Canada Ranks as a Global Leader in Online Video Viewing

 

Average Canadian Watched 10 Hours of Video Online in February

 

TORONTO, CANADA, April 21, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on the Canadian online video market, based on February 2009 comScore Video Metrix data, which showed that 21 million Canadians viewed more than 3.1 billion videos online during the month. The average Canadian online video viewer spent 10 hours viewing videos in February, up 53 percent from their average viewing time last year.

 

“Canada’s high broadband penetration and tech savvy Internet users make it an optimal environment for online video to flourish,” said Bryan Segal, vice president of sales, comScore Canada. “The combined forces of reach, high engagement and ‘sight, sound and motion’ make online video a particularly attractive brand-building vehicle for online advertisers.”

 

Google Sites Holds Commanding Lead in Canadian Video Market
Google Sites led as the most popular video destination in February with more than 1.6 billion videos viewed (52 percent share of all videos), and YouTube.com accounting for nearly 99 percent of videos viewed at the property. Microsoft Sites ranked as the second most popular video destination with 55.6 million videos viewed (1.8 percent share), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 45.7 million videos (1.5 percent share). 

 

Top Canadian Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed February 2009 Total Canada – Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property	Videos  (000)	Share (%) of Videos
Total Internet : Total Audience	3,107,826	100.0
Google Sites	1,625,244	52.3
Microsoft Sites	55,645	1.8
Yahoo! Sites	45,697	1.5
Megavideo.com	36,828	1.2
CTVglobemedia	25,200	0.8
Dailymotion.com	20,930	0.7
Facebook.com	19,470	0.6
Viacom Digital	18,190	0.6
Turner Network	12,368	0.4
Fox Interactive Media	11,694	0.4

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.  Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Canadians Watched Nearly 150 Videos per Viewer in February
More than 21 million Canadian viewers, or 88 percent of the total Canadian Internet population, watched an average of 147 videos per viewer in February. Google Sites attracted the most viewers with 18.2 million watching an average of 89 videos per viewer during the month. Microsoft Sites drew 7.1 million viewers, while Facebook ranked third with 5.8 million viewers.

 

Top Canadian Online Video Properties* by Unique Viewers February 2009 Total Canada – Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property	Unique Viewers (000)	Average Videos per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience	21,129	147.1
Google Sites	18,171	89.4
Microsoft Sites	7,113	7.8
Facebook.com	5,848	3.3
Yahoo! Sites	4,954	9.2
Fox Interactive Media	2,895	4.0
Dailymotion.com	2,718	7.7
Viacom Digital	2,678	6.8
CTVglobemedia	2,329	10.8
Megavideo.com	1,940	19.0
CBS Interactive	1,879	3.0

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.  Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

 

Other notable findings from February 2009 include:

• The average online video was 4.1 minutes in length, up nearly 25 percent from the previous year’s 3.3 minute average. 
• More than 1.6 billion videos were viewed by 18 million viewers on YouTube.com in February, representing nearly 90 videos per viewer.
• Nearly 88 percent of the total Canadian Web population viewed online video in February, the highest penetration of the five countries currently reported by comScore Video Metrix (France 82 percent, Germany 82 percent, U.K. 81 percent, U.S. 76 percent).
• The average online video viewer in Canada watched 605 minutes of video in the month, the largest amount of time of the five countries reported by comScore Video Metrix (U.K. 540 minutes, Germany 466 minutes, France 390 minutes, U.S. 312 minutes).

 

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:11 PM | Comments (0)

SLA Honors 12 Green Champions With Special Presidential Citation

Here's something we started last year and sought to announce today, Earth Day.

22 April 2009

SLA Honors 12 Green Champions With Special Presidential Citation
Individuals and Organizations Planting the Seeds of Change by Providing “Knowledge to Go Green”

In recognition of Earth Day, SLA is proud to announce the 12 recipients of the 2008 SLA Presidential Citation honoring SLA “Knowledge to Go Green” Champions. The 2008 Green Citation, presented in early 2009, was a special one-year citation created by Past President of SLA Stephen Abram in recognition of the association’s commitment to green practices through the “Knowledge to Go Green” initiative.

“I am so impressed with the diversity of contributions that SLA members have made to demonstrate their commitment to being SLA 'Knowledge to Go Green' Champions,” said Abram. “We are planting the seeds of positive change with this initiative in order to show that librarians and information professionals can use their skills and collective power to make a positive difference and protect the environment for future generations.”

The SLA “Knowledge to Go Green” Champions are listed here in three categories, along with the text from each citation.

“Making an impact with this initiative requires innovation, dedication, and willingness to change from each and every one of us. I created this citation because I wanted to reward those members and leaders who embody the ‘Knowledge to Go Green’ mentality and have put a priority on greening the way they work, live, learn, and play. We all have it in us to change and become Green Champions, and I was thrilled to be able to recognize these inspirational early adapters already making a difference, and I thank them for their efforts,” said Abram.

Happy Earth Day

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:02 PM

Protecting Your Online Identity

This posting from Mashable comes at this issue from another direction than usual. How do you protect your brand from an institutional point of view?

A Guide to Protecting Your Online Identity
by Leah Betancourt

Think how Amazon was hurt by the hashtag #amazonfail on Twitter.

Don't let that be your place of work.

So far there's just one #libraryfail on Twitter Search posted by a couple of UK student filmmakers.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:22 PM

Is Amazon Getting Too Powerful?

Libraries and Retailers have always had an uncomfortable relationship. We're in much the same space in user's minds around reading but with different value propositions (and prices). As with everything else these days, the firmament is shifting beneath our feet. Indeed the role of Amazon in the retail space is becoming quite strong - too strong?

This posting from the Kindle 2 blog is a great place to start the debate:

Are Amazon + Kindle becoming the Wal-Mart of publishing?

Consider this small part of the post:

"Why is Amazon’s dominance of publishing almost unstoppable?

In the past I’ve talked about the ridiculous amount of traffic Amazon gets -

72-78.5 million people a month (from the US), and add another 46 million or so non US visitors.

Here’s a list of publishing and books related sites and companies Amazon owns -

TeleBook (http://www.telebuch.de), which became Amazon.de.
Bookpages.co.uk, which became Amazon.co.uk.
Joyo.com became Amazon.cn.
Abebooks (used and rare books) which gets 1 million people a month.
LibraryThing.com (book social network) gets 534K people a month (Amazon has a 40% stake).
Audible.com (audio books) gets 453K people a month.
MobiPocket.com (store, software, ebook format) gets 49.3K people a month.
Shelfari (book social network) which gets 48.9K people a month.
BookSurge (book printing on demand) which gets 26.5K people a month.
GoJaba (used, rare, and out of print books).
Amazon Digital Text Platform for self–publishing for Kindle Store.
Brilliance Audio (audio-books).
Fillz (inventory and sales management for books, CDs, etc.)
BookFinder (new and used books and textbooks) which gets 315K people a month.
Are we forgetting something?
Yes! Amazon’s trump card - Kindles + the Kindle Store."

