Introduction

This blog is mostly professional, but may have some personal notes in it as well, as it effects my professional activities.

Its namesake stems from my PhD research into regional identities in the late eighteenth century in what is now southern Bavaria. For more on this readers are referred to my recent piece in the Journal of Historical Geography.

I'm a reference librarian at the University of Manitoba, and while I continue to have an active interest in Historical Geography of Rupertsland, I spend most of my working days, as a Reference Librarian; over the last decade I've been a Librarian at a large Toronto-based law firm, a united way social service agency, a government lobby group, and an academic library.

You may occasionally encounter other entries in here related to issues I feel passionate about, be it in the Library world, the environment, or Historical Geography.

More on Recycling batteries

turns out local future shop recycles regular household batteries, but it took a lot of work finding that out in the store. I had to ask three different people if that box at the front of the store was only for cell phone batteries or regular batteries like these ones here (had to show them). Shame on them and all others for missed PR stunt. Should be mandatory. Those things are lethal.

Metis history conference

I recently returned from giving a paper at a National Metis History conference in Ottawa.
I think it was reasonably well received, well enough that I ought to consider writing for publication. The general topic has been related to questions that have vexed me more or less since I completed my thesis, perhaps even before, and that is whether medieaval concepts of Jus sanguinis and Jus Soli, have any application in understanding early (read pre-napoleonic) Metis identity, and what if anything can we learn from documenting in Metis society the transition from an aspatial to a spatial world.

It seems that similar ideas are being voiced in some of the recent legal cases, cf. especially R. v. Goodon.

Other interesting highlights were a few papers about the RFC, something that was very new to me, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for that literature. I'm also looking forward to the translation of von Graffenried's TAGEBUCH, due out very soon. In addition to some very interesting papers by senior scholars, some new talent to look out for are Chris Andersen from U of A, and perhaps xxx, who spoke of the legal singularity of the Council of Assiniboia. This deserves further examination for some thoughts I've had regarding the CJA

Battery Recycling

I can't believe in the year 2009, I still can't find anywhere that will recycle regular (read highly toxic) household batteries. I remember as a small child back in the dark ages of the 3rd or maybe 4th modern eco-movement, most stores in Europe had a box where you could deposit batteries.
A few years ago, as an agent of the people of Ontario, I contacted their Ministry of the Environment with this question, and they very helpfully informed me that they send their batteries to a reprocessing plant in New York State (bet they were happy), but that us lowly civilians...well, no real answer there. I later found out there was one bin in city hall in Toronto. To their credit I believe they had two bins at the bottom of the grand staircase for the whole population of the GTA. At least IKEA came to the rescue, as it turned out they had a programme, and they didn't really care where you purchased them. Course doesn't help me in Winnipeg, and I'm not exactly hailing Winnipeg / Ikea at this point as environmental leaders. Shame on the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg, seems like a no-brainer.

Have Wikis Run Out of Steam?

The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog
Education-technology news from around the Web


Have Wikis Run Out of Steam?
By Brock Read

Just a few years ago, it seemed nearly everyone, in academe and out, was hailing the wiki as the next great transformative technology — or, at the very least, a tool worth getting a bit excited about. Fast forward to 2009, though, and much of the enthusiastic talk has died down.

So says Renay San Miguel in an article for Linux Insider, and he’s got something of a point. Wikipedia aside, there really aren’t many heavily hyped wiki projects, and social-networking tools like Facebook and Twitter seem to have stolen the spotlight. So Mr. San Miguel wants to know: “Have wikis lost their mojo?”

It’s worth noting that plenty of wiki-friendly concepts and innovations have been absorbed into other formats, as anyone who’s participated in group editing via Google Docs can attest. But there are other reasons that wikis never took the world by storm, according to some analysts. “I always thought they were the nerdiest of the social tools,” says one social-media guru, “and the one that requires the most established … oversight.”

On most college campuses, though, nerdiness is hardly in short supply. So here’s a question: Are wikis finding a place at colleges even if the business world has lost interest? Are professors still talking about what they can do with wikis, or have they moved on to social networks and other Web 2.0 tools? —Brock Read

Wikis

I've found wiki's useful in the past, but I'm frustrated by one that I've been toying with, because it won't let me edit. It has an edit tab, I've selected it, but then I get a nearly blank screen, and nothing I do allows me to even type anything.

Meebo

I've been exploring various 'chat' options. Been trying to keep track of pros and cons of the currently installed system called MEEBO. This is very much a work in progress.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Instant	Can't track
No sign up required	Can't identify
	Must be on line
	No stats available

You're of course invited to check out the instant messaging feature I've installed on this page.