Stephen's Lighthouse: January 2008 Archives

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January 30, 2008

MPAA, Kindle and Downloading

I remain amazed that this isn't reported more:

MPAA Admits Mistake on Downloading Study

By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer

"Hollywood laid much of the blame for illegal movie downloading on college students. Now, it says its math was wrong.

In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry's domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus.

The MPAA has used the study to pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so.

But now the MPAA, which represents the U.S. motion picture industry, has told education groups a "human error" in that survey caused it to get the number wrong. It now blames college students for about 15 percent of revenue loss."

Students and Video

Are you using video to attract student users? Reading these studies might help.

College Students Love their Video (YPulse)

College Students Watch The Most Video @ Mom & Dad's

Some highlights:

"While only 57% of adult Internet users have ever watched online video, 93% of college students have ever watched online video. On a typical day, 19% of Internet connected adults download video, whereas more than three times as many (62%) college students download video.

And more...

- 91% of students receive video links (vs. 75 percent of the general internet population)

- 83% of students send video links to others (vs. 57 percent of the general internet population)

- 40% of students rate videos (vs. 13 percent of the general internet population)

- 34% of students post comments (vs. 13 percent of the general internet population)

- 37% of students upload videos (vs. 13 percent of the general internet population)

- 47% of students post video links (vs. 10 percent of the general internet population)

- 14% of students paid for video (vs. 7 percent of the general internet population)"

"What are the top five sites college students visit to watch online video?

1. YouTube
2. ABC.com
3. Facebook
4. NBC.com
5. Google Video/Collegehumor.com (tied)

I'm guessing this demographic watches shows like Gray's and Heroes online. I don't think iTunes was mentioned as an option.

Where do college students log from on to watch online video?

At your parent's house - 21 percent
In your dorm room - 17 percent
In your off campus residence - 15 percent
At a friend's dorm room / residence - 14 percent
On campus grounds using a WiFi network - 12 percent
At the campus library - 8 percent
In a campus computer lab - 7 percent
In an Internet cafe - 3 percent
In a fraternity / sorority house - 2 percent

What kinds of video do college students watch?

Comedy/humor - 13 percent
Movies/TV - 13 percent
Music Videos - 12 percent
News - 11 percent
Sports - 7 percent
Commercials - 9 percent
Political videos - 8 percent
Animation/cartoons - 8 percent
Educational videos - 9 percent
Adult videos - 7 percent"

Follow the links to their event and SurveyU.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)

Google and Librarians

A few folks are beginning to notice that Google Librarian Central is puff.

Their summer hiatus continues past January...

The newsletter hasn't arrived since May.

I doubt they actually care about libraries, may view us as competition, and spend a few bucks on booths and giveaways at ALA to keep the serfs under control...

I predict postings will start again in the upswing to Spring conference season.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:46 PM | Comments (2)

SirsiDynix Institute Event Archive

I know we were a lirttle behind in getting the SirsiDynix Institute Event Archive updated. I am happy to say the webcasts and podcasts are all there now.

Did you miss that great event you wanted to see? Don't worry, past presentations of the SirsiDynix Institute are always available free of charge in the SirsiDynix Institute Event Archive.

Find them here.

Joan Giannone —President, Mentor Group Training Inc.
Guide to Roving: An Essential Service for Library 2.0
Dec 11, 2007

Both Public and Academic Libraries are encouraging their staff to step out from behind their desks and reach out to their "hidden customers" - the 50 % or more - those thousands of customers - who are reluctant to approach staff at the Reference desk and so remain un-served.

Ulla de Stricker —Consultant, de Stricker Associates
You're An Expert In Library Operations And You're Ready For Your Next Career Move - Is Your Resume?
Dec 04, 2007
Constructing an engaging and compelling resume that has a potential employer thinking “I need this one on my team!” could be among the most difficult tasks we face in the area of career planning. But there is help.

Rachel Bridgewater —Reference Coordinator, Washington State University at Vancouver Library
A Little More Help from your Friends: Social Bookmarking
Nov 13, 2007

Listen to Rachel expand on a very popular presentation she led at ALA Midwinter on social bookmarking.

Ulla de Stricker —Consultant, de Stricker Associates
At the Elbow: Understanding Users' Perception of Process and Effort
Oct 02, 2007

A key step in designing any user oriented service is recognizing the fact that people are careful investors of their time.

Rob Banks —Deputy Director of Operations, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
Gina Millsap —Executive Director, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library
Dump the Org. Chart: Get `Er Done!: Management for a 2.0 Library
Sep 18, 2007

Did you get your MLS in the previous century?

See you at the next one on January 31st!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:31 PM | Comments (2)

My January Institute

I know the slides are on the SirsiDynix Institute website pretty quickly, but I like to provide a set here too as a easier to print PDF.

25 Technologies to Watch
And How

Also, when a I get a chance (I am so far behind!), I'll make a list of links.

I know you're all information professionals and can easily find anything I mentioned but lists are nice!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

Association Leadership and Trends

I visited two SLA chapters in January.

For the SLA New York chapter, here are the PPTs:

Charting the Future of SLA and Libraries

For my hometown chapter, SLA Toronto, here are the slides:

Reality 2.0: Attracting, Retaining and Engaging the Association 2.0 Member

It is just amazing how much energy and talent there is in SLA.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

SLA Louisville Leadership Summit

Here's my speech for the SLA Leadership Summit.

I was quite excited to participate in the early leadership announcements of our Innovation Laboratory, Learning 2.0 CLICK University initiatives, Free ebooks, alerts and courses, and and Green initiatives as well as the Centennial and Seattle Annual Conference events.

Here are the PPTs.

Reality 2.0: Attracting, Retaining and Engaging the Association 2.0 Member

My column in Information Outlook this month (Jan.) has more details and more will emerge over 2008.

SLA: Innovate in 2008.

SLA has leaders! We're going to lead.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)

Arizona Leadership Academy

I spent the past two days in Arizona with Chandler, Phoenix and Scottsdale Public Libraries as well as librarians from across the state. We were launching their leadership training for this year and I got to do a speech as well as meet with a group of their emerging leaders and staff leaders.

