Today's word is third place or thirdplace. Home and work are the first two, and the third place is somewhere else. Word Spy explains what the term means. There are lots of thirdplaces, and the term has caught on in a mild way. Everyone needs some place, other than home and work, where they can feel they belong, and do different things.
I came across it at the Public Libraries Australia conference in Adelaide last week (5-7 August), where the engaging Kate Meyrick of the Honery Institute, who had a closely scheduled plane to catch, presented a lightning paper on the concept of a third place and its relevance to public libraries. The virtuosity of the paper lay not in its speed, however, but in its very comprehensive and fluent examination of the library as a third kind of trusted place. The text does not seem to be available yet.
Interestingly, for me anyway, my own university is an exponent of thirdplace, described in a recent report by our Centre for Regional Development at Lilydale as "'safe' informal social gathering places", fast being supplanted by outlets for the gaming industry. In Queensland the Caloundra public library is a leading exponent of the concept as it relates to public libraries.
I will be away for a fortnight, but please keep thinking and contributing, and I will look forward to reading your comments as I relax and evade various responsibilities.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Derek Whitehead
What this blog is for
This is a blog which started in 2007 when I was standing for election as vice president of ALIA (the Australian Library and Information Association) - to communicate with members and canvas issues. It also continued during my year as president, which ended in May 2009.
It morphed into a more general blog, and I used it to communicate on a variety of issues - libraries, copyright, the internet, but particularly, just words. Over time, it became a blog mainly about language.
It morphed into a more general blog, and I used it to communicate on a variety of issues - libraries, copyright, the internet, but particularly, just words. Over time, it became a blog mainly about language.
It lapsed in 2012 but I have decided to revive it, and it will be about language and maybe sometimes some other things. Neologisms are unavoidable and an endless source of interest and fun. Talking with a bilingual person, and attempting to learn a language, I have also become more vividly aware of the confusing strangeness of many idioms. I will post about idioms later.
Please promote it to your friends. My short-term goal is to attract a second follower, but I have longer term goals too.
Links
About Me
- Derek Whitehead
- Melbourne, Australia
- Derek is an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University of Technology and at RMIT University, and the Chair of the Australian Digital Alliance. He retired in January 2015 as CIO and Director, Information Technology Services at Swinburne, and has had a long career as a librarian and copyright officer. He has had a long engagement with the internet since his involvement in the establishment of the pioneering Vicnet service in 1994. Derek was awarded an OAM in 2002 for services to libraries and the internet.
No comments:
Post a Comment