JJ Drinkwater: October 2007 Archives
JJD_d202Neighborhood.ppt
A presentation given by your humble narrator at a conference of Aetheric Colleagues, the which is known colloquially as Internet Librarian, whereof more may be known here
gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
A presentation given by your humble narrator at a conference of Aetheric Colleagues, the which is known colloquially as Internet Librarian, whereof more may be known here
gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
Your humble narrator was interviewed, today, whilst giving a tour of the Whitehorn library in Caledon's capital, VictoriaCity.
My interlocutor here is a member of a Humanities Council, and posesses one of the best concise SL profiles I have ever seen. It reads, in full "Art, music, literature, history, non linear narrative, 2.0 goodness, open source; come join the conversation."
Does that not sing, in its simplicity?
Our conversation is posted here (with permission) in hopes it may be of interest to our readership. (Hello, Mother, the socks were lovely.)
gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
[14:33] JJ Drinkwater: Hi Annie! Ready for your tour?
[14:33] Annie Octavia: absolutely!
[14:33] JJ Drinkwater: Stand by for tp...
[14:34] JJ Drinkwater: Welcome, Madame!
[14:34] Annie Octavia: thank you very much
[14:35] JJ Drinkwater: So, shall I show you around, and answer questions as they come up?
[14:36] Annie Octavia: sure, how did you become involved with this whole huge and wonderful project?
[14:36] JJ Drinkwater: And...just making sure...you wanted a tour of the library, not a tour of Caledon, yes?
[14:36] Annie Octavia: yes
[14:36] Annie Octavia: thinking of a sense of place
[14:36] Annie Octavia: which the library seems to have a great deal of
[14:36] JJ Drinkwater: So, I got involved in the Caledon Library via the Second Liofe Library 2.0 -- Info Island
[14:37] JJ Drinkwater: I was volunteering for SLL2, and a Caledon Resident (CoyoteAngel DimSum) decided to donate land and rent and a building so Caledon could have a library
[14:38] JJ Drinkwater: This is our main Gallery on the first and second floors, by the way
[14:38] Annie Octavia: wonderful
[14:38] JJ Drinkwater: We have a new exhibit ever 2 months or so
[14:38] Annie Octavia: I have been to a couple of exhibits here
[14:38] Annie Octavia: are your curators a mix of Caledon community and others?
[14:38] JJ Drinkwater: The info about the current exhibit -- very Caledon focused, this one -- is behind you
[14:39] JJ Drinkwater: Yes. We have guest curators from the community, and the Caledon Librarioans also like to create exhibits
[14:39] JJ Drinkwater: The last exhibit here was about the Battle of Fredericksburg, created by Turing Weyland, a member of the library staff
[14:40] Annie Octavia: that was wonderful, very ambitious.
[14:40] JJ Drinkwater: This one was created by two residents, one a gallery owner, the other a RL academic
[14:40] Annie Octavia: did you have events planned around the exhibit?
[14:40] JJ Drinkwater: Sometimes
[14:41] JJ Drinkwater: We usually have an Exhibit Opening, which gives people a chance to come talk to the curators
[14:41] JJ Drinkwater: We had a Civil War Ball, for the Fredericksburg exhibit, too
[14:41] Annie Octavia: yes, i went to that as well
[14:41] Annie Octavia: the music was well chosen
[14:41] JJ Drinkwater: I'll pass that on to the DJ!
[14:42] JJ Drinkwater: And, we also do an exhibit every month for our Book of the Month. so that's an exhibt that's tied to an event: the monthly book discussion.
[14:42] Annie Octavia: can you tell me a little about the mix of participants at your events?
[14:42] JJ Drinkwater: Sure!
[14:42] Annie Octavia: are you noticing % of residents v. % of sl community
[14:43] JJ Drinkwater: It varies, of course, buit always more Caledon Residents at the events than those from elsewhere
[14:43] JJ Drinkwater: 60/40?