Here's my speech:

The Future is Already Here: 2008 Leadership Academy

Very cool group trying to be more innovative.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:15 PM | Comments (0)

National Association of Independent Schools

It was a great day with the leadership and staff of the National Association of Independent Schools. Here's the presentation:

The New Scholar: How are they different and how are libraries changing?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:12 PM | Comments (0)

Palmer School Lecture

I was lucky enough to teach a class in New York for the Long Island University Palmer School SLIS. I love talking to students. It's very motivating and refershing.

Here are the PPT's but the diuscssion was the best.

The New Scholar: How are they different and how are libraries changing?
Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:05 PM | Comments (1)

January 28, 2008

Brave Librarians

We have a few stories of our own. I find these inspirational.

“Bagdad’s brave librarian” Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 9, 2008. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0109/p20s01-wome.html

Of course, this children's story is classic:

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
by Jeanette Winter

Sometimes life is just more than photocopy paper jams. I wonder myself if I could be this brave.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

Brave Librarians

We have a few stories of our own. I find these inspirational.

“Bagdad’s brave librarian” Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 9, 2008. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0109/p20s01-wome.html

Of course, this children's story is classic:

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
by Jeanette Winter

Sometimes life is just more than photocopy paper jams. I wonder myself if I could be this brave.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

2008 Horizon Report Out

The 2008 Horizon Report from Educause is now available (36 page PDF). (Not SirsiDynix Horizon!)

Here's the primary table of contents:

Executive Summary
■ Key Emerging Technologies
■ Critical Challenges
■ Significant Trends
■ After Five Years: The Metatrends
■ About the Horizon Project
Time-to-Adoption: One Year or Less
Grassroots Video
Collaboration Webs
Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years
Mobile Broadband
Data Mashups
Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years
Collective Intelligence
Social Operating Systems

This continues to be a great report to help institutions with their five year plans. You might want to read the whole thing but the executive summary makes a nice routing piece for trustees and management.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Deloitte's 2008 Tech Predictions for Canada

2008 Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions
Reports outline key trends for TMT in the year ahead

"Deloitte’s 2008 technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) Predictions reveal that society is struggling with the “double-edged sword” of progress. As Canadians start to understand that change comes at a price, 2008 is anticipated to be “the best of times and the worst of times.”

Further, what was just a single prediction in 2007 — “technology goes green” — has expanded so fully that one third of the 2008 forecasts are either influenced by or revolve around the environment.

Now in its seventh year, Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions is an annual series of global predictions that showcase emerging global TMT trends that may significantly impact businesses in 2008.

The study showcases a diverse selection of views that challenge, inform and engage industry leaders and executives, including 10 predictions for each TMT industry sector. The study also features Deloitte’s outlook, conclusions and recommended action items to help industry executives capitalize on each prediction.

The 2008 TMT Predictions are based on research and input from more than 6,000 Deloitte member firm practitioners specializing in TMT, Deloitte clients and alumni, industry analysts, and leading global TMT executives."

2008 TECHNOLOGY PREDICTIONS

- The rising value of digital protection
- From anonymity to authenticity
- How to manage talent when legacy becomes the future
- The flight to privacy

2008 MEDIA PREDICTIONS

- Stop the presses - Online is moving (slowly) to the front page
- Overcoming online piracy may not mean the end of counterfeit content
- Time for music to get tangible again

2008 TELECOMMUNICATIONS PREDICTIONS

- How to capitalize on the $10 mobile phone
- Giving mobile GPS direction
- Gray is good: the return on investment from making telecommunications accessible to all:

"Technology is playing an increasingly central role in many of the key challenges and issues facing Canadians

2008 GREEN TMT PREDICTIONS

- The challenges and opportunities of water scarcity
- From zero to green hero - the renaissance of nanotechnology
- Let there be light emitting diodes
- Getting value from virtualisation
- The living room moves closer to being Public Enemy Number One: Consumer electronics now use 15% of household electricity consumption

Download Deloitte's Canadian TMT predictions here.

It's great to see a focus on green too.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

NPR: “Who Needs Libraries?”

David Rothman posted this and I think it's worth a listen too.

Who needs libraries?
Produced by: Richard Paul
As more and more information is available on-line, as Amazon rolls out new software that allows anyone to find any passage in any book, an important question becomes: Who needs libraries anymore? Why does anyone need four walls filled with paper between covers? Surprisingly, they still do and in this program Producer Richard Paul explores why; looking at how university libraries, school libraries and public libraries have adapted to the new information world. This program airs as part of our ongoing series on education and technology, and is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education.

You can listen online (streaming RealMedia audio) for free here.

Since just about 50% of NPR's audience is librarians (joking grin!), it's good it is balanced!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)

Hey, I'm SLA President!

Well, I am SLA President for 2008. Stephanie Wical took this photo of me in Louisville at the official ceremony (and posted it to Facebook). (Thanks!)

During the speech I gave to teh assembled SLA international Leadership got a half dozen Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn invites from the audience. Yes, during! Cool.

I have a great Board and HQ team. I know this will be a great year. In the photo, I am wearing my first Tux. We're dressing SLA up and taking it on the road under the theme 'Innovate in 2008'.

BTW, that's the SLA Chain of Office. It makes me feel like Lord Mayor of London or something. It is made of sterling silver coins from around the world. I got to wear it for about 2 hours until it returned to the vault. I hope to see it again in Seattle at the annual conference.

Stephen

(Oh yeah, this is probably the first photo of me with a beard, ever. The shingles are retreating but not gone.)

Posted by stephen at 9:59 AM | Comments (6)

January 25, 2008

First 2008 SirsiDynix Institute

You are invited to attend the first SirsiDynix Institute webinar of the new year on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 11 a.m. EST.

