10 October 2012

Kelly Gardiner & Bethany Leong

The future of information

P–2

The future of …

Information• Search and social search• Open data• Universal library search• Digitised collections• Rich live media• Digital publishing

Technology• Mobile learning and devices• Cloud services and tools• NBN-enabled content• Voice and gesture driven

interfaces• Augmented reality (via devices)

And what does it all mean for…

Learning• Personal learning environments• Game-based and challenge-

based learning• Collaborative learning • MOOCs• Changing capabilities

P–3

Search

How search works now• Major search engines index

publically accessible data only• Web is around 800million

websites and growing 5% per month

What is not indexed/returned?• Library catalogues• Some dynamic content• Orphaned content (unlinked)• ‘Deep’ databases• Government publications &

data• Some file types (eg captions

in videos)• Phone directories• Some social media content

P–4

P–5

Social search

• Uses data from web behaviour to influence search results – yours and others

• Provides answers to questions, not resources

• Includes conscious and invisible peer-to peer recommendations

• Risks include limiting results and reducing serendipity

• Already in place in Google and integrated with Google+

• Facebook search soon?

• See ChaCha or Quora (answers)

Wolfgang Sievers, 1961State Library of Victoria

P–6

Integrated search

Imagine …

• Searching across the surface and the deep web

• Customising your search style and preferred sources

• Tailoring and targeting individual searches

• Search personalised for you through your data and others’

• Searching all libraries & collections with other sources

Issues

• Even more information

• Social and personalised search might restrict our world view

• Most people will only ever use a simple search

• Search skills are about finding and analysing

• Reliance on key commercial vendors

P–7

Digital publishing

• Journal database publishers monopolies are breaking down

• Ebooks formats & pricing will settle

• Media and publishing houses will consolidate

• Self-publishing extends to schools

Possibilities: • Collaborative purchasing of

ebooks and journals• Digital print on demand in

schools• Enabling PLEs by providing

tailored reading/media

Press, MacRobertson’s Chocolate FactoryCirca 1920, State Library of Victoria

P–8

Creation and curation, rich media

• Students research, create, upload, share and curate their own content and resources• Educators do too• Librarians always have!• Organic process in online communities leads to Pinterest & Tumblr, home made videos on YouTube• Multimedia becomes ubiquitous on all devices• Immersive web-enabled TV.

• How can we enable the instinct to find and share?

•See Learnist

Hans Bonney, circa 1965State Library of Victoria

P–9

P–10

P–11

Personal learning environments

•A Personal Learning Network is an on-tap stream of information, resources, answers, discussion, contacts and support• A Personal Learning Environment is all of this plus a customisable online space where all your materials and tools are collected.• For students – resources can be curated and added• For teachers and library teams – free ongoing PD.

Imagine it with integrated personalised search capacity

• See VicPLN, Gooru.Mark Strizic, ca 1950State Library of Victoria

P–12

Game-based learning

•We’ve always used games in learning• Most kids now have hundreds of hours of gaming experience• Supports engagement, comprehension, problem solving, goal setting, creativity, collaboration, story telling, as well as specific skills or disciplines• Challenges can be mobile and location-based• Game apps on mobiles now key learning tools.

• How do we use game-like challenges to enhance learning and deliver content?

• See Minecraft, SimCity.

Creator unknown, 1975State Library of Victoria

P–13

Mobile learning and devices

Learning wherever you are•Phones, tablets, netbooks – and TVs• Extend learning beyond the classroom/library• Enable use of rich media and interactive learning• Enable location-based active learning• Apps like Evernote allow access to research and notes on any device• Class sets, BYOD, 1-1 devices• Becomes a platform for future developments.

See Evernote.

Alfred E. McMicken, 1932State Library of Victoria

P–14

Cloud services

Web-based tools and services• Social networks for professional

development• Research tools for senior

students and post-secondary• Your browser now has enormous

capability • Google alone has myriad

features and services• More larger organisations are

moving to this – Ultranet is a custom-built cloud

• Online learning, collaboration and classrooms.

• See Dropbox, Zotero, Mendeley, Lore, Edmodo.

Wolfgang Sievers, 1979 State Library of Victoria

P–15

Colour and movement

Voice and gesture driven applications• Touch phones and tablets are gesture-driven• Games consoles (eg Kinect, Wii)• Wave your credit card – or phone• Voice activation already enabled in phones, lap tops, tablets• Next generation of those annoying phone systems: natural language enquiries – two-way• Developing eye motion and other subtle gesture-driven products• Think multimodal web (inc GPS, handwriting, voice)• Will rollout in Search soon• What does it mean for text? For literacy? For people with disabilities?

Purdue University robotic nurse

P–16

National broadband & universal wireless

NBN-enabled content & services

• High speed connections allow greater use of rich media, games and interactives• Enables connections between schools • Roll-out fast – fibre and fixed wireless• Will it enable shared library systems? • Enables interoperable TV/web devices.

• Free wireless networks will spread across cities, schools, towns, dramatically changing access.

P–17

Augmented reality

•Mobile devices•Layers of space, present, past, image, real time data, nearby options•eg Google glasses

•http://youtu.be/9c6W4CCU9M4

Google glasses launch 2012

P–18

Collaborative learning

•Group study & active projects an important part of learning at all levels• Collaboration now possible online• Small-scale global interactions easy to create – use blogs, Skype, Google Docs or Forms, social media, video• Study tools include collaboration and sharing.

• How does it change the technology we need in library spaces?• How does it change the idea of a classroom?

• See Evernote, Edmodo, Facebook, wikis.

Argus collection, 1941State Library of Victoria

P–19

Online learning goes viral

MOOCs

• Massive Online Open Courses• Now offered free by leading

universities including Stanford, Edinburgh and Harvard

• Provided entirely online on platforms like Lore and Coursera

• Some provide certification• Largely short courses now –

but what next?

• See Udacity and Coursera

Marconi Wireless School, Argus, 1945State Library of Victoria

P–20

Changing capabilities

Issues

• Automation can lead to loss of core skills or knowledge• Understand the concepts that underpin technology •Should kids learn how to code? Should we?• What about those who can’t access devices or services? • Which is more important: skills or information?

• Our own learning never ends – and never will• We need ourPersonal Learning Networks.

Mark Strizic, ca 1950State Library of Victoria

P–21

What does information mean?

And what is research?

• Easy to search, not easy to find• Growing lack of research competence• Changing role of librarians and teachers: providing paths to resources and the skills and tools to use them?• Changing role of students: research- and action-based learning? • A complex set of competencies

Research steps:• Define tasks and queries• Find resources• Select & evaluate information• Organise materials• Present findings.

P–22

“The need to know the capital of Florida died when my phone learned the answer.”- Anthony Chivetta, high school student

P–23

What next? Be brave. Go play!