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Vlogging: Unprofessional Communications

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January 10th, 2010 | Category: Blogging, Video | Subscribe to comments | Both comments and pings are currently closed

26 Responses to “Vlogging: Unprofessional Communications”

1
D0r0th34:
January 11th, 2010 at 10:06 am
oh, I caught it and snickered
2
Joe:
January 11th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Hope you don’t mind — I posted a comment on the LJ site, letting the readers know about your great response…. http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6638444&articleid=CA6713128#456838
3
marthalib:
January 11th, 2010 at 10:08 am
I caught it.
4
Walt Crawford:
January 11th, 2010 at 10:14 am
I caught it too (at least that it was a Monty Python sketch), but also just snickered. When I wasn’t busy hating you for doing vblogs that I’m unwilling to ignore, that is.
5
Jàson Puçkett:
January 11th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Oh, totally caught the reference. I’m sitting here giggling quietly in my cube.
6
Laura H.:
January 11th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Bwahahaha!!!
7
David Rothman (☤):
January 11th, 2010 at 10:39 am
I made Laura H. Bwahahaha. [Beams]
8
Mark:
January 11th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Look, I came here for an argument!
9
walt crawford:
January 11th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Curse you, Rothman. I don’t do podcasts or vlogs–I’m a text person. And then you do stuff like this (and your 101 piece), and, well, I had to watch the whole thing. How dare you! And, worse, how dare you do them so well…
10
David Rothman:
January 11th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Mark- Thank you SO much for catching that reference to Monty Python’s Argument Clinic sketch. I was afraid nobody would!

Aw, thanks Walt!
11
Joe:
January 11th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Another comment on the article (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6713128.html) is from “Trohl”, coincidence?
12
Michelle:
January 11th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Oh David not only do you make excellent points but you made me laugh so hard I had Coke coming out of my nose.
13
David Rothman:
January 11th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Adding to my resume: “I made Michelle Kraft spew Coke from her nose.”
14
John Berry:
January 11th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Gotta admit, it cracked me up! Funny, cute, and I felt the pinch…. Two things: Some of my best friends are straw men. And BTW it was only about a third about you David… Still nice shot, well aimed.John B. Library Journal
15
Lauren Pressley:
January 11th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
I adore this for so many reasons. Thanks, for making this!
16
Blatantly Berry Bumbling « Agnostic, Maybe:
January 12th, 2010 at 3:58 am
[...] of reading John Berry III’s article entitled “Don’t Muzzle Librarians”. While watching David Rothman’s reaction vlog provided some levity for my irritation (a must watch for the purposes of this post), there are some [...]
17
Walt Crawford:
January 12th, 2010 at 8:46 am
I’m thoroughly impressed by Antonymous’ assertion–essentially saying that all negative reviews are objectionable, since I’ve rarely seen a negative book or movie or other review that isn’t, in effect or explicitly, saying “you’re better off not reading/viewing this.” This may carry the Happy Happy Joy Joy perspective (only positive comments allowed)–an extreme form of groupthink–to its logical extreme.
18
David Rothman (☤):
January 12th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Walt, if I could afford you, I’d hire you just to handle the comments on my blog.
19
Pete:
January 12th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Walt- will you be reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s book on the dangers of positive thinking?
20
Walt Crawford:
January 12th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Pete: Probably not–and I’m a great one for positive thinking, as long as it’s not to the exclusion of appropriate skepticism and attention to reality. From what I’ve read in reviews, I’d probably applaud much of what she’s saying. (If I do read it, given my book-reading patterns, it would be 10-15 years from now, probably.) Heck, my wife will tell you I’m unnaturally positive. But I’m also a skeptic, and willing to call a spade a bloody shovel at times.
21
Antonymous:
January 12th, 2010 at 11:01 am
This is essentially a ham hamming it up for an audience of friends and admirers. That’s fine, but as a professional I’d be more interested in your written thoughts about Berry’s piece, which I think is persuasive. Do you disagree with his points? The bashing of the Annoyed Librarian smacks of smug clubbiness and groupthink – it’s annoying, and not a credit to the profession. And of course it delights the Annoyed Librarian no end, but who cares? As for feeding the trolls or not, it’s interesting to ponder the ideas expressed at the link below, about how to rant about something without generating traffic to it. Not sure how seriously intended it is, but there’s something objectionable about urging people not to read something you don’t like, because you don’t think it deserves their readership. http://friendfeed.com/heidigoseek/dd0c5c08/nofollow-how-to-link-someone-or-something-you
22
David Rothman:
January 12th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Hi Anton.