If you've been following some of the issues associated with the Kindle lately and the 'cataloguing mistake' that shone a big light on the power of Amazon to potentially move the market dynamics in a direction that they choose.

Are libraries strong enough to provide another parallel path? Can we offer the same technologies or will powerful interests ice us out? Will copyright remain or move towards a better balance of author and end user rights? Will special need be addressed such as the right of the visually impaired to have text read to them mechanically?

The role of our associations to represent alternative positions in this era has never been more important.

It would be shame if libraries couldn't provide access to everything.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:37 PM | Comments (1)

Some Interesting eBook Statistics

The International Digital Publishing Forum stats on eBook sales:

You might also want to look at this Reuters article:

Penguin signs China e-book deal as sales rise in U.S.

Highlights:

1. Penguin’s ebook sales in the first 3 months of 2009 are up 7 times as compared to the first 3 months of 2008.
2. Currently ebooks account for up to 1% of their ebook sales. They expect the share to be greater than 1% by end of the year.
3. John Makinson, CEO of Penguin, said they were “running up to around 1 percent of sales” in the U.S. and would be more than 1 percent by the end of the year.

Also, there is some interesting news about eTextbook sales and the impact free eBooks have on them.

At London Book Fair, Panel Says Two-Year British E-Textbook Study is Myth-Shattering

Panel "participants and administrators from Britain’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) discussed the results of a recently concluded "observatory" project in which JISC provided free access for two years to 36 core e-textbooks in science, technology and medicine to all U.K. university students, in order to study usage patterns.

The full report will be released in June. The initial findings "shattered some myths" about e-books, said Hazel Woodward, university librarian and press director at Cranford (U.K.) University. "We hope the study will help put some dynamism into the marketplace."

"Among the most important findings for publishers is that having access to the e-texts had "no impact" on print sales. While the e-texts were "heavily used," figures showed that print sales, anaylzed using Nielsen statistics, and coupled with a formula for natural attrition of print sales, remained steady. In addition, Woodward said the study laid to rest the myth of a so-called "Google" generation, as use of the e-textbooks was strong across all age groups. As for how students used the e-books, specifically, whether they read online, the jury is still out, Woodward noted. The average session was about 13 minutes and involved eight pages, but users generally dipped in and out of the e-texts, rather than read them for extended periods."

"JISC's Liam Earney noted that users are "deeply unhappy" with the current models for buying e-books, and urged publishers to see e-books as a "new market to exploit and grow," rather than a threat to their existing business."

The good boat 'Book' is shifting the sails.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

Tom was my first friend.

Until MySpace kicked me off for no reason, it was a place a spent a lot of time exploring.

They still haven't told me why they kicked my off, destroyed my page and offered no recourse. It was around the time that they were kicking the registered offenders off, so maybe I have the same nam as someone icky. Anyway, that highhandedness just turned me off MySpace altogether. When you invest tie in building a page and then have it pulled with no recourse, you just never feel safe there again.

Anyway, I never went back and spent my time in Facebook and a few other social sites.

Anyway, it's reported today that the top managememnt team at MySpace is toast within weeks and even founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe will be gone. It will be interesting to see who the new CEO, President and CTO will be.

It looks like News Corp and Fox Media want changes. It will be interesting to see what those are.

Plus ca change....

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

Top 50 Librarian Blogs

Cool.

Here's a list from GetDegrees:

Top 50 Librarian Blogs

[Full Dislcosure: This blog made the top 10!]

I guess I really am a librarian-geek. I think I have every one of these in my RSS feeds.

It's a pretty good list.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2009

New OCLC Report on OPACs

OCLC releases new report, Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want

"In 2008, OCLC conducted focus groups, administered a pop-up survey on WorldCat.org—OCLC’s freely available end user interface on the Web—and conducted a Web-based survey of librarians worldwide.

The Online Catalogs report presents findings from these research efforts in order to understand:

- The metadata elements that are most important to end users in determining if an item will meet his or her needs
- The enhancements end users would like to see made in online library catalogs to assist them in consistently identifying appropriate materials
- The enhancements librarians would recommend for online library catalogs to better assist them in their work

The findings indicate, among other things, that although library catalogs are often thought of as discovery tools, the catalog’s delivery-related information is just as important to end users."

"This new report summarizes the findings of research conducted by OCLC on what constitutes quality in library online catalogs from both end users’ and librarians’ points of view.

Key findings:

- The end user’s experience of the delivery of wanted items is as important, if not more important, than his or her discovery experience.
- End users rely on and expect enhanced content including summaries/abstracts and tables of contents.
- An advanced search option (supporting fielded searching) and facets help end users refine searches, navigate, browse and manage large result sets.
- Important differences exist between the catalog data quality priorities of end users and those who work in libraries.
- Librarians and library staff, like end users, approach catalogs and catalog data purposefully.
- End users generally want to find and obtain needed information; librarians and library staff generally have work responsibilities to carry out. The work roles of librarians and staff influence their data quality preferences.
- Librarians’ choice of data quality enhancements reflects their understanding of the importance of accurate, structured data in the catalog."

View report here (68 page PDF).

I haven't had the chance to read this report slowly yet but wanted to get the word out since OCLC reports are always heavily discussed in libraryland. I think on quick review that the data supporting the definition of a gap between librarian and end user enhancement requests is interesting. It's also useful to see the differences in requests from types of libraries.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:50 PM

Touch me in the morning

Microsoft recently put out this video. It's only two minutes long and all of the technologies are nearer than we think. Watch it.

Microsoft's Future Vision Series:
Microsoft's 2019 Future Vision Montage: Envisioning the Future HD

Now how does this sort of thing impact libraries? publishing? news? medicine? etc.?

It's a neat little video and having everything in your pocket, being able to have it at your actual fingertips and having touch controls . . . priceless.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:25 PM | Comments (0)

Google Returns to Librarians

Surprise!

The latest isue of the Google Librarian Newsletter arrived in my in slot this morning (April 21) dated April 6, 2009 (I guess that's how long it takes to get through marketing and legal approvals!). With all of the amcius briefs. etc. going to the U.S. courts from our library associations, challenging the fairness of the AAP-Author's Guild-Google agreement over copyrights and the digital books in Google Book Search, I guess they decided they needed to talk to us again. Then again, maybe I am too cynical. If they're really worried perhaps they'll start using Google Librarian Central again.