Please follow the link to register for next Thursday's webinar:

https://events.livemeeting.com/SirsiDynix013108Reg.htm

January 31, 2008 - 11 a.m. EST
Stephen Abram
SirsiDynix VP of Innovation

Twenty Five Technologies to Watch and How

Can our libraries be more open? Can we be more open to our users, our communities, to new technologies? Can we be more open to change? How? Are there technologies that we should be trying and piloting to see if they improve the library's mandate? Whihc ones are worth investigating? What are the emerging learning technologies? Are there different ways to build community or to attract new community segments? What about books, book clubs and recommending recreational reading? What about some of our other entertainment missions such as video and gaming? Stephen Abram is an inveterate library watcher and strategic technology reviewer. in this session he shares the top 25 technologies that we should think about 'playing' with and finding a way to make our libraries more open to our learning communities and neighbourhoods. He'll end with five suggestions to have fun with change and technology adoption.

Stephen Abram, MLS, is President 2008 of SLA and the past-President of the Canadian and Ontario Library Associations. He is Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute. Stephen was listed by Library Journal as one of the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries. He has received numerous honours and speaks regularly internationally. His columns appear in Information Outlook and Multimedia and Internet @ Schools, and SirsiDynix OneSource and he is the author of ALA Editions' bestselling 'Out Front with Stephen Abram.'

Register today to receive your webinar log in information and hear Stephen's thoughts on the 25 technologies to watch next Thursday!

Melanie Sollid
Programs Manager, Marketing
101 Washington Street, S.E.
Huntsville, AL 35801-4827
Phone: 256-704-7127 Fax: 256-704-7007
melanie.sollid@sirsidynix.com

Posted by stephen at 1:39 PM | Comments (1)

January 20, 2008

SLA Toronto

I got to speak to me home chapter of SLA, Toronto.

Here are the PPT's.

Reality 2.0: Attracting, Retaining and Engaging the Association 2.0 Member

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2008

Seth Godin's Marketing Trends

Shannon Bowden reports on Seth Godin;s take on 14 Trends No Marketer Should Ignore

Seth is one of the keynotes for SLA in Seattle in June. I can hardly wait.

Check out her summary here.

Here are the headings:

14 of them (and a bonus one).

1. Direct Communication
2. Amplification of Consumers
3. Authentic Stories
4. Speed
5. The Long Tail
6. Outsourcing
7. The Dicing of Everything
8. Infinite channels of communication
9. Consumer to consumer
10. Difference and the shift between scarcity and abundance
11. Big Ideas
12. Who vs. How Many
13. The New Rich
14. New Gatekeepers and No gatekeepers
15. The death zone between scarcity and ubiquity

There is a lot of meat here (for our Meatball Sundaes - his latest book) for discussions in libraryland.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008

It's Not Very Old

All these things we depend on are truly quite young.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of TCP/IP. It was co-invented by our SLA Seattle Conference keynote Vinton “Vin” Cerf.

So TCP/IP is about as old as a university grad just starting out today.

I put up my first website at the end of 1994 based on 1992 CERN stuff. It was awful. The Canadian government went on the web in 1995 about the same time as America Online started offering internet access.

So websites are about 14. Wow - all set for an exciting high school career.

It is joined by browsers that started out in about 1993.

Just getting to sophomore year.

Just recently we noticed that Google's domain name was 10 years old but the search service is only about nine.

So Google style searching is only in about grade five.

Last week, Wikipedia turned 7 or 8. So it is in Grade 4.

Blogs started in about 1998 but really blossomed in 2002.

So they're ten too and join Wikis in grade four homeroom.

MySpace is from 1999.

A sturdy 8 year old. Grade 2 is fun.

Delicious tagging started in 2003.

So it's four and entering junior kindergarten.

Facebook is from 2004 too.

YouTube is almost three.

Tyrannical threes.

Twitter is two, maybe.

So it's just a toddler. Terrible twos.

Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 are similarly youngish.

Now, it's no wonder why it's taking a while to adapt to all this - in libraries, vendors, software, publishers, etc. And a young child shall lead them. Good people are trying hard to make a difference. They share in speeches and blogs and articles and more. Let's listen and try a few new things. The future isn't clear yet.

Vin Cerf is currently Vice President and “Chief Internet Evangelist” at Google. I am looking forward to hearing his perspectives in June.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:23 PM | Comments (2)

Teen Content Creators

Once again a great free report from the Pew.

I wonder how long it will be until people stop criticizing the teens. At least they put their work out there for comment and review. That's braver than I would have been as a teen. I am sure there's a role for libraries to collect, curate and display teen work online and beyond in their own communities. Cool.

Teen Content Creators
by Amanda Lenhart, Mary Madden, Alexandra Rankin Macgill, and Aaron Smith
Pew Internet & American Life Project
December 19, 2007

"Some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of them than ever are treating it as a venue for social interaction -- a place where they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with others.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 64% of online teens ages 12-17 have participated in one or more among a wide range of content-creating activities on the internet, up from 57% of online teens in a similar survey at the end of 2004.

Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Male teens, however, do dominate one area -- posting of video content online. Online boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online where others could see it.

The survey found that content creation is not just about sharing creative output; it is also about participating in conversations fueled by that content. Nearly half (47%) of online teens have posted photos where others can see them, and 89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time."

However, many teen content creators do not simply plaster their creative endeavors on the Web for anyone to view; many teens limit access to content that they share.

A subset of teens are super-communicators -- teens who have a host of technology options for dealing with family and friends, including traditional landline phones, cell phones, texting, social network sites, instant messaging, and email. They represent about 28% of the entire teen population and they are more likely to be older girls.

Among the latest survey findings:

39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos, up from 33% in 2004.
33% create or work on webpages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends, or school assignments, basically unchanged from 2004 (32%).
28% have created their own online journal or blog, up from 19% in 2004.
27% maintain their own personal webpage, up from 22% in 2004.
26% remix content they find online into their own creations, up from 19% in 2004.
The percentage of those ages 12-17 who said "yes" to at least one of those five content-creation activities is 64% of online teens, or 59% of all teens.

In addition to those core elements of content creation, 55% of online teens ages 12-17 have created a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace; 47% of online teens have uploaded photos where others can see them, though many restrict access to the photos in some way; and 14% of online teens have posted videos online. The current survey marks the first time questions about video posting and sharing were asked.

Read the full report at pewinternet.org (44 Page PDF)

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:29 PM | Comments (0)

Social Networking Debate

The esteemed Economist is doing an Extreme Debate, an Oxford-style debate on the following proposition:

"Social networking technologies will bring large [positive] changes to educational methods, in and out of the classroom"

I've already been impressed by two postings that were amazingly eloquent. I think these two are worth reading if you're invovled in education, learning, digital divide, issues etc.

