by Alan Levine, Bryan Alexander and Cyprien Lomas summarized 6 of the trends noted in the annual Horizon report. The report examines technology trends and hypothesizes which will affect libraries and education in the near horizon (adoption in the next year, 2-3 years, 4-5 years) . The process to narrow down to technologies is difficult at best but the trends include:
- user-created content
- social networking
- mobile phones
- virtual worlds
- new scholarship and emerging forms of publication
- massively multiplayer educational gaming
It was a great candid discussion and we were asked if we felt the trends were “out there” or not. While many libraries are starting to look into these technologies I think they were right that these will be the major ones that will be adopted in the next few years. Adoption is the key term – there are a number of other technologies that may be examined in the near horizon but adoption will likely go to those we are already getting comfortable with. The question will be whether we adopt them in time or whether our patrons will have moved on to the next big thing as we adopt them on their way out. I think it was a good thing to note the type of technology (social networking) rather than a particular product (we’re already seeing MySpace use decline). What do you think?
Thank you for the posting. I appreciate not only the summary of our talk, but also of audience reactions.