Bernalwood

I’m pretty excited to find out about Bernalwood, the local blog for my neighborhood, since I’m loving the neighborhood and it’s also a great site for micronews sites about SF–and it’s on WordPress, nice!

Construction next door means going to th

Construction next door means going to the Library for quiet time…

Internet Archive visit

     I’ve been wanting to take a trip to visit a Friday lunch at the Internet Archive for years since I heard about them. If you haven’t heard of or used it, it might be a shock to learn about its existence–since 1996, they’ve been “capturing” the Internet onto permanent, indexed, searchable hard drives on behalf of the public. The Wayback Machine is probably the most famous arm of this project, and one that I use to reference works I wrote way back when I was a music journalist for the online-only publication, Buzznet.

A year and a half ago, they moved from their old digs in the Presidio to their new digs in the former Christian Scientist building on Funston (at Clement) and done some renovating (along with their logo which now features the Roman columns on the building). It’s a beautiful space, and one that fits many “wings” of the organization that they’ve branched into collecting–sound, video, and, along with Google, a book digitization project which includes open access and a lending library, called Open Library. They are even suggesting the MegaReader app for iPhone/iPad users to access the collection.

Digital desk

As part of the lunch, each person had to describe why they were visiting or, if you work there, interesting progress or events from your project you are working on.  I was visiting for several purposes with one being that my library receives unique items which are often Quaker-related and can be rare. I was particularly interested in seeing how their digitization works after realizing they have quite an amazing collection of Quaker documents already in their library for free viewing (482 as of this writing). One of the key findings, for me, is how this work is being done and shared as a research tool for Quakers, especially those not living near a library that would stock such items. Unfortunately, the cost is around $.10/page to have your document scanned, unless you donate the item to them, so this will most likely be cost-prohibitive at this point but it does bring hope that, should someone have a large bequest, they could probably pay for the scanning of many Quaker documents and have them housed, potentially, forever on open servers and open to the public. Better than a physical library in many ways!

I was particularly engaged by the Director of this project, Richard, who came from a commercial background and now works for this non-profit. He’s a great

A slice of the Internet

person to head this project as he definitely had a feel for why and how the Open Library will deal with the Googlization of everything in a non-commercial way.

The Open Library project is working toward offering books in many formats compatible with many e-readers out there, and have built their own web-reader which makes it available in this future-compatible format. And, since this past holiday season, it’s getting easier and easier to have access to e-readers. I’ve been an ebook fan/reader since back in 2000 when I started library school using my HP Journada 540 with a black-and-white screen.

While I’m not sure the Internet Archive will truly ever compete with the commercial world, it will continue its efforts to bring free books to the public in many formats and continue the fight for bringing books to people free of charge, so hooray for that. I’m happy to see that this is another answer for libraries as opposed to complicated DRM files and outsourcing to paid-vendors like OverDrive.

Quakers and youth membership

I’m currently interested in how this works in Quaker Meetings around the U.S. and specifically as part of Pacific Yearly Meeting, of which my Meeting is a part, and among unprogrammed Friends ages 13-17 (as opposed to 18+ year-olds who seem to have it figured out ). Why? Several reasons, really, that I’ve noticed about youth and membership, at least in my Meeting, which seem to need addressing:

"I'm a Quaker" from George Fox University

• the decline in membership among youth ages 13-17 among my Meeting (none, of which I’m aware at this point)
• the need to reach out to this age group in a more structured way than simple conversation
• a need to connect First Day program to an outcome, a process, which brings this age group closer to Meeting’s spiritual life
• a way to focus on the age range of 13-17 year olds is needed for Quakers, the way other faith traditions do, in order to support them in the growth of their spiritual lives and include them in a more meaningful way in Meeting
• delivering a developmentally-appropriate expectation of membership that is different than but connected to adult membership and which meets the unique needs and expectations of this age group
• moving beyond issue-driven, social action, religious, and moral/ethical education for this group and into exploration, inclusion, participation, and engagement with the life of the Meeting

Currently, I’m seeing this arise as a new group of young people are moving into this age range. A few years ago, I worked with this age group in our Meeting and now realize there was a missed opportunity there to bring them in closer, to support their spiritual growth and meet their maturity level more than simply as a social-scene (or not) for them at our Meeting. A way to ask them “but what are we doing here? and do you feel a part of it belongs in your life?”  Somewhat jealously, I imagine other faith traditions doing a much better job!

So, I am embarking on creating a sample letter of introduction to membership. I’m expecting it will cover some basics such as an invitation to explore membership, a need to write a letter to M&O requesting a clearness committee for membership, a clearness committee process, and, if membership is recommended, a way for a young person (ages 13-17) to encounter responsibilities within the Meeting.

But, as stated in our own Faith and Practice, I want to remind myself in this process that “membership is not the accomplishment of a journey with God, but a covenant with the Meeting in the search for spiritual depth and personal knowledge of the Divine leading our lives.” The goal is not more youth members, but a way to help youth become more aware of their Quaker lives, to give it a grounding in membership and responsibility, and to help Meeting build a stronger basis for a relationship to its youth. A way for them to say more than “yes, I’m a Quaker” but to say “I’m a member of …” with knowledge, care, love and understanding of their home Meeting.

Is there a way your Meeting encourages membership among youth ages 13-17? What does membership entail? How does your meeting encourage responsible membership as this group moves to life beyond the Meeting (e.g. moving away to college or abroad once high school is completed)?

Haiti giving: what canst thou say?

As I continue to follow the Haiti disaster and be bowled over by the magnitude, there are a few agencies I find comfort in knowing are supporting the effort.  It was a wonderful surprise to see Google put together a great page of resources to help get its users focused, one of the major online billboard spaces ever created.  It brought attention, not only to the aid workers and organizations, but also gave multiple ways to give (via text, billed via your phone company), plus free voice calls to Haiti, as well as a person-finder tool, and a mapping-tool which people can help to build.

I became a bigger fan of Doctors Without Borders after reading Guy Delisle’s book, The Burma Chronicles, which describes his time spent there with his small child and wife who works for them, so I’m sponsoring them this year in hopes of bettering the health care situation.

I was also happy to see AFSC get into the Haiti mix after they had pulled their offices out of Haiti a few years ago, so they get a little bit from me as well, mainly to help with the peace work there.

I live in an urban environment with lots of homelessness.  Once, a friend asked what she should tell her young child about how to cope with seeing so many people in need every day walking down the street–”You can’t help them all,” she said, “and I don’t want my daughter to worry about walking down the street.  What should I say?”  I think about this a lot, and it seems that helping people a little bit, all the time, thinking about it and being conscious about giving to others is really what matters.  I don’t have kids yet, but giving them a bit of pocket change to carry each day while walking around, just to hand out as they see fit, seems to be a way to connect to the problems and concerns of others rather than to ignore it or hope that someone else will care.  Making an effort just to notice and reaching out rather than turning away seems to be the way.