Danah Boyd, at Apophenia.

Will Richardson at Weblogg-ed

Lots and lots of interesting poiints to discuss and debate here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:11 PM | Comments (0)

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future

I think we're finally starting to approach a critical mass of research to solve some of our common problems. This is good. I try to post to the good ones on this blog.

The British Library and JISC have done a study, (released Jan. 11, 2008 - 35 page PDF) Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, to identify how researchers of the future are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years. They hope to help libraries anticipate new behaviors in the `Google generation’.

Here's the table of contents:

- setting the scene
- what are the aims of this study?
- how was this study carried out?
- what is the `google generation’?
- what is the `digital transition; and how does it affect libraries?
- how do people currently behave in `virtual libraries’?

the google generation

- what do we know about young people’s information behaviour?
- how do young people currently behave in virtual libraries?
- the social networking phenomenon: is it important?

google generation: myth or reality?

- what do we really know about the google generation?
- where are the skills gaps?
- information behaviour of the researcher of the future

looking to the future

- what are might the information environment be like in 2017?

looking to the future

- what are the implications for `information experts’?
- what are the implications for research libraries?
- what are the implications for policy makers?
- challenges for us all
- notes and endnotes

Some teaser content:

"Research into how children and young people become competent in using the internet and other research tools is patchy but some consistent themes are beginning to emerge:

• the information literacy of young people, has not improved with the widening access to technology: in fact, their apparent facility with computers disguises some worrying problems
• internet research shows that the speed of young people’s web searching means that little time is spent in evaluating information, either for relevance, accuracy or authority
• young people have a poor understanding of their information needs and thus find it difficult to
develop effective search strategies
• as a result, they exhibit a strong preference for expressing themselves in natural language rather than analysing which key words might be more effective
• faced with a long list of search hits, young people find it difficult to assess the relevance of the
materials presented and often print off pages with no more than a perfunctory glance at them

These points relate both to the current use of the internet by young people and, a technology
generation earlier, to their use of early online systems and CDROMs. There is little direct evidence that young people’s information literacy is any better or worse than before. However, the ubiquitous use of highly branded search engines raises other issues:

• young people have unsophisticated mental maps of what the internet is, often failing to appreciate that it is a collection of networked resources from different providers
• as a result, the search engine, be that Yahoo or Google, becomes the primary brand that they
associate with the internet
• many young people do not find library-sponsored resources intuitive and therefore prefer to use
Google or Yahoo instead: these offer a familiar, if simplistic solution, for their study needs"

Well worth reading.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:00 PM | Comments (3)

Top Investor Themes for 2008

Picked this up from Guy Kawasaki - a Merrill Lynch report, "Top Internet Themes for 1H'08", by Justin Post (12 page PDF).

It discusses these six themes/events:

1. Intensifying 3rd party seller competition between eBay and Amazon.
2. A bump in online media spending because of the elections and the television writers' strike.
3. Increasing focus on mobile market initiatives by Google and Yahoo!
4. Improving display ad targeting technology because of the Google/DoubleClick merger and Yahoo!'s acquisition of Blue Lithium and Right Media.
5. Asset value unlock speculation because of the split of InterActive into five entities.
6. Social networking revenue model emergence as users move away from portals to social networking sites.

I think it is very interesting to see the difference in trends between how the library world views the e-trends and how investors do. The focus is always on the end goal - wealth vs end-user success. I suppose it might be a bit chicken and egg.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

Picked this up from Guy Kawasaki - a Merrill Lynch report, "Top Internet Themes for 1H'08", by Justin Post (12 page PDF).

It discusses these six themes/events:

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

Forrester Summary of Social Network Stats

I find this summary of Reunion, MySpace and Facebook stats interesting:

Social Network Stats: Facebook, MySpace, Reunion (Jan, 2008)
by Jeremy Owyang.

By blogging it I'll be able to find these again!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:54 AM | Comments (1)

XO Arrives

W00t!

My XO Laptop from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation arrived ten minutes ago. It took longer to get to Canada since they wrote that they had to find a special way to get it across the border. Interesting problem for a laptop designed for 3rd world kids. Lots of border there. At least they solved it quicker than they thought.

No time to play with it today but I'll blog what I find.

I am excited. It looks great.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:40 AM | Comments (2)

Publishing Trends in 2008

Libraries and Publishing have always been inextricably linked. Publishers' Weekly has this article that's worth a read:

15 Trends to Watch in 2008
By Mike Shatzkin, Publishers Weekly, 1/7/2008

My favourite quote:

"The Internet will drive 21st-century publishing enterprises to be more like what professional publishing has always been: highly vertical and format-agnostic."

And here are the top 15 highlights (more behind the link):

1. The popularity of e-books will increase.
2. Sales of books in electronic form to public libraries will continue to grow.
3. This will be the Year of the Author.
4. Publishers will start acquiring specialized Web sites to get content for their books and to target niche audiences.
5. Christmas 2008 will be the first one in which sales of customized books, enabled by the Internet and print-on-demand, will become substantial.
6. XML will no longer be considered optional.
7. Apple, seeing the growth in use of Kindle and Sony Reader, will move to turn the iPhone and iPod into e-book readers.
8. B&N will continue to leverage the book trade’s most sophisticated supply chain to lengthen its lead over Borders and all other bricks-and-mortar retailers.
9. The lack of a competitive supply-chain infrastructure will continue to handicap Borders, hurting both sales and profits.
10. Although overall sales will remain paltry, increased activity by publishers selling direct to consumers from their Web sites, particularly digital downloads, will lead to “read and listen” bundles of e-books and digital audio and other pricing experiments.
11. Literary agents will begin to experience the same kind of consolidation that has hit other parts of the book business.
12. Publishers will rethink the traditional sales conference and begin to move toward a continuous publishing model.
13. Some publishers will begin producing a hardcover edition of every paperback and a large-print edition of every title.
14. Publishers will push harder to publicize books through the Internet channels as print and broadcast media continue to lose audience to the Web.
15. In addition to being the Year of the Author, 2008 will be the Year of the Experiment.

