Aedile Works

Grinding the Gears: Academic Librarians and Civic Responsibility

Mita — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:51:43 +0000

With Lisa Sloniowski and Patti Ryan of York University, spoke at the The 2013 LACUNY Institute: Libraries, Information, and the Right to the City on April 5, 2013, at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York.

Grinding the Gears: Academic Librarians and Civic Responsibility
Corporate encroachments are transforming universities into edu-factories which are designed to produce servants of the state rather than engaged citizens. Academic librarians have a duty to resist the machineries of the institution. This panel will survey the revolutionary potential inherent in the open source movement, feminist porn collections, and critical information literacy.

Full paper will be published in a special issue of Urban Library Journal.

Hackforge TechTalk

Mita — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:08:11 +0000

On March 7th, I gave a short tech talk at an informal Hackforge event dedicated to library technology.

My talk was entitled Libraries Everywhere and the slides can be found here.

Board member, Hackforge

Mita — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:33:53 +0000

Founding member of the Hackforge non-profit board dedicated to establishing a “hackerspace” in the City of Windsor.

I’m also a member of Hackforge and a beginnering “maker”.

Mozilla Kitchen Party

Mita — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:31:53 +0000

On June 25th, 2012, I hosted an “Learn Something” Kitchen Party at the Williams Cafe in the University of Windsor’s Leddy Library. This informal event was part of the 2012 Mozilla Summer Code Party.

The goal: help millions of people move from using the web to making the web. As part of Mozilla’s non-profit mission, we want to help the world increase their understanding of the web, take greater control of their online lives, and create a more web literate planet.

Title and Statement of Responsibility

Mita — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:46:05 +0000

In June of 2012, I self-published a text called Title and Statement of Responsibility as a means to explore the technology of on-demand printing while critiquing the experience of the printed digital.

I presented this work and the stories and reasons behind it in a presentation to code4lib north 2012. The slides and the paraphrased text of this presentation are available in this post entitled “A book for every librarian” on New Jack Librarian.

library as interface

Mita — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:07:47 +0000

As part of the Leddy Library Research Series, I presented a talk entitled “Library as interface to public space and public self” on April 13th, 2012 at the Leddy Library.

“Events held within libraries animate the space of the library and situates it as a place not just where knowledge is accessed but where it can be created, understood, and shared. Community events held within libraries embody the notion that libraries are a continual community-building exercise. Librarians are positioned as perfect hosts of events as we have access to cheap, accessible, and open public space and we are mandated to serve all sectors of our communities. Libraries, by their very nature, are a gathering of people and ideas mixed together.”

Text and slides can be found at New Jack Librarian.

code4lib north 2012

Mita — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:39:19 +0000

Our organizational team hosted code4lib North at the University of Windsor, May 24 and 25th, 2012. code4lib is a volunteer-driven collective of hackers, designers, architects, curators, catalogers, artists and instigators from around the world, who largely work for and with libraries, archives and museums on technology “stuff.”

At the event, I have two presentations:”Title and Statement of Responsibility“and “My god! It’s filled with ~~stars~~ lists!“

Olde Walkerville Residents Association

Mita — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:16:58 +0000

Founding member and (now former) Treasurer of the Olde Walkerville Residents Association. The purposes of the Olde Walkerville Residents Association are to promote, support, facilitate, coordinate, or undertake activities that will enhance the well-being and character of the Olde Walkerville community, including but not limited to:

providing a forum for dialogue on neighbourhood matters;
maintaining the character of Olde Walkerville based on its unique history;
preserve and/or enhance culturally and historically significant buildings, architecture and spaces, green space, parks, and trails within the community;
enhance the livability and quality of the Olde Walkerville neighbourhood;
fostering a tight-knit community.

member of Drupal.org

Mita — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:59:48 +0000

Since 2011, I have been an individual member of Drupal.org and have committed to give back to the Drupal open source community by way of adding documentation and support

TEDxLibrariansTO

Mita — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:41:40 +0000

In Toronto on June 25, 2011 approximately 100 gathered for a Saturday to participate in TEDx LibrariansTO is Librarians as Thought Leaders. I was one of seven speakers and my talk was entitled “Organizing is what librarians do” and the text of my talk can be found on my blog New Jack Librarian.