[WEB4LIB] RE: The Future

[Dempsey,Lorcan]

One of the interesting things to me as the Scan mentioned by Bernie below
was put together was the strength of response among those interviewed about
the impact of what I have since termed "Amazoogle" and the general consumer
internet space.

Neil Beagrie recently alerted me to http://trendwatching.com. Beneath the
neologistic and rhetorical excess there is some interesting stuff. And
sometimes they do come up wit an arresting phrase - I like 'life caching'.
Whatever we think of the full range of identified trends, some do point to
areas of interest for libraries moving forward. Some examples:

* Generation C: "The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the tsunami of
consumer generated content that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta
bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis."

* Life-caching: "Consumers are collecting, storing and displaying their
entire lives, for personal use, or for friends and family, even the entire
world to peruse. The necessary enablers are in place for what
TRENDWATCHING.COM has dubbed LIFE CACHING, with Nokia, Microsoft, Google,
Apple, Samsung and many more getting into the game."

* Online Oxygen: "600 million consumers worldwide are beginning to see
online access as an absolute necessity, and there are no signs that the pace
of integrating online access into daily life is slowing down."

Incidentally, in discussions about technology trends I think it is useful to
bear in mind the statement attributed - in various versions - to Alan Kay:
"technology is anything that was invented after you were born". 


Lorcan

Lorcan Dempsey
VP, Research, OCLC
http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/
http://errol.oclc.org/laf/n90-602202.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Sloan, Bernie [mailto:bernies at uillinois.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 5:44 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: The Future

I'm joining this discussion of "The Future" a little late, but if you're
interested in the future of library technology you might want to take a look
at "The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition" report:

http://www.oclc.org/membership/escan/default.htm

Text available on the Web at:

http://www.oclc.org/membership/escan/toc.htm (click on each section title to
view the html versions)

There's also a link to a Webcast of a related program that was held at ALA
Orlando this summer:

http://www.oclc.org/membership/escan/default.htm#launch 

Bernie Sloan

-----Original Message-----
From: Helfrich, Gair [mailto:GHelfrich at acmail.aclink.org]
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 11:30 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] The Future

Hello everyone,

The collective wisdom of this group is needed! For the first time in many
years we are working on our Master Plan. Naturally, one component of that
plan is Technology and I've been asked to use a crystal ball and look ahead
for the next 5 years. Right now we're short staffed and I'm having trouble
keeping up with today, let alone anticipating what's coming in the next 5
years. That's probably true for many of us. :-) 

At any rate, if some of you who are on the cutting edge or have a clear
crystal ball are willing to share some insights I'd very much appreciate it.
What do you think is coming in technology in general and specifically in
library technology. We've already got wireless on our radar--and have
implemented in 2 branches so far--and are considering RFID. You can reply to
the list or to me personally and I'll summarize the answers for the list. 

Thanks in advance,
Gair Helfrich

__________

Gair Helfrich
Network Services & Computer Services Manager Atlantic County Library 40
Farragut Avenue Mays Landing, NJ 08330
609-625-2776 ext. 6313  Fax: 609-625-8143 ghelfrich at acmail.aclink.org