‘Innocence is as Innocence Does’: Anglo-Irish Politics, Masculinity and the De Cobain Gross Indecency Scandal, 1891-3

This article reconstructs the circumstances of the little-known Edward S. W. De Cobain gross indecency scandal in the early 1890s. I examine its significance to Victorian notions of class, Anglo-Irish politics and gender performativity through an analysis of newspaper reporting, personal correspondence and court documents. Edward De Cobain, Member of Parliament for East Belfast, became the focus of attention after serious allegations of attempted buggery were launched against him. De Cobain absconded from Britain upon word of the charges, but he continued to maintain his innocence while abroad until his eventual incarceration in 1893. In this article I revisit this sexual scandal involving a parliamentarian and disadvantaged young men but I aim to focus our attention away from the trial and toward the period of intense scandal that preceded it. The protracted and contradictory nature of the scandal invited public moralists, lawyers and journalists to debate the appropriate response to accusations of this sort, whilst politicians struggled to leverage the scandal to their party\u27s advantage. Moreover, the scandal – like Dublin Castle and Cleveland Street before it – brought into question the moral integrity of Britain\u27s ‘public men’

Local Actions/Global Implications: The Economic and Social Impacts of OA Publishing

The second speaker will highlight the increased impact of open access publications compared to subscription-based publications, as shown in citation-based studies as well as altmetrics such as download reports. In order to access research published in a non-open access publication, readers must either be affiliated with an institution that subscribes to the publication, purchase an individual subscription, or pay to view/rent a particular article. Taking Scholarship@Western as a case in point, the second speaker will demonstrate the global impact of open access research. Because the content published in Scholarship@Western is indexed by Google and Google Scholar, researchers all around the world are able to find and access the research output of the Western community

Considering Practical Verifiability and Open Referencing in Wikipedia

The authors have made a preprint available for convenience. The article is forthcoming in 2019. Please contact authors if you intend on citing for accurate page numbers

Putting Local Metadata to Strategic Use: Visualizing 50 Years of NCF Theses with ThesisLink

(Venue) Presented at the inaugural conference of the Florida Digital Humanities Conference in Jacksonville, FL, March 29/30, 2019

DESIGN SPRINTS AND DIRECT EXPERIMENTATION: DIGITAL HUMANITIES MUSIC PEDAGOGY AT A SMALL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE

This article was published in the Music Library Association’s journal, Notes 77, 4, June 2021, and 561-585. The version of record is available at https://proxy.library.brocku.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=150204301&site=ehost-live&scope=site. This material may not be copied or reposted without written permission of MLAIn this essay, we detail the pedagogical collaboration between a digital humanities librarian, a professor of music and digital media, and a second-year music student that took the form of a design sprint. The product of the design sprint was the Mapping Sentiments through Music (MStM) application. Using this project as a case study, we argue that both digital humanities and music education share a commonality: both disciplines can incorporate elements of design thinking to be successful. As a result, our efforts center direct experimentation with a team, and foster design thinking by promoting descriptive exchange, creative problem solving, and the creation of emergent rather than explicitly delimited meanings. We conclude with several remarks on overlaps between music and design pedagogy, and on librarian-faculty collaborations. This article was published in the Music Library Association’s journal, Notes 77, 4, June 2021, and 561-585. The version of record is available at https://proxy.library.brocku.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=150204301&site=ehost-live&scope=site. This material may not be copied or reposted without written permission of ML

“Blind Trust is Not Enough”: Considering Practical Verifiability and Open Referencing in Wikipedia

This article draws attention to the often-unseen information inequalities that occur in the way that Wikipedia content is referenced. Drawing on digital information control and virtual gatekeeping scholarship, we contend that by not considering the degree to which references are practically accessible and verifiable, Wikipedia editors are implicitly promoting a control mechanism that is limiting the potential of Wikipedia to serve, as Willinsky puts it, “as a gateway to a larger world of knowledge.” We question the widespread practice of referencing peer-reviewed literature that is obscured by prohibitive paywalls. As we see it, two groups are disadvantaged by this practice. First, Wikipedia editors who lack access to the most current scholarly literature are unable to verify a reference or confirm the veracity of a fact or figure. Second, and perhaps most important, general readers are left with two unsatisfactory options in this scenario: they can either trust the authority of the citation or pay to access the article. Building on Don Fallis’ work on epistemic consequences of Wikipedia, this paper contends that promoting practically verifiable references would work to mitigate these inequalities and considers how relatively new initiatives could be used to improve the quality and utility of Wikipedia more generally. Pre-print first published online 03/03/201