Google Librarian Newsletter

In This Issue:
Letter from the Editor

Features:
Google Book Search Settlement
Google Book Search comes to mobile
New content on Google

Best of the Inside Google Book Search Blog - the last 6 months:

"But where to start?"
"Book search everywhere with new partnerships and tools"
"A first for France: the city of Lyon and Google partner up to digitize books"

Product Announcements:
Knol

You will note that they are creating a license for libraries to use out of copyright works for free. How nice of them! Didn't everyone already have that right for public domain stuff?

I have to admit that there is marvelous stuff here. Are we paying too high a price?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:55 PM | Comments (0)

Publisher and Librarian Metadata - Different for a Reason?

OCLC recently hosted a Symposium for Publishers and Librarians to explore metadata needs and practices at OCLC Headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, on March 18 and 19, 2009. "Approximately 50 leaders from the library community and publishing industry around the world participated in the event. Participants presented and discussed the issues surrounding the metadata needs for libraries and the publisher supply chain. Participating organizations included representatives from national, academic and public libraries, and from publishing organizations and associations, book groups, and standards organizations."

"What have we learned?

- Libraries and library metadata not necessarily on publisher's radar and vice versa.
- How MARC and ONIX represent misalignment of libraries and publishers.
- Structure of formats is inhibiting mutual understanding and ability to work together.
- Authors and users are important inputs to the metadata debate.
- We need to influence the ILS industry to accommodate data flexibility.
- We should View ONIX and MARC as communication mechanisms not as standards to support systems.
- Look at motivation as a way to understand who will or can do what.
- Leverage intellectual work for everyone—figure out how to use it.
- Proposals are a good way to vet ideas. Keep the conversation moving
- Identify small chunks of problem areas where we can accomplish change. The CIP process and ISNI are good place to start.

View the report and outcomes

This is an interesting initiative. The disconnect in the supply chain between publisher, bookstore, library, author and user needs is definitely in need of further discussion, study and understanding.

Keep an eye on it.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:40 AM

Everything Starts Somewhere

OK, this Honeywell ad from about 1977 is a hoot. It just goes to show that every new technology starts somewhere and there's always someone who doesn't understand what it does or what use it is.

When was the last time you heard someone say that they just don't need [insert Twitter, Facebook, IM, etc. here]?

And thirty-odd years later there are a few people in North America who don't use e-mail (largely a shrinking group of seniors and a growing group of kids). It doesn't mean we don't use it as part of our toolkit.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:13 AM

Downloading Study

From Michael Geist's blog [I got to see and hear Michael at an evening meeting of CASLIS last week and he was awesome. He's a wonderful spokesperson for balance in copyright.]:

Norwegian Study Finds Downloaders Buy More
Tuesday April 21, 2009

"A Norwegian study (English translated version: Pirates are the Best Customers) into the music downloading and purchasing habits of nearly 2,000 Internet users found that downloaders were more likely to buy music than non-downloaders. The finding is consistent with a previous Industry Canada-sponsored study."

Of course, we librarians don't need a study. Everyone knows that people who borrow books are more likely to buy more books! I was once told by a director of a large urban public library that their circulation went UP when the big box bookstore opened across the street.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:46 AM

April 20, 2009

The Future of E-Books

Today's Wall Street Journal has a neat article:

April 20, 2009
How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write
Author Steven Johnson outlines a future with more books, more distractions -- and the end of reading alone

It's another interesting discussion piece. With Google having signed up 40,000 current publishers world wide for it's site, I think we're looking at major dramatic change in the book space in short order. Book retailers, e-tailers like Amazon, libraries and educational institutions will need to be quite nimble to keep up. Just ask the newspaper folks what's needed in hindsight!

A good start is for every library to have an Amazon Kindle and a Sony Reader for everyone (including users) to play with. That's what informed decision making looks like - play first, then decide.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:32 PM | Comments (0)

The Psychology of Twitter

I commend this post from Library clips to your reading:

Microblogging is a low barrier to use as it’s intune with human behaviourBy John Tropea

“This is a key point, because humans are inherently social creatures who engage primarily in conversational talking. Most of us aren’t authors and don’t write books, articles, or even blogs. We simply know how to talk, and Twitter is the first text service to adequately mimic this behavior in an online medium.”

I think understanding the conversational nature of Twitter is the key to understanding how to use it to our personal (and other) advantage. It seems conversational to me as well as having that social grooming aspect that was first observed in baboon hygiene. It's becoming part of the social glue and connectivity of society - Lordy between CNN, Oprah and Ashton Kutcher how can you miss it!?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2009

Facebook and Grades in College

Well, this story sure got a lot of play on the web, in the blogosphere and on TV.

Ohio State University published this on their research website:

STUDY FINDS LINK BETWEEN FACEBOOK USE, LOWER GRADES IN COLLEGE

Check out these blog postings as commentary:

Dangerously Irrelevant Blog
Facebook, college students, and lower grades
By Dr Scott Mcleod

Grown Up Digital Blog
Are Facebook use and university grades linked?
By Don Tapscott

AllFacebook Blog
Does Facebook Use Result In Bad Grades?
By Kristen Nicole

I even saw Don Tapscott interviewed a few times on TV.

I have a few key quotes:

"Correlation is not causation"

"The study’s authors caution against drawing any firm conclusions based on their research."

"It cannot be stated (that) Facebook use causes a student to study less” or get lower grades, says study co-author Aryn Karpinski, a doctoral student and graduate teaching associate at Ohio State University."

"There were a mere 15 undergraduate non-Facebook users in the study." (!!!!)

I also have comments, of course:

Honest to Pete, where do you find a university student who isn't on Facebook? Isn't it the equivalent to comparing automobile drivers to an Amish farming community?

Wouldn't the larger Facebook users' community be more diverse and representative than a small outlier cohort?

When did 15 students in a purportedly statistcally based study allow for such tentative conclusions to be headlined as "Study finds link between Facebook use, Lower Grades in College: College students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for the social networking website, according to a pilot study at one university." in a press release on the Ohio State University's website? I hope it's just an automated link rather than an indication of sloppy scholarship.

The potential of a study such as this to be used uncritically is high. Luckily most of the postings and TV commentary I saw were more critical and used judgment in interpreting the data. I fear others might just react to the soundbite. Hence. I'll collect some commentary here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:07 PM | Comments (1)

Intranet Stats and ROI

A recent post from IntranetBlog contains some good conference blogging abou the value of intranets. Some teasers:

"- 80% believe intranet navigation needs improvement (Watson Wyatt)
- 50% don't actually use their intranet on a daily basis (Watson Wyatt)
- 50% find search ineffective (Watson Wyatt)"

"Employees use outside of work:
- 75% use Facebook
- 75% use LinkedIn
- 45% use YouTube
- 35% use Wikis
- 32% use Blogs"

"Intranet 2.0 Global Survey:
42% have intranet blogs
47% have intranet wikis
23% have intranet podcasts
15% have intranet social networking
20% have intranet content tagging
35% have intranet RSS
15% have intranet social networking
48% have intranet discussion forums
49% have intranet instant messaging
7% have intranet mashups
47% of organizations using SharePoint for Intranet 2.0 tools"

Read the full post here.