Interesting list.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)

Hitwise and December's Social Networking Shares

The ongoing changes in the popularity of social networking sites remains interesting. I still think this is market based. We see regional, national and teen/college variations. I am still shocked at the huge growth in teen oriented sites. It's fun to read some of the backlash against social sites. While it's critical thinking at its best, it also rings the same as the early days of the Internet and web when folks would ask "why would I want access to that much information?"; "Why woulod I buy anything online?"; etc.

"For December 2007, MySpace.com received 72 percent of U.S. visits among the social networking category. Facebook.com received 12.57 percent of visits and Bebo.com received 1.09 percent of visits. U.S. traffic to all the social networking websites increased four percent year-over-year. MyYearbook experienced the largest gain in market share in December 2007, increasing 407 percent compared to December of the previous year. Facebook and Club Penguin followed, increasing 51 and 48 percent, respectively.

“MySpace and Facebook remain the market leaders among social networking websites, retaining a loyal base of users,” said Heather Dougherty, director of research, Hitwise. “The continued popularity of social networking activities online will drive the interest of marketers seeking to target influential users to approve and advocate their products and services.” "

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

Top 10 Blogs

Well I am humbled. I can't believe that I made Blake's survey list:

The LISNews 10 Blogs To Read In 2008

Nice company.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:01 AM | Comments (2)

Going Green

I am so proud of SLA for doing this! Look for me at the SLA Leadership Summit next week in Louisville with my own mug. Same thing for Seattle in June.

I helped our Co-op building, where we still live, start one of the first recycling programs in apartments in Toronto over 20 years ago. We divert a lot now. 5 big bins of recycling weekly and only two for garbage for 104 units.

Oh yeah - free wireless at SLA in Seattle. W00t!

Stephen

Contact:
Cara Schatz
+1.703.647.4917
cara@sla.org

Special Libraries Association Announces Green Initiative
International Organization for Information Professionals Seeks to Provide Members with “Knowledge to Go Green”

For immediate release
Alexandria, Virginia, 11 January 2008 –The Special Libraries Association (SLA), a nonprofit global organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners, today announced it will take the first steps and begin efforts to become an environmentally sensitive organization at the membership, board, volunteer leadership, and staff level.
“The time has come for every organization to think this way, and with global climate change and other environmental issues becoming an increasing concern for our members, SLA is ready to do what WE can to make a difference,” said SLA CEO Janice R. Lachance. “As an international organization with more than 11,000 members, working together, we hope to have a positive impact on the future of the environment.”

Lachance continued, “Making this commitment is an important step for the association, however we also hope our members will capitalize on this effort to create a ‘ripple effect’ inside their homes and the organizations they work for. There are countless ways for info pros to do their jobs in a manner that would demonstrate this commitment. The theme for this initiative is ‘SLA: Knowledge to Go Green,’ and our members, knowledge workers across the globe, are just the right people to take this theme to heart and use their collective power and knowledge to make a real difference.”

SLA Headquarters has already begun implementing green practices in its day-to-day operations, such as eliminating unnecessary printing of documents and replacing disposable cups and utensils with flatware and ceramic coffee mugs and dinnerware.. Many of the paper products such as paper towels and napkins used at the Alexandria HQ building are now ordered from environmentally friendly companies that use recycled materials. Staff members, on their own, have begun an aggressive recycling program, and the association’s management is now encouraging the use of public transportation with various incentives and rewards. Additionally SLA has committed to purchasing carbon credits to offset all staff travel for events throughout the year.

Former Vice President Al Gore spoke in Denver at the SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in June 2007 and strongly encouraged members and staff to take a more serious look at our actions and operations and to take action to help the global environment. Following the Annual Conference, SLA Staff and the SLA Board of Directors were approached in 2007 by the members of the SLA Environment & Resource Management Division who asked that the association investigate strategic ways SLA could “go green” in 2008 and beyond

The first place SLA expects to see a significant chance to make an environmental impact is the SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in Seattle in June 2008. Seattle is well-known as a pioneer in green initiatives and has been recognized for its citywide environmental efforts. In addition to what the city offers, such as public transport and green hotels, there are a number of ways for attendees to make their own conference experience a greener one. SLA will be working with INFO-EXPO exhibitors and conference sponsors as well as attendees on how they can participate in this initiative by offering options such as providing the opportunity for them to purchase their own carbon offsets, and supplying free wireless Internet access throughout the conference center, allowing attendees to access hand-outs electronically and eliminating the need to print thousands of paper copies.

About SLA
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves more than 11,000 members in 75 countries in the information profession, including corporate, academic, and government information specialists. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. For more information, visit us on the Web at www.sla.org

Posted by stephen at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)

Thanks

Thanks to all of you who sent me good wishes and ideas on dealing with the shingles on my face. It's really awful (whiney howl here)! Anyway, lots of helpful ideas here and on Facebook as well as from my doctor and the web.

I hope the drugs start working soon. Since it is causing ear, head and neck glands to hurt a lot, it's driving me crazy. My tongue is huge. My lip is now three times it's normal size. And to think Hollywood folks pay for lip pumping!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

I'm still standing

A few folks are asking why I've been quiet on the blog. Nothing major - just very busy.

I spent the last few days at ALA Midwinter. It was fun but a little worrisome. I was there for at least two meetings where there were discussions (started by some pretty well known librarians) that began with assertions to kill / murder all vendors! I certainly worry when the discussions get this low and appalling. I never find using genocide or causing a holocaust for humour or to make a point very offensive. Then again, I think most people do. I was disappointed in the tenor of the debate on key issues where blamestorming seemed to rule. I was hopeful we could move beyond that.

And, I am preparing for the SLA Leadership Summit and Board meetings in Louisville Kentucky next week. I became President of SLA on January 1st. I am really looking forward to making a few exciting announcements! And seeing the SLA leaders for '08.

Also, I am fighting off a bad case of Shingles. I went to the doctor today for what I thought was hives or a rash and was told it was shngles. It hurts a lot and has affected half my face and yuckily entered my tongue, inner ear (ouch) and lips. Arrghhh!

