Politics and common themes

It is 4:19 in the morning and my cat is curled up on my lap while I stare at this blank page and ponder my next attempt at blogging communication. Not surprisingly I had very few comments on my last and first blog post, well, actually one although thirty people did take the time to read what I posted. I guess I expected a few more comments, mostly along the lines of "oh, give me a break and get with the times". This morning elections opened for one of the library associations officer candidates I belong to. I took the time to read through the candidates portfolios before casting my vote and noticed something akin to a common theme amoung all 6 candidates. Every one of them expressed the need for us to embrace social media and move forward in the world of technology. Only one of the six left out the word I in their veiw of what they see the leadership embracing in the next year. These two things caught my attention more than their degrees, current jobs or volunteer positions. It was rather refreshing to see that in this "it's all about me" world there is still someone out there who thinks it really has nothing to do with "me" and everything to do with "my actions for the good of the whole". I hope the candidates who do get elected see "the bigger picture" and embrace what is best for the "whole", not what is best for the "me". Wouldn't it be nice if politics everywhere embraced that sentiment? Primaries are next week in my home state, I'm an election official for my state and have been for nine years, I wonder if those who show up at my polling station will have read over the cadidates portfolios as carefully as I scrutized this one small association election. Wouldn't it be nice to see a wise, more informed voter in all aspects of the political world. I plan to be one of them, how about you?

Attempting to Embrace Social Media

My attenpts at blogging have been sporadic, inconsistent and shameful. As a budding librarian I have been so interested in learning the new technologies, not that blogging is new, but woeful in embracing it. What fascinates me the most about all of this social media is how enraptured the younger generation is about telling everyone everything, no thoughts about privacy, everything is fair game and truthfully I find that so distressing. I think it ranks right up there with living in housing on a military post, nothing was a secret, at least not to your neighbors, and I speak from personal experience. I guess that is why, when we hear about Pinterest law suits becasue of copyright and privacy issues I am not surprised. Does anyone else have a problem with this? Come on, am I the only librarian out there who is hesitant to embrace the social media that rules the day without some serious investigation? So, I am embraking on the 23 Things for Professional Development this week, a few weeks late but I attempted to do so last year and did not get much accomplished. This is a first attempt on my adventure that will be blogging. The plan to to learn and grow, it's what we are supposed to do as professionals and as humans! Step one completed.