Intranets - More collaboration, less retrieval...?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:51 PM

Growth of Facebook

Goodness, could Facebook be growing any faster?

I am noticing that they're suggesting fan pages in the friend suggestions now. You can populate your community with friends of the library by making sure your friends and staff are friends. That's how to get viral - catch the bug and infect the rest.

When you friend someone on Facebook you potentially friend every person they've ever friended.

Use that to connect to your community.

Stephen

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

April 18, 2009

Is Firefox the most vulnerable browser?

These debates about browser preferences can reach epic religious battle, even crusade, proportions. I thought that this study was interesting:

Firefox rated most vulnerable web browser
That's according to security firm Secunia, noting 115 vulnerabilities in the browser in 2008.

Maybe it's all in just how you count...?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

The State of America's Libraries 2009

The State of America's Libraries Report 2009

"Library use increases dramatically as economy sags; funding declines"

"The importance of libraries in American life continued to grow in 2008—and accelerated dramatically as the national economy sank and people looked for sources of free, effective help in a time of crisis.

A Harris Poll released in September revealed that 68 percent of Americans have a library card, an increase of 5 percent since 2006. In-person visits increased 10 percent in the same period, and 76 percent of Americans had visited their local public library in the year preceding the survey, compared with 66 percent two years ago.

Online-visit data were even more remarkable: 41 percent of library card holders visited their library websites in the year before the poll, compared with 24 percent in 2006.

Libraries, an excellent community resource in ordinary times, in extraordinary times become something of a goldmine."

Table of Contents

Download Print Version (.pdf) (40 pages)

Press Release

Introduction
Public Libraries
School Libraries
Academic Libraries
Library Technology
Copyright and Licensing
Social Networking
Library Construction and Renovation
Outreach and Diversity Efforts
Washington Scene
Library Advocacy and Legislation
First Amendment Issues
Sources
Feedback and Contact Information

The annual must read report from ALA. This one focuses on the current challenges and opportunities in this economy.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2009

12th Annual Global CEO Survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers

Thanks to Bruce Harpham for this on his blog which deserves wider distribution:

A Curious View of the World
A Blog on Information, Culture, Technology, History, Politics, Economics and More

12th Annual Global CEO Survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers: An Opportunity for Information Professionals

I happened to be browsing the PWC website and noticed that they have released their 12th Annual Global CEO Survey. This makes for some interesting reading (have a look at the full 44 page report). There is plenty of interest here, ranging from general economic impressions to opinions on working with government to an interesting stress on the need for greater collaboration. On a related note, I like how the report is presented and I appreciate that the company decided to make it publicly available.

For people in my field, there is a particularly important section on pages 26-27:

As companies collaborate more with more stakeholders, they are able to gather more information, for example, about the risks their supply chain partners face. But CEOs still see major gaps in the information they need to survive the next 12 months and make decisions about the long-term success of their businesses. CEOs believe that agility, customer service, talent, management and reputation are the four most important factors in long-term competitive advantage.

Not surprisingly, most also believe that data about their customers (94%), brand (91%) and employees (88%) are important or critical to long-term decision-making. However, strikingly low percentages of CEOs say they have comprehensive information in these and other critical areas that contribute to organisational agility. Just 21% have comprehensive information about the needs and preferences of customers and clients. Less than one third feel they have all the information they need about reputation (31%) and the views and needs of employees (30%).

CEOs do not just want more data. They want different kinds of information than the historical financial metrics they already have in abundance. More specifically, they want forward-looking information, which includes non-financial data. For example, the widest gap, 74 points, concerns the information necessary to anticipate customer needs. The second largest gap, is 70 points, between the importance and availability of risk information (see figure 3.2.2).

In order to make effective decisions in today’s extreme operating conditions, CEOs are trying to see over a horizon that is approaching at high speed. To meet this challenge, companies need to collaborate more effectively, build relationships that can provide access to better information and use this intelligence to create the critical balance."

I added emphasis to a particularly important point in the third paragraph - financial data (internally at the very least) will already be collected and analyzed by accountants. What about other kinds of data? That is something where we can add value. When decision making happens without good information and evidence, all you’re left with luck and hope that things will turn out right. The unexplored territory in this territory is the public sector. Do university presidents have the right information they need to lead through the recession? What about deputy ministers? What about hospital CEOs? Or mayors? I would suspect that they are in a similar situation of acting with poor or inadequate knowledge - though I am more happy to be corrected on that point.

Finally, I think the firm launched the survey in a great way. Not only do you have access to the full report and the executive summary, there is also a breakdown of results by industry and a great Web 2.0 feature called Explore the Data. I appreciate when this sort of information is made available in multiple forms and to this level of depth."

This stuff echoes quite nicely some of the data that was published in the SLA Alignment Project Research.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:08 PM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2009

Pew Report on the Internet and the 2008 Campaign

The Internet's Role in Campaign 2008
by Aaron Smith (Apr 15, 2009)

"Some 74% of internet users--representing 55% of the entire adult population--went online in 2008 to get involved in the political process or to get news and information about the election. This marks the first time that a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey has found that more than half of the voting-age population used the internet to get involved in the political process during an election year.

Several online activities rose to prominence in 2008. In particular, Americans were eager to share their views on the race with others and to take part in the online debate on social media sites such as blogs and social networking sites. Among the key findings of our survey:

Nearly one in five (18%) internet users posted their thoughts, comments or questions about the campaign on an online forum such as a blog or social networking site.
Fully 45% of internet users went online to watch a video related to the campaign.
One in three internet users forwarded political content to others. Indeed, the sharing of political content (whether writing and commentary or audio and video clips) increased notably over the course of the 2008 election cycle. While young adults led the way in many political activities, seniors were highly engaged in forwarding political content to their friends and family members.
Young voters continued to engage heavily in the political debate on social networking sites. Fully 83% of those age 18-24 have a social networking profile, and two-thirds of young profile owners took part in some form of political activity on these sites in 2008.
The relative importance of the internet also continued to grow within the overall political media ecosystem. Among the entire population (internet users and non-users alike) the internet is now equal to newspapers and roughly twice as important as radio as a source of election news and information. Among internet users and young adults, these differences are even more magnified.

Additionally, online political news consumers are delving deeply into the long tail of online political content--nearly half of online political news consumers visited five or more distinct types of online news sites this election cycle. However, this deeper involvement may change the way voters view online news content. Voters are increasingly moving away from news sites with no point of view, and towards sites that match their own political viewpoints--and this is especially true of those who delve deepest into the world of online political content.

