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IA: The State of the Profession
Andrew Dillon's got another great column on IA in the latest ASIS Bulletin, and I finally found it online... among other things he points out that the market downturn may result in job seekers having to *actually know something about IA* to get a job as an IA (woo hoo!). He also points out a bunch of universities are hopping on the IA bandwagon by putting out courses that are basically repackaged old courses "selling old wine in new bottles." He doesn't name names, but buyer beware...
But the part that gets me excited is the promise of the new summit:
"Furthermore, plans for holding an IA Summit in 2002 are underway, and I shall take this opportunity to let you know that I shall serve as chair of the program committee. If you have ideas for contributions and themes, feel free to contact me."
My request? Quit defining, start refining. I'd like to see an in-depth look at some of the points Lou raised in Bloug, as well as *heaps* of case studies on how IA's are solving problems and saving/making their companies gobs of dough.
That's "Quit defining", young lady.
Actually I would say "Quit the BS", but that's only me, because I'm rude and I want to get a job in that area.
By the way "quit the BS" is there to replace "quit defining", it's not there to insult your words in any way (just re-read my words and got scared you might take them the wrong way).
(that should provide the editors lurking some meat to chew on...)
I also looked up "amateur" in the "QPB Dictionary of Word Origins". It pretty much repeated the same bit about coming from the Latin via the French, however, it claims that the word was first recorded in English in 1775 and was initially used to refer to sports about 25 years later. It also tells us that in the 19th century, men vied for the title of "the world's greatest amateur athlete." One of these contenders, the dictionary relates, was New Yorker Foxhall Keene, the man that Chicken á la King was supposedly named in honour of.