I’m an “expert” who will be presenting at LITA’s Top Technology Trends this coming weekend (Sunday, 8:30-11, Sheraton Constitution BR). The trends are those that affect or are important to libraries (that’s broad, huh?).
I have my own ideas for trends, but what do YOU think?
Here are a few of my ideas, to get you started:
Blogs everywhere, for everything
RSS going mainstream
Flash drives ubiquitous
Storage getting cheaperncheaper
Cell phones with cameras
Ergo, moblogging
Broadband picks up many more users
Wi-fi commonplace
The rise of the “citizen journalist”
I know I’m supposed to say something hifalutin like “institutional repositories,” and don’t let me stop you from saying so, but in terms of BIG trends, these are what I really see. The “huh” factor for most of these technologies and trends has significantly diminished, mainstream magazines and news sources write about them, and my mom has heard of most of them.
What would you add?
Posted on this day, other years:
- A scholar's pool of tears, Part 2: The pre in preprint means not done yet - 2017
- My Action-Packed ALA Midwinter 2009 Schedule - 2009
- Trends! Trends! Trends! - 2007
- Blog Migration Update - 2006
- A Million Little Untruthinesses - 2006
- Midwinter Report - 2004
Wow – almost exactly the list I’ve been using in my presentations this year, except that I’d also add web services. APIs, the web as an OS/platform (living in the browser), and the intermingling of the various pieces of your online life (del.icio.us, Flickr, Amazon, etc.). I hope you’ll blog the session, even if it’s just your thoughts afterwards. 😉
I think it would be hard not to comment on the Google expansion to scholarly information and print resources. I’d also incluide the increasing rise and capability of multimedia devices ala iPod and Archos Personal Video Players.
I’d add Open Source Software. This isn’t new, but it is having a bigger impact on libraries. The Georgia Pines project is the first large scale oss ILS being developed. Plus many of the blogs out there are powered by oss.
How about IM? I know that’s old hat to a lot of people, but I just used it for the first time.
In the coming year I expect VoIP to become more common. Could be very important and lead to a shake-up telcom industry. The list looks pretty good.
Desktop search
Podcasting (it even made _On the Media_)
Collaborative cataloging or tagging or folksonomies
Still going strong, but getting old…
privacy, spyware, toolbars, bookmarklets (customization of the browser), alternate browsers, wireless, social software/networks at work
What about gaming? Libraries are incorporating gaming methods and technologies into the design of information literacy tools (e.g. tutorials, self-paced instructional modules, learning objects), and into the design of facilities (e.g. gaming rooms, information commons).
I’d add: “The library as a process and a place” as opposed to the longtime mantra of “library as place.” Today the library is more and more a 50/50 physical/virtual experience. It is important for the thought-leaders and decision makers within the field to move rapidly toward a recognition of this paradigm. When looking down from way up high this evolution is happening but it does not seem to be showing-up in library design and architecture. Access to the “place” needs to be more distributed and less emphasis on the “monolithic” building or showpiece must be rapidly re-worked to allow for quicker and easier adaptation of changing demographics and intralibrary distribution and sharing methods. I could go on and on so I will stop here:)
More digitization of materials out of copyright–not just the Google initiative.
Not only is your mom way ahead of my mom, but your patrons must be way ahead of most of my colleagues, who think flash drives are what? I’ve seen exactly one patron with one. I’ve gotten one librarian to spend 45 minutes looking at RSS with me. Oh, and I got some new library trainees really excited about it.
(Oh, in the storage getting cheapern, maybe mention gmail?) I was trying to think of a technology that is making improvements in access for people who are underserved. I have high hopes for wifi bridging the digital divide a bit here in Philadelphia. MP3s through DAISY at the National Library for the Blind? Maybe someone else has more ideas (I hope so).
I would vote to definitely include IM–both IM reference and IMing other library staff for intra-institutional communication. I would also add Open Source Software as a topic. Open Source is allowing libraries to take a packaged piece of software, often not expressly intended for library use, and tailor it for their needs. There are examples of this all over the darn place (IM software, ILS software, toolbar software, etc).
Interesting project, Karen!