Due to demographic differences between the two parties, McCain voters were actually more likely than Obama voters to go online in the first place. However, online Obama supporters were generally more engaged in the online political process than online McCain supporters. Among internet users, Obama voters were more likely to share online political content with others, sign up for updates about the election, donate money to a candidate online, set up political news alerts and sign up online for volunteer activities related to the campaign. Online Obama voters were also out in front when it came to posting their own original political content online--26% of wired Obama voters did this, compared with 15% of online McCain supporters."

Read the full report here. (92 page PDF)

Election campaigns are the ultimate exercise in influence. Libraries can learn from these activities in influencing their commnuities, whether it's marketing a story hour, voting on a library bond issue or budget, capturing the hearts and minds of new cohorts of users... or more.

All politics is local. To support your local library, learn from the pros.

Even the story in this report about where American's get their news is educational.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)

Happy Birthday Dilbert

Can't let this go by.

Happy 20th Birthday Dilbert!

Dilbert made his newspaper debut on April 16, 1989.

Honestly, how does Scott Adams visit so many of our offices, attend so many of our meetings and know so many of our co-workers. It's uncanny!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

For the Bulletin Board

Print and post:

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:02 PM | Comments (1)

April 15, 2009

More Lessons from the US Election

Don Tapscott, of Grown Up Digital and other bestsellers fame, points out that:

"New figures released by the Census Bureau confirm that the 18-29 age group was the only age group that increased voter turnout in the 2008 election compared to 2004. The new numbers are posted on the United States Elections Project website, which is operated by Dr. Michael McDonald of George Mason University."

"The turnout rate for citizens age 18-29 increased 2.1 percentage points between 2004 and 2008 while all other age categories experienced a decline. The 30-44 age group dropped by 0.6 percent, the 45-59 group dropped 1.5 percent, and the 60+ group declined by 0.7 percent. This increased turnout by young people helped ensure President Barack Obama’s victory."

This has several implications for the savvy library system, especialy if they depend on voters for bond issues, new building votes, etc. Some research show that young people under thirty are highly supportive of libraries given their more recent memories of supportive school libraries, great public library story hours and college and university help centres - as long as they were good and modern.

Now that a significant cohort of these folks have been engaged in the political process, are findable through social networking tools, and believe that they can have a positive impact on change - we have a hope of engaging them in understanding the role of libraries in their communities.

Savvy libraries will target this new cohort. The tipping point was 2008.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:05 PM

Sharing Slide Presentations

Here are two services that help you share slide presentations with others:

SlideShare

SlideBoom

These things come in handy, what with most e-mails blocking large file attachments.

You can also search for presentations here for ideas.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:52 PM | Comments (0)

Twitter: The Personal and the Institutional...

This is a timely article from CIO.com:

Twitter Tips: How to Safely Blend the Personal and the Professional

I like the idea that separating your personal and private Twitter identities is probably a good idea.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:39 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2009

Web Trends

Information Architects has released the final beta for the fourth iteration of its awesome Web Trends Map series.

This is a great visualization of current Internet trends, and how companies and individuals fit into it.

The print version will be in a limited edition ...

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2009

Some Softening up in Government 2.0

I was happy to see this post from the SLA Government Information Division:

"GSA Gets Agreement with Facebook

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has reached an agreement with Facebook on terms of use for federal agencies, according to the 10 April 2009 FCW.com article GSA signs agreement with Facebook by Doug Beizer. From the article:

The General Services Administration has signed an agreement with Facebook that clears the way for federal agencies to use the social-networking Web site, a GSA official told Federal Computer Week today. The official declined to provide details about the agreement but said it takes effect immediately.

At this time, GSA has not posted a news release to their website."

Yet. Add this to the GSA special agreements with YouTube and Flickr and federal ``Agencies are already free to use Twitter because GSA found its standard terms of service compatible with federal use,`` then we can see some loosening up in the Barackberry era.

UPDATE:

Check out this post from Library Blog Buzz:

The Federal Government Goes 2.O And Signs Deals With Flickr,YouTube,Vimeo,blip.tv, And Facebook

"Under the agreement, agencies can immediately begin using new-media tools that let people post, share, and comment on videos and photos on the Web. Individual agencies must decide which tools their employees may use and how they may use them."

"To read the press releases from Federal Computer Week about the agreements with Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and blip.tv, click here. If you are interested more in the deal with Facebook, go here."

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:36 PM | Comments (0)

Innovation Forecast

I participated in a large survey about innovation from InnovationTools.com.

The results of the Innovation Climate Survey are now available for you to download:

http://www.innovationtools.com/reports/MS94N6/download.asp

The results were surprising: Despite the steep downturn in the global economy, innovation budgets appear to be enjoying surprising resilience. There are a number of good findings in the survey:

"1. Respondents to this survey said that the climate and funding for innovation are holding up fairly well...Over one-fourth of respondents (27%) said that the climate for innovation has improved slightly since the onset of the global recession, while another 20% said it has “improved significantly.”
2. Funding for innovation appears to be holding steady, at least at the time the survey was conducted. Over one-third of respondents (37%) reported that there has been “no change” to their organization’s level of funding for innovation. A small percentage of companies said they have actually increased funding for innovation since the economic downturn began."

More details are available in the full report.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:20 PM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2009

Libraries and a Culture of Innovation

One of my favourite newsletters is Report 103. The latest issue is about the culture of innovation. You can read it here.

Do our library cultures support innovation? How many of these 12 ingredients apply to your workplace? If the economy is difficult because of structural change, will you survive through sticking to your knitting or through innovation and adaptation?

A DOZEN INGREDIENTS FOR A CULTURE OF INNOVATION

The Ingredients:

1. Top Management Buy-In

2. Trust

3. Priority of Innovation (Often Confused with Time)

4. Freedom to Take Action

5. Freedom to Make Mistakes

6. Rewarding Rather than Stifling Creative Thinking

7. Collaboration Tools

8. Places and Opportunities to Talk

9. Places and Opportunities to Work in Isolation

10. Access to Information

11. Transparency

12. Humour

Read the whole article. There's a lot to learn.

"In times of difficult change, most organizations tend to overmanage and underlead."

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)

The Battle Continues

Encyclopedia's continue to evolve in the new world.

Recently Microsoft announced the end of Encarta.

Then Wikipedia announced the end of Wikia Search.

We all followed the old controversy about who was more accurate Encyclopedia Britannica or Wikipedia. They're about the same! (Nature study, Dec 2005)

The Boston Globe is reporting on March 31st that Britannica will add wiki features to the 241 year old encyclopedia. What will it look like at 250?

Enter Britannica

"It's a bid by Britannica to remain relevant at a time when the world's most popular encyclopedia, the eight-year-old website Wikipedia, is written entirely by amateur experts. The new version of Britannica Online, set to debut this summer, will emulate the Wikipedia concept by letting subscribers make changes to any article, ranging from minor edits to near-total rewrites."