Postings will start again soon.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:45 PM | Comments (4)

SLA New York

I had a nice trip to New York to visit the SLA Chapter there.

Here's the presentation.

Charting the Future of SLA and Libraries

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:48 PM | Comments (0)

January 7, 2008

Interviewing Facebook Users

A useful post was this one at ReadWriteWeb again. It's a great list of questions to ask your Facebook users about their use of Facebook. I think asking these questions of a few of your users will help you learn more from your users.

15 Questions for an Early Facebook User by Alex Iskold

Here are the interview questions:

BASICS

When did you first become a Facebook user?
What are your typical activities on Facebook?
What is the social impact of Facebook?
How did it change the way you keep in touch with your friends?

FUNCTIONALITY

What Facebook features you could not live without?
What features do you wish Facebook had?
What do you think of the Facebook user interface?
How did the Facebook platform changed enhance your usage of Facebook?
Do you have a lot of applications installed?
How about your friends?

PRIVACY

Do you trust Facebook with your personal information?
What have you seen that people have shared that you found out of line?
What sort of things would you hesitate to share?

ADVERTISING / SHOPPING

What do you think of Facebook advertising?
Would you purchase books, movies, or music if you saw that your friends bought them?
What if you knew that they were getting commission every time you bought something?

THE LONG TERM IMPACT

Would you still use Facebook after you graduate?
Would you be comfortable using Facebook to connect with your co-workers?
Where will Facebook be in 5 years?

Add you own interests and questions too.

Stphen

Posted by stephen at 6:51 PM | Comments (2)

Objection Handling for 2.0 and Social Media

Read Write Web has a great posting this week. It's called Ten Common Objections to Social Media Adoption and How You Can Respond by Marshall Kirkpatrick.

Read the original post for the responses. Useful stuff to have in your arsenal.

A List of Objections, Replies and Concessions Regarding Social Media and Tools

1. I suffer from information overload already.

2. So much of what's discussed online is meaningless. These forms of communication are shallow and make us dumber. We have real work to do!

3. I don't have the time to contribute and moderate, it looks like it takes a lot of time and energy.

4. Our customers don't use this stuff, the learning curve limits its usefulness to geeks.

5. Communicators [bloggers, tweeters] are so fickle, better to stay unengaged than risk random brand damage. We don't want hostile comments left about us on any forum we've legitimized.

6. Traditional media and audiences are still bigger, we'll do new stuff when they do.

7. Upper management won't support it/dedicate resources for it.

8. These startups can't offer meaningful security, they may not even be around in a year - I'll wait until Google or our enterprise software vendor starts offering this kind of functionality.

9. There are so many tools that are similar, I can't tell where to invest my time so I don't use any of it at all.

10. That stuff's fine for sexy brands, but we sell [insert boring B2B brand] and are known for stability more than chasing the flavor-of-the-month."

Be prepared.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 5, 2008

Every Kind of Web Marketing

Jeremiah Owyang, a web strategist with Forrester in San Francisco has updated his fantastic list of all the ways you can market on the web. It looks like at least one library is using every one of there techniques and technologies. No one is using all of them in any sector. This is a great list to review and see the opportuities to promote libraries, programs, content, training, events, librarianship, and more. As he notes, changes in communication require enterprises to adapt and evolve their marketing strategies.

A Complete List of the Many Forms of Web Marketing for 2008
January 1, 2008

Here's an outline from the post:

The Many Forms of Web Marketing:

1) Corporate Domain
A) Corporate Site
B) Portal Strategy
C) Microsites for Segmentation
D) Interactive Web Marketing
E) Intranet
F) Extranet
G) Regionalization

2) Search Marketing
A) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
B) Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

3) Out Bound and Syndicated Web MarketingA) Email Marketing
B) Invasive Marketing
C) Syndicated Content and RSS

4) Brand Extension
A) Web Advertising
B) Contextual Advertising
C) Sponsorship and /Cross branding/Affiliates
D) Social Advertisements
E) Widget Advertising

5) Community Marketing and Social Media Marketing
A) eCommerce/Rating Sites
B) Social Networking, Forums, Wikis, Collaboration
C) Syndicated Marketing
D) Podcast Marketing
E) Blogging.
F) Widget Marketing
G) Online Video and Live Streaming
H) Instant Messaging, Presence
I) Tagging, Collective Tools
J) Voting Features
K) MicroMedia
L) Infinite Other Flavors

6) Virtual Worlds
A) Virtual Worlds
B) Online Massive Multi Player Games
C) Online Games

7) Related Mediums
A) Internet TV (IPTV)
B) Mobile Content

8 ) Experimental: To Watch
A) Portability of the Social Graph.
B) Vendor Relationship Management

I did a session at last year's ALA in DC on marketing technologies for libraries and this is a good update.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:13 AM | Comments (2)

January 4, 2008

Quick 2007 Facts on Google

Jeff Jarvis compiled this list here:

• Google is the “fastest growing company in the history of the world.” – Times of London, 1/29/06
• Google controls 65.1% of all searches in the U.S. at the end of 2007 and 86% of all searches in the UK, according to measurement company Hitwise.
• Google was searched 4.4 billion times in the U.S. alone in October, 2007 (three times Yahoo), says Nielsen. Average searches per searcher: 40.7.
• Google’s sites had 112 million U.S. visitors in November, 2007, says Nielsen.
• Google’s traffic was up 22.4% in 2007 over 2006, according to Comscore.
• Google earned $15 billion revenue and $6.4 billion profit in 2007, a profit margin of 26.9%. Its revenue was up 57% in the last quarter of 2007 over 2006, says Yahoo Finance. As of late 2007, its stock was up 53% in a year. The company has a market capitalization of $207.6 billion.
• Google controls 79% of the pay-per-click ad market, according to RimmKaufman. It controls 40% of all online advertising, according to web site HipMojo.
• Google employed almost 16,000 people at the end of 2007, a 50% increase over the year before.
• Google became the No. 1 brand in the world in 2007, according to Millward Brown Brandz Top 100.

Interesting. We know this but it's still amazing for a company approaching 10 years old (That's Grade 5!).