To your list, I would add RFID…knowing that there are those with privacy concerns, and that the technology is beyond the fiscal reach of many, many libraries right now. Still, one hopes that the price point will come down as the technology disseminates, and the ideal of simplifying inventory is sooooo attractive. I speak as one who goes all the way back to two staff members, one verifying what’s on the shelf, while the other manually checks cards in a shelflist drawer. We’ve come a long way since then, but there’s a ways to go. Our state librarian instituted RFID @ SFPL over protest and just prior to leaving for the state library…
Another ‘technology’ which is showing itself useful right now is the use of IM/chat to provide reference services such as AskNow/247. This seems a step back from the most preferable situation of face-to-face reference interviews, but is about as close to that as we can get short of webcam viewing of each other. I have had some AskNow sessions that went better than face-to-face because of the embarrassing nature of the question. For instance: I helped a person research HPV: Human Papilloma Virus recently. She was embarrassed, and wished anonymity, so….there ya go! Perfect match.
One more addition, though this is merely enabled by the technology, but I define things broadly, so no problem here: audiobooks & ebooks. Probably the ebooking of out-of-copyright literature is not so useful as is the ebooking of traditional reference resources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. In other words, ebooks serving as databases for query and answer…
One last thought: the new iPod, incorporating video capability may have some library applications, once we get beyond the gee whiz factor of MTV videos. I am thinking of video library guides, downloadable at the library, but there will be a zillion other apps emerging once the technology gets out here.
Have fun with your report!
DRM, DRM, DRM. For better or most likely worse, DRM.
If you don’t have Firefox on your list, it probably should be!
Thought this might be useful for your ALA presentation: See Predictions for 2005, from OCLC Abstracts January 10, 2005:
http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/design/abstracts/
Naomi
Ubiquitous computing/nomadicity, which covers a lot of what’s already been mentioned. It also implies a style of information use that libraries don’t answer yet — how many library OPACs are readable on a cell phone?
I second the mention of both podcasting and gaming. Museums are starting to use podcasting to provide audio guides. Gaming is another mode of interacting with information, and I suspect the possibilities haven’t even begun to be explored yet. Tutorials etc. are one thing, but how about Massive Multiplayer Online Learning Environments?
Too early for this year’s trends, but maybe next year’s — convergence devices. For example, I’m fascinated (for purely professional reasons, of course 🙂 by the new Bluetooth-enabled mobile gaming platforms that Nintendo and Sony are releasing. They emphasize fast processors, excellent graphics, and ease of use, and, importantly, they’re affordable. They’re already showing signs of converging with PDA’s, and Bluetooth gives them all kinds of creative possibilities. Imaging snapping a pic of your class reading assignment with your cell phone (copyright? what copyright?), moving it to your Nintendo DS, and reading on one screen while notating on the other. We’re not quite there (the Sony PSP isn’t even out yet in the US), but the community if not the companies are already working on expanding the possibilities. Shoot, the high-end Treo 650 has drivers for Wifi now — thanks to an enterprising user.
Karen, several of the trends you list might be summed up under one biggie–convergence. Devices share more features, and more broadband/wi-fi/etc allows for more access, and what we then do with the devices and where becomes less specific. I am not referring just to portable devices. My car can play my iPod, satellite radio, call a help center or a concierge service, and pretty soon, I think, we’ll see wireless connections between the household network and vehicles.
OK, maybe another way of putting that is “ubiquity”. Everything can be almost everywhere and retail responds by making content “bite sized.”
Graphical anything…I think we’ll see more attention paid to presenting information graphically, or at least in easy to parse/read touchscreens. Check-in kiosks for air travel is an example.
Gaming, for sure. Printable 3D products and conductive surfaces….not sure what this will mean but the latter will allow for flexible “paper” for digital text.
All these technology trends suggest a need to think really hard about what public physical spaces are for and need to do.
The trend toward “externality” increases. What the library offers includes more expertise (and access to ever greater expertise) as opposed to simply expanded access to material. We are being forced to provide greater guidance to the user; the downside is needed change in how we view both technology (real ongoing training) and “library education” (less focus on ubiquitous tools that kids are now taking for granted).
On the WebJunction Emerging Technologies Committee, we have been having a similar conversation. Here are some links mentioned from various members of the group. These are in no particular order. I will leave out things like RFID, Wi-Fi, blogging, and RSS, not because they are not relevant, but because I think you already have those covered.
