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Lofty listserv



I don't speak for others, but I never expect ANY internet forum to be
"lofty."  The internet is like a verbal free-for-all in a bar, except in a
bar, you can buy beer!  Some will join the conversation who aren't as
educated and brilliant as we are (or think we are). This reminds me of
certain archival literature in recent years that decried the threat posed to
"pure" archives by us shifty corporate guys...we're all in the same
profession, faults and all. Perceived faults versus actual ones are your
call.

Is *anything* pure any more?  Can anything on the internet be lofty? Does
the listserv *actually* indicate some kind of decline of knowledge within
the profession? Are the "delete" keys on keyboards no longer working?

Who knows?

Feeling pensive on a Friday,

Bill Jackson
Senior Archivist
Harley-Davidson Motor Company Archives
Milwaukee, WI



-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Moser [mailto:dennism@LIBRARY.TMC.EDU]
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 3:55 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Re: final thoughts on the New Yorker


Richard Cox wrote:
>
> I too have enjoyed the NEW YORKER thread of discussion on this list, but
> it has reminded me as well of this list's limitations and the profession's
> ignoring of its own knowledge base.
{{SNIP}}
> Of all the lists I am on, it is this
> one that consistently ignores its own literature.
>
--

And so, at last, the AOL-ization of the Archives listserv...The listserv
is dead, long live the listserv.

The recent discussions of The Patriot and the Baker article have been
nagging me like a bit of something or other caught in one's teeth with
no immediate access to floss. Then, Richard Cox nailed it.

I was a very early member of this listserv (and several others relating
to vaguely-related topics) all through Library School. When I took a 4
year detour away from Archives, I would occasionally check in via the
archives of the list as to who was discussing what. Upon returning to
the fold, I resubscribed. My, how things had changed upon reading this
day after day.

The list has undergone a strange process that I have seen occur
elsewhere on other lists that started out as something lofty, only to
succumb to the weight of gaining users who really hadn't a clue as to
the subject matter being discussed. But their owning a computer and
modem and having an interest granted them the inalienable right to hold
forth with self-proclaimed expertise about your-topic-here. The
signal-to-noise ratio has altered radically in favor of noise. I refer
to this as the AOL-ization Process...anyone with a dial-up can join in
fray.

It saddens me to see this, but I guess it is inevitable, given the
onslaught of the computer marketeers. There are still those who will
make the brilliant contributions (you know who you are, even if you're
too modest to admit it) and for that I will be grateful. We will still
see the eternal discussion by the acolytes with the masters over the
arcana of which kind of boxes to be using or how do you do this or that
in your collection. That's cool, we need to be reminded of these things.
It's also great to see the discussions of how to utilize new
technologies as they are being implemented in our institutions and those
over whose collections we have stewardship. And there will continue to
be discussions that show how institutional policies evolve (the recent
email/listserv policy discussion comes to mind). Old dogs do learn new
tricks.

But we also need to be reminded of the underpinnings of our
endeavors...for better or for worse, we ARE the "Keepers of the Flame"
(however you wish to interpret that) and we damned sure need to be
cognizant that there are those who do not understand why we make the
decisions that we do and do the things we do...and some of them read
this list.

I'd like to think that some of the old voices are silent simply because
they are busy doing their jobs. I just wish they would speak a little
more often. Geeze, where are the Philip Alexanders when we need someone
to rattle the cages? At least there used to be a modicum of intellectual
rigor. We have a living example of the victors changing the historical
record and all we can talk about is why they didn't show the cannons
recoiling in the latest pseudo-historical epic from Hollywood. And even
that degenerated into a lovefest of historcial fetishism.

I think Richard has been too kind in his remarks about the Baker
discussion. It is not only the lack of awareness of the writing of those
like Tanselle and the rare book scholars but of serious issues of
preservation and conservation. Only a brief comment was made on the
"science" of the article...I found it appalling that there seemed to be
lack of understanding of the impact that the tremendous environmental
variability between the collections being anecdotally cited as
proofs...proofs of what? Collection A's environment is not the same as
Collection B's or Collection C's, and without providing
numbers/measurements, it's all conjecture and anecdote. Which is what is
so discouraging about these discussions.

I don't mean to be a wet blanket on a Friday afternoon, but Richard's
comments suddenly made the tumblers go "click." It's definitely time to
call it a week, get on the motorcycle, and go play in the traffic and
the humidity. Gotta love that Dubya Shrub, we got more ozone than
anybody else, uh-huh!

Dennis Moser, MILS, Web Librarian / dennism@library.tmc.edu
John P. McGovern Historical Collections & Research Center
HAM-TMC Library / 1133 M. D. Anderson Blvd, Houston, TX 77030-2809
"That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the
time."
"On Liberty," 1869, John Stuart Mill

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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>