a framework for toolmaking
http://library.nyu.edu/
http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu/
Since I hadn’t been in a library for a very long time and had no idea what call numbers were for what subjects, etc. So I started off by going to Bobcat, the NYU collections database. I did searches on a number of terms, starting with searching the titles, but then moving onto the LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Heading). You can select records and get them e-mailed to yourself. I then created word-processing document organized, roughly, by call number. These I took with me to the library itself.
70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
I’ve spent a few days in the library – roughly one per floor… B, BD, BF, BH, GN, GV, LB, N, NC, ND, NP, NX, QA, QP, TA, TT, TS, TX, Z, VCA… an alphabet soup of call numbers for this project. I went in with an initial list from the web and made sure to look at the shelves around the target books. I skimmed passages, checked bibliographies for other books and to see which authors were considered seminal in fields that I knew nothing about.
I then carted a bunch home and bought a bookshelf. Really. 2 actually. Search
http://froogle.google.com/ for “folding bookcase” – Boscov’s had one for $29.991
http://www.nyu.edu/its/faq/connecting/proxy.html
http://home.nyu.edu/ > “Research” section
http://library.nyu.edu/collections/data_info.html
Encyclopedia Britannica, Webster’s Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary, Lexis-Nexis, Books24x7, O’Reilly Network Safari Bookshelf… these are all some of the amazing resources available when you hook up to the web from behind the NYU proxy. Free books are never a bad thing. Because they are electronic they can be searched, downloaded, or you can copy snippets into your notes. This was pretty helpful for me once I started to think about actual lessons and exercises and need to look up content on the fly.
Amazon has built in a ton of features that can help you figure out if a book is relevant or help you find more books. Maybe they’re just there to help you find more to buy, but it sure is helpful. They aren’t all available for every books, but some of the features include: “Customers who bought this book also bought”, “Citations”, “Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs)” (phrases that show up in this book more than is typical, good to use in search engine later), “Books on Related Topics”, “Concordance” (the books 100 top words used).
4 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003 (Children’s books and miscellany)
33 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Computer, Art and design books)
105 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (New School’s Bookstore, Education books)
Sometimes looking at a whole book, touching it, flipping through the chapters is the only way to get a real sense of it. Although I am a huge fan of random obscure used bookstores, the breadth of selection, particularly at the 17th Street (Union Square) and 5th Avenue stores, is pretty amazing. It makes for efficient browsing. I’d use my camera phone to shoot the cover of books that I thought were worth checking up on again.
http://www.google.com
http://images.google.com
http://scholar.google.com
It is pretty hard to comment on Google. These days it is pretty much synonymous with “web search.” New to me this semester was the scholar engine. It was useful, but not a major source for me. Not nearly as much as the main search engine or the image search. One tip for the image search in general is to always search for the same term the regular way, as well. Sometimes the pages that turn up in a standard search also have images, some of which turn out to be better.
The ACM has 50 years of articles online in their digital library. They also have a guide of over 750,000 other citations including ones from other publishers. They offer classes and have special interest groups including SIG-CHI (Computer Human Interaction), which has a New York chapter2. It is through this group, actually, that I even discovered the work of Steven Schkolne, who is sited in the context section. They are also the sponsors of SIG-GRAPH3, which is better known among ITP students in general.
Blick Art Materials, 1-5 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012
Close by to school, this is one of the places I go to just wander around and look at stuff. The physical store itself is huge for New York City, and it has a bit of a suburban feel. The website is mind-boggling. They have… everything. It was a major source of my pictures of non-digital art tools. They also have a section on lessons plans and help sponsor a forum.
http://www.pearlpaint.com/
308 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013
As if it wasn’t large enough on its own, the Pearl Paint store listed is actually just a gateway store to 3 others that are on the block behind it. In the middle of Chinatown, it has a series of small stacked floors, narrow corridors and high piled shelves that feel like the stereotypical New York Art Store. Even more than the Blick Art Materials physical store, it has more than you knew existed. The slightly grittier feel seems more authentic.
220 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
I found Lee’s Art Shop on my way home from an errand. The huge glass windows piled with stuff lured me in and I wasn’t really disappointed. Some of it is furniture and lighting fixtures, actually. But when I first went in there was a kids-craft section on the first floor (they have now moved it to the 4th floor and it has a different feel). There I took some photos of some of the interesting kits and tools simply invited out of nowhere by the craft industry. Things like latchhook and pop-beads are fascinating little gadgets that show the potential for invention.
http://www.homedepot.com/
50-10 Northern Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11101
I moved in January. I had rented a car for my move and I spent a good amount of time shuttling back and forth between my new place and the massive (to me) Home Depot buying painting supplies and other sundries. It is insane, aisles and aisles of specialized gear bits and hinges and power tools… I’ve always loved trips to the hardware store growing up and these trips certainly reinforced that.
http://www.staples.com/
769 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
I like office supply stores almost as much as I like hardware stores. This came mostly at the end when I was thinking about options for styles of record keeping for the exercise results. Sadly I found that most systems are awful, actually. They trap, capture or otherwise cage the materials you want to be able to shift through or sort or move. That said they have a ton available to choose from and was a good resource.
There would be too many people to list in this section in the way I’ve done in the others. In my original plan that I made at the beginning of the semester I had wanted to formally interview a number of people about their tool use. Instead I casually asked questions of a number of people on the floor and I was rewarded with a huge wealth of directions to look in and opinions to investigate. Thank you, to all who helped.