#transformative thinking

Regular course related posts for DEPD 1230 ‘Transformative Thinking’

This last week was Vancouver Design Week. On Thursday I went to the VDW edition of PechaKucha. It was a great line up centred on design and as such there were some really intriguing designers, architects, and creatives. Some of the more interesting points were around having fun and how real experiences inspire design.

I also really enjoyed a talk by Isabelle Swiderski of Seven25 about designers addressing our changing urban culture. From what I wrote down, her blueprint of sustainable operations prioretizing People, Planet, and Profit gave interesting insight into the potential future. The idea of designers, entrepreneurs and philanthropists of all sorts working to create desirable jobs with values that benefit the objective group as well as driven employees you would be galvanizing.

On Friday we made our first class excursion to a Creative Mornings talk by local artist Reese Terris. The topic of process was explored through anecdotes and examples of his artistic expressions of critical observations. The idea that doing equals learning was a great reminder of the potential that each day presents. He also talked about the idea of presenting materials as themselves, and letting the piece inform itself and its own development. This made me think about the context surrounding things, and how much truth belongs to the object itself, how much to its surroundings? 

After the talk we all met up at a coffee shop and sat around discussing our fruit project proposals (see previous 1230 post) where some really great conversations took place. Here we see how beneficial the discussion of ideas is in the design process. The level of development from everyones ideas varied; from vague leads based on the produce type, well formed pictures of the end product, or just the slightest inkling of an interesting concept. Regardless of what we each brought everyone left with; a clearer sense of direction, and a lot more to think about.

I've started reading Brian Mathews' white paper, "Think Like a Startup," and I'm only on page 3, but I'm already blown away.

"Let's not pigeonhole ourselves into finite roles, such as print collections, computer labs, or information literacy.  These self-imposed limitations will only ensure our vulnerability and gradual decline.  We can abide by the dictionary definition of "library."  We can stay basically the same and only make small changes" p.1

PAGE ONE! Okay, okay. You must be thinking something along the lines of, "Sherry, finish the white paper. Don't stop reading! Keep going! There's so much more to it."

Alright, so you may not be thinking exactly that, but c'mon. I had to stop.  I had to process this these three pages of information.  He's changing it up, people.  He's voicing what should have been voiced 5 years ago, 10 years ago! 

When I was in grad school, we were influenced to choose particular tracks...you know'em...public, special, academic, school librarianship, etc.  Mathews is right!  Why are we limiting ourselves so much?  In my last year of grad school, I had the option of choosing to complete my thesis or internship experience.  I chose the latter because I am way too much of an academic, and needed the hands-on learning.  Luckily, I received two offers, both from community college libraries, but one entirely focused on information literacy instruction.  Though, that is primarily my focus within my current position, as a grad student, it freaked me out to pigeonhole myself. I chose the broader, general internship role offered at the other site.  There, I dabbled a bit in website design, online instruction formatting, classroom instruction, collection development, etc.  And, I couldn't have benefited more from this decision.

However, Mathews is making a much larger point here.  He is talking about library innovation beyond the current discussions we have become so used to seeing in our daily Twitter feeds, Facebook timelines, roundtable discussions, etc.  He's talking about revolutionizing librarianship as a whole. 

Yes, you know this.  He blatantly says it (again) on page 1: "We need to reinvent not just what we do, but how we think about it."

YES!  Thank You!  Let's transform, please.  Let's think bigger.  Let's think smarter.  Work smart, not hard, right? 

Okay, okay...I'm going to finish this white paper.