[14:43] Annie Octavia: did you/ do you help with the physical build here?
[14:43] JJ Drinkwater: Sometime more like 80/20
[14:44] JJ Drinkwater: I did. The builder (CoyoteAngel DimSum) and I put it up together, doing a lot of "tweaking" as we constructed it....
[14:44] JJ Drinkwater: ..and we talked about the design as she was creating it...for a month por more, as i recall
[14:44] JJ Drinkwater: The same is true of the Reading Room, across the street
[14:44] Annie Octavia: the nature of sl "buildings" can be so fleeting
[14:45] Annie Octavia: when you think of this place
[14:45] JJ Drinkwater: True enough
[14:45] Annie Octavia: does the physical layout affect you
[14:45] JJ Drinkwater: It does!
[14:45] Annie Octavia: could the physical layout be moved, would it still be the same place?
[14:45] JJ Drinkwater: Well, that's a good question!
[14:46] JJ Drinkwater: If we moved it to another spot in this sim, probably
[14:46] JJ Drinkwater: If we moved it elsewhere in Caledon? Maybe
[14:46] JJ Drinkwater: Or, rather, we should speak of *degrees* of "being the same place", shouldn't we?
[14:46] Annie Octavia: yes
[14:47] JJ Drinkwater: If I put this on Info Island.....it would bear a different message
[14:47] Annie Octavia: i think it is sometimes hard to think of sl as a place, or the internet as a place, do you find that it is a place for you?
[14:48] JJ Drinkwater: That was one of the things that I was most struck with,. abut SL, when I came and started experimenting with it
[14:48] JJ Drinkwater: To me, it feels like a place
[14:48] JJ Drinkwater: I don't think...I'm going to change what's on my screen, i think "I'm going home to Book End"
[14:49] JJ Drinkwater: So, we try to reflect that in our buildings...this one, and our reading Garden, and our Branches
[14:50] JJ Drinkwater: Care to come up and see the Collections floor and the Book of the Month display?
[14:50] Annie Octavia: yes please
[14:51] JJ Drinkwater: So, if I may point out 2 things?
[14:51] Annie Octavia: please
[14:52] JJ Drinkwater: If people choose to walk upstairs, the path takes them past a lot of exhibit space
[14:52] JJ Drinkwater: BUT, we also have tho big central well, so they can fly if they want
[14:52] JJ Drinkwater: Also, the roof is phantom...so people can just fly right in
[14:53] Annie Octavia: a nod to both the old and the new
[14:53] JJ Drinkwater: In a sim without an historical theme, I might do away with walls altoghether
[14:54] JJ Drinkwater: But, yes, here we've very assiduous about looking and feeling like the *Caledon* library
[14:54] Annie Octavia: your patrons would expect no less
[14:54] JJ Drinkwater beams
[14:54] JJ Drinkwater: We hope they have expectations that aren't too much higher than what we can provide
[14:54] Annie Octavia: what do you imagine for this place one year out? two years?
[14:55] JJ Drinkwater: One year out....we'll have a few more branches
[14:55] JJ Drinkwater: We have two more in the works now, and one in a planning stage
[14:55] JJ Drinkwater: (as well as the 2 extant branches)
[14:56] JJ Drinkwater: I'd also like to start putting some "Kiosks" in other 19th c sims, to give people as much of our content as we can....
[14:56] Annie Octavia: are there many historical themed sims?
[14:57] JJ Drinkwater: There are half a dozen 19th c Sims...and many more with other historical themes
[14:57] JJ Drinkwater: Renaissance Island, Paris 1900, Versailles...
[14:57] Annie Octavia: living history, participatory
[14:58] JJ Drinkwater: Some of them are living history...some are historical roleplay...some are "imaginative history"
[14:58] Annie Octavia: you seem to have achieved a very comfortable balance of scholar and amateur or enthusiast. how do you keep that?