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:12 PM | Comments (1)

SLA Conference Discount Deal

OK, here's your secret cheat codes to game the SLA Conference in DC this June.

Until April 22nd, members and non-members who have not yet registered to the 2009 SLA Centennial Annual Conference in Washington, DC can use the code SLA100B to save US $100 off the full registration price. Registration must be made online.

Don't miss out on this conference. It promises to be a great one. Car pool. Share rooms.

It's an event that only happens once every 100 years. And gee, there have been over a dozen recessions in the past 30.

Invest in yourself. It's your best preparedness.

Stephen
(Full disclosure: I'm SLA Past President)

Posted by stephen at 9:22 AM

April 11, 2009

Education Matters

This posting from Scott McLeod at Dangerously Irrelevant contains a number of great charts.

Immunizing your graduates from economic downturns

The conclusion is clear. Educational attainment is one way to be less susceptible to economic downturns.

The rest of the charts show other dimensions of risk for job disruption.

One chart about the rise of the creative class is worthy of much discussion in libraries. This theory proposed by Richard Florida, now at the University of Toronto, and recent keynote for the Ontario Library Association:

How are we part of the creative economy?
What role do we play?

(Hint: It's a big one.)

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:42 PM | Comments (1)

ACRL Strategic Thinking Guide for Academic Librarians

ACRL released this 9 page document in March:

ACRL 2009 Strategic Thinking Guide for Academic Librarians in the New Economy

Prepared by:
Kathryn Deiss, ACRL Content Strategist
Mary Jane Petrowski, ACRL Associate Director
With contributions from:
ACRL Research Coordinating Committee
ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee

It explores the three drivers for asynchronous and disconitnuous change in academic environments. These are:

Driver #1: The Economy and Higher Education
Driver #2: Students
Driver #3: Technology

With all this change and disruption many strategies will need to be re-thought and reconfigured to be successful. No 5 year plan is written in stone.

This discussion document might be a good place to start this review. Just the exact sort of thing our associations should be doing for us.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:48 PM | Comments (0)

April 10, 2009

Bookshelves

One of my favourite searches on Google Images and Flickr is "book sculptures". Lots of awesome and creative ideas.

Now I also like really neat and creative bookcases. I've seen some of these used to great effect for displays in libraries too.

I see no reason for too much conformity in bookshelves!

Go wild.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:47 PM | Comments (0)

Newsweek on Libraries

I've been to this Michigan library and they are awesome. Eva Gronowska, librarian at Southfield PL, has written an awesome "MY TURN" column on Newsweek's website called "Reading Into the Future"

"As a librarian, my world was always about books. But in this economy, I've evolved into a career counselor."

It's powerful, practical and hopeful. The last paragraph is awesome and emotional.

"The crumbling economy affects us all. I have had to work long hours and don't get to see much of my boyfriend or experience any kind of social life lately, but I am thankful to be in a position where I can help people overcome this struggle. The long days are made great when I help job seekers find work, talk to teens about college, meet new business owners, have a discussion about literature and watch senior citizens send their first e-mail to their grandchildren. These small victories and billions just like them are why librarians continue to fight the good fight. In Michigan, we haven't lost hope. As long as there are libraries here, there will always be hope."

Libraries, more necessary now than ever. Eva has done a great job of describing life on the front lines.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:04 PM | Comments (0)

Social Media Footprints

Ever wonder how recruiters judge you from your web and social media footprint?

Thanks to a link from The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian to Mashable, we know more.

"This excerpt from Boris Epstein, CEO and Founder of BINC, a Professional Search Firm that specializes in the Software Marketplace, on his post today on Mashable! titled Do You Pass the Social Media Recruitment Test? is great to share with everyone who is or who will be in the job market:

"In the golden days of recruiting we would hunt for days to find a candidate with a degree from a top university who worked for a top notch company who of course was considered priceless and absolutely worth contacting. Today however, we run a simple search on LinkedIn and find hundreds that match that exact profile. Or we run a quick search on Twitter for anybody discussing a specific keyword and we now have hundreds more to contact. But with only a set number of hours in a day, we just don’t have the bandwidth to contact everybody."

“…So in today’s world of information overload where talent is literally available by the truckloads, I thought it would be relevant to write a post about how we evaluate a candidate’s social media footprint to determine (when all else is equal) which candidates we would contact and which ones get left by the wayside. I posed the following question to make it simple:

If all else were equal, like education, work history and general skill set, and I had to evaluate the social media footprints of two candidates to determine which one of them I would contact, which one would I contact and why? In my experience, I would contact the one who:

On Linkedin:

1. Has genuine recommendations from peers, managers and colleagues
2. Has the more complete profile
3. Is a member of more groups pertaining to their respective field
4. Has a picture
5. Lists interests, hobbies and other information related to their life outside of work
6. Participates and highlights their involvement in non-paid projects related to their field (open-source, community, volunteer, conference)
7. Updates their status more often
8. Asks and answers more questions
9. Links to their employer, blog and other projects of interest
10. Has the larger network

On their blog:

1. Has interesting things to say about their respective profession and industry
2. Provides glimpses into their life outside of work – family, friends, hobbies, etc.
3. Does not bad-mouth their current or previous employer
4. Provides links to their other social networking profiles
5. Includes a link to their current resume
6. Updates with new posts regularly
7. Keeps it non-controversial – minimal discussion of sex, politics, religion and other such controversial topics.
8. Is more genuine and honest
9. Has a blogroll with link to other interesting blogs

On Facebook:

1. Respects the overlap between their personal and professional lives
2. Updates often
3. Posts pictures of friends and family but keeps them PG-13
4. Keeps it non-controversial – doesn’t take extreme positions on sex, drugs, religion, politics or other topics that could cause an employer to be wary of hiring
5. Is a member of groups relevant to their profession

On Twitter:

1. Tweets often (between 2-10 times per day is considered reasonable)
2. Has a healthy followers/following ratio
3. Has the biggest network
4. Keeps a healthy balance between personal and professional tweets
5. Doesn’t just update, but also responds to others and generally seems to get Twitter

When Googled:

1. Does not lead to something controversial like arrests
2. Leads to profession-related discussions and commentary on other social media sites
3. Leads me to their online blog, webpage or social media profiles
4. Doesn’t come up blank…”

It's an interesting perspective in these interesting times.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:40 PM

Flutter - Real Competition for Twitter

A almost 4 minute video interview with the founders of Flutter.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid271557392?bctid=18328570001

Who really needs 140 characters anyway? Let's just simplify!

