More learned=more jaded?

Thorough this exploration of social media, interpersonal relationships, online privacy and meaningful communication, I am fighting cynicism with both hands and all the pixie dust I can muster.  Perhaps hope lies within the dynamic of human tendency to teeter-totter our norms and spend most of the time somewhere in the middle of the board.  As awareness grows of the price we are paying when clutching our little screens to our faces while humans go by, we may look up, say a word, read an expression on someone else’s face.  Maybe even have a conversation.

Is privacy a thing of the past?

Sincere thanks to all those who were participants in our excellent panel discussion today, either in person or through e-live,  concerning online privacy.   Moderator Bill Urquhart guided our discussion from sociological, technological, and law enforcement perspectives, and we enjoyed comments and questions from students on e-live and from audience members in Ketchikan.

Here’s a bibliography of articles which I may have referenced during my remarks during the discussion today, in the event you may wish to do some reading on the topic.  All of these articles are available through the UAS databases, most of them through Academic Search Premier.  Here you go:

“Facebook & Your Privacy. (Cover Story).” Consumer Reports 77.6 (2012): 24. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.

Beer, Jeff. “Google Is Getting Creepy.” Canadian Business 85.14 (2012): 28-31. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.

Giles, Jim.  “The Oracle of Facebook.”  New Scientist 214:2862 (2012) : 40-43.  Academic Search Premier.  Web. 4 November 2012.

Seymour, Chris. “Social Media And The Gender Gap.” Econtent 35.3 (2012): 8-10. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.

Stein, Joel, and Eben Harrell. “Your Data, Yourself.” Time 177.11 (2011): 40-46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.

Weeks, Linton.  “Google and Privacy: Is It Time to Give Up?”  npr.org 29 Feb. 2012 Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Be careful out there.

Posted by Campus Librarian Kathleen Wiechelman

Come by for gnosh and talk

Today is our final panel discussion for Fall Semester 2012.  We are looking forward to hearing about online privacy from the point of view of a sociologist, police chief, librarian, and computer technician.  Join us NOW at the Campus Library!

The Internet and Privacy (is there any?)

Please join us on Thursday, November 8th, between noon and 1 p.m. in the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library for our continuing discussion about the themes and issues raised by Sherry Turkle in her book, Alone Together:  Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. This discussion, moderated by Assistant Professor of Sociology William Urquhart, will focus on online privacy from several perspectives.

Refreshments will be served, and all are welcome!  Call 907-228-4567 with any questions.

Where’s the Town Square?

In the introduction of David Carr’s most recent book, Open conversations: Public Learning in Libraries and Museums, 2011, he invites us to think with him:

     We need to replace ruthlessness and selfish individualism with becoming something together.   As we can see in pockets of our past, it will not be the first time we have done this.  It will begin with stories told in places where we live, to others who sit near us.  Over time, we all will be unafraid to speak in the safe places we have made for discoveries, reflections, and voices.  If we teach ourselves to speak, listen and think together, our places, our libraries, will open us to ourselves–to something courageous within ourselves–and move us toward the possibilities of self-rescue than every civilization needs.

As we discuss the gains and losses from our use of technology, Carr urges us to remember the value of the agora, plaza, or square and pursue the type of open, non-polemic discussions in the life of a democracy that lives there.

Where are these conversations held now?

Let’s do lunch

Sherry Turkle was interviewed by NPR’s Fresh Air host, Terry Gross last week.  Turkle said this about our connected children: “Children are getting these phones earlier and earlier. These are years when children need to develop this capacity for solitude, this capacity to feel complete playing alone. If you don’t have a capacity for solitude, you will always be lonely, and my concern is that the tethered child never really feels that sense that they are sort of OK unto themselves; and I talk to college students who’ve grown up with the habit of being in touch with their parents five, 10, 15 times a day. And it’s no longer Huckleberry Finn as a model of adolescence, you know, sailing down the Mississippi alone — we’ve developed a model of adolescence and childhood where we sail down the Mississippi together with our families in tow.”

Do you remember the first independent, grown-up thing you did without a parent by your side?  Taking the bus somewhere or walking to the store or library?  If anything came up, you relied on your own abilities.  You gained confidence and a stronger sense of self. Would it have been the same result if you had a cell phone in your pocket?