I’ll cop to being a ham, but I’m pleased to note that more than just friends subscribe to this blog. I’m very glad John Berry III saw it- because I wanted him to.

What is it about Berry’s piece that you find persuasive?

There has been no AL “bashing” here. There has been reasoned, supported, fair criticism.

I can’t do anything about your perception of my view as a product of groupthink and clubbiness- but I urge you to ask anyone who knows me if I tend to engage in groupthink.

Since you say you find it annoying, I suggest that you do not read my blog, watch my videos, or link to anything I do. That’s what I urge people who dislike AL’s blog and LJ for publishing it- to not read it, encourage it, or support it.

As for your assertion that “…there’s something objectionable about urging people not to read something you don’t like”, I admit being a bit baffled.

After all, my advice to not read, link to, or reply in the comments of the AL’s blog was for people who dislike it.

Stormwatch, the white supremacist organization, has a Web site about Martin Luther King. I do not like it. I urge others to avoid reading it.

Roger Ebert is my favorite film critic. I don’t always agree with him, but if he says a particular film is pure excrement, it is pretty unlikely I’ll see it.

I agree with my friend Ryan, who said: “My issue was less that Annoyed Librarian was blogging anonymously but that LJ would actually support said blogging in the Library Journal. In my opinion this was a crass traffic grab and had nothing whatsoever to do with professional library anything.”
23
Mickey Schafer:
January 12th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Enjoyed the vlog, but am especially impressed by the customized search engines! I added the medical library engine to a class blog (it’s private to protect the students, at least at this point — what is the best way to cite you for it since that’s not part of the gadget info?:-).
24
David Rothman (☤):
January 12th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Mickey, you could add this link, if like: http://davidrothman.net/medical-library-search-engine/
25
Antonymous:
January 13th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Thank you for your response. I admit the statement about “urging” is baffling – my thought was poorly expressed (and perhaps poorly thought). But I do believe there’s a significant difference between “X is a terrible film, I urge you not to see it” and “AL argues that games do not belong in libraries (for example), I urge you not to read what he says.” You write “After all, my advice to not read, link to, or reply in the comments of the AL’s blog was for people who dislike it.” But why provide such advice? People who dislike AL surely don’t need it (and will hear it from the AL anyway) and providing it to people who are not familiar with the blog seems not only unnecessary but questionable. Implicit in such a position is that AL is comparable to Stormwatch – something one needn’t dignify with argument or debate, but can safely avoid and dislike. I don’t put AL and Stormwatch in the same category. As for what is persuasive about Berry, I must concede that on rereading I found him less so. I agree with him that anonymity is no big deal, and that the AL is not “unprofessional” (his posts generally target concerns of the profession, and take clear but debatable positions). But neither do I have a problem with the kind of gardening Berry chastises Hoare for, and advising “do not feed the trolls” is more about trying to marginalize than muzzle (and a comma before “librarians” would have made a better title). Berry’s opening statement about labeling ANY communication as “unprofessional” is obviously unsustainable, as you’ve clearly demonstrated, but I suspect he has created his own straw man – ie. not worthy of attack. Re the comment about Happy Happy Joy Joy – if my position was “positive comments only”, I would certainly never venture near the AL. And for the record, I find your blog excellent, worthwhile and thought-provoking – my annoyance is limited to that particular point we’ve been discussing:)
26
David Rothman:
January 13th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Again, Anton, I have to wonder if you actually watched either video. Let me repeat some points you’ve missed:

I often agree with things that the AL writes. Sometimes I don’t. That’s not the problem. The problem is tone and the fact that LJ chooses to publish an pseudonymous blogger who speaks in a way far uglier than would possibly happen if he/she/they/it had to sign a name to the posts- and that LJ did this not on any principle, but to gain clicks.

Go back to the first video: The people I advised to not give LJ clicks and not to leave comments on (or link to) AL’s blog ARE people who have a problem with her. My point to them was that if they don’t like AL, they should stop doing things that support/encourage AL (like leaving comments on her blog, linking to it).

The comparison of AL to the Stormwatch site is absolutely fair- it seems you missed the point of the analogy. Both are within their rights to express anything they like. Similarly, I am in my rights to advise others against reading it and to avoid it myself.

Thanks for the kind words about my blog.

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