Hola,
> To me, we're _all_ "emerging technologies librarians" in 2010!
I think she meant emerging technologies of what is coming, not what's gone ...
*rimshot*
Anyway, let me use that bad joke as a stepping stone for what
"emerging technologies" really are ;
Ideas.
There, that's all there is to it. Think of how the future might solve
all your perceived problems, and look for solutions to them in the
current landscape. The distance between what you want and what you
find should give you an indication of how far off in the future the
real solution might be. Some years ago I whinged a lot about the
librarian world's lack of understanding the onslaught of eBooks and
eReaders that was coming (and is here now), and it was by thinking
"what would I like?" ; a simple tablet in color I can snuggle up in
bed with, with thousands of books, Internet for research, and some
easy means to take notes and make drawings. Ok, how far off right now
(back in 2005) are we? Hmm, prototypes and early eReaders are showing
up at the techno shows, that means it's right around the corner. Easy
peasy.
Working with emerging technology has really very little to do with
actual technology. The tools and gadgets and software and mechanics,
they're all technology that will zoom fast into the future as the
definition of "technology" itself will, as science finds new and
better ways of cramming awesomeness into smaller packages. The *real*
trick is to understand what we're using technology for now, and try to
match it with what technology can do around the corner and with what
problems you've got; find that golden correlation between what you
want and what is available now.
You need to be creative, though. You need to be able to think
creatively about the human condition, try to picture what the next
generation (whatever that means) might want to do; understand their
context, their needs, the way things are going, and so on. As a crazy
but lovely example, let's talk about TomTom, a manufacturer of GPS
navigation devices. They're under tremendous pressure from the fact
that every damn phone out there these days have both GPS and (often)
free navigation software on them, literary killing their market. What
to do? Something pure genius;
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/video-darth-vader-records-voice-for-tomtom/
That trick alone might be what saves the company from failure. I want
one! I want plenty! And I have a damn phone with a GPS and two free
navigation software on there. No, three. And lots of other interesting
things, like Internet and whatsnot. And now I *lust* a TomTom, and all
they did was make some optional sounds. Genius. Good technology isn't
always new fadangled technology, but using what's already there in
creative ways. Technology without clever use is *not* emerging, that's
just technology. The stuff that you want to capture is what emerge
that has clever stickiness.
Some more concrete tips; read *bucketloads* of blogs. The most bang
for your buck you'll find at places like Engadget where current
prototypes of all sorts of consumer gadgets gets exposed, and you can
extrapolate from there. Whatever excites these guys *will* excite your
users. Is anyone doing an iPhone app for citation and research that
taps into social networks?
Here's the minimum, though; Read blogs, and write a blog, perhaps
twitter. Capture what people get excited about. Find the library
connection. Talk about it in your blog. Involve yourself in the online
dialog. Let it sink in. Then suggest to your library to do something
about it. Look for trends. Avoid hyperbole and marketing.
And lastly, think seriously about knowledge management, not about
books. Think about identity management, not about authority control.
My 0.2$.
Regards,
Alex
Alex
--
Project Wrangler, SOA, Information Alchemist, UX, RESTafarian, Topic Maps
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Received on Thu May 06 2010 - 19:23:47 EDT