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August 31, 2009
Innovation Outlook Column - July August 2009
Here's my Information Outlook column from the July-August 2009 Issue:
Innovation: No Excuses
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:44 PM | Comments (0)
Image Busters
CNN.com reported this today:
"The story:
She's petite, she's middle-aged, she's bookish, and if she gets a chance, she'll knock you on your keister.
By day, she's Beth Hollis, a 53-year-old reference librarian in Akron, Ohio. By night, she's MegaBeth, an ageless dynamo on the roller derby rink.
"All my life, when I tell people I'm a librarian, they say, 'You don't look like a librarian,' " Hollis said. "And now that I'm a roller derby girl, they say, 'You don't look like a roller derby girl, either.' "
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)
Is your library a little off the beaten path?
I ,ove this idea from The Bookshop Blog:
Is your library a little off the beaten path?
Just a little sidewalk chalk and you're on your way to drawing folks into your branch or academic library event. (And don't think that most folks know where the library is on campus. I've visited so many campuses where dozens of people could not direct me to to the library....)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:19 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2009
Another reason to teach social literacy
Social sites are not going away. So we must make sure that folks are aware of the privacy settings that they can have control over and what they need to know.
This is being reported everywhere this week: LINK
"The Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has put together a campaign to raise awareness of privacy issues surrounding Facebook applications, in particular quizzes. According to this group, the millions of Facebook users taking quizzes are revealing far more personal information to application developers than they are aware of. This is mostly due to the fact that Facebook's default privacy settings allow access to all your profile information whether or not your profile is set to "private." Even worse, the ACLU reports that even if you shun quizzes yourself, your profile info is revealed when one of your friends takes a quiz. Want to see how bad the problem is?"
Is privacy dead? Probably - especially for those folks who don't learn what they need to know to take control.
Can you imagine if libraries managed library cards and registries and student records like this?
Why the double standard? Do the needs of advertisers to know their users trump individual rights?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:48 PM | Comments (0)
Online learning boosts student performance
From Don Tapscott's Grown Up Digital blog:
Online learning boosts student performance
"The U.S. Department of Education has just released a report comparing traditional face-to-face classroom instruction to learning supplemented or completely replaced by online learning. The conclusion: “Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.”"
Read more here.
I certainly see this in our epxerience with the blended learning approach developed for SirsiDynix SchoolRooms and implemented in Ohio schools.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:22 PM | Comments (0)
Beloit's latest mindset list (and one for librarians)
I always link to this list every year (I'm a little delayed this year since I was away).
Anyway, Beloit College has published the latest edition of its annual mindset list - Mindset list for the Class of 2013.
As always some of the entries are controversial but it's a nice annual reminder that every year I (and we) get a little farther way from our own first year undergrad experiences. Some things are the same. Many things aren't.
I always notice how different my two kids' experiences were. All their course catalogues are electronic only. Even course selection is only available online and at a specific exact time like 6 a.m. Getting their tax receipts could only be done online. Every registration thing depends on knowing your student ID, password, and e-mail. Wasn't like that for me. I was always immersed in just multiple copy paper forms.
Oh and the system performance of the registration systems is really awful - minutes not seconds to respond. They must have baked that into the specs so they could experience a little of the old school ways.
Oh and Blue Skunk Blog started this which is fun and interesting:
Mindset List for Librarians
By Doug Johnson
"The Beloit College Mindset List for 2013 was published recently. One of things that today's entering college students have never done (according to item #4) is "... used a card catalog to find a book."
Hmmmm, I wonder how many librarians starting their professional careers today know what it means to "file above the rod" and why one would do it?
Do we need a Mindset List for New Librarians?* Let's give this a try...
The Mindset List for Librarians Entering the Field in 2009
Librarians entering the field today...
1. Have never had to type a catalog card.
2. Have never looked something up in the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature.
3. Have never maintained a vertical file.
4. Have never attended a F2F graduate school library class.
5. Have never puchased (or rented) a 16mm film, VHS tape or LaserDisc. (Let alone a filmloop or filmstrip.)
6. Have never NOT had the Internet as a resource.
7. Have never checked out 5 1/4 floppy disks of MECC games.
8. Have never arranged for interlibrary loan of a physical book.
9. Have ever worked in a library without student workstations or a computer lab.
10. Have never sent overdue notices to parents by postal mail.
So, 10 off the top of my balding head. And yours....?"
11. I'd add they've never (thank god) used 300, 1200, o0r 2400 baud modems.
12. Suffered with pin fed printers or thermal paper.
Head over there and add some more...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2009
IFLA
I've just returned from the IFLA Conference in Milan Italy ans the pre-conference for the IT section in Florence. Both were great and it was wonderful to see so many friends and clients from around the world.
Here's a link to the keynote presentation I did for the IT pre-conference:
Library 2.0 and where we’ve been and where we’re going
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2009
Emerging trends in New Zealand special libraries
Here is a link to an interesting report on "Emerging trends in New Zealand special libraries"
I always love it when special librarians report on their field. Often they do this as a labour of love and it shows. This report is a nice model.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:11 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2009
Helene Blowers’ Learning 2.0 Survey Results
Helene Blowers has done a lot for libraries world wide with her 23 Things porgrams and Learning 2.0. Last August 2008 she surveyed 68 sites that had done the program and summarized the results of her survey in this slide deck. Take a look.