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

13 Facebook Predictions for 2008

I recently discovered the Facebook Applications Reviews blog (Thanks Ellyssa). They published 13 predictions for Facebook for 2008:

"1. Facebook will break the 125 Million User Watermark
2. There will be over 37,000 Different Facebook Applications
3. Facebook will license it’s platform to 3 Major Social Networking Sites
4. Facebook will Partner with a Major Media Outlet to bring unique Multi-Media content to Facebook (or create their own)
5. Facebook will be the top social networking site in over 13 countries
6. Facebook will announce Facebook Platform 2 which will blow away how we think of social connections and add more robust features
7. Facebook will acquire 2 “widget companies”
8. Facebook will become the most commonly used standard for social widget/app development (Not Google’s Open Social)
9. You will no longer have to install an application to use it on Facebook
10. Facebooks unified payment system will bring the beginnings of ecommerce to a social ecosystem that generates over 300 Million in transactions.
11. Facebook will launch an Advertising Network for application developers that delivers higher value to consumers and application owners (revenue).
12. Facebook will hit 400+ Million in Revenue
13. Facebook will have 400 Applications from Brands in the ecosystem (70% will suck and get no traction because they don’t understand social networks and how to touch users in that environment)"

Alway interesting to watch Facebook. With a 2007 of ups and downs, I'll bet '08 will be even more of a roller coaster.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:21 PM | Comments (1)

Mobility

Some folks are predicting that 2008 is the tipping point for mobility growth in the North American market. It already tipped in the rest of the world!

Anyway, we're certainly seeing a lot of innovation in digital phones that are available. And the Apple iPhone is pushing everyone in the industry's envelope.

This posting from the CapGemini CTO blog had some nice facts:

"95% of cell phone owners never leave home with out carrying their phone;
3 billion people are always ‘connected’, twice the number of connected PCs;
54% of 14-24 year olds use their cell phone of the internet;
24% of Japanese cell phone traffic is voice traffic;
Between 1 and 6% of users ‘click through’ on cell phone adverts a higher percentage than on PCs."

I like this quote: "As the cell phone gets smarter, or at least more capable, it becomes increasingly a candidate for being the one ubiquitous device that we will all have and use most. Why? Because the user interfaces of phones are more natural in placing people at the centre of the activities they want to use for everyday matters as opposed to data entry centric interfaces on traditional PC keyboards."

Mobility. Worth watching. And one of the ideal places is to watch people and users in situ. Ask people the time. Do they look at a watch or their phone? If you ask for a phone number is it written down or stored on a pocket device? Ask a question about what features they use on their phone. Does the answer change from now to December 2008? Ask about downloads from a sports nut, golfer, politics junkie, news junkie, whatever. Ask if they've changed their ringtone and why? Ask about their games on their cel? Do they TXT, IM, e-mail, voice? How many phones do mthey have? (I am amazed ay the number of folks who carry two or more!) People won't voluteer this stuff and sometimes they will prevaricate. Look over shoulders. Be a digital ethnographer. Are their really generational differences? Are the differences market based? Are accountants on their Blackberries different than teens on a Razr?

Simply, are you collecting cel phone numbers are part of your OPAC profile?

Play recommendation: WidSets. This is a library site which as of today is offering a stunning 3,753 widgets for your cell phone!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:02 PM | Comments (0)

Music and Film

It's always interesting to look at the rest of the content industry. I find the developments in gaming, music, and movies as interesting as technological changes in books, magazines and the web. The short hand we use "BLANK is dead" elicits some interesting reactions when I speak around the continent.

I once (years ago) said that cassettes and CD-ROM would soon be as dead as vinyl. Someone came up afterwards visibly upset. "Vinyl is not dead!!!," he exclaimed. Gently I asked for what evidence he had of that. Apparently his library was still circulating vinyl, twice a month!

He was from an audiophile community that felt vinyl recordings were better. Personally I am positive that there are these niche markets but libraries can't fade to serving only tiny niche markets driven by hobbyists. (I grew up with vinyl and I remember that scratchy sound!) When you see vinyl not selling in music retail stores anymore - and for that matter cassettes you get pretty strong evidence that things are changing.

When DVD players can be had for $19.00, it's probably unwise to stick to Beta and VHS too much longer. I know it seems harsh but some library's floorspace and budgetary resources might be better served by lending cheap DVD players than devoting floorspace to tapes. Since everyone must have a digital television within a year when analog goes black we must have started to prepare for this already.

Anyway, here a few soundbites from the AP lately:

"The music industry can’t stop the hemorrhaging. Despite a nearly 45 percent surge in digital music sales last year, overall album sales in the U.S. still declined 9.5 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (It counts ten digital tracks as an album). "

"There were 500 million CDs and other physical albums sold last year, and another 844 million digital tracks (or 84.4 million digital “albums”)."

That compares to 588 million digital tracks sold in 2006. "Overall music purchases, including albums, singles, digital tracks and music videos, rose to 1.35 billion units, up 14 percent from 2006."

"Digital music accounted for 23 percent of all music sales in the U.S. last year."

"Last year, Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store became the third-largest music retailer in the U.S."

"A report released in November by Jupiter Research LLC forecast digital music sales will continue to grow to $2.8 billion, comprising 34 percent of U.S. consumer spending on music in 2012."

Mobile phone owners bought over 220 million ringtones"!! Hmmm. Does your libary have a ringtone?

"EMusic subscribers downloaded nearly 500,000 tracks and audio books on Christmas Day alone. The company's paid subscriber base exceeded 400,000 at the close of the year."

The last of the Big Four record publishers, Sony BMG, will shortly remove DRM form it's products. The others are Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and EMI. (here) ITunes and Amazon can follow. Watch for the Radiohead effect. We see more and more walls coming down around music. Will the same thing happen for eBooks? articles? patents? etc.?

Anyway, there will always be niche markets and they can be served effectively. We mts make sure that these markets are valid and we are not holding on to things for nostalgia reasons or other non-future oriented thinking.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:16 PM | Comments (1)

Web 2.0 Predictions for 2008

Dion Hinchcliffe has blogged his Web 2.0 Predictions for 2008. They're really interesting and worth reading the whole post. Here's the short list (Read the rest here):

"1. Open APIs finally go beyond free as successful business models emerge.

