I think there’s some intense irony in referring to me as a subject specialist– particularly given the subjects in which I supposedly specialize.It’s no secret that the sciences and maths have never particularly interested me, but what is surprising is that I prefer my tech subjects to my touchyfeely subjects. Theater Arts and Dance, while visually pleasing, don’t give me a lot of mental stimulus.

People tend to look at me really strangely when I say that my favorite assigned collection area is microelectronics technology. It really isn’t in keeping with my personal interests and if I’m honest I don’t understand much of the information. Nevertheless I find it interesting and a good challenge.

I am trying to become more literate in the area but there are some difficulties:

  • it’s not a real subject area; because it’s really more of a vocational designation than an academic one it is sometimes difficult to know when I’m in micro and when I’m in electrical engineering.
    • For all intents and purposes it doesn’t matter, but I’d like to know.
  • There doesn’t seem to be a lot of introductory information available for free. I don’t have time to take one of the MT courses, but maybe if I get to stick around here I’ll see about auditing a few specific days.
    • I found some information on the ASEE website geared toward k-12 educators (it’s sad, but sometimes I find better information in k-12 than in undergraduate resources) but the site doesn’t actually tell you anything. There just seem to be a lot of flashy graphics and a plea to read some blog or newsletter. Hrm…
  • I did find this somewhat promising website that claimed it would give me a popular introduction to microelectronics but, sadly, the presentation was not in English.
  • It is much easier to build my collection than it is to weed it.
    • My total lack of microelectronics literacy makes it difficult for me to know if all of these references books from the eighties and early nineties are outdated.
    • Perhaps micro is like math… sometimes the handbooks can hang around for 60 years, it’s not like the math is going to change.