Technology Access Grows for Some, Not All, Minneapolitans

Do you want to apply for retirement benefits?  Check your bank balance?  Talk back to the TV?  Look for a job?  Help your kid with her homework?  Keep up with the news?

Better be able to afford and, more important, know how to use technology – not just an old-fashioned computer but a range of technology tools including smartphones, the expanding social media options, email, Internet and whatever comes next.

Again this year, the City of Minneapolis set forth to survey the state of community technology.  Some 3211 residents responded to the survey.  The report is out (online, of course) and a series of community meetings is in process.

The biggest change since the 2012 survey is the expansion of mobile access.  Internet enabled mobile phones is higher in 2013, even among those households less likely to own a computer.  An interesting note is the fact that, of adults over the age of 45, women were much more likely than men to have cellphones with the ability to access the Internet.

A telling fact is that, while 90% of white households have computers, only 65% of Black/African American respondents have Internet access at home. Among the respondents with children in their household who reported their race on the survey, whites are far more likely to have access at home (95%) compared to people of color (73%).

The survey results are reported in geographic terms.  Importance was ranked lowest among residents in Camden and Phillips and respondents who had lived in Minneapolis for fewer than six years were more likely to view having a computer and Internet access in their home as essential.

The full survey report includes much more information about access, attitudes and geographic distribution of technology.  Maps depicting neighborhood access patterns are available here.

Future meetings about the survey are set for Tuesday, May 21, 5:30-7:00 p.m., DevJam Studios; Thursday, June 13, a morning session 7:30-9:00 a.m. at Eastside Food Coop, 2551 Central Avenue NE, and Wednesday, June 19, 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Sabathani Community Center, 310 East 38^th Street.

Late Night Library Supports a Vital, Creative, Independent Community of the Book

Hotspots of creative energy are a wondrous discovery.   In recent times I’ve been learning more about a hotspot of literary activity burning emanating from Portland, Oregon.  It exudes a spirit that once ignited Minnesota’s community of the book.  It’s great to know that the energy of Late Night Library breathes into the digital reaches of Minnesota where one can hope the sparks will rekindle this state’s commitment to emerging talent, independents and a thriving book community.

Late Night Library is the enigmatic name of a whirlwind of ideas and programming devoted to the celebration and nurturing of “debut” literature.  It’s risky to try to describe the constellation of initiatives operating under the aegis of LNL; an initiative may ignite at any moment.

My own observation is that many talented writers are so focused on their writing that they fall prey to the “if you build it they will come” myth.  Paul Martone, a Portland writer and entrepreneur, observed the sad phenomenon and set about to do something.  Beginning with a podcast series of discussions of debut fiction and poetry Martone and his colleague poet Erin Hoover launched Late Night Library just two years ago.  In the early days LNL focused on their local community of the book, in Portland and Brooklyn respectively.

Two years into the enterprise the constellation includes “Late Night Debut,” a renamed version of LNL, “Late Night Conversations,” interviews and discussion about literary and publishing issues) a Portland-based reading series entitled “In and Out of Town”, a literary award called the “Debut-litzer,” a takeoff on the Pulitzer, and “One for the Books,” a campaign to support independent publishers and bookstores.  Most recently LNL celebrated their two-year anniversary by sponsoring a poster contest exploring the theme “Read Like You Mean It.”

There are Minnesota connections to LNL.  For example, Hans Weyandt, co-owner of Micawber’s Books and editor of Read This!: Handpicked Favorites from America’s Indie Bookstores was interviewed about the “One for the Books” pledge.  The show describes the multiple facets of the campaign:

–      published authors who pledge to link to independent retailers or IndieBound rather than retailers engaged in “predatory pricing;”

–      independent publishers who do not feature links to corporate retailers who predatory price on their official website;

–      Bricks-and-Mortar pledges by which independently-owned bookstores support independent publishers by offering multiple independent titles on their bookshelves and providing a pick-up or delivery service for community-based readers.

More on the interview at http://latenightlibrary.org/hans-Weyandt.  A forthcoming interview on Late Night Debut (May 31) will feature Rachel Maddow’s agent Amy Leach’s debut collection of essays, Things That Are, published by Milkweed Editions in July 2012.

