First off I need to put it out there that I work in the Holland Terrell libraries on campus. This book is a little too meta for me, especially when I read it while at work... studying about library duties in the library while working for the library....
Anyhoo, Everything is Miscellaneous is a book that focuses on the way we order and perceive information. Weinberger begins this adventure into information cataloging in the logical place: a Staples. The prologue talks about how a particular Staples (this one being a mock store for analysis purposes)focuses on how people move and observe items in front of them as well as actually counting steps and length in store. All this is done to demonstrate how people look for items to purchase and how we use directions. This is a great start to the book because it focuses on an everyday occurrence the reader might have experience with. The prologue ends on the idea of our movement away from physical restrictions in cataloging and onto the freedom of the web.
Chapter 1 and two focus on the history and rules that Weinberger plays to.Chapter 1 looks at everything that has to do with order. How we order things in our lives. He also brings up his three rules of order: 1) We order things ourselves 2)We have used physical means of ordering our information i.e. a card catalog 3)We are shedding the limitations of atoms and moving towards digital information. In chapter 2 we learn about the apparent atrocity that is alphabetization and how it limits our search functions as well as what a nut that Dewey decimal guy was. I actually enjoyed the bits on the classification of Pluto, really showed that not everything is certain and that a lot plays towards the petty politics of scientists.
Something I spend keeping organized in my life is my Netflix account. This sounds a little weird but I love movies and am really into how Netflix is able to recommend me movies based on my past ratings. I keep these ratings rather organized, i.e. I really ask myself if it is a 3 star or 4 star movie for me lol. It seems to work well, my nitpicky...ness, because I have been really enjoying the films that have been recommended to me.
yes yes yes to keeping netflix organized. That is one of the more organized and efficient aspects of my digital life. I have found that this is the first website/account that I have gone out of my way to interact with. Usually I do the bare minimum with my facebook, and email personalization, however netflix has proved the opposite for me, maybe it is because I am paying for the service... but maybe I just like my movies.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about organizing Netflix. I tend to organize the things that are more in the physical world than the digital. Out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. It is interesting to see that you organize your movies so that you can get better recommendations.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people dislike Dewey and his organization system, especially when having to run around in a library looking for seemingly random numbers, but it's something I've always enjoyed, like a treasure hunt, you're given a number and you have to go out and find the item that fits that "description" perfectly.
ReplyDeleteLike Emily, Netflix is the first site I've ever truly interacted with; usually, when a site asks me to rate items I only rate the things I really, really liked or truly disliked. When I go around Netflix, I have to reflect on just how much I enjoyed such and such movie, it makes me appreciate the movies I watch and put on my queue a bit more.
I like the use of the word 'shred' in the context of the third order of orders. Shredding doesnt destroy data, it simply cuts it up into smaller bits and pieces and really, thats what is happening. We put the card catalog in a copy machine a bajillion times then dump it all in a shredder and pick up the pieces.
ReplyDeleteThe whole Netflix organization is interesting to me. Do you feel that you get enough control? I mean, 3 or 4 stars seems fairly large a difference. Also, what if a movie comes along that is WAY better than everything else? Hopefully Netflix will let you expand on your passion without limiting your third ordering of orders.
I didn't realize you worked in the library (although on retrospect I do now think I've seen you there). I'm interested in what you think the librarians you know there would think of Weinberger's claims? Overall this is a good post w/ nice summaries. You could've done a bit more to point to some of the "pay attention to" items I noted in the schedule (thinking here particularly of the orders of order).
ReplyDeleteI've rarely met people with such a level of prudence with their netflix ratings. Does that carry over to your DVD collection by chance? Do you organize it by the best ones and seriously consider each one's importance relative to other ones? Do you feel that a person's movie evaluations describe their worldview to a degree?
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know you could organize Netfli on that level, but i am interested in going more in depth on it myself.
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