Sarah Aspen I will say up front that this is not a how-to guide. This balance is essential to my well-being, but I’m not very good at it. Maybe in writing this I will find some insights I can use. Maybe you will too. If you have any suggestions, please get in touch. Self-care is about managing … Read more
Classifying people into different personality types is a favorite exercise among psychologists. Meyers-Briggs is a well-known model for this, though it’s scientific validity remains in question. The “Big Five” model of personality traits is currently considered the best supported system for this, as far as I’m aware. Assessments for this model are pretty frequently included … Read more
One of the primary tasks of librarians is the classification of materials. Classifying materials into logical groupings and orderings is essential in order to ensure individual items in a collection can be located and to allow for serendipitous discovery of related works via browsing. All classification systems to some extent encode the reality of the … Read more
I am autistic. This affects every aspect of the way that I interact with the world, and presents me with challenges not experienced by my neurotypical peers. I’ve talked here about how moving through a world designed for neurotypicals can be frustrating, and the accommodations I need in order to be on equal footing. Sometimes … Read more
As an autistic, I’m eager to share my experiences and thoughts about how those experiences differ from the neurotypical ones I’m surrounded by. When I heard that the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee was seeking input about autistic experiences, I thought I’d share some of those thoughts with them. If you’d like to share your thoughts, … Read more
I used to be primarily employed as a healthcare provider. If you’ve read my articles before, this may come as a surprise to you, because I’m a situationally mute autistic person. The care I provided was often during the first time a patient interacted with a medical condition with long-lasting effects, such as asthma, heart … Read more
I’m Autistic. I enjoy reading, producing, and especially participating in research. It’s something that I specifically set aside time to do because I find it rewarding, but also because I want the output of research to include the experiences of people like me. It’s one of the ways I advocate for improvements in the world … Read more
I like libraries. The traditional domain of libraries is information, often in the form of books. But there are a lot of other things that can be the domain of a library. The foundational principle of a library is its temporary lending economy. A central public repository that any individual in the community can come … Read more
Last time, we took a look at some of the challenges archivists face as the world transitions to digital. The restriction and loss of access to information is a significant concern, but it’s not the only one. The digital revolution has given birth to an era of surveillance capitalism. Across all digital domains, corporations hungrily … Read more
The advent of digital information technology has produced some fantastical results. Digital publishing has made it easier than ever to disseminate information. I can press Publish on a blog post and instantly make it accessible to billions of people (not that any of them will read it). I can buy a book online and have … Read more
