Looking into Skype

I was excited about all the possibilities of using Skype. I am wondering how it will work for an international hookup? I'd love to see my friends and colleagues in Russia as we spoke. I'll have to check that out when my webcam arrives.

Digital cameras and technology

I've spent the better part of the evening looking for the company that gives the best prices on a Nikon D200. I've enlisted the help of complete strangers in their reviews on these companies and I've entered a cohort of fellow photographers, specifically Nikon lovers (there does seem to be a divide between Nikon and Canon users that is irreconcilable). Though I do not know these people, I have more in common with them than I do my physical neighbors up and down this street I chose to live on. Once I receive this camera, it will allow me to create historical montages in a faster and more efficient way than I have been able to with film cameras. As I downloaded the many links required for the first two weeks in this course, I am struck with how much all of this technology is about building new communities. I liked the many comments on discussion board about how some libraries may exist or do exist only in cyberspace. The virtual librarian is here. And the tension I feel within myself about moving to a digital camera is similar to that I experience with each new technological acquisition. I love being able to access Russian archives from here. Compared to getting funding, flying, visa woes.... it is great! But, there is nothing so educational as sitting in those archives for months, being cold, hungry and watching the politics of the day unfold. I was in Russia in August of 1991 and I cannot ever replace the reality of that experience and its importance in my political cognizance. Well, I'm repeating myself at this point. So I'll sign off.

I was interested to see how MySpace.com is allowing for a new kind of history to be maintained. This particular article was on the postings of soldiers in Iraq who died. The online entries serve as a new kind of document. This, I suppose, makes MySpace an archive of sorts, though questions of organization and access of and to this information arises. How will librarians and archivists of the future create links to this type of information? How do we teach researchers to use this type of information? Open forums have always been difficult to evaluate. Like nineteenth-century letters and diaries, these online postings reflect what the writer wanted to portray about him/herself and the situation he or she lived in. Individually they are tributes; collectively they can create a history of sorts, but one that might tell us more about self-perception than about actual events.

New to Blogging

This is my first blog post. I'm new to the technology, but am excited about the opportunity to create. I'm not in the fast-track cohort, but am joining you as a student who normally is on campus at Pittsburgh. I'm happy for this opportunity, since I commute two hours, have a three-month old daughter and a two-year old daughter and other work obligations. So the busy life theme I've seen here resonates. I have a past life as a Russian History professor, but, with small children, no longer teach full time and am taking the opportunity to add skills to my resume with this program. I'm interested in the philosophy of archives, helping local organizations to take care of their historical documents, and helping them to create history.