[14:59] JJ Drinkwater: And, in a year, I hope to be able to give away our exhibits, as "insta-rez" or "holodeck" environments, because our exhibits are also information objects
[14:59] Annie Octavia: yes!
[14:59] Annie Octavia: lovely
[14:59] JJ Drinkwater: Hmm
[15:00] JJ Drinkwater: Well, my degrees are in Philosophy and Information ("Librarianship", if you like)...so I feel that qualifies me to be interested in nearly everything under the sun
[15:00] Annie Octavia: :)
[15:01] JJ Drinkwater: And, really, I don't know how to answer your question, as asked....can you put it another way?
[15:01] Annie Octavia: sometimes in bringing people into the experience
[15:01] Annie Octavia: it becomes a little less authentic
[15:01] Annie Octavia: and there is some tension between
[15:01] Annie Octavia: the scholar curator
[15:01] Annie Octavia: the authority
[15:01] Annie Octavia: and the participant
[15:02] Annie Octavia: the enthusiast
[15:02] Annie Octavia: It is often a delicate balance
[15:02] JJ Drinkwater: Ah!
[15:02] Annie Octavia: it is the debate of wiki
[15:02] Annie Octavia: or shared authority
[15:02] JJ Drinkwater: I've been reading Henry Jenkins, so that all strikes a chord...
[15:03] Annie Octavia: :)
[15:03] JJ Drinkwater: I try to run this as a professional library, in that we are careful to use the best sources we can put at our patrons' disposal (given budget constrains and so on, of course)
[15:03] JJ Drinkwater: BUT
[15:04] JJ Drinkwater: We aren't "the SL library of 19th century studies", we're the library of Caledon
[15:04] JJ Drinkwater: So, we tailor to our patrons
[15:05] JJ Drinkwater: And if a phenomenon is of cultural relevance in Caledon, its in our bailiwick
[15:05] JJ Drinkwater: Steampunk is a perfect example
[15:05] Annie Octavia: yes
[15:06] JJ Drinkwater: We cross a lot of disciplinary boundaries, in what we do....
[15:06] Annie Octavia: very rich in humanities content
[15:07] JJ Drinkwater: One of my favorite "think games" is to look at this as an interdiscipline, like food studies, or gender studies, you know?
[15:07] Annie Octavia: yes
[15:07] JJ Drinkwater: If there were a "Caledon Studies", from what disciplines would it draw?
[15:08] JJ Drinkwater: So, I get to be both an active participant in the world/game/narrative/research project that's Caledon
[15:09] JJ Drinkwater: ...and a professional librarian, trying to support my patrons' interests as best I can
[15:09] JJ Drinkwater: I think of it as a big expanded conversation, really
[15:09] Annie Octavia: yes, it is quite wonderful
[15:10] Annie Octavia: and has so many openings for many kinds of interaction
[15:10] Annie Octavia: Thank you for being so generous with your time and thoughts
[15:10] JJ Drinkwater: My pleasure!
[15:10] Annie Octavia: Part of the wonder of this library is the exquisite tending it receives from you!
[15:11] JJ Drinkwater blushes
[15:11] JJ Drinkwater: Well, it's a definite passion
[15:11] Annie Octavia: Thank you again, and I must run off to another meeting. Will see you soon, I am sure!
[15:12] JJ Drinkwater: Let me know if you have follow up questions...and thank you!
[15:12] JJ Drinkwater: Fare you well, Madame
[15:12] Annie Octavia: thank you~!!
My interlocutor here is a member of a Humanities Council, and posesses one of the best concise SL profiles I have ever seen. It reads, in full "Art, music, literature, history, non linear narrative, 2.0 goodness, open source; come join the conversation."
Does that not sing, in its simplicity?
Our conversation is posted here (with permission) in hopes it may be of interest to our readership. (Hello, Mother, the socks were lovely.)
gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
[14:33] JJ Drinkwater: Hi Annie! Ready for your tour?
