David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Still Talking about Old Technology?

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I’m guessing that your organization is still talking about how to implement old technology. You are holding meetings, creating working groups, forming committees. All based around implementing something that still seems new to you, but in reality is pretty darn old!

“Old technology? No way!” you say. Wanna bet? Here’s a short list of technology that gets discussed in libraries right now, with origin/founding/first appeared dates (yay for Wikipedia!):

  • Twitter – 7 years old (founded 2006)
  • Facebook – 9 years old (founded 2004)
  • ebooks – 42 years old (we’ll say 1971, though prototypes and patents go all the way back to the 1940s!)
  • ebook readers – 15 years old (1998, probably earlier)
  • QR Codes – 19 years old (created in 1994)
  • PC with OS’s newer than XP – 7 years old (Vista came out in 2006, though no one actually used it)
  • Apple Mac – 29 years old (Came out in 1984. I’ll guess many people remember the commercial, but haven’t actually used one)
  • Cell phones – 40 years old (First call made in 1973)
  • smart phones – 12 years old (started appearing in 2001)
  • text messaging – 21 years old (created in 1992)
  • IM/Chat messaging – 25 years old (IRC appeared in 1988)
  • wifi – 25 years old (appeared in 1988)
  • RFID – 30 years old (first patent in 1983)
  • Youtube – 8 years old (founded in 2005)
  • mp3 files for music – 19 years old (appeared in 1994)
  • digital media labs – 93 years old (ok, this one’s really hard to date. DMLs are really just small recording studios, which have been around in one form or another since at least the 1920s)
  • hackerspaces – 47 years old (This is another hard one to date. The Chaos Computer Club, an early hackerspace, was founded in 1981. But I think you could put the Homebrew Computer Club in this list, started in 1975, which helped spawn Apple. And my dad and my uncle Bob have had workshops in their basements with all sorts of crazy machinery since I’ve been alive. So I’m dating these at 47 years old 🙂
  • Cloud computing – 63 years old (There have been mainframes/dumb terminals since the 1950s, which could be argued to be early cloud-based computing)
  • 3D Printing – 29 years old (the first working 3d printer appeared in 1984)

So I ask again – are you talking about old technology … like it’s new technology? Do you have staff who can’t use ebooks, are wary of smartphones or text messaging reference, or look at you crazy when you introduce the concept of a hackerspace to them? Is your library/city/governing board still wary of new-fangled social media tools like Facebook or Cloud computing?

Makes you think, doesn’t it!

Steampunk mobile phone pic by Urban Don

Five Simple Steps to Easy Email Management

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This morning, I was invited to talk about email management on Fox4kc.com’s morning show (I’ll update this post with a link/embed of the video if it appears).

As prep, they sent me this little fact – the average inbox of a corporate worker receives about 100 emails per day. Of those 100 emails, only 42% are important. Wow. A couple years ago I kept track of my email for a day, and received about 130 emails. I think I get more now!

So – what can you do to conquer email overload?

Here are five simple steps to email management:

  1. Remember the goal. It’s not getting rid of email, having Inbox Zero, etc. Your goal with email is to manage your job/life, get your work done, plan things, etc.
  2. Don’t check email every 5 minutes! Some people (myself included) can easily handle having email up constantly, getting email alerts, etc. And some people can’t. Those reminders interrupt their work, their train of thought, etc. Or it simple distracts them and keeps them from the task at hand. If that’s the case, maybe schedule specific chunks of time for email processing – 2-4 times a day, once an hour, or whatever works with your workflow. Adjust as needed.
  3. Don’t read email more than once! Actually do something with it the first time you read it. Then see #4…
  4. Use the Four D’s of Decision Making with your email inbox:
    1. Delete it. Is it informational, spam, an email newsletter, a reminder, etc? Read it then delete it. Or just delete it.
    2. Do it (if it takes less than 2 minutes). Does this email need a quick reply? Does someone need a bit of info from you? If you can do it fast, go ahead. Then delete that email!
    3. Delegate it. Should someone else do this? Send it on. Then delete it.
    4. Defer it (put it on your to-do list or turn it into an appointment). If the response is going to take longer than 2 minutes, put it on your task list as an action item, schedule a meeting, etc – whatever is needed. Then go to #5…
  5. Make some handy next action reminder folders. For example, in my work email I create project folders for emails on individual projects. I also have a Waiting For folder for replies or more info that I’m waiting on. Then I check those folders every week or so as a reminder. The idea here is that the email is moved out of your inbox.

How do you handle your email? Have any tips? Please share them in the comments!

email photo by alykat

LibraryBox 2.0 Kickstarter Project!

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Have you heard about Jason Griffey’s LibraryBox project? It’s pretty cool … and it’s time for the next phase of the project – LibraryBox 2.0!

Jason has set up a Kickstarter project for LibraryBox … and it’s already funded. The main goal ($3000) was funded in like 2-3 hours.

But there’s 29 days left to go on the Kickstarter project, and Jason and LibraryBox have some really cool plans they want to develop to flesh out the LibraryBox project more, and YOU can be a part of that.

So watch the video, visit the pages, and think about funding Librarybox!

My Smartphone has Replaced these Things

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I’ve noticed that I use my iPhone for a bunch of stuff that I used to have another device or system for. Here’s what I mean:

  • Paper plane tickets: I recently started using e-tickets with the iPhone’s Passbook. Works great, and I don’t have to carry rumpled-up paper tickets anymore.
  • Guitar tuner: I use Guitar Toolkit for that. It’s actually the most accurate tuner I’ve ever owned!
  • Metronome: I now have lots of app-based metronomes, so there’s no need for a hardware-based metronome anymore.
  • Drum machine: I tend to use drum machines for metronomes. On my iPhone, I use DrumTrack8, and on my iPad, I use DM1. Both are fabulous.
  • Alarm clock: I use the built-in Clock app, and it works great. No need for a travel alarm clock, or a hotel wake-up call anymore!
  • Bible: YouVersion from Lifechurch.tv. Coolest Bible app ever.
  • Camera: I still use fancier cameras, but for a simple point-and-shoot? My iPhone is great at that – as long as I don’t need to zoom.
  • Encyclopedia: What’s that? I have Google/Wikipedia/etc. In my pocket.
  • Newspaper: There are a TON of news apps. I do most of my iOS news reading via the Flipboard app.
  • Weather radio: I live in Kansas. I need to know when those tornado warnings go off. My TWC Max app from The Weather Channel goes off when the weather does.
  • Notebook: See my last post on iA Writer and Byword. But I still like a good Moleskine notebook and a pencil, too.
  • Calculator: the default iOS calculator app is always with me…
  • Calendar/Daytimer: Currently using Tempo and Any.DO for these.
  • Exercise book or video: Currently using the brutal YAYOG (You Are Your Own Gym) app. Pretty handy!
  • Voice recorder for reminders: There are a ton of apps for this, too. I frequently use Evernote for this.

Do you use your smartphone or tablet for things you used to carry around? Extra gadgets that did unique things for you? Share in the comments!