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At any given time I’m a researcher, a web designer, a project manager, an evaluator, an exhibit developer, a cataloger, a curator… but first and foremost I consider myself a knowledge worker. I strongly identify with other knowledge workers (regardless of field), their work patterns, productivity strategies and struggles.

Knowledge work is a creative and confusing endeavor. My schooling didn’t prepare me for it and despite efforts to document and archive my work so that I can visualize my productivity, I still struggle at times with feeling unproductive and uncreative and questionably useful to my museum.

My institution values me on faith. What does a “Director for Innovation and Digital Engagement” do? This extends to my friends and family, too. There is little context for my work: something to do with the web, Twitter, a science museum, and something called “The Pinhook.”

For those of us “succeeding in the information age,” we’re making it up as we go along.

Breaking it down, here are the core competencies of my knowledge work:

Exceptional comfort in my machine/operating system.
My laptop is a toolbox filled with tools that are sharp in the right places and worn in the right ways. I rarely need my mouse, which slows me down. I have admin rights to install and repurpose software to my needs. I have the freedom to use unstandardized tools and software to accomplish what I need. I have more than enough processing power. I can take my machine anywhere.

Visual thinking and writing skills. Without sketches and words on screen, much of my work would exist in thoughts and conversations. I sketch (on paper, whiteboard, iPad) everyday, every meeting. I scan those sketches into Evernote so that I can search them (on my laptop and phone) because they’re part of my memory now. I also write using a fairly complex system of software (WriteRoom, Notational Velocity, SimpleText, Dropbox) and file naming so that my typed ideas also travel with me (on laptop, on phone). They, too, need to be searchable and referenced on the go.

Communication.
Much of the value I provide to my institution is in the realm of communicating ideas. I use Gmail and my personal email account to accomplish this, even though my institution uses an entirely different system. If I had to use a system like Outlook or Apple Mail, my productivity would suffer considerably. I collect, store and search far more than the standard to: and from: of business communication. I process to zero messages everyday and close my email for several hours after to give me a feeling that I have some control over the constantly building information stream.

Search.
I treat Google, Gmail and Twitter search boxes like a command line. I search them using fairly sophisticated operators to find what I’m looking for quickly and comprehensively. The dataset I need to reference grows on a daily basis, making my ability to find and re-find information critical to my work.

Passion.
It’s been my experience that knowledge work is impossible to compartmentalize. My life is work and my work is (for as much as I can make it so) play. I couldn’t not do what I do. I want my tools with me everywhere I go. I even look to my dreams for insight into my cognitive processing. I have outlets that feel removed from work (racquetball, golf, cooking), but oftentimes those include devices, my note-taking systems, and co-workers who are friends. I’ve merged my professional and personal out of necessity… or maybe reality.

Note: This list was last updated on February 27, 2010.

Here are my suggestions for things to see/eat/do in Durham. It doesn’t include Raleigh or Chapel Hill/Carrboro.  If you’re going to venture to either, I suggest the latter (and be sure you go to Weaver St. and Carrburritos).  Whatever you do, stay away from Cary. [Google the places] (http://maps.google.com/) to get directions.

In alphabetical order…

Al Buehler Trail
Duke Forest, on Academy/751 near the Washington Duke Inn. 5k trail through the woods, nice walk… there are lots of trails in Duke Forest that I recommend. My favorite is on Mt. Sinai right across from Mt. Sinai Baptist Church.

The American Tobacco Trail/ATT
6.5 mile long biking/walking trail from downtown to South Durham. If you have/rent bikes, have a ride. It’s slated to be extended to go all the way to Raleigh.

Cosmic Cantina
Burrito joint, super cheap and tasty, right off ninth st.

Durham Bulls
Take in a game if there’s one while you’re here.

Durham Farmers Market
Have a visit if you’re here on a Saturday morning (open 8-12 in the summer; 10-12 in the winter) or Wednesday afternoon (open 3:30-6:30 in the summer).

The Federal
My favorite burger in Durham, if you like burgers. On the way downtown, in Brightleaf, on Main. Also for the vegetarians they have great veggie sliders.

Francesca’s
My most frequented afternoon coffee shop, on Ninth

The Green Room
Pool hall on Broad St. Another great place to get a real feel for the variety of folks we have in Durham. Beer, but no food or liquor. Also home to a slightly dilapidated foosball machine. Make sure you play the shuffle board, it’s free.