[14:33] Annie Octavia: absolutely!
[14:33] JJ Drinkwater: Stand by for tp...
[14:34] JJ Drinkwater: Welcome, Madame!
[14:34] Annie Octavia: thank you very much
[14:35] JJ Drinkwater: So, shall I show you around, and answer questions as they come up?
[14:36] Annie Octavia: sure, how did you become involved with this whole huge and wonderful project?
[14:36] JJ Drinkwater: And...just making sure...you wanted a tour of the library, not a tour of Caledon, yes?
[14:36] Annie Octavia: yes
[14:36] Annie Octavia: thinking of a sense of place
[14:36] Annie Octavia: which the library seems to have a great deal of
[14:36] JJ Drinkwater: So, I got involved in the Caledon Library via the Second Liofe Library 2.0 -- Info Island
[14:37] JJ Drinkwater: I was volunteering for SLL2, and a Caledon Resident (CoyoteAngel DimSum) decided to donate land and rent and a building so Caledon could have a library
[14:38] JJ Drinkwater: This is our main Gallery on the first and second floors, by the way
[14:38] Annie Octavia: wonderful
[14:38] JJ Drinkwater: We have a new exhibit ever 2 months or so
[14:38] Annie Octavia: I have been to a couple of exhibits here
[14:38] Annie Octavia: are your curators a mix of Caledon community and others?
[14:38] JJ Drinkwater: The info about the current exhibit -- very Caledon focused, this one -- is behind you
[14:39] JJ Drinkwater: Yes. We have guest curators from the community, and the Caledon Librarioans also like to create exhibits
[14:39] JJ Drinkwater: The last exhibit here was about the Battle of Fredericksburg, created by Turing Weyland, a member of the library staff
[14:40] Annie Octavia: that was wonderful, very ambitious.
[14:40] JJ Drinkwater: This one was created by two residents, one a gallery owner, the other a RL academic
[14:40] Annie Octavia: did you have events planned around the exhibit?
[14:40] JJ Drinkwater: Sometimes
[14:41] JJ Drinkwater: We usually have an Exhibit Opening, which gives people a chance to come talk to the curators
[14:41] JJ Drinkwater: We had a Civil War Ball, for the Fredericksburg exhibit, too
[14:41] Annie Octavia: yes, i went to that as well
[14:41] Annie Octavia: the music was well chosen
[14:41] JJ Drinkwater: I'll pass that on to the DJ!
[14:42] JJ Drinkwater: And, we also do an exhibit every month for our Book of the Month. so that's an exhibt that's tied to an event: the monthly book discussion.
[14:42] Annie Octavia: can you tell me a little about the mix of participants at your events?
[14:42] JJ Drinkwater: Sure!
[14:42] Annie Octavia: are you noticing % of residents v. % of sl community
[14:43] JJ Drinkwater: It varies, of course, buit always more Caledon Residents at the events than those from elsewhere
[14:43] JJ Drinkwater: 60/40?
[14:43] Annie Octavia: did you/ do you help with the physical build here?
[14:43] JJ Drinkwater: Sometime more like 80/20
[14:44] JJ Drinkwater: I did. The builder (CoyoteAngel DimSum) and I put it up together, doing a lot of "tweaking" as we constructed it....
[14:44] JJ Drinkwater: ..and we talked about the design as she was creating it...for a month por more, as i recall
[14:44] JJ Drinkwater: The same is true of the Reading Room, across the street
[14:44] Annie Octavia: the nature of sl "buildings" can be so fleeting
[14:45] Annie Octavia: when you think of this place
[14:45] JJ Drinkwater: True enough
[14:45] Annie Octavia: does the physical layout affect you
[14:45] JJ Drinkwater: It does!
[14:45] Annie Octavia: could the physical layout be moved, would it still be the same place?
[14:45] JJ Drinkwater: Well, that's a good question!
