On Monday, April 8th, Jason Griffey presented at Computers in Libraries on open source hardware (slides will be available on his website soon). He is perhaps best known for his work on the Library Box, a portable device used for content distribution. I have previously written about the Library Box on Infospace. So why is → Read More
Matthew Gunby
- Matthew Gunby
- mcgunby@syr.edu
- Website
- Profile
- I am a second year student at the ISchool, working towards my Masters in Library and Information Science. I am specifically focusing on public libraries, but also the interface of the academic community with the broader community. I have a keen interest in understanding how libraries use spaces, both physical and digital, and how this interaction can be curated to better serve the institution(s)'s mission. Finally, I am curious about motivation and how it can impact both users and current non-users. Some of the areas I have approached this in so far have been through game theory, alternate currencies, and the drivers of volunteer services and non-profits.
Posts by Matthew
Mutually Assured Instruction: Lessons Learned from Planning an Unconference
For the past six months I have had the pleasure of working with Sarah Bratt, Mia Breitkopf, and Stephanie Prato to create an Unconference which launched on February 26th. Mia has created a blog post about the event itself. What I am interested in reflecting upon is how as an organizer and participant, the Unconference → Read More
The Case for Good Instruction
Rank the overall effectiveness of your instructor on a scale of 1-5. It is one of the most prolific questions on a class evaluation sheet in modern academia, but was your opinion solicited in in-job training, in high school, in the military? The truth is that most modern jobs require training, but how often is → Read More
Changes to Facebook Privacy Settings: An Information Literacy Perspective
Facebook recently altered its privacy settings for users. Most notably, it removed the ability to hide your profile from a general search. There will still be settings to determine what information is visible to the public, friends of friends, and your friends, but now, theoretically, anyone can find you. The other changes are made with → Read More
The Future of Libraries: What We Learned at Gaylord Brothers
On Tuesday, December 4, a group of library and information science students went to Gaylord Brothers, a library supply company located in Syracuse, New York. The students had been invited for an informal conversation on the future of libraries. The session was led by Jill Hurst-Wahl, a member of the Board of Directors for → Read More
Startup Weekend: A Test in Perseverance
The weekend of December 2, 2012, I participated in Startup Weekend at the Syracuse Technology Garden. Let me provide a one-word summary of the entire proceedings: exhausting. Entrepreneurship, in my experience , is a boxing match. In this corner: the team of entrepreneurs and opposing them: anxiety, exhaustion, self-doubt, team friction, and an extremely → Read More
Public Speaking & Pitching: The Importance of Leaving Your Comfort Zone
With Entrepalooza coming up this Wednesday, November 28, it seems like an important time to consider the value of different forms of communicating information. The event gives participants sixty seconds to make a pitch, and the best pitcher that remains within this framework receives $500. Theoretically, this format is used because the pitch is often → Read More
The Library Box is Coming
Jason Griffey is a librarian, writer, blogger, technologist and speaker. He recently created a derivative of David Dart’s pirate box, known as the library box. While I do not intend to go in-depth into what the library box is, it is important to know some details: it is a mobile wireless router connected to a → Read More
The Convergence of International Librarianship and Open Access
Last week was Open Access Week, an international event organized by SPARC. A number of events were hosted through Bird Library at Syracuse University. Open access is a movement that seeks to expand the availability of scholarly work. Many journals and independent scholars have opted to make their work freely available in lieu of submitting it → Read More
Can Games Build Community?
Games often bring to mind a children’s activity that is, fundamentally, a diversion. Many believe that games distract from working to become a productive member of society. By the time we are eighteen (so the thinking goes), the games should all be put away into a closet, to occasionally be brought out for adult diversions → Read More