Guglhupf
Germany bakery and restaurant.  On Saturday mornings they have berliners, get there early. If you like Duck confit salads, they’ve got a great one.

Joe Van Gogh
My most frequented morning coffee shop, on Broad

Locopops (Warning: website auto-plays music)
A local chain of popsicle stores, there are several.  The original location is on Markham, which turns into Hillsborough. The creamy flavors are my favorite.

Museum of Life and Science
Go on a nice day and keep outdoors. See the dinosaurs, the wetlands, the bears/wolves/lemurs and play in Catch the Wind. On your way back to the main museum, stop by the Butterfly House and Insectarium. If you have any energy left, go inside to Soundspace, Keva (build something!) and Contraptions. North-ish Durham, off Duke Street.

Parker & Otis
Candy and tasty sandwich/foodie things. My favorite thing to do here is buy a bottle of wine in the store and drink it with friends out on the deck.  Cheap, scenic-ish and perfect if the weather’s not too hot.

The Pinhook
Great place to have a beer and get a flavor of the folks in Durham, no food, cash only. Downtown on Main St.

The Regulator
My favorite Durham book store, locally owned. On Ninth St.  Good magazine selection and they sell McSweeney’s. Also see Nice Price Books for a sampling of the used variety. It’s just a couple blocks away on Broad.

Revolution
My fav foodie spot Durham -pricey. Expect $100-$150 with wine and dessert, both of which I recommend. Also nice for a fancy drink.

Rue Cler
If you eat meat, you must go here and have a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast.  You won’t regret it. If you don’t eat meat, have an omelet. You won’t regret it. Make sure to order some beignets. Service can leave a little to be desired, but the food is worth it.  Also downtown.

The Scrap Exchange
A store that collects donated scraps from all over and resells them as art supplies. A Durham establishment. Central Park area, on Foster St.

Stone Brothers & Byrd
Where you’ll go to get your gardening supplies and garden seeds.

Tacos
We’re known for our tacos, so you should go to at least one taquaria.  I recommend either Taquaria La Vaquita on Chapel Hill Rd. (big cow on the roof) or Super Taquaria on N. Roxboro for authentic and Chubby’s Tacos on Ninth St. for Cali style.

Toast
A great Italian Sandwich shop downtown. Try whatever soup they’ve made, you can’t go wrong. The three cheese is my favorite, but if you’re with a friend, go halfsies with either the kale or local farm egg.

Wine Authorities
Local wine shop, owners Seth and Craig are awesome. Stop in to get a feel for where you would get your juice if you lived here.

1. 00:20:00 – Dude makes a White Russian in his home while listening to his answering machine and drinks it while talking with Monty about his dance quintet.
2. 00:45:10 – Dude prepares himself a White Russian in Maude’s art studio while she plays Logjammin’ on the television.
3. 00:47:58 – Dude drinks a White Russian in the limo ride from Maude’s place back to his home.  He has the same drink (“Fuck man! There’s a beverage here!”) to Lebowski’s limo where he is handed the toe.
4. 00:57:19 – Dude finishes a White Russian in the bowling alley while talking with Walter and Donny.
5. 00:59:27 – Dude orders “another Caucasian” at the bowling alley bar after Walter and Donny leave and meets the Stranger.
6. 01:02:05 – Dude makes a White Russian at Maude’s studio while he waits for her to arrive.  Instead of half and half, he uses powdered non-dairy creamer.
7. 01:15:38 -  Dude tells Jackie Treehorn that a “White Russian, thanks” is his drink and drinks one made by Treehorn while they talk about the money.
8. 01:18:30 – Jackie Treehorn asks Dude if he’d like a refill and he replies “Does the Pope shit in the woods?”  This is the White Russian that Dude spills on the floor because he has been drugged.
9. 01:29:17 -  Dude makes a White Russian after he and Maude have sex.  The physical act of love.  Coitus.

One of my favorite parts is when Katherine says “I think the whole human race is petrified. I’m a good cover-upper.”  I also loved, “Cold sober I find myself absolutely fascinating.”

I don’t know all that much about Hepburn, more now than yesterday, but I found her undeniably inspiring.  I appreciate her perspectives on productivity, focus, fear, success and reality.  She talks of luck, but defines it as folks seem to be lately  (as a result of of dedication and circumstance).  Specifically requiring:

1. An intelligent mother and father.
2. A basic freedom from fear.
3. A basic belief in yourself to carry you through uncertainty.