Open eBook Forum
http://www.openebook.org
Open Source for Libraries
http://www.oss4lib.org
Optical Fiber and 10Gb Ethernet
http://www.10gea.org/SP0502OpticalFiberand10GbE_Final.pdf
On the Road to a Gigabit: Are We There Yet? A Self-Assessment Guide for Communities
http://www.cenic.org/guide/
A Wearable Computer from Xybernaut
http://www.xybernaut.com/home.asp
The Technologist Who Has Michael Powell’s Ear
http://news.com.com/The+technologist+who+has+Michael+Powells+ear/2008-1033_3-5388746.html
[OCLC] 2004 Information Format Trends: Content, not Containers
http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/2004infotrends_content.pdf
10 Tech Tools – Making Technology Work for your Library
http://librarian.net/talks/luv/
What’s New in Technology – 2004 California Library Association Conference Panel
http://www.watsonville.lib.ca.us/cla.html
Newspapers Should Really Worry
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65813,00.html/wn_ascii
Top 10 Things to Stay Tech Current
http://www.walkingpaper.org/index.php?id=128
Tech Needs Pyramid – Maslow Hierarchy Approach to Public Library Technology
http://www.walkingpaper.org/index.php?id=140
[Fortune Magazine] 10 Tech Trends
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1011763,00.html
[Red Herring] Top 10 Trends for 2005
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11046&hed=Top+Ten+Trends+for+2005#
Fast Company: Fast Forward – Technology
http://www.fastcompany.com/fastforward/categories2.html#tech
[Pew Internet and American Life Project] The Future of the Internet
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Future_of_Internet.pdf
Here’s my list of interesting products or technologies (supposed to be) to watch in 2005:
1. Wireless networking with the (more secure) 802.11i standard.
2. Gen 2 RFID – more secure, cheaper, smaller
3. LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) support in SUSE/Novell Linux at both the client and server levels. Finally, an easy to manage thin client setup for computer labs (and way to reuse old pcs).
4. MySQL 5.0 – Open source DB MySQL moves up to the big times with this major release.
5. A second vote for the OSS community in general, and not just ILS projects like Evergreen, Emilda and Koha, but other library-useful programs like MARC::Record, swish-e, Yaz and Zebra.
My son had a T-Shirt made for me that says “Born Digital” on the front. I think that the fact that we have many very valuable “things” (for lack of the proper term) being born, utilized and even marketed digitally is amazing to me. At times I am shocked that I can not really show someone what I do without a computer. To counter this I have become a very simple living, outdoors person of late. I need the tangible and real to balance the “Born Digital” in me.
Top Library Technology Trends
Help Karen out and let her know what you think the top technology trends are that libraries will have to…
Oh great, you get to use Boston as a warm up act before coming north next month for the technology trends panel in Toronto. I think attribute-based authentication and access will be critical, not only for injecting rights management into arbitrary web spaces (like Google Scholar), but also to decouple identify from use of public resources. Shibboleth and things like the Patriot Act come in here. Services Orientated Architecture (SOA) seems to be one of the buzziest of buzz words in the mainstream IT press right now, but the basic idea of weaving together network-accessible building materials for tapestries of applications is long overdue. The borders between desktop and web space need re-thinking, RSS for tracking changes to documents, document folders as blogs, and for that matter, what system would make seamless interconnections between these posts and the thread on Web4Lib.
Top Technology Trends
Karen Schneider of LII is asking for submissions on Top Technology Trends for a LITA presentation. See her request at her blog, Free Range Librarian.
I think one of the big things on the horizon is downloadable audio. I know some libraries are moving toward this but for the time being it’s too costly for most of us. It definitely has it’s advantages though: no more theft, loss or damage.
Top Technology Trends for libraries, Karen Schneider wants to know
Karen Schneider’s soliciting input via her Free Rangle Librarian blog and mailing lists for a presentation she’s making on Top Technology Trends for libraries at a LITA session, part of the ALA Midwinter.
If you think you know it all, drop by her …
Wikis everywhere!
Micro-magnetic and micro-DVD-RW drives (not just RAM chip drives, aka flash drives) ubiquitous
Linux and other Open Source operating systems triumph over Windows (just one too many security updates for Windows customers to handle)
You might want to divide the information into working technology today and not-ready-for-prime- time technology on the horizon. For years web services were not ready, and I am not even sure a lot if it is yet. People wrote about it as if it were imminent, but challenges to technology abound. Here is an idea that has finally climbed out and started to become useful, voice recognition software.
For years it did not work at all as planned. And then it went through court challenges and the inevitable shake out. The only two players left are the leader, IBM’s Via Voice, and a new comer Talk It, Type It. It used to cost around $200. Now I can get either for a tenth of that cost. Email me and I will send you a url. One of my technology newletters bragged a few months ago that they are creating the ezine completely with Via Voice.