Martone sums up the state of the writing/publishing/bookselling scene in this way:  “I’m concerned that book culture has moved to the fringe over the last 10 years. I think writers need to support other writers, and I want to help get good books into the hands of people who are interested in reading them.”  In other words, this is a task too overwhelming for anything less than a network of players and projects.

The podcasts, “Late Night Conversation” and “Late Night Debut”, remain the anchors of the operation. They’re free, available on iTunes, Stitcher and the LNL website.

Debut writers are invited to send two review copies of their published book to Late Night Library, 7503 Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, OR 97206.  Find more about the podcasts, the “One for the Books” pledge, a copy of the charming “Read Like You Mean It” winning poster, details on where to find the podcasts online and what’s happening every week at LNL on their lively website.  http://latenightlibrary.org

 

 

 

James Patterson Ad Defends Books, Bookstores & Libraries

Shared by  Shelf Awareness, April 22, 2013

James Patterson: ‘Who Will Save Our Books, Bookstores, Libraries?’

On the back cover of yesterday’s New York Times Book Review, author James Patterson took out a striking full-page ad that reads in part, “The Federal Government has stepped in to save banks, and the automobile industry, but where are they on the important subject of books? Or, if the answer is state and local government, where are they? Is any state doing anything? Why are there no impassioned editorials in influential newspapers or magazines? Who will save our books? Our libraries? Our bookstores?”

He also listed 38 titles ranging from All the President’s Men and To Kill a Mockingbird to A Fan’s Notes and Maus, saying, “If there are no bookstores, no libraries, no serious publishers with passionate, dedicated, idealistic editors, what will happen to our literature? Who will discover and mentor new writers? Who will publish our important books? What will happen if there are no more books like these?”

 

If the Joy is in the Prize, Writers Have Options

Be it jewel or toy, not the prize gives the joy, but the striving to win the prize.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton’s words of wisdom offer sage counsel to the legions of Minnesota literary giants left in the shadows at the recent Minnesota Book Awards “gala.”  Still, in the likely event that is a misguided hopeful for whom writing is about winning, options abound.

Though a comprehensive review of nontraditional literary awards would be great a fun but futile pursuit, a few strike the fancy and give a sense of the possibilities.  Clearly there is no reason why every one of us should not be strutting our literary stuff sporting a laurel wreath.

** The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest award is arguably the best known of the “other” book awards (http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/  honoring the worst possible first sentence of the worst of all possible novels.  The award was the “brainchild (or Rosemary’s baby)” of Professor Scott Rice who was presumably inspired by the immortal opening line “It was a dark and stormy night.”

The website explanation of the enigmatic name is this:    Sentenced to write a seminar paper on a minor Victorian novelist, he chose the man with the funny hyphenated name, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who was best known for perpetrating The Last Days of Pompeii, Eugene Aram, Rienzi, The Caxtons, The Coming Race, and – not least – Paul Clifford, whose famous opener has been plagiarized repeatedly by the cartoon beagle Snoopy.  No less impressively, Lytton coined phrases that have become common parlance in our language: “the pen is mightier than the sword,” “the great unwashed,” and “the almighty dollar.”

Winner of the 2012 BLFC, Cathy Bryant of Manchester, England, wowed the judges with her entry:  “As he told her that he loved her she gazed into his eyes, wondering, as she noted the infestation of eyelash mites, the tiny deodicids burrowing into his follicles to eat the greasy sebum therein, each female laying up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, causing inflammation, whether the eyes are truly the windows of the soul; and, if so, his soul needed regrouting.”  The BLFC honors similar bon mots in categories ranging from the Grand Panjandrum’s Special Award to Children’s Literature, Fantasy, Purple Prose and others.

Since its inception in 1982 the BLFC has been sponsored by the English Department at San Jose State University.  Sponsors magnanimously share winning sentences, runners up and dishonorable mentions on their delightful website.

