Nintendo coffee table via Ultra Awesome
This makes me nostalgic about a significant part of my childhood. I’m off to dig out my Super Mario Bros to see if I can still handle the lava pits.
When I was studying at Georgetown University, our euphemism for going to the library to study was to go “out to party at Club Lauinger.” Sure, we were being facetious at the time, but in light of the changing role of the library and the librarian, I think that statement may not be far from the truth.
I only have one core message today, so I’ll keep today’s post short.
The library needs to go from a place where you access collections to a place where you access connections.
If you’re ever in Brisbane Vasta, check out the State Library of Queensland, where on the ground floor they’ve all but done away with books. The only ones you’ll find there are the pre-loved books left behind by the backpackers and students that throng throught the place for free terminal access and wireless. In one corner is a childrens rumpus room, the other, an meeting and learning place for the indigenous community complete with outdoor fireplace.
Sure,they have books there also, but the emphasis is on information and exchange.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (via thebronzemedal).
It’s interesting how little of humanity’s psychological experience has changed over history; it’s why literature from all eras remains perfectly intelligible to us: the advent of this or that technology or governmental system or economic scheme has done nothing to change the human heart.
(via mills)
I beg to differ dear sir. The suffering of others, amplified by by the media we have chosen to consume, has either numbed us into submission, or emboldened us to make a difference.
I dare say our hearts have deepened, broadened, and opened to possibilities dreamt not even by the gods of antiquity.
In truth… good communication requires craft rather than volume or repetition. Good investigation requires time and subjectivity, both of which the Internet can steal.
I think this is part of the major harm of the Internet. It’s not web-addiction or cyber-bullying or MySpace stalkers or any of the other old, sensationalized problems-that-hurt-your-children translated into a new age. Rather, the harm is the difficulty we have sorting out what is productive and what is distraction.
”Old Media is choking on New Media (via everythingontheinternetistrue)
I’m not distracted, rather disaffected, none of it means as much as it used to. To disengage from the mainstream and pull into a fetid eddy, would be to do ourselves a dis-service. After all, we are social animals.
To seek together, to compete, to question, these are all things enabled by the Internet. Procrastination existed well before the network.
Ithaca creek graf: This piece is on the bike path that runs along Ithaca creek in Ashgrove. The BBQ area needs a bit of a clean up.
