Internet Librarian 2011: Day 4

This morning's keynote was the "Internet 2020: TrendWatch Smackdown". Roy Tennant moderated the panel featuring James Werle, Liz Lawley, and Stephen Abram.

James Werle gave a brief formal presentation, where he noted bandwidth will drive libraries ability to use and consume information online. He also thinks in/ability to keep up with bandwidth needs is approaching a dangerous level. Finally, he asked everyone to visit this url: http://bit.ly/pFcfRp

Then we got to the more smackdown portion of the session:

 What is the role of lightweight tech that has same utility of broadband heavy tech?

Lawley asked about freemium use products: those you use for free then shift to using for a small fee. This is tied into people's willingness to pay for a good experience. "Context trumps content."

One of the most thought-provoking things said during this session was by Abram: "seamless frictionless experiences with technology will fundamentally shift our behaviors."

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For a change of pace, and knowing I had to leave early to catch my flight back to Pittsburgh (only to turn around and fly to Chicago), I attended two CyberTours. I did this at Computers in Libraries and found it to be a great way to learn a little bit on a variety of topics. I tweeted both presentations.

The first CyberTour was "Streaming Media for Libraries". Cyrus Ford from UNLV led the tour. We've started providing streaming media at Penn State, with Filmmakers Library Online being the most recent acquisition. With video quality getting better as bandwidth increases, streaming media will likely take hold in libraries, especially academic libraries. Ford highlighted various free streaming media sites including: Academic Earth, America Rhetoric, Bio Interactive, Merlot, Oyez, Research Channel, Teacher Tube, YoVisto, and EDU YouTube. It was noted libraries should remember to work with companies to obtain cataloging records for streaming media, creating an additional access point to these resources. I also found it helpful to learn the subject heading is "streaming media". While we're often talking about streaming media as films and documentaries, Ford highlighted a more internally produced streaming media libraries could be involved: streaming as a benefit for instruction. Course lectures can be streamed and made available via a library streaming site. As the number of courses available online or remotely spikes, this may very well be a new complement to electronic course reserves.

The second CyberTour was on Google+ presented by Miles Kehoe (@miles_kehoe), president of New Idea Engineering, Inc. His tour was titled "Not your kid's social network." Kehoe described Google+ as "an interest network and information network" drawing on elements of twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, and social interests. He asked how many of the attendees were using Google+, Twitter, or Facebook. There was definitely a stronger showing for Facebook, then Twitter, and finally Google+. There are three steps to using Google+:

1. Create your profile.
2. Decide who to follow.
3. Interact!

One point Kehoe made was "Google+ is best when you're honest." He also indicated "If nothing is happening in Google+ you're not using it right." Google+ hangouts seems to have some interesting features. These included the ability to bring up a video (ex. YouTube) and it watch together, and collaborate on a GoogleDocs. Currently only individuals can set up profiles on Google+, so you would not be able to set one up for your library or organization. I thought that Kehoe's most important point of the session was "Remember you're not the user, you're the product."

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After these CyberTours, I enjoyed a fantastic buffet lunch at Ambrosia India Bistro with Michelle Jacobs and Chuck Gibson, then headed to the airport. I had the nicest cab driver from Yellow Cab Co. He was looking for his usual classical music station that had seemingly disappeared overnight and shifted to a new music format. He finally settled on a light rock station and ended up talking about one of his and my favorite musicians, George Benson.

Before I left Monterey, I tweeted this: Thank you #il2011 for creative ideas, inspiration, and fun with old & new friends. The best time a first time attendee could experience. :)

Unfortunately my flight was delayed and I missed my connection in San Francisco. Not to worry, I've been pushed to a red eye headed to Washington, D.C. From there I'll fly back to Pittsburgh with just enough time to go to my car, switch suitcases, go back through security and catch my flight to Chicago. Wish me luck!