** Then there’s the Lyttle Lytton Contest hosted by Adam Cadre, an American writer best known for his work in interactive fiction.  (http://adamcadre.ac)  What sets the Lyttle-Lytton apart from its predecessor is the brevity requirement of first sentences.  As of 2012 the submission limit was 200 characters.

** The award for this year’s Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year goes to Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop – a “practical” guide to how to “clear your home and garden of goblins and banish them forever.”  Author, Reginald Bakeley’s manual of fairy-proof tips garnered the public vote to win the hearts of voters over competitors How Tea Cosies Changed the World and How to Sharpen Pencils.

Previous weirdly titled tomes include Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, Highlights in the History of Concrete, Bombproof Your Horse and Cooking with Poo.  The first recipient of the Diagram Award went to Proceedings of the Second International Workshop of Nude Mice in 1978.

The Award is sponsored by the Diagram Group, an information and graphics company based in London, and The Bookseller, a British trade magazine for the publishing industry.  A book about the prize,  How to Avoid Huge Ships and Other Implausibly Titled Books, was published in 2008 by Aurum Press.

In truth, the intent of the award is serious.  Philip Stone, administrator of the Diagram Award, observes that, on the one hand, a weird title can catch the reader’s eye or frame of reference.  “Books such as A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time all owe a sizeable part of their huge successes to their odd monikers.”  Further, Stone says, “the fact that writers still passionately write such works and their publishers are still willing to invest in them is a marvelous thing that deserves to be celebrated.

* * For the past twenty years the Literary Review has sponsored its annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award to the writer who produces the worst description of a sex scene in a novel.  The award was originally established by Rhoda Koenig, a literary critic, and Auberon Waugh, then the magazine’s editor.

The official rationale for the Award is “to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it.  Recent awardees include Jonathan Littell, The Kindly Ones (2009), Rowan Somerville, The Shape of Her (2010), David Guterson, Ed King, (2011), and Infrared, by Nancy Huston (2012) The late John Updike won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 ceremony, after his novel The Widows of Eastwick garnered him a fourth consecutive nomination.

** The Shorty Awards fill an inevitable niche.  The Shorty goes to the year’s best producers of short (fewer than 140 characters) weird content on Twitter.  Entries may be submitted in 26 official categories, one of which is “author” (http://shortyawards.com/category/author)  The fifth annual Shorty Awards event was held April 8 – for the faithful, it’s streamed (http://new.livestream.com/shortyawardslive/ShortyAwards2013)

The list goes on….Award Options Overload set in at the Weird-ass Picture Book Awards, conferred on the producers of books whose “strangeness reaches new heights of art and storytelling.”   I began to ask myself essential questions about mission, sponsorship, finances, criteria, process, benefits and more….

For aspiring writers the moral is clear;  as Edward George Bulwer-Lytton himself might have written:    If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Visualizing Neighborhoods: A Hackathon for Good – May 25

For some Minneapolitans the forthcoming Neighborhoods, USA conference, scheduled to meet in the Mill City May 22-25 offers a grand opportunity to parade the city’s robust mix of healthy neighborhoods, lakes, parks, commercial areas, shopping opportunities and more.   For others, the harmonic convergence of NUSA with the Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial North America (FOSS4G) makes a unique opportunity to heard on the complementary energies of attendees who just happen to be in Minneapolis at the same time.

The response:  Visualizing Neighborhoods: a Hackathon for Good, sponsored by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) and Open Twin Cities.  It’s a day-long event designed to gather neighborhood leaders, technologists, data visualizers, designers, artists, scientists, civil servants, and others interested in resources and techniques for using data to create vital neighborhoods. Focus is on data for research, analysis, mapping, outreach, engagement and communication.

The day-long (9:00-5:30) event is at the Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall.  Registration required – no registration fee.  Lunch will be available for registered attendees.

To register or to keep abreast of information and ideas as they develop, click on the event site:  http://visualizingneighborhoods.eventbrite.com.  The roster of attendees is lengthy, but planners advise those who may be interested to keep checking.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Digital Public Library of America!

