It was inevitable.
According to SFGate.com, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger has become the new posterboy for library amnesty. He was already the unofficial posterboy after he asked his local library to waive overdue fines for the plane guided to safety in an emergency landing in January. A little known piece of trivia: Sully left not one, but four, books on the plane.
Other celebrities involved in the campaign include: Beth Lisick, W. Kamau Bell, Josh Kornbluth and Marga Gomez.
You can view the campaign here.
TheStreet.com has a great article about avoiding the pitfalls of social networking. Here are some of my favorite words of advice from the article:
1. “Keep anything you write on the Web professional. Someone wanting to do business with you doesn’t want to witness you using vulgar language or discrediting another person or business on an online forum. Once it’s out there, it’s hard to take it back.” (This should go without saying, given how many people have been fired based on blog posts, but it doesn’t hurt to remind people.)
2. “any pictures posted should be kept to those you’d feel comfortable sharing with your grandmother.” (Good rule of thumb, best way I’ve heard this stated)
3. “Log-in names should also be kept professional; don’t use names or terms that might hurt your image.” (Also, some sites like wikiHow have a username policy and you might be blocked for not following it.)
4. “Formal businesses, such as financial planners, should keep their content focused on business recommendations, financial advice, etc.” (I think this rule applies to libraries as well. While it’s nice to see the alphabet in books or the March of the Librarians video, I’d rather see a focus on content I can apply to my career or skill set.)
5. “There are so many forums out there, but we tend to become comfortable communicating with a particular individual or group of people. Even though you may think you know these people, remember, you really don’t know them. Be careful with the information you share.” (Honestly, I can’t believe the number of people who leave their phone number, email etc. on wikiHow discussion pages for the trolls and spammers to make use of.)
Many wiki fanatics remember the title of Brittanica’s press release in response to the Nature magazine study of Wikipedia v. Brittanica; it was titled “Fatally Flawed”. Personally, that title has never made sense to me. Were the authors of that study stipulating that the study was fatally flawed or that Wikipedia was fatally flawed. Maybe an encyclopedia error has killed someone (and that’s probably something I should research). But there is a far likely source of fatally flawed information: how-to manuals. In fact, when I was attending Wikimania 2007, I remember telling people if there ever was a wiki that could be fatally flawed, it’s not Wikipedia, it’s wikiHow. Yes, not the wiki I dabble in and make occasional edits, but the one I’ve worked on for three years.
But, it turns out that I underestimated the power of print how-to manuals, since, as WiseBread blogger Linsey Knerl points out, Taunton’s books, Wiring a House and Wiring Complete have been recalled.
There are how-tos about wiring a house on wikiHow as well. These articles have been the source of much debate, causing several people in the wikiHow community to consult with the engineers in their lives. Once, an article about wiring a house was up for deletion and may have been kept. Although I don’t remember the ultimate result, I remember that it was hard to achieve consensus. Given what’s happened with these two house wiring books, however, maybe future house wiring articles will get deleted.
Anything involving electrical wiring is dangerous territory for how-to manuals, since, if something is the slightest bit off, someone could get seriously injured or killed. So I applaud the Consumer Products Safety Commission for recalling the books. Yet, I still wish there was a way to figure out how to write electrical wiring instructions that don’t kill people. The more I think about it, however, given the risks involved, wiring a house is something that’s probably best left to the pros.