Occasionally I do a search for some of my favourite bands on YouTube, limited by “Date Uploaded” to see if there are any new clips from their recent concerts. A recent search for “Hawksley Workman” didn’t lead to any clips of him specifically but did lead to a couple recent covers. One was tagged “Me on TheStage.TV” and when I surfed through to that site, I discovered that it was a place billing itself as the “world’s first online open mic”.
The site’s set-up so anyone can “get in line” to perform live using their webcam and speakers. You get 3-4 minutes (depending on how many people are waiting) and the audience can “cheer” by clicking a button which earns you more time. There’s even a leaderboard and the top rated performers can win real cash! Pretty cool (although I’m not brave enough to break out my $60 guitar and “never had a lesson in my life” stylings to serenade the world with one of my punk rock compositions such as “Siamese Dream Girl”!)
The site is very closely integrated with YouTube (in fact, I think you need a YouTube account to perform) and many of the performances are available there.
Went to the first annual Noche Latina fundraiser for Jaime Garcia, NDP candidate in Regina-Coronation Park tonight and it was a total blast – great music, awesome entertainment and unbelievable food, all shared with old and new friends! (Shea’s highlight was the coconut shrimp ceviche, mine was the homemade Mexican chocolate ice cream – my mouth was eating ice cream and getting hotter with every bite!)
It’s no secret that I’m interested in the role of “fun” – fun at work, fun at home, fun in life – not just because fun is, well, FUN! but because I strongly believe it has a real impact on how people work, live and interact.
One timely example comes from the National Family Literacy Day event I alluded to in yesterday’s blog post. Our Literacy Unit at RPL arranged for a flash mob to happen where patrons and staff could do the “hokey pokey” to celebrate this year’s theme of “Play for Literacy”.
A co-worker made a really good point later in the day. Staff do the every day work of the library – checking books in and out, working on projects or whatever. But it’s stuff like a fun, one-off silly flash mob which finds you dancing in a circle with your co-workers and having a ball – that will not only put an extra bounce in participant’s steps for the day but provide long-lasting happy memories of their time at the library as well – as they continue to work there and even after they move on or retire.
Workplace happiness and positive perceptions of customer service – “Recent analyses of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” suggest that a ‘fun work environment’ is one of the factors distinguishing superior performers from others (Chan, Gee & Steiner, 2000; Joyce, 2003
Workplace happiness and employee engagement – “Other research studies show that happiness can undo some of the adverse physiological effects of negative emotions. Seligman points out that happier people are more altruistic than their unhappy counterparts, being more likely to give not just their money, but also their time and energy.”
Workplace happiness and productivity: a scientific test – ““Happiness economics” should not be just about whether macro-variables raise or lower well-being, we also need to look to the micro-level impact of happiness on behaviour. So far we know that happier individuals are more productive, the effect coming largely through increased effort, whether we consider a short-run shock induced in a laboratory or longer-run real-life shocks.”
It doesn’t take a very sophisticated thought experiment to think “Hmm, at jobs where I’ve been unhappy, how productive have I been and how does that compare to other jobs where I’ve been happy?”
In my case, it’s not just a thought experiment. I saw it first hand as I happened to work for the same employer on two different occasions. During my first tenure with the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, I was extremely happy for a wide number of reasons – I’d found work in my field, it was my first “real” job after University, I had an awesome, understanding boss whose management philosophy matched my own beliefs.
But when I returned to the SPG after a few years in Alberta, it was the same organization with basically the same people but I was as unhappy as I’ve ever been in any job (and this coming from a guy who once worked at a garbage dump in high school!) I was assigned different work that wasn’t a good fit for my skills, the organization was going through a series of massive challenges including financial ones.
Fun is important in everything and here’s a little video that captures just how vital it can be. (H/T to AF on FB for the link)
Recent analyses of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” suggest that a ‘fun work environment’ is one of the factors distinguishing superior performers from others (Chan, Gee & Steiner, 2000; Joyce, 2003).
