Moore's Law (article and video): I first came into contact with this concept whilst doing the impact of technology from a management/costing point of view. The fact that capacity doubles every eighteen months or sooner has implications for cost projections. Sadly however, it has been found that the savings derived from this always seems to be wanted in some other supporting expense to ensure that the technology functions. On a more personal note, taking into consideration the fact that technology's obsolesence is also affected by Moore's Law, I wonder if the price for the latest smartphone is really worth it? Hmmmm.
Computer History Museum: Enjoyed the tour and may I say thanks to digitization that I was able to be part of this virtual tour and 'see' the items on the marketing brochures in the collection. Those machines were really huge, I will not complain about logging my laptop around again, I guess it's all about perspective huh?
Muddiest Point: I am aware that there is the perception that digitization will negatively affect the need for librarians, in Trinidad I think it will increase the need, for guidance and research skills especially for non-print media. Is the fear only with those who are not up to par with the electronic side of librarianship?
Links to week 2 Comments:
http://kel2600.blogspot.com/2010/09/reading-notes-september-13-2010.html?showComment=1284599023893#c666765032756924416
http://maj66.blogspot.com/2010/09/wikipedia-articles.html?showComment=1284253844092#c4745464930538065859
Your muddiest point is an interesting question- I think the fear is that our younger generation, who think they are so tech-savvy, will not believe that have to look for guidance and research skills... I mean, who needs guidance when there's Google, right? Librarians will need to really sell the advantages of coming to them for help and guidance.
ReplyDeleteNan - great (& slightly controversial) point! While there may be a few librarians who are a little behind tech-wise, I think the majority fall into the camp Amy alluded to. To "woo" the Google generation, public librarians have had to learn some clever marketing, increase outreach & special programming (teen Xbox tournaments, family fun days, movie screenings, etc.). In academia there are now "information commons" in libraries to blend more technology, collaboration & specialized librarian assistance into the research process. Are these steps really working? As far as I can tell, yes and no.
ReplyDeleteDigitization is good to some extent. I feel that librarians are beginning to see advantages and disadvantages of this technique. I think libraries realize the need of change. Unfortunately information commons came little bit late. If they were appeared in 1998 things would be different. I strongly believe the that image of old librarian has to change. The new image needs to be projected to the public, immediately, without waiting for another article ten years later to tell librarian that they need to advance their technological skills.
ReplyDeleteNan, I can't believe you posed the question, "Is the price paid for the latest smartphone worth it?" I had my perfectly good non-smartphone stolen this summer, and I am being seduced by Droid commercials. The highly educated (and fiscally responsible)librarian in me says I should stay away. But the magpie in me who is fascinated by bright, shiny objects is thinking $199 is a small price to pay for the internet at my fingertips. Help!
ReplyDeleteNan, Your muddiest point is very interesting! I agree with the other comments posted here, but I'll add that we've also got a huge population of public librarians who didn't grow up with computers, much less smart phones. I believe some of the apprehension about digitization comes from a fear of what will happen to those people's jobs. My mom, for example, is a children's librarian who has a great working knowledge of computers, but she's the first to admit that her younger coworkers are much more technologically adept than she is. It's hard to compete with someone who grew up using that technology - not impossible, but it's hard. She's not worried about her job, though, because she's still one of the only librarians in her district who knows how to use Facebook.
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