Thursday - Oct 13, 2011
In August 2008, Mark Mahaney, a leading business analyst with Citigroup, stated “the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world.” He reckoned that the Kindle — Amazon’s highly-popular e-reader — would sell roughly 380,000 units in 2008.
Fast-forward to 2011. Ever secretive of their sales numbers, Amazon is estimated to have sold between 5.4 to 8 million Kindles in 2010, with even larger numbers likely by the end of the 2011 sales year. Even if we use the more conservative number, we’re still talking about 14 times the units being sold a couple of years later. It’s difficult not to translate that to significant adoption of e-books and other digital written content, especially with EPUB-based platforms like the iPad strongly playing in the mix.
Of course, there are plenty of other signs that e-books and e-readers are becoming more popular, especially in libraries and the education sector. Let’s look at a few of those indicators.
1. Libraries: The folks at Library Journal released the results of their second annual Ebook Penetration & Use in U.S. Libraries Survey, and those results tell a story of e-books gaining ground in libraries around the country. According to their results, compared to last year there has been a 10 percent increase in the number of public libraries offering e-books, with a 184 percent increase in the average number of available e-books. Academic libraries saw small increases as well, though not as pronounced as the public realm.
Recent news stories seem to support Library Journal’s survey. Whether it’s high-profile entities like the U.S. Air Force or small local libraries like the one in Lexington, Nebraska, interest in and adoption of e-books at libraries is increasing. “We’re using mobile devices like tablets, netbooks, and smart phones more than ever,” Air Force Services Agency administrative librarian Melinda Mosley told the Air Force. “We’re interested in providing service to our customers anywhere, anytime, in addition to providing face-to-face services at our libraries.”
A similar story is told in the city of Lexington, where Kathleen Thomsen works as the director of the Lexington Public Library. “We have so many people coming in and inquiring about e-books,” she told the Lexington Clipper-Herald. “The new technology is really growing.”
Yet while interest in e-books is increasing, both Mosley and Thomsen paint a similar picture of one of the speed bumps along the way: there’s a learning curve to using e-readers and e-books. In each case the additional component of “how do I use this?” comes into play. The solution is on-site education in the form of “sandbox sessions” and “technology petting zoos,” allowing people from all walks of life to learn how to use emerging reading technologies to read the content they want.
Jim Hahn, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who performed a recent case study on technology and the library, agrees that despite the popularity of e-books and e-readers, educational and utilization-related barriers still slow the march of tech saturation in the library.
“Librarians have a sense that today’s rapidly changing technological landscape should be reflected in the services they provide,” he said in his case study. “But while enthusiasm and curiosity are in abundance in the library technical field, consensus on precisely where and how to merge library-specific expertise and emerging digital tools remains elusive.”
Continue on for three more indicators…
Thursday - Jun 9, 2011
The political scandal du jour involves New York congressman Anthony Weiner. Last week a conservative media group charged him with sending lewd pictures to a 21 year old woman via his Twitter account.
Initially, the congressman denied the allegation, claiming that his account was hacked and it was just a juvenile prank. As more pictures began to surface, the congressman admitted to sending the image in question and many others to six different women over the last three years.
This practice, known as sexting (sex + texting), has gotten a lot of people in trouble, as it leaves a trail of data that can easily be uncovered. The disgraced legislator is now paying the price for his reckless behavior in cyberspace. He has refused to resign from office, despite calls from some of his colleagues and many of his political opponents.
As convoluted as Weiner’s denial was, it was not implausible that he had been hacked. It’s easier than you may think to hack someone’s Twitter account. If you’re curious, here’s one way to do it. For other possible explanations, read Errata Security’s “Weiner Schnitzel” story.
Of course we now know what really happened. For once, hackers weren’t responsible. But this sordid story still offers lessons for everyone. As the hacks of corporations like Sony, Gmail and most recently, Citibank, make clear, online security as got to be improved–and fast.
In the meantime, take your own personal security precautions. If you use Twitter, limit access to your account. Have a unique password that you only use for Twitter. Use a strong password, change it periodically and keep it secure.
Remember that social media is designed to help you share information. Privacy settings notwithstanding, assume that anything you share online can be viewed publicly and act accordingly.
As for sexting, some things are best done offline, don’t you think?
Thursday - Mar 3, 2011
“The way in which people frantically communicate online via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook can be seen as a modern form of madness,” claims MIT professor Sherry Turkle, whose new book, “Alone Together” has just been published.
Once a booster for the personal freedom unleashed by the Internet, Turkle is not nearly as optimistic these days. In her new book she laments that the quality of our communication has been degraded by technology. Status updates and 140 character tweets have replaced thoughtful writing. Emoticons have replaced emotions. The constant flow of messages makes it nearly impossible to reflect. While you can argue about the benefits of social media, there’s no doubt that being connected 24/7 has consequences that we’re just beginning to understand.
During a recent interview on NPR, Turkle told a particularly telling tale. Before beginning an interview with a student, she asked him to turn off his smartphone. An hour later when he turned it on, he had over 100 messages. In apparent dismay, he asked her rhetorically when he would be able to just disconnect.
She went on to talk about how in some high schools, students’ social standings are based on how often they update their Facebook profiles, what they tweet and similar factors. The pressure to keep up is unrelenting. Unlike in the past, when youthful indiscretions were forgotten, everything posted online is there forever. Who wants to be judged by his actions as a teenager? It’s a terrible burden for students to bear.
In an unrelated story, college admissions officers admit that they view and evaluate an applicant’s Facebook page. How much weight they place on it or what they look for isn’t clear. Do they make judgments based on an applicant’s circle of friends, pictures posted, musical tastes, political leanings?
It’s unclear, but the implication is that kids may have to learn to craft their images at an early age, learning to only post information that has strategic value. We already know that employers review social media sites when hiring job candidates. Think about this: If you openly support the recent labor protests, how will a potential employer view that?
The easy, instant communication enabled by social media isn’t going away. Is this new technology just the latest bogeyman, blamed like television once was, for social disruption, or is it a really a descent into madness?