I am a library student, just getting started. But I have a university professor friend who was complaining about not liking to email or write up his research because he did not like to type. We could perhaps create some rapport with the faculty by keeping them abreast of things like this and hopefully change their opinions of us. Currently I work in the workforce development industry. Jobs for medical transcriptionists are being replaced by voice recognition software used by doctors.
P2P networking isn’t new, but BitTorrent (http://bittorrent.com) is; it’s yet another model for P2P networking that tends to be a bit faster than other kinds because of the way data transfer is structured.
Top Trends
Karen G. Schneider sammelt für einen Vortrag die zu erwartenden Top Trends für 2005 (library related). Weitere Ideen können in den Kommentaren abgegeben werden, dort findet sich unter anderem auch “Collaborative cataloging or tagging or folksonomies”…
What a wonderful resource this discussion is, especially for those of us who, along with our libraries, are still playing catch up. As a small step, I started using Firefox at home. I would love to convince our MIS dept. to let us us it on library computers.
In the small and rural serving libraries [that I serve] I think you will see all of these [Karens initial list] but most especially wireless in the library and 24/7 access to the library wireless system from outside the library when the library is closed.
Sorry but broadband is still “coming” to much of rural America, keep it on the list.
Much greater use of Open Source, & VoIP will grow rapidly.
I look for a greater use of Teleconferencing for continuing education and an increase in the hardware/software to make it happen.
I would not be surprised to see:
1. Content filters that learn and become actually useful, based on the work of the junk mail software.
2. The failure of the e-rate program in small & rural libraries due to its own (federal) weight.
3. Massive rethinking of mid level agencies, regionals et. al. (such as my agency) because of the use of the “group mind” of the open mailing list. Challenge to profession is to relearn how to evaluate “unedited” data, then to pass on these skills to those who are “reading” for the profession.
NOTE: by “reading” I mean the many director librarians in rural/small town libraries who only discover that it is a profession, with a lot to learn, after getting the librarian job.
And on the other hand I would expect a great increase in the sales of fine printed books such as The Collins Library http://www.collinslibrary.com/
Blogs everywhere, for everything
RSS going mainstream
Flash drives ubiquitous
Storage getting cheaperncheaper
Cell phones with cameras
Ergo, moblogging
Broadband picks up many more users
Wi-fi commonplace
The rise of the “citizen journalist”
You may want to take a look at an essay written by Debra Bacon-Ziegler entitled “How Soon is Now? Today’s Trends, Tomorrow’s Libraries” in the January/February 2005 issue of ForeWord. She has some interesting perspectives on tech trends and libraries.
I thought of one more promising technology:
SPF (Sender Policy Framework or Sender Permitted From) which *might* help in the fight against Spam.
Tech Librarians Need to Know
Michael Stephens has posted a great list of Twelve Techie Things for Librarians 2005. I can’t pick out a small excerpt because it’s all good. Go read.Related: Karen Schneider is soliciting feedback on her blog and on WEB4LIB about “to…
Have read quite a bit on RFID and its basic controversies. Might be a logical addition.
Also, use of XML feeds in research. Just saw a fabulous slideshow at Virtual Chase, after being alerted to it via Resource Shelf. http://www.virtualchase.com/trainers/finding_news_faster.html
Besides the recent Pew piece, might be a couple of interesting numbers at burningdoor. They see their RSS feeds growing at a rate of 1% per weekday!
http://www.burningdoor.com/feedburner/archives/000961.html
Philosophical issue based on tech trends: accountability/ethics vis a vis blogs & citizen journalism. Recent big example: fraud tsunami photos.
Wish i could hear your presentation. You’ll have to share an outline on FreeRange!
Hmmm, perhaps it’s too small of a trend, but what about some of the clustering techniques being used in search engines like http://www.clusty.com. I would love to see some clustering techniques used in some OPACs (or at least using thesauruses in subject searches). I haven’t done much reference work, but I know in my own use I find myself using clusty for broad topics or search phrases that have multiple meanings.
While VoIP is probably still fresh, I’d add Video over IP as the next trend, especially for digital libraries. I predict P2P will come back again.
I am all for RSS going mainstream! So glad you included it on your list, not enough people are aware of it’s wonders!
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Great topic. How about digitizing books, copying video to DVDs or use of a basic library web site to find information, order books, etc…