Peanuts, Castle Wolfenstein, and Me

Accessing the remote desktop and playing with commands in the terminal brought back some memories for me. I can still recall Computer Basic class, my freshman year, writing little programs that calculated compound interest and that repeated my name infinitely. Also, playing Castle Wolfenstein if we finished early. We were on little Apples with dark brown screens and amber text (weeeee, not the usual green, we thought we were cool, but we so, so weren't). So typing in commands, yeah, I can remember that.

Of course, what I'm doing now is a bit more complicated than

10 HOME

20 PRINT "Valerie Kittell";

30 GOTO 20

Or whatever Basic was, I can't really remember any more. I got a C in that class and am still pretty bitter about it because I really, really tried and my teacher just sat there at the front of the room reading paperbacks.

Anyway, command lines. My usual technique when starting something new is kind of a cross between Linus and Lucy. By that I mean, like Linus, I start by trying to learn more about what I'm doing. But I temper that with a bit of Lucy, and try to jump into the action a bit sooner than Linus would.

So, I went through the Arthur Griffith tutorials and took notes as I listened. That took forever, I gotta say, but it always does if you try to take notes during reading/video watching. But since it usually helps me learn better by writing down (I have to know what I'm writing), I kept at it. The Learning the Shell articles I printed, as Bruce suggested, and that's where Lucy came in! I opened the remote desktop and  worked through the Learning the Shell sections as I read, referring back to my Arthur Griffith notes (and using Arthur Griffith's voice to "speak" the text in my mind). And Linus popped back up as I added more notes to a new Command Line page, which may or may not end up being useful as there are no doubt better lists already online.

I was just grateful Charlie Brown didn't ever show up. That's when you give good faith, honest efforts but the world conspires against you. I did have one incident regarding the mv command, trying to move a file from one directory to the other. I figured it out (Linus-style, by researching on the Internet) before I resorted to Lucy's solution (drop kicking the computer). Overall, I was fairly pleased with my rudimentary understanding and performance.

40 END

Gnome Power!

Ever since I started library school, I've been struck by the heaps of acronyms used in the discipline. I truly thought that education had the corner on that market, but nothing doing: AACRII, ALA, DDC, DOI, FRBR, LCC, LCSH, LISA, LISTA, MARC, MARC21, MeSH, OAI, OCLC, OPAC, XML, and Z39.50-- just to name a few! While my list might sound like a robot roll call, the acronyms are practical and logical.

Not so the terminology at Ubuntu forums, which I'm assigned to read as part of my Introduction to Applied Technology course. My first venture into the Absolute Beginner Talk forum introduced such words as Gnome Power, Grub Rescue, Lucid, and Gwibber. I wonder how long it takes for a person to say those words out loud without any discomfort? Personally, I think they're cool, albeit über-geeky. It also leads me to wonder how intuitive, if at all, these terms are? So I set out on a journey, accompanied by my side-kicks Shibboleth and Worldcat, and explored some of the Ubuntu and Ubuntu-related terminology.

First, of course, must be Ubuntu itself. My hunch that it stems from an African language is correct; Wikipedia explains that it derives from Bantu and is a classical South African philosophy. They quote Archbishop Desmond Tutu as defining Ubuntu thus:

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

The Ubuntu operating system, then, is so named because the motivation for Open Source,  

       sharing and helping one another, is a reflection of the greater philosophy.

Next, my eye was caught by Plymouth because I own a Plymouth Duster, similar to the one in the picture, though mine was white until I smashed it and its new panels are blue. I'm sad to think of it sitting in my carport awaiting overhaul, so I'll let that go and explain what I discovered about the Plymouth bootsplash. It's a graphic representation of what happens when your computer boots up and it supports animation. In the Ubuntu forums, many of the threads about Plymouth were about wanting to customize the graphics, which you apparently can, unless you can't, which is what some people are complaining about.

I couldn't wait to see what Gnome Power! was all about. Well, I was sad to see that when I looked more closely, there is no Gnome Power! It was a thread about a Gnome Power Manager failure. Actually, Gnome is an acronym- GNU Network Object Model Environment. According to Wikipedia, Gnome "is a desktop environment—a graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system—composed entirely of free and open source software" and not the little creatures carrying out tasks in your computer. Which is a shame. About a third of the threads on Ubuntu regarding Gnome were questions about customizing, and the other two-thirds were users experiencing problems. One user's thread title told the tale of terminal border thickness in Gnome. Poor Gnome.

Grubs. Pesky and gross. Many threads indicated the users had Grub Problems. Welcome to the club. In Ubuntu, grubs are what allows a user to have more than one operating system on their computer. It's an acronym, too- GNU Grand Unified Bootloader, which according to Wikipedia is a play on the grand unified theory (physics). Hence the picture, which is not of a disgusting grub. Personally, I feel that the grossness of a grub outweighs the ha-ha of the pun. I would have gone a different route, perhaps When EnErgizing Vehicle, I eLect this operating system (WEEVIL) or COmputeR Name when BOoting up Right hERe and now (Corn Borer). The user needing a Grub Rescue had, when updating Ubuntu, been prompted to check boxes regarding Grub, and, since he didn't know what Grub was, he did what any of us would do. He checked all the boxes. Ever since, he's been in Grub Rescue Mode. The striking thing about this thread (which I find on so many forums) is the helpfulness of other users.

This is one thing I really love about the Internet.

P.S. Grubs are gross.

