I’m going to post four posts this weekend (if time allows), describing four possible research/writing projects. I think I could do one of these (or one per year) while still doing my best with PLN, C&I, “disContent,” “Crawford at Large” (in ONLINE), and leaving enough spare time to enjoy life…
But I’m really up in the air as to which one.
For each one, I have an informal score matrix, not very well filled out. I’m hoping that your feedback and superior wisdom (the hive mind? riggghht…) will help me make decisions.
The matrix:
- Level of effort (although all are in the 100 to 500 hour range, I think)
- Value added (what I more-or-less uniquely bring to the project)
- Upfront risk (money needed to bring the project to fruition)
- Value to the field (how much it’s likely to be worth to the library field as a whole)
- Monetary returns (how much, in filthy lucre, I’m likely to earn from it–including indirect earnings, e.g. particularly interesting speeches)
- Personal returns (how much I’d enjoy doing it).
Obviously none of you can speak to that last…
Each post will provide more details on one possibility; feedback is invited as comments on any post, comments here, email back to me, FriendFeed comments…
Here’s the list, in alphabetic order for want of any better:
- Balanced Libraries, Second Edition (incorporating Library 2.0 & “Library 2.0”)
- Blogging for Libraries – A replacement for Public Library Blogs and Academic Library Blogs but done in a very different way.
- The Liblog Landscape Revisited – Some differences in approach, but largely an one- or two-year update.
- Library as short-run publisher – A workshop and book on no-cost print-on-demand publishing for public (and academic) libraries, for their own purposes and to aid patrons (e.g., genealogists and others).
The fifth choice, of course, is “None of the above”–treat semi-retirement more seriously.
Once I’ve written the other posts, I’ll loop back and add links to the four items above.Done.
In the interests of a silly but amusing experiment, I am obliged to note that this post has nothing whatsoever to do with Kindle 2, Amazon, text-to-speech, 23 things or Authors Guild. It also has no specific references to Kansas or Nebraska.
Can you tell about the silly but amusing experiment?
Sure. It has to do with Dave Pattern’s “HotStuff 2.0” and the “Hot or Not” list.
I’d noticed that some blogs are extremely volatile, my own included. Just for fun, I’ve been tracking it (but only once a day, and it seems to change more often than that). Since it’s based on how words in a blog’s most recent three posts compare to distinctive words being used a lot across liblogs in general…well, I wondered how easily it could be gamed. The words in that postscript seem likely to be used a lot. Or not.
All I know right now is that this morning I was at #506 (freezing) (after being #40 yesterday when I checked it)…and just now, I’m at #11 (hot). Of course, by the time I actually record it tomorrow noonish, I might be back to #500… Just a bit of fun.