Kate StarbirdIn ~2014, my colleague & I argued that social media (esp. Twitter) had become part of the critical infrastructure of disaster response. People were turning to Twitter during crises to share information about impacts and resources. Disaster responders were using the data shared there for situational awareness, and were communicating in real-time with their constituents. Today’s events underscore just how dangerous it is for society to come to rely on private platforms as critical infrastructure.
Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta
@readingkafka
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Civil servant. Feminism, education, local governance. Personal account. #kidsinlibraries initiative.
Our congratulations also to his father, a daily wage worker in the gram panchayat & his mother, a school meal helper. We hope that our rural libraries will help many many young people to achieve their potential in similar fashion. This is the new generation.
We are proud that young writer Manjunayak from Challur in Koppal, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, has been a rural library user. #rurallibraries #knowledgecentres
Christopher Mimsthe way we live now:
Bluesky informs me Twitter is down, and also that Bluesky can’t handle the resulting surge in use, so I come to Mastodon to post about it
Tom WalkerPeople worry a lot about losing knowledge — about "burned-down libraries".
Comparatively few people seem to worry about what happens if you take a billion books full of auto-generated, often-untrue junk text and *add* them all to the library.
In theory, nothing is lost. In reality, everything is lost, because nothing useful can now be found.
Jon Pinter"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."
We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."
We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.
#kidsinlibraries Comic books and picture books are always popular!
Skye ClearyHappy birthday to Simone de Beauvoir! Born on this day in 1908. A couple of my favorite photos of her.
#beauvoir #simonedebeauvoir #philosophy #existentialism #birthday
This dad and daughter walked 2 km to the rural library so that the little girl could borrow a book. 🌷🌿🌷