It was National Family Literacy Day today and nothing starts your day off like doing the hokey pokey to tie in to this year’s theme of “Play for Literacy’. Good stuff – I joked with one co-worker that we could do it everyday, sort of the RPL version of the Wal-Mart Cheer. Another co-worker said we should just do it on a random day when the library’s really busy – “our patrons scare us 364 days of the year, we should return the favour at least once!” she joked.
On to the hits…
Hockey
Speaking of hits, good to see the Flames go on a four game win streak going into the all-star break. Their playoff chances are still slim but anything can happen. Not sure if I’m a fan of the draft gimmick for this year’s game – all the players are all-stars so does it really matter beyond goofy things like “Will the Sedin twins be split up?” and “Who will be picked last?”
Libraryland
Beyond the National Family Literacy Day activities noted above, I’ll direct you to this passionate defense of libraries by British author Philip Pullman which is resonating around the web (although as I cracked wise to the person who reminded me of it today, why would anyone listen to Pullman – he’s an atheist! ;-))
Pace Cuteness
Shea and Pace went to a nearby grocery store to mail a parcel today. As they were walking out, Pace apparently yelled at the customer service desk, “Sorry for not buying anything at your store today!”
Random Link(s) Somehow Relating to Popular Social Media Site
Qwikiis a site that attempts to give a more visual, intearactive take on the standard Wikipedia entry, sometimes successfully (check out the embedded video) and sometimes less so (although why would a robot voice know how to pronounce Regina aka “the city that rhymes with fun”?)
I think people generally tend to think of libraries as quiet places where nothing much ever happens.
On the other hand, here’s a partial list of things I’ve heard of happening at libraries I’ve worked at and elsewhere – lots of which involve illegal activities while others are just unsavory…
fist fights between patrons that include bloodshed and/or lost teeth
fights involving knives or other weapons
verbal or physical altercations between patrons and staff
verbal altercations between staff (there have probably been physical ones in some library somewhere but I’ve never heard of any)
unwanted sexual advances towards staff
destruction of property including graffiti, breaking windows, destroying books
patrons who are drunk causing a disturbance
patrons who are high causing a disturbance
patrons who are mentally ill causing a disturbance
patrons who are just in a pissy mood causing a disturbance
patrons who smell worse than a music festival port-a-potty
patrons watching pornography with absolutely no attempt to be discrete or subtle about this
patrons exposing themselves to staff or other patrons
patrons defecating in the library
drug deals in the lobby, the washrooms or the stacks
sex in the washrooms or the stacks
attempted child abductions
child abandonment
theft of materials
theft of patron belongings
numerous unmentionables happening in regards to book drops
…and probably other things I’m missing/forgetting.
And now we can add one more to the list of “things I never expected to see at the library” (a video clip will be available here by tomorrow I would assume – either the Wednesday supper or Thursday noon hour newscast should have it as the first story.)
Increasingly, I’ve begun to wonder if libraries should do something quite outside the box to address this problem? A quick Google search reveals that one library has already taken a unique step to dealing with some of these issues. I especially like that, in addition to hiring a social worker to be on staff at the San Fransisco Central Library, they’ve also created a transition program to help formerly homeless people into library work.
Watched the “State of the Union” address and thought it was pretty decent – not Obama’s best by far – but good.
A few random thoughts…
Boehner always looks like he’s about to cry
Can’t remember what the point was about but I counted exactly once where Boehner clapped and Biden didn’t.
Love the focus on the future, technology, science and innovation. All things America truly has led the world in.
I like that Obama will slip in some jokes but that one analogy about stripping a plane of its engine and feeling the impact felt…weird?
Was one of the Supremes in the front row sleeping? Everytime they cut to a crowd shot, her head was lulled forward. (I wondered if it was some weird protest?)
Having the D’s and R’s sitting intermingled was pretty cool. Obama got off a good line about it too – “it’s not about whether we can sit together tonight but whether we can work together tomorrow”
I love Dennis Kucinich
Sometimes I’d sort of step back and still find it hard to believe that a black man with a strange name is the President of the United States.
Pace loves taking photos so I occasionally hand him the iPhone and let him at it. Always interesting to see what he decides to take pictures of and the perspective he brings.
We took my parents to the airport on Friday afternoon so this is just one of a series I’m calling “Blurry Airport Imaginings”. 😉
