My brain is happy

Ha, you may think the summer is for slacking off and chilling. For me it's a time to think and write (okay, and recreate some). This summer I'm working on a chapter for a big book project that's being funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning will have six books in it. My chapter is for the volume that will be titled Credibility and Digital Media. Other volumes in the series cover a spread of really interesting topics, from Identity and Digital Media to The Ecology of Gaming. Last week I got to go to Santa Barbara to meet with the other authors of my volume so we could share our ideas and work on a cohesive approach to the book.

Why, you ask, write books about digital media? Why meet face-to-face and not online? First, books are still the most enduring medium we've got. I've got a box full of unreadable 5 1/2 1/4 inch floppy disks as evidence. MacArthur wants to create something that will last. Second, by meeting face-to-face we kick-start working relationships that are much more likely to flourish online. High tech is well-served by high touch.

And speaking of face-to-face, tomorrow I leave for New Orleans where I will join 20,000 (!) other librarians for the American Library Association Annual Conference. It's the first big conference to be held in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina and it's my understanding that the city has worked very hard to welcome us.