Helene Blowers’ Learning 2.0 Survey Results
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2009
"Average" Gamers
In an effort at balanced reporting, I'll link to this CDC report in Wired:
Forget Teens: Gamers Are 35, Overweight — And Sad, CDC says
"The average gamer, far from being a teen, is actually a 35-year-old man who is overweight, aggressive, introverted and … often depressed, according to a report (.pdf) out this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
It is interesting that this study conflicts with so many other reports. Then again, science is always evolving.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2009
24 Things About to Become Extinct
24 Things About to Become Extinct
"24. Yellow Pages
23. Classified Ads
22. Movie Rental Stores
21. Dial-up Internet Access
20. Phone Landlines
19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs
18. VCRs
17. Ash Trees
16. Ham Radio
15. The Swimming Hole
14. Answering Machines
13. Cameras That Use Film
12. Incandescent Bulbs
11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
10. The Milkman
9. Hand-Written Letters
8. Wild Horses
7. Personal Checks
6. Drive-in Theaters
5. Mumps & Measles
4. Honey Bees
3. News Magazines and TV News
2. Analog TV
1. The Family Farm
Both interesting and saddening, isn't it?"
More detail and commentary after the link.
Some are pretty dead already but have an emotional tug on our nostalgic memories. Most will still exist for a very small group of hobbyists and collectors. We can't confuse that with mainstream markets though.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:29 AM | Comments (6)
August 21, 2009
Mobile Sites for the Mobile Web
Gary Price at ResourceShelf showed me these two new reports from UKOLN:
Briefing Documents: An Introduction to the Mobile Web and Creating a Site for the Mobile Web
Two new “briefing documents” that provide useful overviews and best practices on important topics and technologies. They’re produced by UKOLN.
+ Briefing Document #62: An Introduction to the Mobile Web
+ Briefing Document #63: Creating a Site for the Mobile Web
It's time to catch up if you've viewed your site on your own or a friend's phone and it looked bad...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:46 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2009
Free Images
TechRadar has a neat little list of site where some or all of the images are free. Gotta love it for website and PPT's and the rest of your needs.
12 best places to get free images for your site
1. Stock.XCHNG
2. Openphoto
3. Stockvault.net
4. Unprofound
5. Free Media Goo
6. Morguefile
7. Pixel Perfect Digital
8. Image*After
9. Freerange
10. Free Digital Photos
11. Free Photos Bank
12. Flickr
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:05 AM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2009
Batteries
Gadgetopia tells us that hope may be on the way!
As someone who spends the first few minutes in every hotel room plugging in my battery driven stuff (rasor, iPod, iPhone, laptop, etc.) to recharge, I am very interested in developments in battery life improvements.
"New battery could change world, one house at a time: If this is legitimate, it would be revolutionary. Battery technology is the only thing holding renewable power back from its full potential. The inability to buffer solar or wind is a huge limitation, and this battery would give us that ability.
The company calculates that the battery will cram 20 to 40 kilowatt hours of energy into a package about the size of a refrigerator, and operate below 90 degrees C.
[…] Ceramatec says its new generation of battery would deliver a continuous flow of 5 kilowatts of electricity over four hours, with 3,650 daily discharge/recharge cycles over 10 years. With the batteries expected to sell in the neighborhood of $2,000, that translates to less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour over the battery’s life. Conventional power from the grid typically costs in the neighborhood of 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
Re-read that last paragraph and let the information really sink in. Five kilowatts over four hours — how much is that? Imagine your trash compactor, food processor, vacuum cleaner, stereo, sewing machine, one surface unit of an electric range and thirty-three 60-watt light bulbs all running nonstop for four hours each day before the house battery runs out. That’s a pretty exciting place to live."
Awesome. I wants me one.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2009
QR Codes
With Sacramento Public Library trying out the new QR codes, it's time to get a briefing.
Gary Price at ResourceShelf points to this one from UKOLN that seems quite useful:
New Technology Primer: An Introduction to QR Codes (Briefing 61)
"Quick Response (QR) codes are two-dimensional barcodes (matrix codes) that allow their contents to be decoded at high speed. They were created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994 and have been primarily used for tracking purposes but have only recently filtered into mainstream use with the creations of applications that allow them to be read by mobile phone cameras."
QR codes are very interesting. I certainly see them on my iPhone versions of my plane tickets. They're the right size and shape for phone screens. We'll be interested to see how these develop.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:39 AM | Comments (5)
Books in and out of copyright
Lone Wolf pointed to this neat graphic:
It's from a Financial Times article called: Books: A plan to scan
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:56 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2009
Where are your users?
I saw this graphic on Gizmodo and it made me think:
Manhattan's Population By Day vs Manhattan's Population By Night
I thought that it would b very interesting to see library user populations in this kind of data visualization. How about plotting the zip or postal codes of your library cardholders on to a map of your community? Does it relate to your branch structure, or not? Do you see differences in daytime commuter and home use? How about plotting local schools into the mix . . .?
This is apparently not too hard using mashups with Google Maps.
Interesting, eh?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:50 AM | Comments (2)
August 16, 2009
Search Engine Penetration and Loyalty
This latest Comscore report from Search Engine Land shows that there are many ways to measure the search space - searches, penetration, search share . . .
Report: MicroHoo “Penetration” Near Google’s, Google Users Most “Loyal”
Interesting, the battle for the searcher hearts and eyeballs is only just beginning and the end game isn't about search really at all.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2009
Gartner's 2009 Hype Cycle
Gartner's 2009 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates Maturity of 1,650 Technologies
2009 Report is the Largest to Date With the Expansion of New Topics
"STAMFORD, Conn., August 11, 2009 — Gartner, Inc. has examined the maturity of 1,650 technologies and trends in 79 technology, topic, and industry areas, and these findings have been published in “Gartner’s Hype Cycle Special Report for 2009." Each Hype Cycle provides a snapshot of key technologies and trends in a specific technology, topic, geographic region, or industry domain."
Read the full press release and get the full report if you can.
It's an interesting take on where we are right now in web bubble. Note that there is a ton of stuff that is immeasurably relevant to library land that is breaking out of hype and sliding into the mainstream.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2009
From the Duh! Department
Study: Twitter is 40 percent 'pointless babble' by Webware's Caroline McCarthy
Now Pear Analytics has found a way to classify 'pointless babble' into categories.
Twitter Study Reveals Interesting Results About Usage
August 12th, 2009 by Ryan Kelly in Social Media
"A while back we embarked on a study that evolved after a having a debate in the office as to how people are using and consuming Twitter. Some felt it was their source of news and articles, others felt it was just a bunch of self-promotion with very few folks actually paying attention. But mostly, many people still perceive Twitter as just mindless babble of people telling you what they are doing minute-by-minute; as if you care they are eating a sandwich at the moment.
So we took 2,000 tweets from the public timeline (in English and in the US) over a 2-week period from 11:00a to 5:00p (CST) and captured tweets in half-hour increments. Then we categorized them into 6 buckets:
News, Spam, Self-Promotion, Pointless Babble, Conversational and Pass-Along Value.
See Pear Analytics' entire whitepaper here.
Results
The results were interesting. As you may have guessed, Pointless Babble won with 40.55% of the total tweets captured; however, Conversational was a very close second at 37.55%, and Pass-Along Value was third (albeit a distant third) at 8.7% of the tweets captured.
Other Results
- 11:30a and Monday’s have the most frequent tweets with Pass-Along Value. If you want something re-tweeted, try it at 11:30 in the morning, or try it on a Monday. Maybe folks are feeling generous then.
- Spam seemed pretty consistent all day, everyday, but luckily was second-to-last on frequency.
- News seemed heavier at 2:00p and on Tuesday’s. Note that we did not collect any tweets during the Michael Jackson news, in order not to skew the results.
- Conversational tweets were high between 2:00 and 4:00p throughout the study, and heaviest on Tuesdays. Most people are busy on Monday catching up with work, so perhaps it takes until Tuesday to get into the swing of Twittering again.
Conclusion
With the new face of Twitter, it will be interesting to see if they take a heavier role in news, or continue to be a source for people to share their current activities that have little to do with everyone else. We will be conducting this same study every quarter to identify other trends in usage.
Since Twitter is still loaded with lots of babbling that not many of have time for, you should check out the Twitter filter, Philtro. These guys can not only help you filter the noise, but will also be allowing you to store the tweets you are most interested in real soon."
See Pear Analytics' entire whitepaper here.
One person's pointless babble may be another's conversation. Some of us talk about the weather every day and still do nothing about it! It's all part of primate groooming behaviours. We're not that far from baboons (just watch some of the CNN and Fax commentators lately!). This Tweeting (including writing on Facebook walls) is really just social grooming. We're staying in touch.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)
The Baloney Detection Kit
I found this video via the Anecdote blog. It lists "10 questions to help you decide whether a viewpoint, opinion, theory is worth taking on board and believing." Here are the questions that will help you detect baloney.
RDF TV - The Baloney Detection Kit - Michael Shermer
They seem quite useful for information literacy training. It has been a sumer of gifts for detecting fool's gold, what with fak Obama birth certificates and all.
10 Questions for Detecting Baloney:
1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2. Does the source make similar claims? (eg. if you are into magic (or evolution), then all your ideas have a magic (or evolution) bent)
3. Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
4. Does this fit with the way the world works?
5. Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
6. Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of science
8. Is the claimant providing positive evidence? (it's too easy to just bag the other side)
9. Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
10. Are personal beliefs driving the claim?
Credence and credulity - the future depends on it!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:36 AM | Comments (1)
Creative Thinking
The Heart of Innovation blog has a nice list - just in case you're trying to find creative solutions to your problems and challenges:
35 Creative Thinking Techniques
Also, the results of the Creativity Survey are now available through Innovation Tools blog.
Blurb: "The current global recession has had a significant impact on the need for people to be creative in their jobs, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by InnovationTools.com. Nearly one in five respondents (20.9%) indicated that it is "critically important" that they be more creative, while another 31.7% said that it is "much more important" to be creative during the current economic climate."
That's just one of the findings of this important new report. You can download the full report here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2009
Sending BIG files
I have issues all the time in sending big files like PowerPoint presentations to clients and the like. Some folks are not that comfortable with FTP and some admins block that. Anyway, ths posting from TechCrunch lists ad links to 16 file sharing apps (most free) that lets you do this easily.
16 Apps That Make Sharing Large Files A Snap
I use one that is not listed here (FileURLs - http://fileurls.com) so that makes 17.
Useful.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2009
Banks have branches too
I like to watch banking (since it has branches just like libraries) to see what innovations they are using.
Check out this video:
iPhone® USAA Deposit@Mobile Demo
Yep, you saw right. You just take a pucture of your cheque and deposit it in this bank via your iPhone. And you don't ever need to give them the original hard copy cheque.
I found this on Mashable, The Future of Banking? Deposit Checks via iPhone.
Now can we think about what this sort of stuff might mean to libraries in the future?
1. There's the obvious fines payments cheques.
2. I think we could register borrowers with their ID via this method.
3. I like the apps that let you scan a bar code or QR and find locations or better prices for that product/book...
Hmmmm.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:27 PM | Comments (1)
Ofcom Children's Media Literacy
The Ofcom (the UK communications official "watchdog") has released preliinbary data on their survey of 1,000 UK school children, parents and their media literacy.
OFCOM MEDIA LITERACY TRACKER 2009 - CHILDREN AND PARENTS - Wave 1. 20th April to 17th May 2009.
If you're a big data geek you'll find the 262 page PDF just chock full.
Sheila Webber at the Information Literacy Weblog has summarized some of the main insights in "Detailed study of British children's use of media".
Kids...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)
Library 2.0 Reading Recommendation
A timely piece:
Kelly, B., Bevan, P., Akerman, R., Alcock, J., Fraser, J., 2009.
Library 2.0: balancing the risks and benefits to maximise the dividends.
Program Electronic Library & Information Systems, 43 (3), pp. 311-327.
Microsoft Word 125Kb Preview
PDF - 82Kb
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00330330910978608
Abstract
"Purpose: This paper provides a number of examples of how Web 2.0 technologies and approaches (Library 2.0) are being used within the library sector. The paper acknowledges that there are a variety of risks associated with such approaches. The paper describes the different types of risks and outlines a risk assessment and risk management approach which is being developed to minimize the dangers whilst allowing the benefits of Library 2.0 to be realized. Design/methodology/approach: The paper outlines various risks and barriers which have been identified at a series of workshops run by UKOLN for the cultural heritage sector in the UK. A risk assessment and risk management approach which was initially developed to support use of Web 2.0 technologies at events organized by UKOLN (a national centre of expertise in digital information management based in the UK) is described and its potential for use within the wider library community, in conjunction with related approaches for addressing areas such as accessibility and protection of young people, is described. Findings: Use of Library 2.0 approaches is becoming embedded across many Libraries which seek to exploit the benefits which such technologies can provide. The need to ensure that the associated risks are identified and appropriate mechanisms implemented to minimize such risks are beginning to be appreciated. Practical implications: The areas described in this paper should be of relevance to many Library organisations which are making use of Library 2.0 services. Originality/value: The paper should prove valuable to policy makers and Web practitioners within Libraries who may be aware of the potential benefits of Library 2.0 but have not considered associated risks."
It's worth the summer reading.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2009
DoD and Web 2.0
Lots of dynamic change at the US Department of Defence about Web 2.0
Some of it is quite contradictory....
1. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has opened an online forum to gather public input on Web 2.0 issues. The DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum will post topics for comment through 17 August 2009. Comments will be taken online through the end of August.
From the forum site:
The Web 2.0 Guidance Forum will allow the public to comment and make suggestions to key DoD decision makers regarding useage of Web 2.0 capabilities. ... Public stakeholder groups we are most interested in hearing from include the following:
- Families of military serving overseas
- DoD interest groups, including veterans groups, think tanks, academia and others
- The Web 2.0 technology community
- Government-Industry groups focused on how government and industry collaborate, and most importantly
- Soldiers and sailors and civilians currently using Web 2.0 tools
The topics to be raised during August are:
- Scope of Web 2.0, and near-future direction and impacts
- Use of Web 2.0 by military families and friends to connect with loved ones overseas
- Value that Web 2.0 capabilities can provide to current and future DoD operations
- How broadly should SNS and other commercial Web 2.0 services be used by DoD service members and employees and for what purpose?
- Use of Web 2.0 for government-industry connectivity to improve innovation and situational awareness of DoD capability needs and industry options
For more details, see Welcome to the DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum, 31 July 2009.
2. US Marines Banned From Social Media Sites
"The US Marines issued an order Monday that bans social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace on its network."
Time will tell.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
OCLC Usability Studies
At ALA this year in Chicago, Arnold Arcolio gave a presentation about the WorldCat Local usability studies OCLC has done over the past two years usually in collaboration with partner libraries who piloted WorldCat Local. OCLC has made a summary of the findings available on the oclc.org website:
Access the Summary (8 pages; PDF):
http://www.oclc.org/worldcatlocal/usability
or link directly to the PDF:
Some Findings from WorldCat Local Usability Tests
Prepared for ALA Annual, July 2009
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
DCPL Preview
Check out the new preview of the DCPL homepage here.
DCPL and their innovation strategy continues to impress.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)
Which Search Engine is Better?
I've talked about some of the research that has been done about whether Google is really as good as its market share would imply.
Here's the research methodology that gives some interesting results. Take all three search engine results (Google, Yahoo!, Bing/MSN) and anonymize them. Show people the three sets of results and ask them which one is best for them - just rank them.
Here's another research methodology. Take all three search engine results (Google, Yahoo!, Bing/MSN) and show the results under each brandname - show Google as the brand for all three, Show Bing as the brand for all three, etc. Ask people to rank their preferences. Now mix it up.
Check out these links:
Which Search Engine Do You Choose In The Blind Test? [Washington Post - TechCrunch]
"Have you tried out this blind search tool yet? It provides results from Google, Yahoo and Bing in three columns but doesn't tell you which column is which search engine. You then tell it which one you think shows the best results, and you then see which answers are from which engines. I keep choosing Yahoo as the best results."
"This search tool strips out all the branding, so you’re forced to really think about which results you like better. And early results showed a much more even distribution than Google’s 70% market share would suggest: Google: 44%, Bing: 33%, Yahoo: 23%. The score keeping feature was removed when people found a way to game it, but you can still run the test against yourself and see which search engine you really like the best. Too bad the one I seem to like will shortly be mothballed. The tool was created by Michael Kordahi, a Developer Evangelist at Microsoft."
Anyway, I always say that Google is really really good at selling ads. Does that matter to you?
It's time to decide with one of these engines disappearing soon (Yahoo!). Things are also heating up on the Google front too.
WOW: Google to Launch a New Version of Google Search
Google Caffeine: A Detailed Test of the New Google
This is very interesting and they're heading for real-time search to compete with the trend. It's just under construction right now but watch for search to heat up with only two real competitors.
Watch Out Twitter! Facebook Launches Realtime Search
When your students return to school in September (maybe August), what's your advice going to be...?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:54 AM | Comments (3)
August 10, 2009
Facebook acquires FriendFeed
As if the Yahoo - MS Bing deal wasn't enough change for one summer!
"Facebook Announces FriendFeed Acquisition
Posted by Nick O'Neill on August 10th, 2009 3:33 PM
Facebook has announced this afternoon the acquisition of FriendFeed. For those unaware of the FriendFeed service, it enables users to publish stories just as Facebook does with feeds imported from around the web and open APIs for all information passing through the system. One interesting note about FriendFeed is the team’s remarkable ability to scale their application effectively without error.
The team has also developed a fairly robust search tool. The 12 person team has been building some pretty impressive technologies and while growth has not been as large as Twitter, the company has done an amazing job at building a powerful product. While Facebook previously failed at acquiring Twitter, they have now succeeded at acquiring the largest feed product out side of Facebook and Twitter. The press release about the announcement is below.
PALO ALTO, CALIF.—August 10, 2009—Facebook today announced that it has agreed to acquire FriendFeed, the innovative service for sharing online. As part of the agreement, all FriendFeed employees will join Facebook and FriendFeed’s four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook’s engineering and product teams.
“Facebook and FriendFeed share a common vision of giving people tools to share and connect with their friends,” said Bret Taylor, a FriendFeed co-founder and, previously, the group product manager who launched Google Maps. “We can’t wait to join the team and bring many of the innovations we’ve developed at FriendFeed to Facebook’s 250 million users around the world.”
“As we spent time with Mark and his leadership team, we were impressed by the open, creative culture they’ve built and their desire to have us contribute to it,” said Paul Buchheit, another FriendFeed co-founder. Buchheit, the Google engineer behind Gmail and the originator of Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto, added, “It was immediately obvious to us how passionate Facebook’s engineers are about creating simple, ground-breaking ways for people to share, and we are extremely excited to join such a like-minded group.”
Taylor and Buchheit founded FriendFeed along with Jim Norris and Sanjeev Singh in October 2007 after all four played key roles at Google for products like Gmail and Google Maps. At FriendFeed, they’ve brought together a world-class team of engineers and designers.
“Since I first tried FriendFeed, I’ve admired their team for creating such a simple and elegant service for people to share information,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “As this shows, our culture continues to make Facebook a place where the best engineers come to build things quickly that lots of people will use.”
FriendFeed is based in Mountain View, Calif. and has 12 employees. FriendFeed.com will continue to operate normally for the time being as the teams determine the longer term plans for the product.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not released."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)
Information Overload Awareness Day: August 12
Basex has organized Information Overload Awareness Day, which will be held Wednesday, August 12th, at 11 a.m. ET. The online event will offer strategies for dealing with information overload, information about its costs (an estimated $900 billion per year), and, most importantly, solutions.
Picked up from the SLA Information Center Connections blog.
