questionnaire will include questions on language, immigration, Aboriginal peoples, mobility, ethnicity, education, labour, income and housing.

The NHS will be conducted within four weeks of the May 2011 Census. Approximately, 4.5 million households will receive the NHS questionnaire, up from the 2.9 million households that would have received the census mandatory long-form questionnaire.

I know that I can count on your ongoing support to ensure the success of these two important Statistics Canada priorities.

This change means that the mandatory long form census questionnaire, sent to 20% of the Canadian population and consisting of detailed questions will be replaced with a separate voluntary survey. I really doubt many Canadians will willingly provide all of the data formerly gathered using the mandatory census, which has lasting implications not only for the research community, but for all levels of government and community groups that will no longer have access to information used to create public policy and support many programs and initiatives.

As an important note, On July 21, 2010, Sheikh resigned from his post as head of Stats Canada. Following his resignation, in a public letter, Sheikh expressed his disapproval of the government's decision, writing:

I want to take this opportunity to comment on a technical statistical issue which has become the subject of media discussion. This relates to the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census.

It can not.

—Munir Sheikh

Google vs. Government organization - Go!

Google has just worked out a deal with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office where they will host 10 terabytes of patent and trademark data for download to individual users. That essentially includes all granted patents and trademarks and published applications with full text and images. The documents are available for patents and trademarks on separate pages with links to different classifications of items. The download consists of a zip file containing an xml document with all of the details. The prior method for accessing this bulk data was via DVD data discs at a significant cost to the requester. The downloads are free of charge. The Google Public Policy Blog announcement is here, and an the USPTO press release is here. This is kind of amazing. Kind of a lot.

Internet Linking and Citation

As I'm gearing up for the end of the school year I'm writing a lot of papers, and with papers comes the arguable trauma of citing. MLA, APA, Chicago, McGill, blah blah blah. There are so many different styles, so many ways to make small errors, and so many ways to be terrified you'll accidentally not cite something properly, get dragged in front of the dean and thrown out of your masters program because you forgot a period. Well. Not really. I ~know~ that I won't be thrown out for forgetting a period, I know I spend hours citing, and making sure I'm not plagerizing, but what about the real world? What happens when there is not more citations, or what about, the Internet?

Most people I've discussed the ideas/issues of Internet linking with agree that internet hyperlinks are a type of citation. There are, however, 2 schools of thought I've come across that DO NOT THINK that hyperlinks are a type of citation.

There are the people that 1. think you need to obtain permission to link to another website and 2. Those that think whoever is associated with the author/owner/host/ISP of a website are responsible for any content accessible via hyperlinks on their site.

I don't get that. Hyperlinking is a citation, because you are linking back to the original source material, you are NOT republishing the material on your own page - as that would be outright copying content from one page, onto another. I don't actually understand how a hyperlink could be considered republication, and am admittedly baffled by those who threaten legal action.

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear Wayne Crookes appeal of a '08 BC ruling that linking to websites that contain allegedly defamatory material is not in and of itself defamation. Vancouver-based Crookes has sued a TON of poor folks for libel based not on things they wrote on their websites but on thinks written on sites they linked to, or sites those sites linked to. Really? Really?? So I link to, say, a blog of a University of Toronto professor. They, in turn, are studying, I don't know - racism in the early 1900's in the Southern United States. On one of those sites, THEY link to links to a page where THAT page talks about how some anti-racism protester is dumb. Crookes then wants to sue the U of T prof for defamation.

Y'know what? I can't even.