[14:46] JJ Drinkwater: If we moved it to another spot in this sim, probably
[14:46] JJ Drinkwater: If we moved it elsewhere in Caledon? Maybe
[14:46] JJ Drinkwater: Or, rather, we should speak of *degrees* of "being the same place", shouldn't we?
[14:46] Annie Octavia: yes
[14:47] JJ Drinkwater: If I put this on Info Island.....it would bear a different message
[14:47] Annie Octavia: i think it is sometimes hard to think of sl as a place, or the internet as a place, do you find that it is a place for you?
[14:48] JJ Drinkwater: That was one of the things that I was most struck with,. abut SL, when I came and started experimenting with it
[14:48] JJ Drinkwater: To me, it feels like a place
[14:48] JJ Drinkwater: I don't think...I'm going to change what's on my screen, i think "I'm going home to Book End"
[14:49] JJ Drinkwater: So, we try to reflect that in our buildings...this one, and our reading Garden, and our Branches
[14:50] JJ Drinkwater: Care to come up and see the Collections floor and the Book of the Month display?
[14:50] Annie Octavia: yes please
[14:51] JJ Drinkwater: So, if I may point out 2 things?
[14:51] Annie Octavia: please
[14:52] JJ Drinkwater: If people choose to walk upstairs, the path takes them past a lot of exhibit space
[14:52] JJ Drinkwater: BUT, we also have tho big central well, so they can fly if they want
[14:52] JJ Drinkwater: Also, the roof is phantom...so people can just fly right in
[14:53] Annie Octavia: a nod to both the old and the new
[14:53] JJ Drinkwater: In a sim without an historical theme, I might do away with walls altoghether
[14:54] JJ Drinkwater: But, yes, here we've very assiduous about looking and feeling like the *Caledon* library
[14:54] Annie Octavia: your patrons would expect no less
[14:54] JJ Drinkwater beams
[14:54] JJ Drinkwater: We hope they have expectations that aren't too much higher than what we can provide
[14:54] Annie Octavia: what do you imagine for this place one year out? two years?
[14:55] JJ Drinkwater: One year out....we'll have a few more branches
[14:55] JJ Drinkwater: We have two more in the works now, and one in a planning stage
[14:55] JJ Drinkwater: (as well as the 2 extant branches)
[14:56] JJ Drinkwater: I'd also like to start putting some "Kiosks" in other 19th c sims, to give people as much of our content as we can....
[14:56] Annie Octavia: are there many historical themed sims?
[14:57] JJ Drinkwater: There are half a dozen 19th c Sims...and many more with other historical themes
[14:57] JJ Drinkwater: Renaissance Island, Paris 1900, Versailles...
[14:57] Annie Octavia: living history, participatory
[14:58] JJ Drinkwater: Some of them are living history...some are historical roleplay...some are "imaginative history"
[14:58] Annie Octavia: you seem to have achieved a very comfortable balance of scholar and amateur or enthusiast. how do you keep that?
[14:59] JJ Drinkwater: And, in a year, I hope to be able to give away our exhibits, as "insta-rez" or "holodeck" environments, because our exhibits are also information objects
[14:59] Annie Octavia: yes!
[14:59] Annie Octavia: lovely
[14:59] JJ Drinkwater: Hmm
[15:00] JJ Drinkwater: Well, my degrees are in Philosophy and Information ("Librarianship", if you like)...so I feel that qualifies me to be interested in nearly everything under the sun
[15:00] Annie Octavia: :)
[15:01] JJ Drinkwater: And, really, I don't know how to answer your question, as asked....can you put it another way?
[15:01] Annie Octavia: sometimes in bringing people into the experience
[15:01] Annie Octavia: it becomes a little less authentic
[15:01] Annie Octavia: and there is some tension between
[15:01] Annie Octavia: the scholar curator
[15:01] Annie Octavia: the authority
[15:01] Annie Octavia: and the participant
[15:02] Annie Octavia: the enthusiast
[15:02] Annie Octavia: It is often a delicate balance
[15:02] JJ Drinkwater: Ah!
