It all starts with a question: what's next?
My name's Peter, and this is Stacks and Facts.
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Y'all, I...
am finishing classes this Friday, and... ain't that somethin'.
I'm going to have a Masters in February because that's when conferral is,
But for all intents and purposes, come this Friday, I am done with school!
For.. like, ever! And that's a weird feeling. So this video is gonna be a little bit different because that's how I do.
This past month has been super busy, super exciting, so much has happened,
so I'm just gonna do a quick recap. Uh,
Around the end -- like, October 31st, I flew to Toronto and I was in Toronto for a few days
for this thing called OpenCon, which was awesome. Basically, it was this get-together of
me, and like 150 other people who are really into the idea that people deserve to have access
to research that they pay for. People deserve to have access to education if they want an education!
Money shouldn't be a barrier, neither should geography or anything else.
And we just spent like 3 or 4 days together thinking about solutions to that, and understanding
why that was a problem!
And that was so great! And then I came home a little bit after that,
for like a week or so, and then I flew to Huntsville, Alabama for this thing called ThinkerCon!
Which... was... ALSO AMAZING. If you haven't heard what ThinkerCon is, or weren't following me on Social Media,
ThinkerCon is -- or was, rather -- this first go-round of basically a bunch of folks from the Internet
who do things to get people to think.
Just spending time with each other, relaxing, doing some brainstorming,
and just generally feeding off of each other's energy. And it was... ALSO amazing.
And both of these things have gotten me thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life.
Especially with graduation coming up soon.
An update: I don't have a job yet, so that's fun!
This is where I casually plug that I have a Patreon and you might want to go give me some money on that
if you're feeling generous!
Um, however, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a creator, and what it means to be a librarian.
Potentially at the same time.
And I think there's space for someone who fits both of those roles.
When I think about what it means to be a librarian, when I think about what draws me to the profession --
I think about how it serves--it lets me fill this role as an in-between. Between a community,
and the information that that community needs to succeed.
And I think that there's a role for that--for someone like that-- for online creators,
for internet creators, especially folks who make educational content! You know, since that's my jam.
Um, and so, since I've gotten back from ThinkerCon, I've been thinking a lot about the troubles that internet creators have.
In terms of having access to information, and the effects that has on their life!
Like, the measurable effects of not being able to afford healthcare, or not being able to earn a living wage,
or being expected to work for more -- or rather, for less -- that what you're worth!
And maybe it's optimistic of me; maybe it's idealistic of me, but I think...
That I can do something to make that work.
So I've been doing some prototyping, and some concept sketches, which -- Rick, if you ever watch this video,
you'll be very happy to know that I'm using lots of stuff from LIBR555 and 556 -- um,
I think there's something I can do... to facilitate access to this information.
I've already started doing some information-gathering; I've put together some surveys to get the feels
of how internet creators are feeling around things like compensation, and around how things like
how their work affects their health.
Because this information doesn't exist! I mean, there's been a little bit of journalism on the mental health side
over the past year or so, but like...
not really research, and y'know, I think it's important to study the things you love! So. I've started doing that.
Being realistic, I've also started keeping an eye out for other jobs that are up my alley,
I would really like to stay at UBC; I really don't want to give access up to research and things like that.
And also other jobs in the field-- err, in the area, in Vancouver.
So we'll see how that goes. Ummm...
But yeah! It's an exciting time to be me. Hopefully I'm going to have some more information
in about two weeks; um, also, I will make another educational -- like, explicitly educational video for y'all, uh, this...
Not next week, because next week is Project for Awesome and I would like to make a video for Project for Awesome,
but the week after that!
So stay tuned! Um...
And... Yeah! I guess that's it. Real short video this time.
As always, thanks for watching,
And until next time, don't forget to ask questions.
Oh, and happy holidays! Christmas tree.
Alright, bye y'all.
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