David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Observations on Teaching a Tech Trends Class

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Teach

I’ve been teaching a 4-week online class hosted by ALA Learning with Paul Signorelli that’s in it’s final week. It’s been a fun class to lead!

Paul and I agree – when we teach these types of classes, we are facilitators … and we end up learning things, too. Find out more of Paul’s observations on teaching and creating the class in his blog post about the class.

Here are three things that I learned a little more about during the class:

Voice assistant proof-of-concept. One library worked on a proof-of-concept project in the area of voice assistance technology. The idea was to allow a virtual voice assistant to take customer queries. They started with an idea and ended up with a proof-of-concept that’s ready for the next steps.

Mechatronics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechatronics). This library purchased some EZrobots with the goal of teaching customers about mechatronics. They figure that having skills in and around robotics will be in high demand in the future, so why not introduce it to their customers.

Assistive technology. Another library is working on assistive technology for their customers. They want to set up Google Translate, microphones, and headsets at some public PCs for customers to use. Not something that’s trendy, but is definitely much-needed. And something that a LOT of libraries could do better at.

Again – fun class to create, and definitely fun to work with Paul and the amazing people who took the time to take the class!

N.B.: Paul’s set of reflections on the course are available on his own blog. Paul and David are available to work with anyone interested in onsite and/or online highly-interactive explorations of how to research and incorporate tech trends into training-teaching-learning. For more information, contact Paul at [email protected] or David at [email protected].

Take my class about Emerging Technology!

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Paul Signorelli and I are teaching an online course focused on new technology and libraries, and I wanted to invite you to sign up for it!

The class is called A Roadmap for Staff Success with New Technology, and it’s an ecourse hosted by ALA.

Here’s the ecourse description: “Technology is continuing to change how we learn and work with others, as well as how we deliver services to library users. At times, though, it can feel unmanageable and overwhelming.

This four-week highly-interactive course, in which you will be co-conspirators in the learning process, begins with an overview of current trends and developments in technology incorporated into a variety of learning environments and also introduces a variety of resources for tracking ed-tech developments. Subsequent weeks will focus on specific areas of technological developments, including online collaborative tools; Artificial Intelligence; Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality; and others identified by the course facilitators and participants. By the time you finish the course, you will leave with a simple plan of action for implementing what you learned.

The course is designed to help any library staff member better explore, introduce, and use technology in serving colleagues and other library users.”

Go here to sign up – see you in class!

Emerging Trends and Libraries

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As you might have noticed, I’ve been writing about different emerging trends lately.

I plan on continuing that for awhile, and thought I’d make a handy list of the whole series of articles. As I add articles to the series, I’ll update this blog post.

Here’s that list – Emerging Trends and Libraries:

Hope you enjoy them, and hope you find this list useful!

Image from Elizabeth Hahn

Big Data and Libraries

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This is my continuing series on emerging technology trends and libraries. This week’s trend focuses on Big Data.

You’ve probably read about “Big Data” in the news. But do you know what it is? Hopefully this article will point you in the right direction!

First, for a definition of Big Data (from wherever Google gets their definitions): “extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.”

That’s a good start. Wikipedia expands on this: “Current usage of the term “big data” tends to refer to the use of predictive analytics, user behavior analytics, or certain other advanced data analytics methods that extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set.”

I like Wikipedia’s additional info, because they’re pointing out something really important about big data as a useful tool: the amount of data is important, but more important is what you do with those data sets.

What can you do with Big Data?

Big Data is intertwined with other emerging trends, like Smart Cities, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things. They all interact to do cool stuff. For example:

  • Healthcare issues. This article shares how a doctor was able to cure his wife of cancer by using the power of big data.
  • Weather tracking. There are a lot of weather sensors deployed around the world that collect and share weather pattern data. This helps meteorologists have more accurate weather reports, and also helps give us early signs of larger natural disasters.
  • Tracking customers. Coca-Cola is using big data to track customer retention.
  • Uber’s surge pricing. Surge pricing is dynamic pricing that adjusts based on demand, mostly seen in busy urban areas (i.e., never in Topeka, KS).

Potential Negatives of Big Data

So Big Data does some pretty cool stuff! Any negatives associated with using big data? Sure there are. Here are some:

  • Privacy concerns. Somewhere in all that big data is something about me. Stuff maybe I want to keep private. That is not guaranteed in today’s online world.
  • Security concerns. All that data out there … it can be hacked.
  • Probably a host of other issues, too!

Big Data and Libraries

How can libraries use big data to make better decisions, create better services, etc? Here are some examples:

  • GIS mapping. My library has used our patron database combines with GIS mapping to find out more about our customers, where our non-customers live, etc. We used that to increase library card holders.
  • Buying better stuff. Or at least stuff that people want to check out. There are tools out there to help with that, including Collection HQ or Gale’s Analytics on Demand can help with that.
  • Tracking other library-related analytics. Check out OrangeBoy, CIVICTechnologies, and Patron Point for starters.
  • Washburn University example. Here’s an example from Topeka’s local university. The library used data to help improve student retention (and getting more students into the library).

More reading on Big Data:

My Boss is a Robot

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This is my continuing series on emerging technology trends and libraries. This week’s trend focuses on shifts in the job world.

Ok – my boss isn’t really a robot. But as smart machines, artificial intelligence, and big data continue to grow and mature, it’s very possible that some performance-based jobs will be measured by a machine instead of a human. Hence – a robo-boss.

I know – that sounds sorta weird! But guess what? Some people already have robot bosses! Some examples:

  • Uber drivers. They interact with their mobile app, which gives them pickup requests, provides performance feedback, etc.
  • Starbucks – uses a software program to schedule baristas, based on sales and other data.
  • Hitachi has experimented with warehouse robot bosses (more here)

While you might not have a robot as a boss, there are a lot of jobs that are being replaced by smart machines. Some examples include:

  • Writers: Business-focused content like shareholder reports (who the heck actually reads those?), legal documents, short sports articles, etc. can be automated.
  • Paralegal research: Hunting for specific words or phrases in a bunch of legal documents can be automated.
  • Call centers: That first-tier, “let me help direct you to the right person” part of the call is already automated.
  • Drivers: Taxi drivers and truck drivers. Companies are experimenting with driverless taxis, and the trucking industry has been saying that there will be automated truck deliveries within 5-10 years.
  • Warehouse workers: Amazon has already replaced some warehouse workers with their Kiva robots.

Any library examples? Besides the paralegal research example seen above (that one strikes pretty close to home), there are some examples. Not completely replacing jobs, but replacing human work with automated work:

  • Automated Materials Handling (AMH) systems – they presort returned items so people don’t have to.
  • Online desk scheduling systems: Not quite AI yet, but some of these systems are smart enough to automatically schedule another person to work a desk when someone calls in sick, and it certainly keeps the schedule so you don’t have to.

There are probably other examples – do you have any? Please share!

More more information: