Futures DoodlesTony Hirst

Computing and Communications Dept, The Open University, UK

blog.ouseful.info / @psychemedia

Whither the future?

Predicting Tech Trends

Google tr

ends

Library analytics

Huddersfield – usage data project

personalisation

segmentation

gartner

Amazon books as a way of tracking tech mentionsO’Reilly annual book sales

tracking

Tren

dspo

tting

Once upon a time (note that once - it means once; it means this is a story) a technological breakthrough made all sorts of new and wonderful things possible.

The geeks started to play, the technology was touted as being capable of solving all the world's problems and the media had a field day. The technology only half-worked, of course, but the early adopters were forgiving, partly because they could put up with a bug or two, partly because there were lots of new, low-hanging fruit applications of the technology appearing on a regular basis. And so people could play, and they could see that all the promised really wonderful things were only a matter of time away.

Word got out and the early-middle adopters started to come to the party. The technology still didn't work properly, and the users were not happy bunnies. Word got out again... but a different word this time. Not a nice word. A nasty word.

The techies continued working on the problems, resolving the usability issues, fixing the bugs. The apps came together, reliability improved, and people started using the new applications. Not loudly, quietly.

More people used the apps. And more. A few more each day. Have you tried this? they said to each other.

The apps started to be used. More than that, they started to be used every day. Just every day. You know - one of those things you just use every day. Because they do the job. Not like the first "you HAVE to try THIS" time around. More of "that? Yeah - we use that too" kind of way.

Clink (what's the sound of a light bulb going on?)

Hey guys - you seen this? I can see the headline already: "Technological breakthrough"

mean = meaninglessSegm

enta

tion

is e

ssen

tial

Wha

t goe

s w

ith w

hat?

Reputation Systems / Credentials /Permissions

“BADGES”

It’s

a Q

uesti

on o

f Tru

st…

What is a library for?

Time was when librarians helped patrons negotiate bibliographic databases

on CD-ROMs…

Responding to Scenarios

Scenario Planning

Domestic energy supply companies are considering becoming energy services

Rather than supply you with gas or electricity, they provide you with a house

heated to 20 degrees and the means to cook energy efficiently…

What services do libraries

provide?Scenario Planning

Library as a Discovery service

Library as building discovery bridges to an institution’s content

Discovery happens elsewhere

What does collection development mean?

Library as a rediscovery service

Search over previous searches

Search over all course materialsPersonalisation

Tracking

Retargeting

Library as a monitoring service

http://r4sta

ts.com/articles/p

opularity/

Reputation management of academics?Wikipedia curation?

Linkage by comments on 3rd party sites, answers on SO etc?

Library training

What training/skills courses does/should/could/ (and not) th

e library run?Diagrams/visual communications Data wrangling

Query skills

Finding people and brokering introductions

Finding images and diagrams

Working with notations – chemistry, maths

Data representations, n

amespaces, ontologies

From data to information

QueriesReshaping

Visualisation

Data storytelling

Linkage

Reconciliation

Library as a place/space[playspace]

Skill tech trends in libraries

• Camera is a photocopier• Printers/printing• Annotating/highlighting• Reference collecting• Resource discovery• Resource access• Skills training???

Library as a service

“did you try the library?” (replace with: Amazon, Google, IT services, your tutor etc)

What questions could/should be replied to with that question?

What questions does the library answer?

Wor

king

the

idea

of t

he li

brar

y?

What do/would

do?