Filmmaker and friend Carlos Pedraza surprised me this morning with a flattering spotlight on the Haiti Digital Bibliography:

Many, many thanks to Carlos for the support, the help, and for spreading the word. The HDB has been an odd and, at times, spastic endeavor thus far, but it has been interesting to note the different (and sometimes not) angles at which writers and analysts have gone about addressing the Haiti earthquake(s). From the headlines alone, you can see the vital role modern technology has played in the course of events.

To contribute a link to this ever-evolving list of digital sources about the Haiti earthquake and its aftermath, please drop an URL to haitilinks @ gmail . com. To donate to relief efforts in Haiti, take your pick.

Check out Carlos’s ongoing film projects at Blue Seraph Productions and his cultural analyses and coast-to-coast adventures on The Cosmic Sitcom.

Banner by Carlos Pedraza used with permission. Aerial photo of downtown Port au Prince, Haiti. Source: United Nations Development Program on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.

I’m no doctor. I’m not a reporter. I give what I can. I organize stuff.

I threw together a blog the other day. It’s just a (semi-chronological) jumble of headlines right now, but with it I’m compiling links to build a bibliography of digital resources about the Haiti earthquake and its aftermath. Quoting myself,

In an effort to preserve a small slice of what happened and how the world responded in the days after the tragic earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, I’ve set up this site to compile a bibliography of digital resources about the event and its aftermath. Though a comprehensive list of all digital materials on the web would be impossible, I hope this currently random jumble of headlines can be organized into a bibliography that might later prove helpful to those who seek documentation and understanding of what happened in these frantic few days.

It’s not food or water or medical supplies. It’s just what I’ve got.

If you’d like to add some links or help write some citations, send me an email at my usual address or at haitilinks @ gmail . com. The task is big, but it’s not hard. And maybe it might prove helpful to someone some day.

My husband did a great job.

From Cracking the GRE, a test-prep manual by Doug Pierce:

You will also see a fourth, unidentified, experimental section on the GRE. This section will either be Math or Verbal and will look exactly like the real Math or Verbal section . . ., but it won’t count toward your score. ETS [the company that administers the test] uses the experimental section to test GRE questions for use on future exams. This means that part of your test fee pays for the privilege of serving as a research subject for ETS.

On a related note, I’ll be hunkered down for the next few weeks working on grad school-, job-, and writing-related activities. To catch my quotidian bitchings about said activities (and the occasional soup recipe), follow me on Twitter.

Be well, everyone, and happy new year.

Inspired by his holiday #cnftweet on Twitter, @spitballarmy and I are making a list of typical (and atypical) gifts identifiable through their wrapping.

Check out the booty as it grows under the tree over at Fred’s blog. And come add your own!

Have a safe, happy, scary-clownless holiday season, everyone.

Despite my excessive comment at the bottom of the page, this article is an interesting exploration of music fandom and the conflicts inherent to classification and group identity:

“The Language of Tribes: True Fans and Outsiders”
by Kyle Bylin

The difference of opinion, or lack thereof, that occurs between members of the same tribe, is what characterizes what type of fan they are, how passionate they are about the music, and the depth of involvement they have.  In Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin argues that, “Tribes are about faith – about belief in an idea and in a community.”  He believes that “they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well.”  But, do members of the same tribe actually respect each other wholeheartedly?  Or, are there ways in which certain members become discriminated against?  In the domain of music, there are hierarchies of “true fans” and lesser, or “casual fans.”  Through speaking in the language of their tribe, members clarify who belongs and who’s an outsider.

I don’t agree with every point in the article, but I think Bylin does a good job presenting a topic that, as I said in the comments, is touched upon often in passing but rarely explored formally as a whole.

You can’t explore a fan phenomenon like the flag without meditating on fandom itself, and while I find the meta-ness of it pretty wanky at times, there’s no escaping the insider/outsider aspects of group identification and self-identification with a group. “Tribe” is the most recent buzzword, but whether you call it a tribe, a fandom, a clan, a brotherhood, a community, a congregation, a culture, the implications are the same: even despite absence of intent or action, the flip-side of inclusion of some is exclusion of others. An Us doesn’t always have a Them, but its very existence creates a Not-Us.

Over-thinking? Maybe. It’s an uncomfortable idea to explore, especially when the reason for grouping together with others is a positive one. But consider: have you ever felt like your choices or experiences had been challenged by simply hearing about someone else’s? Say, that you learned someone is or isn’t a vegetarian? That he or she voted for a different candidate? Does or doesn’t believe in aliens? Prefers John or Paul or Ringo or George? Kirk or Spock?

Have you ever ended a story with ”You had to be there”?

Many thanks to Nicole Pellegrini for the link.

Lengthy for online reading, but worth the eyestrain:

“The Book Mechanic: A modern sensibility binds Terry Belanger to old, rare volumes”
by Andrew Witmer

Some years ago, Terry Belanger found a striking way to reveal the reverence that many citizens of the digital age continue to feel for old books. . . . [He] brings an old volume to class, speaks about its binding and typography, and then, still discussing the book, rips it in half and tears it into pieces. As his horrified students watch in disbelief, Belanger tosses the shards into a nearby trash can and murmurs, “Bibliography isn’t for sissies.”

. . .

Eschewing the false opposition between technology and the book, Belanger has brilliantly made the rapid development of new digital technologies one of his leading arguments for the preservation of rare books. . . . He believes that books do certain things well and digital technologies do other things well. The two should coexist without trying to eliminate each other.

I want that job.

Photo: Ian Britton

I smell horses. Do you smell horses?

“At The Dallas News, a New “Bold Strategy”: Section Editors Reporting to Sales Managers”
by Robert Wilonsky

“Dallas Morning News’ Reorganizes to Bring Sales, Editorial Closer”
by Mark Fitzgerald

Twittersphere consensus: apocalypse.*

* * *

ETA (though I can’t say it’s an improvement):
“News Editor Bob Mong: New Business-Editorial Arrangement Won’t ‘Cross Line’”
by Robert Wilonsky

Believe me, our journalists aren’t shy. If they think this thing isn’t working right, they’ll be the first to tell you. I talked to a lot of people yesterday, and, yes, there’s uneasiness in some areas, . . . but we’re not backing down from this.

Now that’s integrity.

* The bitly/info page shows only the most recent tweets (those from earlier in the day are no longer visible), but the overwhelming sense of dismay seems to hold no matter what time you check in.

E&P and bit.ly/info links thanks to Editor Mark.

A pleasant surprise at the checkout counter the other day:

Many thanks to Moeskido’s eagle eyes.

Please note: some time in the next three days, this site will move to a new hosting service.

If all goes well, you won’t even notice.

If all goes unwell, there may be blood.

Place your bets!

ETA: 11/10: Yep, something got screwed up. Working on it. Expect a lot of wonky changes for a bit.

Got it!

Jeesh.

Thank you for your patience.