This might be something to highlight for summer library marketing.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:25 AM | Comments (0)
Public Libraries, Archives and Museums: Trends in Collaboration and Cooperation
I'll be heading to IFLA in Italy and the Web 2.0 pre-conference too next week.
And here's a tinely report IFLA just released (with loads of Canadian and international involvement):
Public Libraries, Archives and Museums: Trends in Collaboration and Cooperation
Executive Summary
"This report examines the recent trends in collaboration and cooperation
between public libraries, archives and museums. In many cases, the shared
or similar missions of the institutions reviewed make them ideal partners in
collaborative ventures. Different types of collaborative projects are examined,
including exhibits, community programs, digital resources and joint-use
facilities. Examples come from Canada, the United States and the United
Kingdom (UK), as well as from Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany,
Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The report concludes
with a guide to collaborations, including examples of best practices in the field,
a guide to a successful collaboration, a discussion of the benefit and risks of
collaboration, and a list of resources consulted."
You can download the 51 page PDF here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:56 AM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2009
The Generation M Manifesto
This post from Umair Haque, Director of the Havas Media Lab, on the Harvard Business site is the right kind of controversial that generates great debates and discussions.
Anything that starts with:
"Dear Old People Who Run the World,
My generation would like to break up with you.
Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world — and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences."
If there was ever any doubt that there is inter-generational and intra-generational conflict - both ways - just review the comments on this post.
Either way, it presents an interesting and articulate viewpoint that is worthy of consideration.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2009
Online Trends
What do people do online every month?
Mashable is reporting that with "Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites growing rapidly, it’s not too surprising that on the whole, the number of social networking users has doubled since 2007.
Specifically, 55.6 million adults – or just less than 1/3rd of the population – in the US now visit social networks at least monthly, according to a new report from Forrester Research. That’s up from just 15 percent of adults in 2007, and around 18 percent last year.
At that level, social networking is now more popular than instant messaging among adults, which 54.3 million people report using. However, watching video, online shopping, and email (contrary to other reports we’ve seen) are still more widely used than social networks."
Using some serivce at least once a month is a pattern and not just occasional use. Can library e-services be measured and reported this way with user populations?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
What do people do all day?
I love this graphic:
What do people do all day?
Source: NYT
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)
Browser Market Share
We follow browser share closely. Apps need to work with most if not all browsers and that's a lot of testing.
Here's the latest data as reported by cNet:
Convulsion in browser share stats: Safari plunges
I'll be interested to see the impact of mobile browsers on this space too. Things have changed over time - Netscape ----> MSIE ---> Firefox ---> ????
No one owns the space.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)
Involving Your Community
During difficult times I am noticing that many libraries are wishing that they had better relationships with their communities that they could draw upon for support (financial, political, influence). Hindsight is 20/20 since difficult times make it very clear what should have happened in the past. We can't change the past, but we can begin anew.
Remember the famous OCLC report that discovered that library support was highest among those citizens who did NOT have a library card. Hmmmmmm. I guess we also need to know who the infuencers are and who needs to be influenced,
Blue Skunk blog is reporting on three strategies that have been brainstormed. It's mainly focused on the needs of school libraries but it's not a big leap to adapt this. Check it out here.
Building influence with community groups
1. Presentations to community groups.
2. Hold open school library nights and work with Community Education to offer adult education classes in your library.
3. Invite the press into your library for special activities, lessons and events.
It's never too late to start. Can schools get parents/voters on side? Can public libraries engage their strongest supporters? Even academic budgets are seeing stresses bigger than most have ever experienced - who do they need to influence and how?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:59 AM | Comments (0)
Friday Mad Men Fun
My wife and I are huge Mad Men fans. We even bought the DVD sets to watch it again.
Anyway, I am having fun following this meme where people are creating their Mad Men avatars - how we would look in 1960's Manhattan on Madison Ave.
Here's mine:
I am even doing a presentation. Some things never change.
And here's Stephanie:
You can create and download your own avatar here. You can use it as a Twitter icon, wallpaper, etc. I think these are improvements on my Simpson's and South Park avatars.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:01 AM | Comments (0)
August 6, 2009
Overdrive Interactive Social Media Map
Overdrive Interactive Social Media Map:
Nice list.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
More Twitter Data
I know that Twitter is very interesting and I can see loads of undiscovered potential. I just started tweeting from my iPhone (Yeah, I'm late to that party). Then again, Twiter is still in its infancy so it's fun to watch as people discover new ways to use it.
Check out this post and wonderful visualization at Gizmodo:
If Only 100 People Were in Twitter
Bobbi Newman (Librarian By Day) points to this interesting study data with stats from the Sysomos report on Twitter. "There is more information on the original post (10 Stunning (And Useful) Stats About Twitter) and you download the full report if you’re inclined:
1.21% (One Fifth) of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders.
2.Nearly 94% of all Twitter accounts have less than 100 followers.
3.March and April of 2009 were the tipping point for Twitter.
4.150 followers is the magic number.
5.A small minority creates most of the activity
6.Half of all Twitter users are not “active.”
7.Tuesday is the most active Twitter day.
8.APIs have been the key to Twitter’s growth & utility.
9.English still dominates Twitter.