[15:02] Annie Octavia: it is the debate of wiki
[15:02] Annie Octavia: or shared authority
[15:02] JJ Drinkwater: I've been reading Henry Jenkins, so that all strikes a chord...
[15:03] Annie Octavia: :)
[15:03] JJ Drinkwater: I try to run this as a professional library, in that we are careful to use the best sources we can put at our patrons' disposal (given budget constrains and so on, of course)
[15:03] JJ Drinkwater: BUT
[15:04] JJ Drinkwater: We aren't "the SL library of 19th century studies", we're the library of Caledon
[15:04] JJ Drinkwater: So, we tailor to our patrons
[15:05] JJ Drinkwater: And if a phenomenon is of cultural relevance in Caledon, its in our bailiwick
[15:05] JJ Drinkwater: Steampunk is a perfect example
[15:05] Annie Octavia: yes
[15:06] JJ Drinkwater: We cross a lot of disciplinary boundaries, in what we do....
[15:06] Annie Octavia: very rich in humanities content
[15:07] JJ Drinkwater: One of my favorite "think games" is to look at this as an interdiscipline, like food studies, or gender studies, you know?
[15:07] Annie Octavia: yes
[15:07] JJ Drinkwater: If there were a "Caledon Studies", from what disciplines would it draw?
[15:08] JJ Drinkwater: So, I get to be both an active participant in the world/game/narrative/research project that's Caledon
[15:09] JJ Drinkwater: ...and a professional librarian, trying to support my patrons' interests as best I can
[15:09] JJ Drinkwater: I think of it as a big expanded conversation, really
[15:09] Annie Octavia: yes, it is quite wonderful
[15:10] Annie Octavia: and has so many openings for many kinds of interaction
[15:10] Annie Octavia: Thank you for being so generous with your time and thoughts
[15:10] JJ Drinkwater: My pleasure!
[15:10] Annie Octavia: Part of the wonder of this library is the exquisite tending it receives from you!
[15:11] JJ Drinkwater blushes
[15:11] JJ Drinkwater: Well, it's a definite passion
[15:11] Annie Octavia: Thank you again, and I must run off to another meeting. Will see you soon, I am sure!
[15:12] JJ Drinkwater: Let me know if you have follow up questions...and thank you!
[15:12] JJ Drinkwater: Fare you well, Madame
[15:12] Annie Octavia: thank you~!!
Sunday last was the occasion (late and long looked for) of October's Book of the Month discussion, at the library. October's title was "Islands of Mystery".
This book comprises two works, the novel The Secret of the Island, by Jules Verne and the blog adventure Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island, by The Journeyers of Caledon.
The Secret of the Island is the third novel of The Mysterious Island trilogy, Verne's sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Castaways on an island in the South Pacific at the time of the American Civil War establish a colony, and undergo a thrilling, and closely described, series of privations and adventures. But a mysterious hand seems to be intervening in their fate....
In the collaborative adventure Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island, The Journeyers of Caledon chronicle a remarkable tale as it unfolds. A Mysterious Island arises off the coast of Caledon, a volcano the locals nickname "Phillip". As the volcanic activity and earthquakes threaten Caledon, an expedition is assembled by the Royal Society of Natural Sciences. The expedition consists of an unlikely mixture of scientists, adventurers, curious nobles, a stowaway neko, a winsome witch, and a dastardly noble set on taking the treasure of the island for his own. On their Heroic Mission, the journeyers encounter all manner of curious beings, giant killer bunnies, amorous penguins, insane tribesman wearing jetpacks made of battered discarded industrial parts and bamboo.... and each other!
Thus much we may take as read.
We were fortunate in having, amongst our discussants, Baron B_, whose fertile brain both initiated the Journeyers' adventure, and guided their explorations. His Lordship was kind enough to gratify the curiosity of the group, by answering a perfect barrage of questions about the inner workings of the project. The discussion treated largely of the manner in which divers voices may be orchestrated, in the telling of a tale, and of how the playing of roles may, or may not, yield a coherently shaped narrative.
