After the Film Discussion Group flap I received an IM from a supportive patron. I doubt she knew how excited I was to A) get some more supportive communication and B) receive that communication through IM.
During our conversation the patron mentioned some of the things that she enjoys about the library, one of which was audiobooks. I then took a moment, as I’m apt to do, to promote Listen Illinois, the books on mp3 program in which we’re participating. She liked the idea of this and told me she’d IM me later when she had put together a book basket. I placed a hold on the player for her and she IMed me shortly after.
As if this wasn’t great enough, when the player became available for her I noticed that she was online. I sent her an IM letting her know that I downloaded her items into the mp3 player, which was ready for pickup. The next day I came into the library and noticed that the mp3 player had been circulated.
Textbook!
My smartphone (a now sadly outdated Treo 600) piques people’s curiosity. If I’m waiting in line someplace chances are I’m either catching up on email, texting someone or logged into Bloglines which has a really good mobile interface, by the way. I’ve noticed people trying to figure out what the heck it is I’m doing, and quite a few people have asked. Today as I was waiting for food at The Spaghetti Bowl an older gentleman approached me and asked, “That’s not a Treo 650 already, is it?” I replied that it was not and I was being a luddite with my 600. A short and friendly conversation about new technologies ensued, and of course I mentioned that I was looking forward to seeing him in the library using our wireless connection.
So much of our thinking about libraries and new technology is focused on the young. This makes some sense considering that younger people are driving this market, but older people certainly shouldn’t be ignored. Doing so would be at the very least not providing equal services to your library users. At worst, not thinking about older people and new technologies in libraries is ageist.
Related articles:
The Scotsman reports
‘Gadget grandparents’ turn on to the latest technology” thanks, barbara
Textually.org uses some strong language and reports that Japan’s mobile operators target elderly. Phone manufacturers are making user-friendly phones that have a “simple mode” which enlarges the screen font. Market leader NTT DoCoMo had a really neat idea. To make sure users know which button they need to press next in order to perform a specific function, the button in question helpfully lights up.
My previous post reminded that I wanted to find a transcript of a great segment on NPR’s “On the Media”. Titled Generation Text it is a short conversation between two (big name) linguists, Geoffrey Nunberg and Naomi Baron. It was interesting because the two have different perspectives on the way younger ppl r writing. Below are two quotes from the show, but be sure to read it all or listen to it all [real audio]
GEOFFREY NUNBERG: The more you write, the better you write. The best way to learn to write is not to learn the rules or take courses. Just sit down and write. To that extent, I think you could argue that the kids who are now doing text messaging and email and, and IMs and so on and so forth, will wind up writing at least as well as and possibly better than their parents or than any generation in history.
NAOMI BARON: We know that children learn to talk because there are some people—we call them adults or older kids—who already know the system, and the younger kids pick up an awful lot of what we model for them. My question is not “Can you have a range of different registers -some informal, some formal, some texting, some essays that you turn in for class”—but “Are we modeling those more formal forms of writing that we used to?” And I don’t think we are so much any more.
I’ve occasionally posted a few cute things kids have sent to the library’s IM screen name. Not only are they funny, but they give an insight into the way IM is being used. Also, I think posting it here counts as sending it to ten people. I’m off the hook. Anywho, if you’re not familiar with how some kids write using IM and text messaging, consider this a training session.
u r my friend…..send this to 10 ppl in the next 5 min………and……..u will get kissed on friday by da luv of ur life…. DONT BREAK THE chain!ur crush will ask u out. 2morow will b da best day of ur life. Howeva, if u don t send this 2 least 10 ppl bye
least 12:00 2nite u will hav bad luck in ur luv lyf for eternity NO SEND BK
Through some crazy turn of events, along with Barbara Fullerton and Sabrina Pacifici I’ll be on the closing keynote panel at internet librarian 2004. It is titled “Wacky World of Gadgets: The 70’s and Beyond!” and should be fun. I’m a bit of a gadget enthusiast, but I’m sure there are some I’ve missed. If there’s some sort of cool tool you think needs to be mentioned, just lemme know.
Aside from this, I’ll be talking with Michael about IM as well as giving two quicky presentations. One will be with Jenny about the books on MP3 program, ListenIllinois and the other will be a short primer about library and newish technologies.
You may recall from an earlier post that I updgraded versions of Movable Type, which I’m using as a content management system for my library’s website. The problem is that I can’t get dynamic publishing to work. Therefore I can’t easily have RSS displayed as HTML on the site.
Shifty* sent me an email that cheered me up:
Did you see 3.12 is out? “Dynamic pages are easier to configure: Movable Type creates .htaccess file for webserver configuration.”
http://www.movabletype.org/news/2004/10/movable_type_312_release.shtml
I’ll be on the case, upgrading and testing tomorrow morning.
*see, if i keep linking to her by that name, i can slowly start a meme so that eventually she’ll be a top search result for the word. why? i dunno.
I’m posting this from the blogging class I’m giving at the MLS. I hope someone gets into bloglines and subscribes to my feed.
google’s latest offering appears to be google sms. this makes me excited.
Proposed uses for the service, according to google, are:
-Get local business listings when you’re on the road and want to find a place to eat
-Compare online product prices with ones you find in retail stores
-Look up dictionary definitions to expand your vocabulary or prove a point
-Find other specialized types of information, as described in how to use Google SMS
To send your google sms queries to 46645, which is GOOGL on most phones.
As soon as I get into an area with cell service (i.e. not the library) I’m going to check it out.
misc
press release from google blog
how to use google sms
there is a post about netLibrary going on at metafilter. it is funny/sad that people haven’t heard about this service.