Consider this post your Easter Egg!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:20 PM | Comments (1)

Libraries are broader than retail

Here's a good soundbite fdrom MediaBistro. Libraries often say we're the long tail but this little bit really highlights that. I other qwords, Can you imagine a libary wer 16% of all the books circulated in 3 mpnoths were 4 books by a single author"

Stephenie Meyer Sold 16 Percent of all Books Last Quarter
"Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series ruled the top four bestselling books for the first quarter of 2009. According to USA Today, one in every seven books sold last quarter was a Meyer book--16 percent of all books sold in the first months of 2009.

The vampire series launched a film franchise last year as well, receiving a Hollywood book sale boost like the "Watchmen" graphic novel. Here are the next five books on the first quarter bestseller list, from the article:

"Top 20 sellers for the quarter:

1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
6. The Shack by William P. Young
7. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
8. The Associate by John Grisham
9. Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
10. Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding
11. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
12. The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick
13. The Appeal by John Grisham
14. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
15. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
16. Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan by Suze Orman
17. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
18. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
19. Marley & Me by John Grogan
20. The Yankee Years by Joe Torre, Tom Verducci"

Amazing! Glad libraries can focus on the whole width of reading.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:12 PM

iPhone News for Libraries

Lots of action in the and mobile phone area for libraries!

1. "If you want to create an iPhone application to search your library’s online catalog (etc), taking a look at the DCPL’s solution wouldn’t be a bad place to start. The code is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license and you can download it at the DCPL Labs website." It's already optimized for SirsiDynix. DCPL is being very generous in releasing the code.

2. I got a preview of the DCPL Blackberry application for the library at the SirsiDynix conference last week too. It looked pretty cool and maybe we can get Obama to use it on his new Barackberry! (grin). I suspect that DC has more iPhones and Blackberries per square mile than anywhere else in the US.

3. Last week SirsiDynix also demonstrated several mobile applications for all of our products including the iPhone. Mobile applications for the the Blackberry and using the Google Android, open handset alliance, were also demonstrated at the SirsiDynix Joint Users (CODI/UUGI/COSUGI) Conference in Dallas last week. Since all SD developers are encouraged to spend 10% of their time on any project they want to invest that time in, many of these initiatives were grass roots developments.

4. Previously available as a website optimized for mobile devices, Worldcat Local is now also available as an iPhone app.

Mobile libraries are bigging it up!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:56 PM

Awesome TV Report

Lesley Boughton, State Librarian of Wyoming, sent me the link to this fantastic video from the local CBS affiliate, KGWN.

It's a must watch!

Libraries, Iraq and Wyoming

What's it about?

Wyoming has 900 National Guard men and women in the middle east.

The state library made a presentation of 900 Creative Zen MP3 Players along with a special statewide library card to download audiobooks and more.

Cool eh? What services does your library provide from your library cards to soldiers abroad?

Loads of opportunity for people who still try to have some fun, read and finish their school projects. What can your library do? What can libraries do?

Tell us in the comments.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)

April 9, 2009

A Real Series of Tubes

Molly Wright Steenson made a wonderful presentation at the Ignite session at Etech this year. She studied the huge 19th century steam powered network of pneumatic tubes.

The parallels to the internet are clear. And it's just a fascinating but dead technology.

You must watch the 6 minute video here:

Molly Wright Steenson - A Series of Tubes, EP 7

I was in a library a few weeks ago where the vestiges of their tube system still lined the walls!

Awesome eh?

Stephen

p.s. If you don't get the 'series of tubes' reference there are some pretty funny mash-ups of Alaskan US Senator Ted Stevens on YouTube.

Posted by stephen at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)

April 8, 2009

ALA Gets Social

From an ALA Press Release:

CHICAGO - The American Library Association (ALA) is now providing members a common virtual space to engage in ALA business and network with other members around issues and interests relevant to the profession.

ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org) has launched its first phase of operation, in which every ALA group will have the ability to utilize the following tools:

• Posts (which are like blog posts)
• Online docs (which are like collaborative, wiki-like pages or Google Docs)
• Group calendar (for listing meetings, deadlines, etc.)
• Surveys (for asking multiple questions at once)
• Polls (for asking a single question)
• Chat room (text-based, including the ability to save a transcript of the discussion)
• Discussion forums (also known as “bulletin boards”)

“Phase one offers new features that are unavailable via other ALA Web-based services,” said ALA President Jim Rettig. “Members can view all of their current ALA affiliations in one place. They can search for other members and add them to their online network. And they can work together on a document online, rather than passing it around from one e-mail address to another. I look forward to seeing the new communities members create and the issues and interests they address.”

ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels said, “ALA Connect has a unique value for members. It enables members to collaborate within a vibrant and dynamic online community, facilitating their professional growth and extending their contacts within the Association. Members can now easily form new groups around shared interests, respond to emerging issues or create and manage shared projects.”

Congratulations to the ALA team (Yo, Jenny!). This is a big start.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:19 PM | Comments (0)

Internet Librarian 2009

Watch ths video in case you're considering planning for IL 2009 in Monterey.

Find Out at I L 2009

"A super enthusiastic, over-the-top promo for the next Internet Librarian. Featuring attendees of IL2008. Brought to you by IL2008 presenters, Kay Gregg and Sean Robinson. Voice Over by Erik Mollberg."

Internet Librarian 2009, Oct. 26-28, 2009

SLA and IL are my two favourite conferences and I attend a whole bunch of conferences!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

April 7, 2009

Technology Recycling

The pictures in this Wired article are fantastic. Check them out:

Where Gadgets Go to Die: Facility Strips, Rips and Recycles

I do hope everyone out there is doing their best to recycle their old dead electronics of all types.

The 4th "R" of reduce, reuse and recycle is to do it responsibly.

And thar's gold in them thar PC's!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

April 6, 2009

The Cynefin Framework

My favourite approach to knowledge management is through the Cynefin framework that owes a lot to David Snowden and his brilliance.

I am not as good as I'd want to be at explaining it but Shawn Callahan has created a sketchcast of how he explains the Cynefin Framework. He set the Sketchcast up on YouTube and you can find it here:

A simple explanation of the Cynefin Framework

David's Seven Principles of Knowledge Management are touchstones for me:

1. Knowledge can only be volunteered it cannot be conscripted.

You can’t make someone share their knowledge, because you can never measure if they have. You can measure information transfer or process compliance, but you can’t determine if an expert has truly passed on all their experience or knowledge of a case. (acknowledgement to Drucker)

2. We only know what we know when we need to know it.

Human knowledge is deeply contextual and requires stimulus for recall. Unlike computers we do not have a list-all function. Small verbal or nonverbal clues can provide those ah-ha moments when a memory or series of memories are suddenly recalled, in context to enable us to act. When we sleep on things we are engaged in a complex organic form of knowledge recall and creation; in contrast a computer would need to be rebooted.

