25 – Starting again
Hello!
You may have forgotten about Marginalia. After issue 24, I had a rethink. One of my many personality flaws is a tendency towards snark and too-clever-by-half criticism. I try to suppress or redirect these energies, but when it came to Marginalia, I was failing. Indeed, this was part of the reason I stopped using Twitter, and that decision was partially what led to the newsletter in the first place: as a way to share articles and web tools I found interesting, outside of a Big Social account. So I paused it for a while.
I still think the original idea, however, was sound. So this is a Marginalia reboot. This time around, the intention is to make it a little more like Eleanor Colla’s Little Library(ish) Links – so not as much actual marginalia, but I will generally indicate why I think it’s worth sharing. Happy reading!
Why Three Perspectives? A human centred design approach to supporting digital dexterity: People, Design and Systems Thinking
The University of Wollongong Library geniuses have a really interesting approach to professional development, and a well resourced commitment to design thinking and user-centred design (led by the indomitable Kristy Newton). Here they explain what’s behind it and how it works.
Growing Open Educational Practice with OER grants
Another one from the Digital Dexterity blog, Angie Williamson writes about a trial of writing grants to incentivise academics to publish Open Educational Resources. This is a really important issue because academic incentives are weighted almost exclusively in favour of publishing in “highly ranked” journals, meaning academics are effectively punished for spending time creating high quality teaching materials.
You are not a patron. So act like it.
Mean Laura pointing out the obvious, but frequently forgotten or denied, point that addressing user needs requires listening to actual users.
The power of microinteractions: a guide for galleries, libraries, archives and museums
Artefacto with a really fantastic article about the magic that happens when you sweat the small stuff and focus on making key service moments joyful.
Same Old
In Real Life, Sun-Ha Hong writes about the static conservatism of so much science fiction when it comes to social relations.
Marginalia is an email and web newsletter about things that made me think over the last month – articles, books, podcasts, and perhaps from time to time some videos. It comes out on the first Monday of every month. You can subscribe by following @share@marginalia.hugh.run on any ActivityPub platform (e.g. Mastodon) or via email using the form below.
You might also enjoy my weekly newsletter Libraries & Learning Links of the Week, or my irregular blog Information Flaneur.