There were also, as the afternoon wore along, a number of observations made concerning penguins, the which prompted your humble narrator to create a Caledon Library Edition of Mr. Anatole France's droll and sarirical novel, Penguin Island, a favorite of the grandmother of YHN's Physical Avatar, Boswell. The said edition is respectfully dedicated to Her Grace of L_ A_.
The question, which has occupied your humble narrator, is whether the said volume constitutes a book?
It has, for one of its parts, the text of the Verne's novel, the which is unchanging and behaves itself obligingly like the chapter of a book. But its other parts are the Aetheric Journals (more colloquially, the Blogs) of the divers Journeyers. These do not oblige by standing still. May a book have parts (chapters, constituent volumes, &c) the which shift and vary and accumulate? Or is it then some sort of periodical? Or some less well defined manner of integrating resource? But, wait….when the Journey is concluded, and the pointers to the sundry Journeyers' sundry blogs will no longer have aught to do with the adventure itself, but rather with its dramatis personae, then what?
Perhaps such a volume is some manner of compendium, and we are wise to leave it at that.
For those who wish to slake their curiosity on these matters, here is the contents of the volume in question...
The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/v/verne/jules/v52mi/
Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island, by The Journeyers of Caledon http://darklingmuse.wordpress.com/journey-to-20000-leagues-below-the- mysterious-island-all-chapter-links/
Journeyer Zealot Benmergui, Lord Bardhaven
Journeyer Lady Darkling Elytis Marchioness Speirling
Journeyer Dr. Oolon Sputnik
Journeyer Gabrielle Riel, Her Grace of Carntaigh
Journeyer Eva Bellambi, Her Grace of Loch Avie
Journeyer Lady Amber Palowakski
Journeyers Miss Fuschia Begonia and Professor Alfonso Avalance
Journeyer Miss Kiralette Kelley
Journeyer Mr. Gnarlihotep Abel
Journeyer Terry Lightfoot
And, for the reading pleasure of all
The Secret of the Island, by Jules Verne
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21489
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/v/verne/jules/v52mi/chapter43.html
Gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
This book comprises two works, the novel The Secret of the Island, by Jules Verne and the blog adventure Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island, by The Journeyers of Caledon.
The Secret of the Island is the third novel of The Mysterious Island trilogy, Verne's sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Castaways on an island in the South Pacific at the time of the American Civil War establish a colony, and undergo a thrilling, and closely described, series of privations and adventures. But a mysterious hand seems to be intervening in their fate....
In the collaborative adventure Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island, The Journeyers of Caledon chronicle a remarkable tale as it unfolds. A Mysterious Island arises off the coast of Caledon, a volcano the locals nickname "Phillip". As the volcanic activity and earthquakes threaten Caledon, an expedition is assembled by the Royal Society of Natural Sciences. The expedition consists of an unlikely mixture of scientists, adventurers, curious nobles, a stowaway neko, a winsome witch, and a dastardly noble set on taking the treasure of the island for his own. On their Heroic Mission, the journeyers encounter all manner of curious beings, giant killer bunnies, amorous penguins, insane tribesman wearing jetpacks made of battered discarded industrial parts and bamboo.... and each other!
Thus much we may take as read.
We were fortunate in having, amongst our discussants, Baron B_, whose fertile brain both initiated the Journeyers' adventure, and guided their explorations. His Lordship was kind enough to gratify the curiosity of the group, by answering a perfect barrage of questions about the inner workings of the project. The discussion treated largely of the manner in which divers voices may be orchestrated, in the telling of a tale, and of how the playing of roles may, or may not, yield a coherently shaped narrative.