2. Rich Internet Application (RIA) platforms such as Adobe AIR and Microsoft's Silverlight get major traction as the development of non-trivial Web applications in Ajax remains difficult and time-consuming.

3. Google's product strategy begins to coalesce into a mostly coherent picture, though a few big pieces won't fit into the puzzle.

4. The Web 2.0 industry consolidates as it begins to mature.

5. End-user mashups will be a reality but adoption will be slow for most of the year as users take time coming to grips with the possibilities and mindset.

6. The Web widget format wars will ensue as Google Gadgets/OpenSocial takes on just about everyone else. No one will win yet.

7. Page view "inventories" for online advertising continue to fall short of demand, even if an economic downturn takes place.

8. Web-based Software as a service (SaaS), aka Office 2.0, continues to encounter serious challenges but grows at a record pace anyway. Despite this, positive aspects of SaaS will continue to prevail and 2008 is looking to be the biggest SaaS year yet.

9. A wave of new killer mobile Web applications (and their startups) appear, spurred by the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) and ever more untethered workers.

10. The first Android-powered phones will fail to impress and a decent, though not spectacular, iPhone upgrade keeps Apple ahead of the industry.

11. Social media begins to grow up, leading to the first significant onset of Web 2.0 versions of talent agents, production companies, and other supply/demand enablers.

12. Leading social networking sites MySpace and Facebook continue to maintain their traffic but struggle to ignite significant revenue growth.

13. The Web moves into the living room as sites like Hulu and others make it practical and rewarding to participate on the Web using a large screen for entertainment.

14. The first generation of pure Web 2.0 auteurs emerge, creating social media and user-centric online experiences that are highly imaginative and popular, but difficult to access for the non-digitally literate.

15. Ownership of data contributed to Web 2.0 sites becomes a growing public relations issue, though the average user won't care much this year. "

Can't say I disagree. Good post.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:06 PM | Comments (0)

ACRL Environmental Scan

The Association of College and Research Libraries has just released the 2007 Environmental Scan (by the ACRL Research Committee) It is dated January 2008.

You can download your 29 Page PDF here.

To whet your appetite:

Top Ten Assumptions for the Future of Academic Libraries and Librarians

1. There will be an increased emphasis on digitizing collections, preserving digital archives, and improving methods of data storage, retrieval, curation, and service.

2. The skill set for librarians will continue to evolve in response to the changing needs and expectations of the populations they serve, and the professional background of library staff will become increasingly diverse in support of expanded service programs and administrative needs.

3. Students and faculty will continue to demand increasing access to library resources and services, and to expect to find a rich digital library presence both in enterprise academic systems and as a feature of social computing.

4. Debates about intellectual property will become increasingly common in higher education, and resources and educational programming related to intellectual property management will become an important part of library service to the academic community.

5. The evolution of information technology will shape both the practice of scholarly inquiry and the daily routine of students and faculty, and demands for technology-related services and technology-rich user environments will continue to grow and will require additional funding
.
6. Higher education will be increasingly viewed as a business, and calls for accountability and for quantitative measures of library contributions to the research, teaching, and service missions of the institution will shape library assessment programs and approaches to the allocation of institutional resources
.
7. As part of the “business of higher education,” students will increasingly view themselves as “customers” of the academic library and will demand high-quality facilities, resources, and services attuned to their needs and concerns.

8. Online learning will continue to expand as an option for students and faculty – both on campus and off – and libraries will gear resources and services for delivery to a distributed academic community.

9. Demands for free, public access to data collected, and research completed, as part of publicly funded research programs will continue to grow.

10. The protection of privacy and support for intellectual freedom will continue to be defining issues for academic libraries and librarians."

An excellent place to start a strategic conversation.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)

Top Inventions of 2008

Must read article with loads of goodness:

Michael S. Hart, The Top Inventions of 2008, Global Politician, January 3, 2008. Hart is the founder of Project Gutenberg.

Read the entire article for more, but here are some tantalizing tidbits:

What will be the top inventions in 2008?

1. Inexpensive Terabytes and USB 3.0

Cool - never needing to delete anything! Easy backups! Virtually unlimited storage.

2. Virtual Reference Service

Can we go global? "The world could be a much better place for it."

3. Virtual Libraries [Taken One At A Time]

"By the end of 2008 the Project Gutenberg Library will be as large -- or larger-- than the average United States Public Library."

There are now 30,000+ volumes originating from Project Gutenberg plus over 75,000 donated via eLibraries around the world.

Hart predicts that whole virtual libraries - 30,000 books of a million characters each - will be able to be worn on keychains, necklaces, bracelets, etc.

These small text files also work very will with compression program varieties such as .zip files, that allow 5 books to be stored in an alternate .zip file in the space 2 books took previously.

"2008 will see 12 gigabyte USB flash drives for under $100. $100 to carry every word in 30,000 books. . . . In less space and weight than your average wristwatch.

4. Virtual Libraries [Taken As A Whole]

There are only a few dozen physical libraries in the world with more than 7 million books. Perhaps by the end of 2008, there are going to be 7 million eBooks in the world

5. "The Information Age? For Whom?!?" "A New Digital Divide?"

"This is one of the major Information Science issues of 2008. "

Of course, there the whole library perspective and the context driven perspective - whole curricula on a keychain... Shift happens.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:37 PM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2008

Ten things that will change your future

From the January 1, 2008 Sydney Morning Herald. I hadn't heard of all of thse but they're interesting. More in the article.

Ten things that will change your future

THE CHUMBY
http://www.chumby.com
MICROBLOGGING
http://www.pownce.com
http://www.jaiku.com
EVERYBLOCK
http://www.chicagocrime.org
http://www.everyblock.com
23ANDME
http://www.23andme.com
PEER-TO-PEER LENDING
http://www.kiva.org
MOB RULES
http://www.rheingold.com
GUERILLA WI-FI
http://www.meraki.com
WORLD COMMUNITY GRID
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
LOOPT
http://www.loopt.com
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD
http://www.laptop.org

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:03 PM | Comments (1)