Talkin' 'bout my institution: A clarification

A comment Chris Rusbridge left on a previous post leads me to clarify the extent to which the subject matter of this blog draws on my own position in the institution where I work, and that institution's take on matters data-curational.

In brief: It doesn't. I don't talk about my place of work here, and I have no plans to start doing so.

I have no data-curation or other cyberinfrastructure responsibilities at my workplace save those that happen to touch on my position as institutional-repository manager. The day I acquire such responsibilities, which is not wholly impossible but by no means a certainty, will be… an interesting day for this blog, to say the least.

I do not speak for my institution or its library system here, just as I do not speak of them (except in the heavily meta fashion of this particular post, and I hope to post such posts as this as seldom as I can conveniently manage).

Why do I blog about cyberinfrastructure if it isn't my job? Because I'm interested. I care deeply about digital information, and have for quite a while now, over a decade. I like to think out loud about it, and what's happening with digital research data simply fascinates me. Also, because I believe that raising the profile of librarianship in the research community—assuming I can actually pull that off—is a useful occupation. Where do I pick up what I talk about here? Through reading, thinking, watching events, and talking to a wide variety of people online and off-, much as you'd expect. Not, alas, through hands-on experience at this juncture.

So apply all appropriate doses of sodium chloride to whatever you read here. That I say something seems like a good idea to me doesn't mean I'm doing it. It bears no relationship whatever to what my institution is or isn't doing and thinking.

Honestly, I don't even think of myself as an expert in this area. Several commenters have already caught me out on inaccuracies and other sloppy thinking, and I'm grateful to them for it. I'm trying to figure all this out right alongside everybody else. I believe there's value in taking that free-ranging thinking process public. (Actually, I know already that there is value in it for me! I've learned a lot from Book of Trogool commenters.)

Just so we're all clear on that. Thanks.