I feel very much like one of those poor people that Emily described tonight, thinking "didn't I used to have hobbies?" Though, truthfully, the problem is not so much that I don't have any hobbies, as it is that I don't feel like I have anything meaningful to contribute to the discussion.
Emily referred to knitting last night, and I knit, but I've never made anything that required more than a basic garter stitch. I made a pair of fingerless gloves with a picot edge once that absolutely astonished me as I was knitting it, because I really don't understand how reversing the direction of your knitting needle makes these patterns happen. Seriously, it might as well be magic. The only "contribution" I could really make would be to tell all beginning knitters "Novelty yarn is your friend. It hides all of your mistakes. The end." Wouldn't make for much of a website, right?
Above is a picture of my camera. Well, not my camera. This is a camera belonging to Pickersgill Reef on flickr. I love my camera and I bought it with every intention of learning the ins and outs of photography, but so far I'm still struggling with it, and my friends with cell phone cameras often take better pictures than I do. So I'm not really feeling like I can make a significant contribution there, unless perhaps a rant-y website wherein I expound on the difficulties of nighttime shooting might be helpful to others. Yeah, I didn't think so either.
I also sew, but only when I have a lot of free time, and that's another area where I feel like there are much better people and communities out there than this ex-4-Her whose only original design once inspired someone to say "You look like a pink dominatrix." (That wasn't really the look I was going for, if you couldn't tell by the tone of the last sentence.)
Plus, with this being my last class, I am really feeling the pressure to put together a site that might help me in my job search. One of the best projects I've done for a class was a resource guide on sustainable agriculture, and my immediate thoughts on this project were headed in that direction. Sustainable ag, architecture, libraries, energy... Once again, I'm facing this stumbling block of either having a lot of knowledge or being able to acquire a lot of knowledge, but not truly having experience of my own to share.
Is anyone else facing this problem? In addition to Emily's course requirement of being able to "contribute", I also just have this aversion to cluttering up the Internet.
Jill, I think that you actually have several good ideas. I have tons of hobbies, or I used to before I became a full time student with a full time job, that I was never very good at. Don't even get me started on trying to sew a zipper... I don't necessarily think that you need to do something well in order to have a page that contributes.
ReplyDeleteFor the knitting and the sewing you could create a site that offers the beginner's perspective. You could have a page discussing mistakes you've made and how they can either be avoided or fixed.
I don't mind cluttering up the internet so much as I mind being unhelpful. There is a really good feeling that finding the "just right" webpage gives - you need information on some esoteric topic, none of your friends know, you don't even know quite what to Google...but somehow you land on the perfect site that takes you through all of the information you need in a clear, comforting manner. I'm fairly savvy when it comes to coding, so I think I could probably create such a site for someone else's great idea (with the training this class will provide, of course). Coming up with content of my own is really troublesome, though. I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteI think sustainable agriculture sounds like a pretty interesting topic idea, though. I don't know where Professor Corse would draw the line regarding original content - do you have to actually photograph your own farm, or can you just pull together existing research in a novel manner?
An aversion to cluttering up the internet? Now we know you're going to be a great librarian! I agree with your instinct to use your sustainable agriculture project, and I don't think you would have any trouble making new original content when necessary: it's Spring! On my own list of 'to-do's' today is look into farm shares for the summer at Reading Terminal. I might not know what sustainable agriculture is exactly, but some thoughts that come to mind are the need for fresh produce and access to quality foods in all parts of the city.
ReplyDeleteDo community gardens play a part in sustainable agriculture? They're all starting to come alive right now (this very second!) - you could interview crunchy-types tending their vegetable patches at the corner of South and Broad (maybe make a map of community gardens), and get some more photo practice under your belt. Could be fun...
Sustainability in libraries is a great topic, I think. This is something that I hear a lot about just talking to librarians and archivists. It's on everyone's mind in terms of thinking of future goals, new buildings and protecting books/manuscripts. Drexel, of course, likes to think of itself as increasingly sustainable (this itself is worth several web pages/blogs of discussion) and I'm sure most librarians would be glad to talk to you about the subject if you choose it.
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