Ink, etc.

I carry a pencil bag with a set of 005, 01, 02, 05 black Micron pens, a rainbow set of 01 Microns, a few Sharpies, a mechanical pencil, a #1 ex-soft leaded pencil, and a set of colored pencils.

Tip: #1 pencils are far better for sketching than #2. They write with little resistence and erase easily.  They’re used in many libraries because they do not damage paper.

Paper

I am a relentless advocate of the 11×17 graph paper sold by Edward Tufte (purchase here, scroll down).  There is a certain gestalt to high quality, oversized paper with subtle grid lines that I cannot accurately convey in words, but I have learned to take advantage of it and have, as a result, created some of my most inspired work on these reasonably priced pads.

Portability, however, is not the strong suit of 11×17 paper, so I carry with me an ink-friendly 5.5″x8.5″ sketch book by Strathmore. 

Tip: The first thing I do in a sketchbook is go through each page and number it w/ a soft pencil.  This helps me reference and later find a specific sketch and also gives me a nice sense of progression as I sketch my way through a book.

Earlier this week, I had to go to the hospital to have the sort of test you can only have at a hospital because it is specialized and expensive.  I arrived on time and promptly saw someone who got all of my paperwork ready.  Once checked-in, I sat for about 20 minutes waiting for a technician to call my name.

When my name was called, we walked to my room and by some mix-up, there was someone already there.  I was sent to another waiting room and told it would be 10 more minutes.

I felt a little frustrated, but in a cattle herding bottleneck sort of way — What’s to be done? This is just the way it is.  I respect that hospitals are places with clear priorities.  When I have to wait a very long time for attention, there is a karmic logic that assures me that if ever I am in need of priority No. 1 status, I’ve earned it through prior patience.

When a different and quite apologetic technician came to get me 40 minutes later, I was surprised by the fact that she validated my inconvenience.  And when the departmental manager stopped by to apologize personally and ask me if there was anything she could do to right the situation, I didn’t even know what to say or what my options were.  (A $5 cafeteria voucher was handed over as consolation.)

This experience has changed my mind about the rights I have as a user in a hospital, or at least this one (Durham Regional).  The next time I go, I will have higher expectations of the staff.  In exchange for those expectations, Durham Regional will enjoy my recommendation as a hospital with staff who really care.

Some takeaways:

1. This positive observation would not have occurred without the negative situation (the room mix-up).  How you respond to something negative can be more significant (in terms of loyalty and the impression you make) than preventing the bad thing from occurring in the first place.
2. In what situations do your users feel powerless (a.k.a. “That’s just the way it is.”) and how might you surprise them by actually caring?  What is there to lose in a situation like that?  What is there to gain?

There’s an enlightening read over at PsyBlog – Memory Improved by 20% by Nature Walk – about how walks in nature enhance our ability to remember things as opposed to walks in an urban environments.  The reason?

1. Our brains are involuntarily attentive (we can’t help but pay attention to things that threaten our survival like, in the author’s example, a bus coming towards us).
2. Our brains use directed attention to cope/reason/understand that which distracts us involuntarily (we realize the bus isn’t going to hit us if we move out of the way, but in doing so we need to watch out for that car in the passing lane).

What can web folk do with this information?

This is what I do.

The Evolution of My Resume

From left to right, that’s a resume to Duke University (2002), Google (2005), Red Hat (2007), Channel Advisor (2007), The Museum of Life and Science (2008 ) and an IMLS grant (2009).  The IMLS grant has yet to be determined and Google didn’t bite, but the rest resulted in job offers.  Over the years I’ve also applied with variations of those resumes to Apple, The Motley Fool, NPR, REI, Netflix, MIT, nn/g and a handful of start-ups, agencies, universities and newspapers.

How do you roll?

• Even when you’re happy with your current role, when presented with an opportunity to dream big, do you go for it or talk yourself off the ledge?
• When applying for a job, do you aim to be different (a la my Google attempt) or more traditional (a la the IMLS grant)?
• If/and when you  go big, do you tell others or keep it to yourself?
• How much time do you invest in the spur-of-the-moment application?  How much time do you invest in something you are more likely to land?