Public Praxis

Register here for this class. No tuition required.

Public Praxis is an autonomous course offered through the Art School in the Art School (1003 East Fayette Street, Apartment 8, above the Spark Art Space) where we try to build the library of the future. We meet at 1pm (for about 3 hours or so) every Saturday starting Jan 28, 2012. If you’re interested in joining the class (or the work we’re trying to do) sign up here. Or send us an e-mail at backus [dot] meg [curly pig's tail] gmail [dot] com, or thomasgokey [curly pig's tail] gmail [dot] com.

We will post more info (syllabus, schedule, readings etc.) shortly.

For more on the need for a networked, autonomous accreditation system, see our Public School NY course description.

Spark is a CBC radio show and blog out of Toronto that is too excellent and thoughtful to be called a show about technology, but it’s about technology. And trends. And us.

Jon Kalish, who did the npr story on libraries and hackerspaces for Weekend Edition talked with Nora Young for a Spark episode on “Library Hacking, Niche Publications, and Enlisting Online Influencers.”

Go listen to this show

From the script for this segment:

JK TX 13: She is. Backus works at a public library near Syracuse, New York and she teaches a course with her artist husband at Syracuse University called Innovations in Public Libraries. And lest you think that she’s not serious about innovating, check this out. Backus brings her dog in to the library and let’s people in need of interaction with the animal kingdom check the dog out for a few hours as you would a book.

NY TX 13: Get out!

JK TX 14: Not only that, her library has a half-acre of open land, so she spearheaded a move to turn it over to the public, which now farms it.

NY TX 14: That’s too much.

I was interviewed as part of an NPR Weekend Edition story by Jon Kalish called libraries making room for hackerspaces (Saturday Dec 10).

A hackerspace is people owning something together, sharing resources, sharing knowledge, valuing curiosity and creativity, engaging in productive inquiry. If one can see beyond the specific tools populating the traditional physical space, libraries and hackerspaces look a lot alike. The resemblance is more than a resemblance; a hackerspace is really just a library by another name.

There’s nothing scary or criminal about the term hacker. A hacker is a person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. Using the science/engineering concept of a black box, where only inputs and outputs are visible, not the internal workings, the hacker wants to open the box. The hacker further insists that if you can’t open it, you don’t own it. So in the way that libraries have always existed to understand the world better, to explore how stuff works, to illuminate the inner components of any area of interest, they have always been hackerspaces. Furthermore, as institutions owned by the public, libraries should not be black boxes. We should all be able to look inside and collectively tinker with the inner workings of these places.

The message of the library is that we can learn, we can become aware. We are not forced to remain in the dark. And while becoming aware is an important achievement, I think the public space of a library affords much more; I think it can provide options for activity that can enhance human agency.
Read the rest of this entry →

Wouldn’t it be smart for public libraries to stop paying the rotten cable/telecom companies for Internet service, and start providing access through systems built to preserve privacy, net neutrality, etc.? Of course it would.

Isaac Wilder was one of the winners at ContactCon, blessed by Reverend Billy and given $10,000 to kick off an IndieGoGo campaign. He is one of the directors of the Free Network Foundation, an organization committed to the tenets of free information, free culture, and free society. The networks they build are distributed and decentralized: less spying, more resilience.

They needs startup funds.  Send a few dollars their way so that we can become customers of a better ISP.

Below I’ve copied what they mean by a free network. See their statements page for more. They’re good people; I’m cheering for them. Read the rest of this entry →

Douglas Rushkoff, hero to our Innovation in Public Libraries class for his book Program or be Programmed (among others) has called us ”pioneers” who ”have rolled up their sleeves and are demonstrating their vision for the 21st century library – not just a room full of dusty books, but a continuous learning center that utilizes technology and information to help communities thrive and businesses grow!”

Excited for CONTACT on October 20. Glad that Rushkoff has called attention to our projects like the LibraryFarm and the FFL fab lab, because I sure would like to talk with him about this stuff.

I love visiting the intro to librarianship class (511 at SU’s ischool), but the crop I got to visit today were more special than usual because today was their very first day of their first library class. So I think they were extra impressionable. Here’s as best as I can remember what I said or tried to say to them, for better or for worse. 511ers, if there’s something that you think I should know about or would find useful, comment with a link. Read the rest of this entry →

I cannot stay in my seat while reading architect NIkki O’Loughlin’s Book-ish Territory, about extending and distributing the library throughout the city, allowing residents to shape the form that non-commercial exchange takes. Libraries could turn its members into authors and designers of the commons. It’s all so exciting and brilliant, not to mention beautifully laid out.

The Roundhouse Journal of Critical Theory and Practice, which is based in the UK, has a special edition dedicated to Re-imagining the University. What I like about the Roundhouse Journal is that they are not just interested in thinking about things, they are interested in actually doing things. They want to take these ideas and close the gap between theory and practice. This issue is being released in the midst of the large tuition battle in the UK, so hopefully some of these ideas won’t just get talked about, they will actually become tools in the fight.

I have an article in this issue called “What Does Recognition look like?” where I propose the creation of an alternative accreditation agency, one that would allow students to study in ways that still “count” without getting buried under decades of crushing debt.

I’m not sure if we will teach “Innovation in Public Libraries” again or not, but if we do one possible way of teaching it might be at the Art School in the Art School, for actual credit that would then be transferred to the iSchool. We would teach exactly the same thing (of course we would try to develop and improve the class). Why should such an education count at the iSchool but not count at the Art School in the Art School? What makes SU different than the AS in the AS? Just two things 1) SU exploits its students and teachers and the AS in the AS does not, and 2) SU is accredited in way that counts whereas right now there is no accrediting agency to ensure quality at schools like the AS in the AS. I want to change that. It’s time to break the monopoly that corporate universities have on the ability to notarize our brains.

The journal was just released and I haven’t gotten a chance to read the other articles yet, but it looks like there is a lot of great stuff in here.

Roundhouse Journal

This has been one of the main themes of our classes and Lauren Meg and I are all very excited that the project might actually happen. Please help us spread the word (tweet it, FaceSpace it, MyPlace it, blog it, etc.) I think this is a potentially revolutionary idea and it would be nice for librarians all over the country to see it and start to see the potential here.

Ryan Moffitt is the Chairman of the Pirate Party of Florida and just announced his candidacy for a seat in the state House of Representatives. From the announcement:

Let this become the beginning of a new day for the Pirate movement, the people of Florida, and the United States.

Let this be the beginning of the end of the monopolist copyright industry. Let this be the beginning of the end of back room deals and secret operations. Let this be the beginning of the end of warrantless wiretapping and censorship.

With your help, we can bring the state of Florida into the new digital age, in a free and open manner run by the people, and for the people. We can end the old ideals, and the old guard who believe communication and creation should stay in the domain of ivory towers, marble halls or glass office buildings. The future belongs to us, the people.