Today I saw Tim Berners-Lee speak about linked data/ontologies/the semantic web.   In addition to being the inventor of the WWW, he has really interesting ideas about women in engineering/computery things.  Now I am no engineer, but in a room of a couple hundred people men, I saw maybe 10 women.  Now, first, this is not news. But maybe it’s working with a lot of librarians which has lulled me into a female-dominated, computer-haxx0r haze.  Seriously I cannot recall when I have been in a room with fewer women (relatively), and I went to a high school with a male to female 3:1 ratio.  In fact I think this is certifiably the only time in my life where I have been the most feminine person in the room by a LONG SHOT (I was wearing a dress.  With pink flowers on it.).  And also the only woman under…40ish (that I saw).  I am not uncomfortable in male-dominated situations.  I am not uncomfortable being the youngest person in the room (though when that is taken to mean I am an idiot, it starts to grate).  I am not uncomfortable at a tech conference.    Yet, I was uncomfortable in that room.  While I was not at the conference very long, not one person spoke to me.  They did stare doubtfully at me though when TBL asked if people were familiar with the topic he was discussing, and I was the only person who raised my hand at my table.

So what I am saying, is even in this area, TBL knows what he is talking about.

If you happen to be in Austin and of the library/info science/museum persuasion, please come to the hoedown:

Saturday, March 8, 2008
12:30 PM
Las Manitas
211 Congress Ave Austin, Texas 78701

Eat/drink with your fellow information professionals. Use the words gatekeepers and cherrypicking. Snicker about your out of touch colleagues. Ask for advice/help from others who’ve been there. Bitch about Michael Gorman. Mention how Otlet could have schooled all of
these SxSWers decades ago. Reminisce about the days of authority control as king. All with tasty food and drink.

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okay who’s going to ALA?  and, what’s good in PA?  I should be there fri night-sundayish, but I am only registered for exhibits, so I am mainly there to get free books and hang out with you, dear reader.  Comment/call/email if you’ll be there.

I received the best question at my recent presentation.

Aaron: “Is that a Glock sticker on your laptop?”

Me: “Yes”

A: “Cool, Do you own a Glock?”

Me: “No, I live in NYC where it is impossible to own guns, and I prefer HKs.”

This Aaron fellow mysteriously disappeared, but it got me thinking we should institute Librarians with Guns at ALA a la Geeks with Guns at SXSWi.

Anyone going to Midwinter and interested?

I try to put as few words in my slides as possible, but my job IS words, so I am not amazing at it.  However, my slides from my presentation today may not make sense without the audio, which should be available later.  Here they are in pdf.  The wireless here is AWFUL so this may be a touchy link.  I will try to get something more stable ASAP.

Alert!  I will be in Northern California.

Oct. 29-Oct. 31 morning–Monterey, CA.  I am speaking at Internet Librarian 2007.  If you are going, drop me a line.  At the moment, I am taking some shuttle from the San Jose airport to Monterey.  If you know of a better way, let me know.

Oct 31-Nov 4-San Francisco.  I probably will be telecommuting on the 1st, so technically working, but that’s up in the air at the moment.

If you live(d) in the area and know good cheap places for me to stay near transit, or awesome things to see, let me know.  Also, a coffeehouse I can stay all day in and get wireless so I can telecommute would be an great suggestion.

Well almost. All library related conferences for the next few years here. I am glad someone was OCD enough to do it.

I am venturing my first Chinatown bus experience in about an hour to go to Washington DC.  ALA is happening now, but I don’t think I will be going to anything conferencey.  However if you happen to be in town, drop me an email, comment, or, more efficiently, call me.  I will be at the Renaissance across from the conference center.  I get to hit three as yet uncharted states on the way, which is very exciting if you are a map nerd.

FYI Hummus is now considered a suspicious liquid when going through security at the airport.  I feel this is purely racial profiling.

Hey I am headed off to Toronto.  I will have my phone, but the international calling is pricey.  Feel free to Skype me (jennybento) or email/chat.

Of course if you are calling for important reasons–proposition of marriage, signing over large trusts, etc., I may pay the 50 cents a min.

My feet hurt.

I have more books than I can read.

And I met the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

awww someone stole my conference game plan:

Will any of you be at BookExpo, and/or have you been before?  I am considering going, and would love to know if you think it’s worth it, or if you’ll be around!

bowling injuries make you seem lame.

wii bowling injuries make you even lamer.

friends don’t let friends drink and wii bowl.

Shot some guns

Ate from the major food groups of breakfast taco, smoked meat, cheese, and chili
Ran into someone I haven’t seen for 6 years in a totally unrelated context to how I know them

Met Internet friend of 6 years ago

Beer

Also somewhere in there I also silently raged at an anti-data normalization person.  See?  It’s WORK!

The SxSW Library Type (and museum type) Meetup is officially here and here.  RSVP and we’ll be bestest friends.

I am looking for librarians who are going to SxSW.  I am trying to organize a get together.  So if you’re coming and you work in a library, have a library degree, etc. email me or comment about when you would prefer a meetup!

My ALA schedule will be available, and frequently changing, here:

I will be staying in the NMRT Renaissance Pere hotel from the 21-27. Please call (at the hotel or the cell) or email if in town. Other than many ALA happenings, and seeing long lost library friends, I would like to:

• eat nutria (harder than one might think).
• eat seafood like a woman who lives in a landlocked state.
• tour a cemetery (not sure which company to do this with, or if this is totally safe yet).
• cocktail tour (drink the historical cocktails of NOLA)
• visit Harry Anderson’s sideshow shop and bar.
• see some voodooy things, possibly the museum
• take a cooking class
• see Rasputina.
• hit on Anderson Cooper
• see some glassblowing
• drink Abita beer
• general walking around and such

I don’t think I will get all of these things accomplished, especially as my ALA calendar fills up, but I am hoping to do some of it. If you have suggestions, or you’ll be there and want to do any of this, let me know. I am all for killing two birds with one stone, and since there are no open container laws, drinking Abita beer and looking at cemeteries, for example, could go hand in hand!