Nicole writes: This is an interesting interview: Eszter Hargittai, an assistant professor in Northwestern University’s sociology department, has discovered that students aren’t nearly as Web-savvy as they, or their elders, assume. Ms. Hargittai studies the technological fluency of college freshmen. She found that they lack a basic understanding of such terms as BCC (blind copy on e-mail), podcasting, and phishing. This spring she will start a national poster-and-video contest to promote Web-related skills. Eszter goes on to explain her study and its results. I found the comments as interesting as the interview itself. One comment in particular made me laugh: Finally someone says […]
Categories Emerging Technology
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Patricia Uttaro, Assistant Director, System Services at the Monroe County Library System in New York, writes: I’ve been meaning to write to you for awhile to fill you in on activities in the Monroe County Library System since your visit here in 2006. The system now has an Emerging Technology Committee that just celebrated its first anniversary. At our last meeting, I asked if anyone was ready to drop off the team after a busy year, and the response I got from one and all was “No Way! We’re having way to much fun!” The ETC has produced three Technology Camps for […]
http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2008/04/new-blockbuster.html Blockbuster is using a dozen Dallas-area stores to test concepts such as:•Whether customers want to rent movies as early as 6 a.m. on their way to work, instead of after work. •Including the option to buy a cappuccino or a fountain drink. •Offering new technology for watching movies, reading books or shooting video at a Blockbuster. •Whether customers would stop in more often if they or their children were entertained with a game of Rock Band on a 62-inch screen or they had access to free Wi-Fi. Every one of these concepts are in place (or about to be […]
Brian Matthews shares a fascinating conversation: http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/the_ubiquitous_librarian/2008/04/the-anatomy-of.html The transparent technologies of flickr and twitter offer tremendous assessment possibilities. We hear about students pulling all-nighters, but this is documented evidence. 4:56 PM paper + pres due in 22 hours. tick tock. group members unite 6:51 PM if I have to pull an allnighter to finish this proj I’ll likely have to skip the gatech awards banquet luncheon thing and get my award later 7:55 PM I just talked about epistemological connections in this CS paper. Do I get my cookie now or later? 09:23 PM trying to explain color wars […]
From “Pleasing Google’s Tech-Savvy Staff” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120578961450043169.html Unlike many IT departments that try to control the technology their workers use, Mr. Merrill’s group lets Google employees download software on their own, choose between several types of computers and operating systems, and use internal software built by the company’s engineers. Lately, he has also spent time evangelizing to outside clients about Google’s own enterprise-software products — such as Google Apps, an enterprise version of Google’s Web-based services including email, word processing and a calendar. Later: It used to be that you used enterprise technology because you wanted uptime, security and speed. None […]
From the Chronicle February 29, 2008 http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i25/25a01501.htm (I think it’s expired 🙁 ) As iPhones and other “smart phones” become more popular on campuses, and as computing becomes even more mobile, it seems that some form of Twitter-like service may become part of student and faculty life. But the technology has potential costs in terms of money and privacy. Some observers, essentially arguing that there is such a thing as too much information, say that Twittering will never catch on the way blogs and e-mail have. David Parry, an assistant professor of emerging media and communications at the University of Texas at Dallas, says he was reluctant to […]
http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/index.html Mobile technology is shaping the way we live, work and learn. Since education can now take place in the classroom or virtually anywhere, ACU is committed to exploring mobile learning technology that makes sense for our students and their future. ACU leaders have given top priority to researching and developing a “connected” 21st century campus, integrating technology into course curriculum and campus life. Several pilot applications have already been developed for Fall 2008. There’s a video as well: A fictional day-in-the-life account highlights some of the potential benefits in a higher education setting when every student, faculty, and staff member is “connected.” The applications […]
From the comments on: “Libraries that don’t offer texting are basically invisible to me.” comes this response from TTW reader Graeme Williams: I’m a library user, not a librarian. We have a beautiful library in our town, but usage is dropping slowly year by year. I think the general point is exactly correct, although I’d call the problem one of friction rather than invisibility. It is, after all, possible for a sufficiently determined person to locate the library, obtain a library card, and borrow a book, provided they have proof of residence, so the library isn’t literally invisible. My children use […]
My Web friend from France Laurent shared this plugin with me for WordPress: http://imthi.com/wp-pda WordPress PDA plugin enables the wordpress blog viewable for PDA and iPhone browsers. It is really simple plugin which detects the browser agent and loads a simple theme on fly. The plugin comes with a theme folder which acts like normal theme with all the functionality of wordpress theme. The image above illustrates how TTW looks on my phone. I don’t know how I feel about it – it loads quickly, but one of the best things about Safari on iPhone is how it displays the […]
Via LISnews: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/19/opensource There’s a “growing disconnect in what we’re being provided from commercial companies … and what libraries are starting to realize they need,” he said, but libraries aren’t blameless either: He believes they need to communicate more effectively the features and functionality they require. And just because it’s open source doesn’t mean it’s better. Soon enough, Gibbons suggested, open source innovations might spur competition and eventually result in more and better choices in the consumer market.