10.Twitter is being led by the social media geeks.
11.Bonus Geographical Stat/Quote: The cities with the biggest Twitter populations are New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, and Boston. Los Angeles is the fastest growing city on the list.”"
All in all, it's just interesting. People are sharing in unique and different ways AND LIBRARIES ARE ALL ABOUT THE SHARING.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
25 Predictions for the University of the Future
25 Predictions for the University of the Future
"Along with the rest of the world, the landscape of higher education is changing rapidly. Open source courses, new technology systems, digital collections in libraries, and social media are influencing how we receive and process our information. Students and faculty members communicate via different platforms than they used to, and an increasingly globalized society contributes to more competition and more access to valuable learning resources. Here are 25 predictions for how the university of the future will operate."
Technology and Innovation
1. There will be more of an emphasis on distance learning
2. Traditional universities will be compelled to pursue open networks
3. Technology innovation will be a priority
4. Students will take a mix of online classes and on-campus courses
5. Focus will be on career-applicable skills and experiential learning
6. More collaboration
7. Open communication between students and teachers
8. Increased interaction on campus
9. Libraries will continue to become more tech-focused
10. Learning resources will shift online
11. There will be an increase in the variety of educational resources and materials
12. There will be an even greater focus on research universities
13. Faculty members in all fields will need to become “techies”
Student Body and Enrolment
14. More students in school
15. More minority students will enrol in college
16. More independent student body
17. Student projects will be acknowledged and encouraged
Global and Economic Issues
18. Increase in global networks and contacts
19. Increased global competition
20. More academic programs for skilled professions
21. Universities will have a more global perspective
Sustainability
22. More green majors
23. Green campuses
24. Green-oriented common curriculum
25. Shift to focus on local community
Read the full post here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
Teens and Tweeting
We often think of new technologies as being all about the young folk. Not always. Sometimes the early adopters are from other categories.
Check out this graphic:
These two postings are worth a read if you're doing some strat planning about what technologies to use to attract and communicate with certain market demographcs:
Stats Confirm It: Teens Don’t Tweet
Both postings have generated some controversy and engaged a few teens - even!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:46 AM | Comments (1)
August 5, 2009
Librarian Futurists
I know this is a bit of link bait, but it is a good list and I think I agree with most of the blogs selected (including my own!).
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)
What are the top web properties?
TechCrunch is reporting that "Facebook gained 24M unique visitors worldwide in June. It is now the 4th largest site in the world, trailing only Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo sites, according to comScore. In the past year, it has grown 157%, gaining 208M visitors. In the U.S., Facebook had 77M unique visitors in June, making it the 6th largest site in the U.S. "
Here's the top 10 globally:
"Worldwide unique visitors (June, 2009). Source: comScore
1.Google Sites: 844 million
2.Microsoft Sites: 691 million
3.Yahoo! Sites: 581 million
4.Facebook: 340 million
5.Wikimedia Foundation sites: 303 million
6.AOL: 280 million
7.eBay: 233 million
8.CBS Interactive: 186 million
9.Amazon: 183 million
10.Ask Network: 174 million"
The graph on the posting really shows the amazing growth of Facebook usage.
I've pondered this before but I wonder what the total traffic would be (estimates?) at all library websites, services and portals? globally or by country? Public, academic, school, special...?
Where do we rank as a group?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)
The Generations - Again
The most recent C&RL News, July/August 2009 has a great annotated summary of useful resources for understanding generational differences. You can read the whole work here, but I provide the link list for my own purposes in this post:
Talkin’ ‘bout my generation: Exploring age-related resources
by Sidney Lowe and Susie Skarl
• AgingHipsters.com—The Baby Boomer Generation blog
• Center for Generational Studies
• Information Seeking Behavior and the Generations
• MillennialGeneration.org
• The Gen-X Files
• The Silent Generation
• A Vision of Students Today
• Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the Higher Education Researcher Institute at UCLA (CRIP): The Freshman Survey
• EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI)—Learners
• The Millennial Learner: Challenges and Opportunities, Saundra Y. McGuire, Louisiana State University
• Age and Generations: Understanding Experiences at the Workplace, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Christina Matz-Costa, and Elyssa Besen
• Decoding Generational Differences: Fact, Fiction . . . or Should We Just Get Back to Work? by W. Stanton Smith
• Mixing and Managing Four Generations of Employees, by Greg Hammill
• What It’s Like to Work with Me: Generational Diversity in Office and Team Environments, National Institutes of Health Work/Life Center
• GenerationBlend.com
• Generations Online in 2009, Pew Internet and American Life Project
• A Boomer’s Guide to Communicating with Gen X and Gen Y
• Communication Key to Cross-Generational Relationships
• Tips to Improve Interaction Among the Generations: Traditionalists, Boomers, X’ers and Nexters
• Today’s Generations Face New Communication Gaps—USATODAY.com, Denise Kersten
• Understanding and Appreciating the Communication Styles of the Millennial Generation, Jenna Reith
Yes, I know I am fixated on this topic. I should do a dissertation.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:01 AM | Comments (2)
August 4, 2009
PC Magazine's Top 100 Websites of 2009
PC Magazine has puiblished their latest top 100 list. It's the top websites of 2009 and it is organized in an interesting way - classics and undiscovered - of Apps, Fun, Info, News, Shopping, Tech.