3. In the context of real need few people will withhold their knowledge.

A genuine request for help is not often refused unless there is literally no time or a previous history of distrust. On the other hand ask people to codify all that they know in advance of a contextual enquiry and it will be refused (in practice its impossible anyway). Linking and connecting people is more important than storing their artifacts.

4. Everything is fragmented.

We evolved to handle unstructured fragmented fine granularity information objects, not highly structured documents. People will spend hours on the internet, or in casual conversation without any incentive or pressure. However creating and using structured documents requires considerably more effort and time. Our brains evolved to handle fragmented patterns not highly structured information.

5. Tolerated failure imprints learning better than success.

When my young son burnt his finger on a match he learnt more about the dangers of fire than any amount of parental instruction cold provide. All human cultures have developed forms that allow stories of failure to spread without attribution of blame. Avoidance of failure has greater evolutionary advantage than imitation of success. It follows that attempting to impose best practice systems is flying in the face of over a hundred thousand years of evolution that says it is a bad thing.

6. The way we know things is not the way we report we know things.

There is an increasing body of research data which indicates that in the practice of knowledge people use heuristics, past pattern matching and extrapolation to make decisions, coupled with complex blending of ideas and experiences that takes place in nanoseconds. Asked to describe how they made a decision after the event they will tend to provide a more structured process oriented approach which does not match reality. This has major consequences for knowledge management practice.

7. We always know more than we can say; we will always say more than we can write down.

This is probably the most important. The process of taking things from our heads, to our mouths (speaking it) to our hands (writing it down) involves loss of content and context. It is always less than it could have been as it is increasingly codified. (Acknowledgement to Polyani)"

Anyway, I capture them here so I can find and point to them easily. Thanks to Cognitive Edge and Anecdote, two of my favourite KM blogs.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)

April 5, 2009

Social Networking Can Increase Work Productivity

Here's an interesting post from ReadWriteWeb

Shocking News: Scientists Say Workplace Social Networking Increases Productivity!

Highlights:

"Can you believe that using social networking sites at work can increase your workplace productivity? A new study just published by Australian scientists found that taking time to visit websites of personal interest, including news sites and YouTube, provided workers a mental break that ultimately increased their ability to concentrate and was correlated with a 9% increase in total productivity."

"The study was performed by researchers at Australia's University of Melbourne and coined the phrase "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB."

"People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don't," said Dr Brent Coker, from the Melbourne Department of Management and Marketing. Got that? You can spend as much as 20% of your time at work dorking around on the internet and still end up 9% more productive than people who don't!"

What this study says to us is that the social web is so incredibly powerful that even people who don't know how to use it find themselves made 9% more productive because of it - on accident."

"However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office. "Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without," he said."

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:26 AM

This will be a must read...

Once again we find a must fread on Blyberg.net.

The Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians

"On March 26th, Darien Library hosted an event called “In the Foothills: A Not-Quite-Summit on the Future of Libraries” at which participants were instructed to “come prepared to help sketch out the role librarians should play in defining the future of libraries”. The two speakers, John Berry and Kathryn Greenhill, provoked a conversation among me (John Blyberg), Kathryn and Cindi Trainor that began in my office the next day and spilled out across the ensuing week.

In companion posts, Kathryn and Cindi have beautifully captured the spirit in which this was written. Be sure to read them.

Below is the resulting document (CC License). It’s meant to be grand, optimistic, obvious, and thankful to and for our users, communities, and the tireless librarians who work the front lines every day, upholding the purpose of the Library.

The Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians
Written and endorsed by John Blyberg, Kathryn Greenhill, and Cindi Trainor

The Purpose of the Library

The purpose of the Library is to preserve the integrity of civilization.

The Library has a moral obligation to adhere to its purpose despite social, economic, environmental, or political influences. The purpose of the Library will never change.

The Library is infinite in its capacity to contain, connect and disseminate knowledge; librarians are human and ephemeral, therefore we must work together to ensure the Library’s permanence.

Individual libraries serve the mission of their parent institution or governing body, but the purpose of the Library overrides that mission when the two come into conflict.

Why we do things will not change, but how we do them will.

A clear understanding of the Library’s purpose, its role, and the role of librarians is essential to the preservation of the Library.

The Role of the Library

The Library:

Provides the opportunity for personal enlightenment.
Encourages the love of learning.
Empowers people to fulfill their civic duty.
Facilitates human connections.
Preserves and provides materials.
Expands capacity for creative expression.
Inspires and perpetuates hope.

The Role of Librarians

Librarians:

Are stewards of the Library.
Connect people with accurate information.
Assist people in the creation of their human and information networks.
Select, organize and facilitate creation of content.
Protect access to content and preserve freedom of information and expression.
Anticipate, identify and meet the needs of the Library’s community.

The Preservation of the Library

Our methods need to rapidly change to address the profound impact of information technology on the nature of human connection and the transmission and consumption of knowledge.

If the Library is to fulfill its purpose in the future, librarians must commit to a culture of continuous operational change, accept risk and uncertainty as key properties of the profession, and uphold service to the user as our most valuable directive.

As librarians, we must:

Promote openness, kindness, and transparency among libraries and users.
Eliminate barriers to cooperation between the Library and any person, institution, or entity within or outside the Library.
Choose wisely what to stop doing.
Preserve and foster the connections between users and the Library.
Harness distributed expertise to serve the needs of the local and global community.
Help individuals to learn and to use new tools to create a more robust path to knowledge.
Engage in activism on behalf of the Library if its integrity is externally threatened.
Endorse procedures only if they guide librarians or users to excellence.
Identify and implement the most humane and efficient methods, tools, standards and practices.
Adopt technology that keeps data open and free, abandon technology that does not.
Be willing and have the expertise to make frequent radical changes.
Hire the best people and let them do their job; remove staff who cannot or will not.
Trust each other and trust the users.

We have faith that the citizens of our communities will continue to fulfill their civic responsibility by preserving the Library."

How do you capture these types of conversations at your library?

How do you share them?

How are your staff training days set up? Have you tried an 'almost' summit?

This sort of event looks very moivational.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

April 4, 2009

YouTube Surfing

OK, this is what you get when you surf YouTube in your downtime:

The Dewey Decimal Rap

Catchy tune . . .

You'll be humming it all day.

Wooohahahahaha!

Blame the rapper, Scooter Hayes, from New Hanover County Public Library.

And the scarier thing is that my own YouTube rap, Stephen Abram sings Eminem (NSFW) broke through 2,090 views today. Never, and I say never, do Karaoke around Internet Librarian / Computers in Lbraries folks. They know how to post and take video secretively.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:33 AM

April 1, 2009

Focus Groups with Kids

I've done a few kids' focus groups and they're always fun and interesting.

Here's my Multimedia and Internet @ Schools column from the Nov. / Dec. 2008 Issue:

Focus Groups with Young Learners:
What are they really doing?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:49 AM