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Tuesday, December 28, 2004 |
Top Ten Trends for 2005. This is actually a pretty good list, including
some dark horses I've been watching myself - the potential
of the fueld cell, for example, and the rise of biocraft.
One item deals with the lagging U.S. cullular phone
industry, another with the potential for desktop search.
Nothing specific to the field of education, but educators
should read this list. By Various Authors, Red Herring,
December 28, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
11:41:25 PM  Google It!.
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Firefox Tweak. This tweak will increase the speed of your
Firefox browser - in my case, it almost doubled the speed.
Basically, what it does is to allow Firefox to download
multiple objects at once. Do not use it, however, unless
you have a broadband internet connection. By SarahR,
FutureStep, December 28, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
11:38:31 PM Google It!.
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Discussions Planning.
Planning discussions has always been challenging... and adding the
online element has really required a re-think of goals, strategies,
approaches... I, like many of my colleagues, really have to rethink how
I encourage and use Discussions in the online environment. I ran across
what I think is a really nice resource.. Preparing Faculty for
Successful Synchronous and Asynchronous Discussions: Plan,... [Michelle's Online Learning Freakout Party Zone]
8:49:11 AM Google It!.
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Pool of Library Patrons Using Cell Phones Is Growing Exponentially. Cellphones: Once a Status Symbol, Now a Necessity
"The notion of the cellphone as necessity may not be
universally agreed, but if you're in doubt about whether the device is
transforming American life just try wresting one away from a teenager
you know.
With a popularity and versatility that spans continents and
generations, the cellphone may be on its way to becoming mankind's
primary communication interface and a lifestyle tool that exceeds the
personal computer in ubiquity, say watchers of technology culture....
'The cellphone has moved from a helpful service appliance to a
necessity,' says Tom McPhail, a professor of media studies and
communication at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. 'Older
Americans are realizing they are needlessly cut off without one, and
for youth it has become a part of their persona and identity without
which they feel naked, shunned, or isolated.'...
Voicing an oft-heard observation, CEO Silk says he recently crossed the
Ohio State campus and couldn't find a teenager without a mobile or
music headphone in their ear. As in decades past, the students did not
congregate and share stories, he says, but rather remained connected to
others solely by cellphone. Other sociologists worry that teens use all
their free time messaging or talking to friends so that they no longer
spend enough time in mental solitude crucial to understanding a
separate self, problem solving, and allowing space for creativity and
intuition." [Christian Science Monitor, via textually.org]
Couple this excerpt with the news that mobile
phone subscribers around the globe totalled nearly 1.5 billion by the
middle of this year, about one quarter of the world's population [CNN],
and ask yourself if your library is prepared to serve these folks via
cell phone in ways other than voice (instant messaging, texting,
searching, etc.). Other interesting statistics from the CNN article:
- "The ITU said the growth in mobile phone subscribers had outpaced
that for fixed lines, who totalled some 1.85 billion today against one
billion at the start of the century, and was also outstripping the rate
of increase in Internet users."
- "And by the middle of the year developing countries as a whole had
overtaken rich nations to account for 56 percent of all mobile
subscribers, while accounting for 79 percent of growth in the market
since 2000."
- "By July this year, China was reporting 310 million users -- about
one-quarter of its total population and more than the entire population
of the United States, the ITU said."
- "By the end of this year, the report said, global revenues from
mobile networks were likely to exceed those from fixed-line networks
for the first time."
[The Shifted Librarian]
8:47:58 AM Google It!.
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Hey, Your Library's Books Are in My Google. No, Your Google Is in My Library Books.. So the big news is about Google and libraries.
I don't feel the need to comment on this right now, as you can find
plenty of other places for that. However, here are a few angles I
haven't seen discussed elsewhere in the library blogosphere.
- Libraries and the Internet
"More broadly, the Internet can profoundly improve the relationship
between libraries and society. For example, there are two major
libraries in my town -- a college library, and a public library. My
library card works in both places. I used to favor the college library,
because there was open WiFi access there -- which meant, among other
things, that I could use LibraryLookup from my laptop to find books in
the stacks. Recently, though, the college shut down its open access
point. And from an IT administrator's point of view, I can understand
why. Not long after, the public library installed an open access point.
So now it's my favorite spot, and lately I notice other mobile
professionals congregating there too." [Jon Udell's Weblog
(Click over to read Jon's story about getting locked in the library, too!)
- "A quick calculation using the figures above suggests an average
scan rate of 3200 volumes per day (assuming 365 days/year for 6 years)
at the University of Michigan site alone." [Tito Sierra on the WEB4LIB mailing list]
- "An even quicker calculation shows that they will need to digitize
2.25 books _a_minute_, 24 hours/day, 365 days/year to digitize 7
million volumes in six years." [Roy Tennant on the WEB4LIB mailing list]
It's times like this when I wish Karen Coyle had a blog. [The Shifted Librarian]
8:46:08 AM Google It!.
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More Schools Offer Cheap Music Downloads for Students
"Several top schools began offering these services in
September, either free or highly subsidized. Now, student demand is
spurring more university administrators to institute programs in
January instead of waiting for fall....
Some schools have reported huge acceptance rates by students. More
than 1 million songs have been downloaded by Purdue students since
Cdigix began in the fall.
But at the 31,000-student University of California, Berkeley campus,
only 1,000 have signed up for Rhapsody. Like Michigan, Berkeley asks
students to pick up the tab — and it's a low one, $2 a month,
compared with the normal $9.95 monthly charge.
At those kinds of rates, both Rhapsody and Cdigix say they don't
make much money — if any. The hope is to turn students into paying
subscribers when they graduate.
Napster is free at Cornell. Senior Andy Guess says he uses it every day
and hasn't set foot in a record store since the service came to the
campus in September. "I listen to it all day long," he says. 'It's
really convenient for me.' " [USA Today, via Furdlog via The Kept-Up Librarian]
I'll bet it's been even longer since Andy set foot in a library to get some music. When I talk about information shifting and The Heavenly Jukebox, I always ask if the audience thinks the kids accessing these services, and current Duke freshmen in particular who all get iPods this year, are going to visit their local public library for music after they graduate.
Not that circulating music is our main mission, but it's been a
popular one, and these are our future taxpayers we're talking about.
Personally, I'll never give up Rhapsody
the concept. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead, virtual hands. I
don't think either of my kids will ever buy a physical CD ever again. [The Shifted Librarian]
8:44:43 AM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2005 Bruce Landon.
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