Courtesy of blogger Lauren Pressly:
http://laurenpressley.com/library/?p=462
A snippet:
The panel switched gears to talk about software of participation and software of aesthetics
Pointed out LibraryThing has a lot of reviews, Amazon trusts their users enough to let them post reviews that say, “you know, you suck.” OCLC isn’t getting much engagement in their reviews.
It’s not about letting users do things, but encouraging them to do so.
Aesthetics is important: you see it with iPods, Bibliocommons, it really matters (but we don’t see it much in libraries)
Aesthetics in buildings, too…. how to incorporate technology in an aesthetic way
Ebooks as niche: people who use those are business travelers, specific type of user: more affluent, more interested in technology, carrying a lot of books around with you
Other ebook demographics: students with lots of books, people who need a lot of reference texts, etc.
My comment: if students start using ebooks, don’t you think that students will get more comfortable with ebooks, and the transition is inevitable?
If students are using ebook textbooks, shouldn’t it be a different format? Does it need to be the linear text?
A big education discussion ensued about how it needs to change…. big issues… lots of people wrestling with them in many fields
So much of what we are talking about and grappling with is tied to education: serving students, creating learning/research spaces, understanding needs, shifting delivery models, etc. I would have love to have been there for that discussion. Thanks for the great blogging, Lauren.