As we wrap up National Library Week it’s important to herald the major announcement  of a significant resource, the Digital Public Library of America (http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/04/launching-the-digital-public-library-of-america/#.UXFmyZiIdH8.mailto).  Though the DPLA clearly is not the first major digital library resource, planners are firm in their assertion that it is inherently unique:  “What distinguishes the Digital Public Library of America from these other efforts, however, is its aim to serve not as a database or portal or digital repository, but as a large-scale digital public library to preserve U.S. history and enhance the knowledge of the collective U.S. for current and future generations.”

Much was written about the new entry on the digital library scene; for some reason I particularly enjoyed a couple of reviews that I had time to peruse:

-       John Darndon offers a comprehensive history of the DPLA in a recent article in the New York Review of Books (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/apr/25/national-digital-public-library-launched/?pagination=false)

-       Pandodaily offers a slightly different take on the news (http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/19/the-digital-public-library-of-america-a-big-moment-for-open-access-or-too-big-for-its-own-good/)  There are countless others.

-       The NPR blog offers yet another view:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/18/177727014/book-news-vast-digital-public-library-of-america-launches

It is sad to note that the launch of the DPLA was totally eclipsed by the Boston Marathon catastrophe and the ensuing trauma that engulfed the city where the launch event was held.

Recalling that we started the week with the dread tax day, it seems right to note that this is a portal to libraries that are supported by and for the public.  Though the DPLA project did receive foundation support, most public depend on public support.   We are inclined to speak glibly of “free” libraries, the treasures of our public libraries are not free.  Since the birth of this nation we have recognized that libraries are and must remain a public good charged to assure that all American citizens have ready access to the tools essential to an informed electorate who are the deciders in a democracy.  The DPLA is just a handy tool that makes some of those resources more accessible to more people who would be free.

If you are among the many homebound and looking for hope as we struggle through the last blast of Winter of 2013, you may find escape, even hope, by checking out the beta version of the DPLA.  Consider that it will be Spring when you resurface – seriously.

Crafters give new life to discarded library cards!

Residents of Northeast Minneapolis are extraordinarily proud that the American Craft Council has chosen to establish its permanent home in the neighborhood, at the old Grainbelt Brewery at 1224 Marshall.  This week Northeast shares the treasure with the nation and beyond as the ACC hosts its major Midwest show featuring more than 200 of the country’s finest contemporary jewelry, clothing, furniture and home decor artists.  The Show is April 19-21 at St. Paul River Center

As it happens this is also National Library Week which is why I found great delight in exploring an armchair experience that blends crafts and libraries in wonderfully inventive ways.  The ACC’s Library Card Project left me smiling and in awe of the creativity of the crafters – suffice to say I got lost in learning about what creative minds and hands can do with a discarded library card.  The photos are great and the profiles of the crafters are equally enchanting.

Patricia Johnson is credited with having had the vision of the Library Card Project.  She is a paper crafter and community organizer in Carol Stream, Illinois.  Her idea was to “let new crafters know to step out of their comfort zone and try something on a different scale.”

Crafters did unleash their imaginations.  For example, Patti Millington of Kurtistown, HI, created a piece she calls Archive in which “the cards arranged are on a viewing device which, when rotated to align with a certain card, allow a person to look through the eye piece to see an image from the corresponding book across the gallery.  The book images are situated on a timeline encircling the gallery that indicates the era of the craft represented in the book described on the library card.”  Millington says that “the catalog cards with their Dewey Decimal numbers and handwritten notations spoke of our collective efforts to preserve the information and objects that mark our existence.  The information and dates on the cards were a perfect fit for an idea I’ve had for a piece recording fleeting human impressions on the history of time.”  Millington captures the essence of the project.

The only way to appreciate the Library Card Project is to spend time absorbing the visual images and reading the words of the crafters.  You’ll learn about the expanse of their creative imaginations – and find a beautiful new life for discarded library catalog cards.  Click on http://www.craftcouncil.org/tags/library-card-project.

You’ll also be inspired to drop in at the American Craft Council show in downtown St. Paul this weekend.  For complete information on hours, exhibitors and more go to http://shows.craftcouncil.org/stpaul.