Executive Connections

What do you think?

An op-ed in the New York Times has stirred up a lot of discussion, and I would love to hear your thoughts.  In "Where Are the New Jobs for Women?", writer Linda Hirshman calls for President-elect Obama to expand his proposed public works stimulus program to include jobs for women professionals who “build the most important infrastructure—human capital.”  Her examples are social workers, child care workers, and education, training and library workers.

What are your thoughts?  Obviously, all information professionals are not women--but how do you think information professionals could fit into such a scenario?  During the Depression and after World War II, major infrastructure building programs left us with roads, bridges, national parks and the interstate highway system; what kinds of “infrastructure” could information professionals build?  How would society benefit, immediately and in the long term?

Safe, and Inspired

Last week, I was in India, attending the Asian Chapter Conference in New Delhi, when we learned about the terrorist attacks that were happening in Mumbai.  As Linda Broussard, SLA's Chief Community Officer, reported in her blog, to our knowledge, no one attending the conference was affected directly by the Mumbai attacks.  I know you join me in extending my sincere condolences to the brave people of India and wishing courage to all who are dealing with the aftermath of this tragedy.

Thanks to all of you who expressed concern over the safety of our colleagues in India with phone calls and e-mails.  It was incredibly reassuring to feel the strength and caring that resides within the SLA community.

Despite the sad news during the New Delhi conference, SLA President Abram did a great job inspiring and challenging the almost 400 attendees.  He told wonderful stories about information professionals who achieved remarkable things in their careers with the professional resources and contacts gained through SLA.

I will write more about the Asian Chapter conference in a future posting.  I just wanted you all to know that I am safe and decided to stay in India to attend the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad.  This is the third of five annual meetings to follow up on the important work done at the UN's World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunisia in 2005, where I was a member of the United States delegation.  I hope to report in a few days on the important work being done by this delegation.  After that, I am going to take some vacation time, during which I hope to be able process all I have learned from both of these remarkable meetings.