This past October, I put in a book proposal on the topic of ethical decision-making around privacy issues in digital collections. It has been accepted by Morgan and Claypool, and I am cranking to meet a May 1st deadline to get this into print by November.
It's exciting, but also nerve-wracking and perhaps a little terrifying for a few reasons. Ethics is head space that I very much enjoy- This work will include a nod to an essay from Martin Heidegger, which oddly enough I used a different Heidegger essay in my museum studies MA thesis on the ethics of art conservation. The philosophy aspect in ethics is probably the most enjoyable part for me, but it's also unbelievably murky waters. I spent many years rejecting absolutes in my early twenties, though at some point I have to put the pen to the paper and just write. (Funny sidenote- This digital girl still prefers the analog. I write primarily on my laptop and then print out draft and edit by hand. I also hate, hate, hate e-books... There is a joy after too much screen time to come home and read from a bound book. And wine helps.)
I have taken over our guest room at home, and I took this photo shortly before the Christmas break. I have since read many of these and returned them, but also added many more titles... My in-laws were in town this past week, necessitating a removal of my assorted research materials, and I believe my book pile is about the same height as one of our 20 month old twins.... The taller one...
I think part of the fear stems from knowing that I can't possibly read everything that I'd like to ideally read and ingest before writing- with many titles and articles giving more leads to more rabbit holes. I was fortunate in grad school to spend my thesis writing months happily unemployed- holing up in the tiniest rental room in the international rental flat on Kirtstall Lane in Leeds that I occupied with some wonderfully academically diverse roommates (physics, international law, political science and economics- I was the lonely humanities dreamer in the house). At the moment, my time to write is highly scheduled, which I hate but seems to be a necessary evil. I often have to chose between family time and research, which is an impossible decision. But, Winston's recent restlessness during the night has led to some unscheduled and often productive 3AM writing sessions.
I am excited about what I am putting together, but with the knowledge that some will not agree with my outlook- I think that's perhaps what is so fascinating about the topic of privacy and ethics in general. It's this all-encompassing term that is very difficult to define and set guidelines for practice, and ethics by nature are tough to pin down in absolutes. I also realized that the other part of the fascination is my own inner turmoil of the moral conflict between working to put content online, openly and freely, and my own desire off the clock to lead a selectively offline existence for myself and my young children. My boss and I wrote about The Right to Be Forgotten in regard to takedown requests in digital libraries (will be published next year in C&RL), and I thought in writing that article that I would finally decide which side of the fence I wanted to be on- The side that allows all information to be public and free, or the side that allows for deletion (and some have argued this deletion is forgiveness) of information. I did not decide, and I think it's the same pull of this conflict that I'm feeling now when talking about privacy and ethics. But perhaps this is the best place to be mentally to keep myself in check.
I may not write here until the book is done and I've taken a much-needed break from work at the end of it. On scheduled research days that I haven't felt like reading or writing about privacy, I've finished an article on the idea of archive as medium, and also collaborated with a colleague from Art Education on QR codes in museum exhibition. My husband and I also realized last week that it's been two years since our last vacation and I feel the potential burnout on the horizon between deadlines and regular workload of life and home.
It's exciting, but also nerve-wracking and perhaps a little terrifying for a few reasons. Ethics is head space that I very much enjoy- This work will include a nod to an essay from Martin Heidegger, which oddly enough I used a different Heidegger essay in my museum studies MA thesis on the ethics of art conservation. The philosophy aspect in ethics is probably the most enjoyable part for me, but it's also unbelievably murky waters. I spent many years rejecting absolutes in my early twenties, though at some point I have to put the pen to the paper and just write. (Funny sidenote- This digital girl still prefers the analog. I write primarily on my laptop and then print out draft and edit by hand. I also hate, hate, hate e-books... There is a joy after too much screen time to come home and read from a bound book. And wine helps.)
I have taken over our guest room at home, and I took this photo shortly before the Christmas break. I have since read many of these and returned them, but also added many more titles... My in-laws were in town this past week, necessitating a removal of my assorted research materials, and I believe my book pile is about the same height as one of our 20 month old twins.... The taller one...
I think part of the fear stems from knowing that I can't possibly read everything that I'd like to ideally read and ingest before writing- with many titles and articles giving more leads to more rabbit holes. I was fortunate in grad school to spend my thesis writing months happily unemployed- holing up in the tiniest rental room in the international rental flat on Kirtstall Lane in Leeds that I occupied with some wonderfully academically diverse roommates (physics, international law, political science and economics- I was the lonely humanities dreamer in the house). At the moment, my time to write is highly scheduled, which I hate but seems to be a necessary evil. I often have to chose between family time and research, which is an impossible decision. But, Winston's recent restlessness during the night has led to some unscheduled and often productive 3AM writing sessions.
I am excited about what I am putting together, but with the knowledge that some will not agree with my outlook- I think that's perhaps what is so fascinating about the topic of privacy and ethics in general. It's this all-encompassing term that is very difficult to define and set guidelines for practice, and ethics by nature are tough to pin down in absolutes. I also realized that the other part of the fascination is my own inner turmoil of the moral conflict between working to put content online, openly and freely, and my own desire off the clock to lead a selectively offline existence for myself and my young children. My boss and I wrote about The Right to Be Forgotten in regard to takedown requests in digital libraries (will be published next year in C&RL), and I thought in writing that article that I would finally decide which side of the fence I wanted to be on- The side that allows all information to be public and free, or the side that allows for deletion (and some have argued this deletion is forgiveness) of information. I did not decide, and I think it's the same pull of this conflict that I'm feeling now when talking about privacy and ethics. But perhaps this is the best place to be mentally to keep myself in check.
I may not write here until the book is done and I've taken a much-needed break from work at the end of it. On scheduled research days that I haven't felt like reading or writing about privacy, I've finished an article on the idea of archive as medium, and also collaborated with a colleague from Art Education on QR codes in museum exhibition. My husband and I also realized last week that it's been two years since our last vacation and I feel the potential burnout on the horizon between deadlines and regular workload of life and home.
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