Lucid. Lucid Lynx is version 10.04 LTS of Ubuntu. Imagine my surprise (and delight) to see that each Ubuntu release has a cool, alliterative name, such as Dapper Drake, Jaunty Jackalope, Karmic Koala, and Maverick Meerkat, the latest (as of the Wikipedia article's last update). Which makes sense, because as I scroll through the thread titles, I see all of these terms. It's actually a bit more comforting to know that since these are all  

                versions of Ubuntu,

these terms that are listed in the forums aren't all different words to learn-- they're all versions of the same thing.

Lastly, in my journey, the Gwibber. What is the Gwibber, you ask? Good question, my friend. The answer is not as exciting as I would have hoped. It sounds like the language of Gnomes, doesn't it? Well, actually, it's a microblogging client that supports the most common social computing platforms, such as Facebook, Googlereader, Digg, and, of course Twitter, from which it probably derived its name. Since it works in Gnome, I guess it is kind of a Gnome language, and I prefer to think of it that way. Almost all the threads I looked at regarding Gwibber were problems, mostly that it would not install, especially after the user had upgraded to the next version of Ubuntu. Some of the Gwibber problems are known issues with patches and fixes being worked on. Again, friendly people helping other people. Nice to see!

And so ends my first journey in the Ubuntu Forums. To summarize, the Meerkats were fed up with their grub problem and called upon Gnome Power for help. The Gnomes sped to the rescue in their Plymouth Duster and destroyed all the grubs with a resounding bootsplash and a hurrah in their native Gwibber.  

And there was much rejoicing.

socializing geeks

I'm a geek.

Trivial Pursuit champ. Play on the computer. Read books. Wheeze when I run. Have a favorite Star Trek episode ("Wolf in the Fold"). Know titles of Star Trek episodes.

                                                     Yet, I am not geeky enough.

You see, I don't really understand social computing.

My family thinks I do, because I can open my email, and I have a Facebook page, and a Twitter page, and I write two blogs. They don't know I also use Google Reader, because they don't know what Google Reader is.

Yet I know that I don't actually know what I am doing.

I think I get Facebook. Say what you're doing, try to be funny. Comment on other people's statuses. Link to pictures of funny cat faces. Panic when see "friend request," feel bad when hit ignore. Take quizzes and bore friends with results. Got it.

Twitter? Well... I started by following Barack Obama, Sockington, and Rachel Maddow. Almost all of the people I follow are "famous." I've since added fellow librarians via 100 Best Twitter Feeds for Librarians of the Future (Hey! That's me!). But my tweets? As of this moment, I've done 41! What the heck do I say? No one cares what I think, that's what Meghan McCain's for. So I type things like, "Yea! My turn at the public library to read the latest Sookie Stackhouse!" Woo, who cares. And then there was all the media coverage about how people in Iran were tweeting out and people who saw the plane crash into the Hudson were tweeting out and I don't know how people see all this. There's @ and # and $%&!&#?!, and when people refer to them with words instead of the symbols themselves, I don't know what they mean. Isn't # "the number sign"? But I think people call it a hash mark. When did they learn this, and where was I? It makes me feel like a big buffoon. The media continually says that social computing is a huge part of how news is disseminated. But not to me, because I don't get it! And I feel like I should. I hope other people are faking it, too.

Blogs. Blogs are great for people like me who like to write and like to tinker with HTML. However, there's such a narcissistic component to it that my friends kind of curls up their nose whenever I mention it. Blogs are vaguely embarrassing, yet here I am. And I also feel as though there's something ethereal about blogs, something just out of my grasp. Am I doing them right? Does anybody read them? Do I want them to? If so, why?

I love Google Reader. I find myself ignoring the sites I should read to stay current, like Paul Krugman and Mashable!, and heading right for I Can Has Cheezburger. I love those cats.

As a librarian... OF THE FUTURE!!!, I feel as though I should understand social computing in and out, as opposed to hovering around at the sides and chipping away at it. But that's what geeks do, I guess. Keep at it. 

                                                              Live long and prosper.

getting started

Well, my former colleagues, middle school teachers, are busy attending mandatory meetings and getting their classrooms ready, and I find myself almost giddy that I'm not with them. I do wish I were still around my colleagues more - it'd be nice to miniaturize them and tote them around like Polly Pockets. They are some of the best people I've ever known. But... right about now, if I were still teaching, I'd be in full-on panic mode. I would have started having the dreams where the kids come, and I have nothing prepared, so they become unruly and start throwing desks around. I'd have a vague uneasiness about the kids I've been warned to "keep a special eye on." I'd have a crushing sense of imprisonment, knowing near all my waking hours would be consumed with planning or grading papers or worrying about kids who hate me and the class and what could I do to make it all better?

Don't get me wrong, I always did right by the kids. But I did start to really really hate my job. When one student raised his hand and said, "I don't get it," I thought "So what?". Of course I helped him, he was counting on me, but I knew teaching was over for me. All teachers think So What sometimes (right???), but it sort of became a theme for me, at least in my head.

So I quit, and I said goodbye to my wonderful colleagues, and now here I am in library school. I've never earned a Master's Degree before, and I don't know what to expect as far as difficulty and time commitment. I'm a little antsy about it, but in a good way. I haven't had any nightmares yet, except the one where I forgot to pay my tuition, but I just did that an hour ago, so all is good (except that now I don't have any money). The thing is, I'm excited about the possibilities. It's new and fresh and exciting for me. I don't even know what I want to specialize in, though I plan to do work with digital collections, and I like museums (anthro undergrad), and I like the idea of cataloging. So... yeah. All I really know is, I don't think I want to work with the public anymore. I'm through with people!!

And I hope it's a long, long time before think so what about librarianship.