There were also, as the afternoon wore along, a number of observations made concerning penguins, the which prompted your humble narrator to create a Caledon Library Edition of Mr. Anatole France's droll and sarirical novel, Penguin Island, a favorite of the grandmother of YHN's Physical Avatar, Boswell. The said edition is respectfully dedicated to Her Grace of L_ A_.
The question, which has occupied your humble narrator, is whether the said volume constitutes a book?
It has, for one of its parts, the text of the Verne's novel, the which is unchanging and behaves itself obligingly like the chapter of a book. But its other parts are the Aetheric Journals (more colloquially, the Blogs) of the divers Journeyers. These do not oblige by standing still. May a book have parts (chapters, constituent volumes, &c) the which shift and vary and accumulate? Or is it then some sort of periodical? Or some less well defined manner of integrating resource? But, wait….when the Journey is concluded, and the pointers to the sundry Journeyers' sundry blogs will no longer have aught to do with the adventure itself, but rather with its dramatis personae, then what?
Perhaps such a volume is some manner of compendium, and we are wise to leave it at that.
For those who wish to slake their curiosity on these matters, here is the contents of the volume in question...
The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/v/verne/jules/v52mi/
Journey to 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Mysterious Island, by The Journeyers of Caledon http://darklingmuse.wordpress.com/journey-to-20000-leagues-below-the- mysterious-island-all-chapter-links/
Journeyer Zealot Benmergui, Lord Bardhaven
Journeyer Lady Darkling Elytis Marchioness Speirling
Journeyer Dr. Oolon Sputnik
Journeyer Gabrielle Riel, Her Grace of Carntaigh
Journeyer Eva Bellambi, Her Grace of Loch Avie
Journeyer Lady Amber Palowakski
Journeyers Miss Fuschia Begonia and Professor Alfonso Avalance
Journeyer Miss Kiralette Kelley
Journeyer Mr. Gnarlihotep Abel
Journeyer Terry Lightfoot
And, for the reading pleasure of all
The Secret of the Island, by Jules Verne
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21489
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/v/verne/jules/v52mi/chapter43.html
Gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
This weekend saw the opening of a new exhibit at the Caledon Library's Main branch, the Jack and Elaine Whitehorn Memorial Library in VictoriaCity. The new exhibit, "How like an angel!": Depicting Male Beauty in Word and Image, is curated by Miss Autopilotpatty Poppy, of the Gallery Tamrannoch in Caledon Tamrannoch, and Mr. Jameson Despres, of Caledon Wellsian. Miss Poppy has supplied portraits of divers Caledon gentleman, drawn from her show The Exotic Men of Caledon (the which occasioned no little self-congratulation on the part of the portraits' subjects earlier this year) and Mr. Despres provides heartfelt and learned commentary. The exhibit invites us consider these images in the context of the traditions of appreciation of masculine pulchritude in the Western world. The Caledon Library is particularly pleased to be able to present this exhibit, inasmuch as many of the quotations and references draw on the perspective of the male lover of male beauty, a voice but little heard in the cultural and aesthetic discourse of our fair nation. The exhibit will run through November 29th of the present year.
gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
Greetings, gentlebeings. I hope I find you well?
I am in hopes that what shall follow, hereinafter, will be such musings on matters Librarical as I feel competent to treat of, for what public benefit such natterings and divagations may provide.
For those who have stumbled, by whatever accident or vagary of the aether, upon these pages, I pray you will permit me to introduce myself. Your humble narrator is JJ Drinkwater, a resident of the Caledon Highlands, whose great privilege is to direct the Caledon Library, an institution whereof you may find more here
I shall hope, some times, to be joined in these pages by the right honourable Scandaroon Beck, some time acting Director of the Library, and Executive Director of the Alexandrian Free Library, whereof The Caledon Library is a subordinate enterprise . I shall, however, leave my esteemed colleague to introduce herself, when she shall find leisure to make remark on such matters as she finds worthy of her attention.
Gentlebeings, your servant
JJ Drinkwater
Mr. Drinkwater