Have some fun playing here:
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)
Twitter: Contradictions and Ambiguity
I do go to a lot of conferences every year. This recent study certainly matches my experience where the first day is always rife with delegates asking the question "What's the hashtag?" and another group asking "What's a hastag?"
Study Reveals High Levels of Twitter Use at Conferences
"The researchers found that the majority of conference attendees already had a Twitter account (95.1%) and many of those who did actively used it to tweet during the conference (67.5%). 74.1% of the attendees send between 11 and 20 messages per day and 51.2% discussed topics via @ replies and DMs."
img alt="twitter_at_conferences.png" src="http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/twitter_at_conferences.png" width="374" height="250" />
Read the whole ReadWriteWeb post for more.
Then again, I guess conference goers are a little more forward thinking than the general population. Marketers ove this group since they're often the early adopters and innovators pioneering new modes and styles and breaking in the service.
Harris Poll: Consumer Perceptions About Twitter
Twitter's biggest problem: Most people still don't know what it's there for
I see parallels in this phase of Twitter with what I heard in the early phases of facsimile (why wouldn't I just mail it?); e-mail (I don't want to have an e-mail address!); online information (searching will always be a special skills just for librarians!); the Internet (why would I need anything like that?); the web (huh? at home?); and Second Life (I have a first life that's just fine thanks...!).
Also, one of my tests is when I see new stuff on TV and in ads. I am seeing 'Follow us on Twitter' in print ads that mirror the early days of the web when URLs showed up on print ads. And I am seeing the odd celebrity adding it their shows (Like Conan O'Brien did his first tweet on July 31st, Oprah, the Today Show, CNN, etc.) It's hard to know how much is product placement and how much is just being trendy but it's got more buzz this week than last. I call this the 800 number test. When everyone knows it like an 800 number then it's normal and no longer brand new.
Then again, what do I know? I had a pet rock.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:39 PM | Comments (2)
SEO Basics
Are you looking to update your SEO (search Engine Optimization) actvities. With the Yahoo/MS Bing and Google changes it might be time. You do want your portals and websites found and high ranking. Right?
Anyway, this posting crossed my RSS feeds lately and I thought I'd pass it on:
The Ultimate List of Basic SEO Resources for a Kick-Ass Start
1. Beginner’s Guide
2. SEObook Glossary
3. Google for Beginners
4. Simplifying SEO
5. SEO Cheat Sheet
6. SEO Tools
7. SEO FAQ
8. SEO Checklist
9. The SEO Pyramid
10. SEO in Action
Every librarian and researcher should know how SEO affects your search results anyway whether you SEO or buy adwords or ads or not.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:05 AM
The First Four Waves of Internet Use
This study by Universal McCann is very interesting and takes a global view of the Internet usage changes we've gone through since 2006.
Report: Social Networks Growing while Other Social Media Sites Stagnate and Decline
Read the full presentation here - Power to the People Report (40 page PDF).
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:52 AM | Comments (1)
August 3, 2009
Generational Differences in Facebook Use
Facebook is reporting on a study by Andersen Analytics about differences in the way the generations use Facebook.
Find out more here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)
August 2, 2009
Teens and Mobile Phones
Just a heads up that the Pew Internet Project just released a short data memo on teenagers and mobile phones. The data memo mines Pew Internet data from 2004-2008 and looks at trends in mobile phone use by teens ages 12 to 17 over that time.
You can access the document at the Pew website .
Despite indications to the contrary, "Teenagers have previously lagged behind adults in their ownership of cell phones, but several years of survey data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that those ages 12-17 are closing the gap in cell phone ownership. The Project first began surveying teenagers about their mobile phones in its 2004 Teens and Parents project when a survey showed that 45% of teens had a cell phone. Since that time, mobile phone use has climbed steadily among teens ages 12 to 17 – to 63% in fall of 2006 to 71% in early 2008.
In comparison, 77% of all adults (and 88% of parents) had a cell phone or other mobile device at a similar point in 2008. Cell phone ownership among adults has since risen to 85%, based on the results of our most recent tracking survey of adults conducted in April 2009."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)
How big is the Internet?
Lone Wolf pointed to this awesome graphic.
From Australia.com: How big is the Internet?
"THE internet has permeated everything from buying to banking to bonking.
But just how big is it?
Microsoft's Bing team puts the amount of web pages at "over one trillion".
And Google has already indexed more than one trillion discrete web addresses.
There are more addresses than there are people on Earth. The current global population stands at more than 6.7 billion.
That means there are about 150 web addresses per person in the world.
Translated: If you spent just one minute reading every website in existence, you’d be kept busy for 31,000 years. Without any sleep.
Bing was more generous with its estimate for those who take more time to read.
"An average person would need six hundred thousand decades of nonstop reading to read through the information," it said."
Even more stats in the article "How Big is the Internet?"
OK, next time someone says librarians missed an opportunity in cataloguing all websites according to LC or Dewey . . . just stare at them.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:59 AM | Comments (1)