Remember, we are having a noon-time panel discussion this Wednesday, Oct. 24th moderated by Professor Urquhart.  Join us at the Campus Library for some interesting conversation over lunch; refreshments and coffee provided. For more information call me at 228-4567.

Posted by KJ Bolling, LAII

Sherry Turkle Interview on Fresh Air Tomorrow!

Thanks to phone calls from a couple of One Ketchikan One Book faithfuls and from Maria Dudzak of radio station KRBD, we’ve been made aware that author Sherry Turkle will be the guest of Terry Gross tomorrow, Thursday, October 18th, on Terry’s NPR show, Fresh Air, which airs at 9 a.m. on KRBD.  If you can’t listen at that time, go to http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/ anytime after late afternoon tomorrow to find a link to the complete broadcast.

Most of us can find KRBD on our radio dials at either 105.3 or 107.1, depending on where we live in town, or you can go to their website at http://www.krbd.org, and click on the “Listen Live” link if a computer, rather than a radio is your preferred technology!  What a wonderful, and timely opportunity to listen to our author speak with Terry Gross about our One Ketchikan One Book title, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.

Posted by Kathleen Wiechelman, Campus Librarian

The next event in our One Ketchikan One Book program is a panel discussion, moderated by Assistant Professor of Sociology Bill Urquhart.  This event will take place on Wednesday, October 24th, between noon and 1:00 p.m. in the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library, upstairs in the Ziegler Building, at 2600 7th Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska.  Our panel will be made up of members of the community with a variety of backgrounds and unique perspectives concerning technology and related issues, both negative and positive!

We hope that you’ll join us, whether you’ve read Alone Together or not; an interest in listening to our discussion and/or participating in the discussion is all that’s required.  Light refreshments will be served, and all are welcome.

Posted by Kathleen Wiechelman, Campus Librarian

Have we lowered the bar too low?

Okay, I’ll admit it here — I watch Comedy Central’s show, South Park, with my husband sometimes.  The theme of last night’s episode, called “Raising the Bar”, while not spot on to our book, made me think of our book’s themes, as it had to do with our everyday interactions with one another and how they change .  One of the characters in the show asked another if perhaps we haven’t lowered the bar too low in some cases, without even noticing.  In other words, do we get so used to gradual cultural or societal changes, in our case, those made by technology, that we don’t even notice them, and we accept and incorporate new behavior into what’s acceptable and  appropriate?

We polled the audience at our event last week to see if they thought it was okay to text while you’re at the family dinner table or at a restaurant with friends or family.  Nearly everyone thought that no, it wasn’t okay to text during a meal, unless it was an emergency, but how often are you having a conversation with a friend or co-worker, and they’re constantly looking down at their phones for messages, or even texting while they’re talking to you?  Young women announce their engagements or pregnancies on Facebook, teenagers send thousands of texts per month, and instead of saving us time, we’re SO connected by technology that it’s hard to get away from it!  I have to agree with Sherry Turkle’s overall statement that we have to control or drive our technology instead of letting it control us.  And your opinion?
Posted by Kathleen Wiechelman, Campus Librarian

“…the most terrible poverty”

I recently came across a quote by Mother Theresa.  She said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted.  It is the most terrible poverty.” In our first book discussion this past Wednesday night, I wondered aloud if, in the midst of all this technological connectedness, are we lonely?

As our brains are wired to be socially connected with other humans, that wiring is looking for facial expressions, tonal changes, body language.  Interpretation of these messages is learned over time.  At the book discussion, we spent some time talking about how much of this physical interaction is lost in the daily life of children and young adults.  One participant pointed out that our emotions seemed to be limited by the emoticons available.

We also had a chance to talk about the importance of solitude and how it was viewed.   Depending on whether one is an extrovert or introvert it was valued differently, but the role it plays in allowing our brains to reset and be creative.  In Stillness, Daily Gifts of Solitude, author R. Mahler observed that by doing nothing, “we stare into the potential of everything.” (p.65)

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated.  The food was good and the company was great. Mark your calendars for the next book discussion slated for Wednesday, October 24th from noon to 1pm.

by KJ Bolling, LAII