Every Appearance of Common Sense? Applying Pierre Bourdieu’s “Sociological Gaze” to the Profession of Librarianship

This paper utilizes an ALA resolution from 2016 and the resulting arguments on an ALA public forum to analyze the profession of librarianship from a perspective informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s theories. Drawing on scholarship from sociology, organizational studies, and LIS, I argue that the concept of a profession is a form of symbolic capital working within multiple fields of power. Analyzing librarianship with this framework enables us to identify the internal and external battles being waged over control of symbolic capital within fields of power, and ask why we value “the profession” to such a degree. Within the profession, professionals, para-professionals, and managers are constantly attempting to shore up or acquire additional symbolic capital. Externally, professions are struggling to maintain their symbolic capital in relation to each other; some professions, like medicine and law, have been more adept at consecrating cultural, social and economic capital into symbolic capital. Ultimately, this approach makes clear that the concept of “a profession” is neither absolute nor neutral; it is a constructed, deeply historical socio-cultural classification system that has been embedded into our collective understanding of how labour is valued. Ultimately, bolstering support behind the notion of a “profession” might not be the most prudent course of action for librarians going forward; in fact, I’ll suggest that uncritically supporting the “profession” goes against the philosophical tenets that librarians are purported to uphold.Cet article utilise une résolution de l'ALA de 2016 et les arguments qui en résultaient lancés pour et contre sur un forum public de l'ALA comme point de départ pour analyser la profession de bibliothécaire dans une perspective éclairée par les théories de Pierre Bourdieu. En nous appuyant sur des textes en sociologie, études organisationnelles et en bibliothéconomie, je soutiens que le concept de profession est une forme de capital symbolique   oeuvrant à travers multiples domaines de pouvoir. Analyser la bibliothéconomie à travers ce cadre nous permet d'identifier les luttes internes et externes menées pour le contrôle du capital symbolique dans les champs de pouvoir, et de nous demander pourquoi nous valorisons autant « la profession ». Au sein de la profession, les professionnel.le.s, les para-professionnel.le.s et les gestionnaires tentent constamment de consolider ou d'acquérir du capital symbolique supplémentaire. De l'extérieur, plusieurs professions peinent à maintenir leur capital symbolique les unes par rapport aux autres ; certaines professions, tels la médecine et le droit, ont été plus habiles à consacrer du capital culturel, social et économique en capital symbolique. En fin de compte, cette approche montre clairement que le concept de « profession » n'est ni absolu ni neutre ; il s'agit d'un système de classification socioculturelle construit et profondément historique qui s'est incorporé à notre compréhension collective de la valorisation du travail. Ultimement, renforcer le soutien à la notion de « profession » n'est peut-être pas la ligne la plus prudente pour les bibliothécaires à l'avenir ; en fait, je suggérerai que soutenir sans critique la « profession » va à l'encontre des principes philosophiques que les bibliothécaires sont censé.e.s défendre

Every Appearance of Common Sense?: Applying Pierre Bourdieu’s “Sociological Gaze” to the Profession of Librarianship

This paper utilizes an ALA resolution from 2016 and the resulting arguments on an ALA public forum to analyze the profession of librarianship from a perspective informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s theories. Drawing on scholarship from sociology, organizational studies, and LIS, I argue that the concept of a profession is a form of symbolic capital working within multiple fields of power. Analyzing librarianship with this framework enables us to identify the internal and external battles being waged over control of symbolic capital within fields of power, and ask why we value “the profession” to such a degree. Within the profession, professionals, para-professionals, and managers are constantly attempting to shore up or acquire additional symbolic capital. Externally, professions are struggling to maintain their symbolic capital in relation to each other; some professions, like medicine and law, have been more adept at consecrating cultural, social and economic capital into symbolic capital. Ultimately, this approach makes clear that the concept of “a profession” is neither absolute nor neutral; it is a constructed, deeply historical socio-cultural classification system that has been embedded into our collective understanding of how labour is valued. Ultimately, bolstering support behind the notion of a “profession” might not be the most prudent course of action for librarians going forward; in fact, I’ll suggest that uncritically supporting the “profession” goes against the philosophical tenets that librarians are purported to uphold