Transcript The Information Society

The Impact of Technology on
Society & Libraries
LS 501: Introduction to
Library & Information Studies
Revised Summer 2006, 2010, 2011
C.2003, Deborah J. Grimes
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What Is Technology?

Webster’s New World Dictionary & Thesaurus
 a method, process, etc. for handling a
specific technical problem
 the system by which a society provides its
members with those things needed or
desired
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Not necessarily electronic -2
Impact of Technology on USA
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1600s -- Survival, subsistence, colonialization
 Ship-building, small hand tools, farming and agricultural equipment, natural
tools (potash, tallow), mills, charcoal and iron production
1700s -- Community self-reliance, catalyst for revolution, emerging
commerce, new wealth
 Building materials, home furnishings, printing, arms and weapons,
Conestoga wagons (East/West commerce), factories
1800s -- National infrastructure, industrial age, nationalism, international
markets, communication, individualism, women’s work, war as impetus
for technological advancement
 Bridge and road-building, steamboats and canals, machine manufacturing,
local v. European technology, railroads, telegraphy, iron and steel,
homemaking, food production
1900s -- Systematizing, social solutions, individualism, education, citybuilding, leisure, medical science, war promotes technology
 Electricity, telephones, radio, TV, building materials (concrete), skyscraper,
photography, mining, bicycles and sports, automobiles, medicine and
diagnostic equipment (MRI, CAT, etc.), food preparation (canning, freezing),
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airplanes
20th Century Information
Technologies
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Before the ‘60s
 Communication and transportation
improvements
 “Punch cards”
 Reprography (reproduction of print
documents) into film (microforms) -- 1920s
 Duplicating and photocopy machines
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Computer in Libraries (1960s)
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Computers in the 1960s = “contemporary sense of
technology”
“Library mechanization” or “library automation”
System Development Corp.(SDC), DIALOG (Lockheed,
1964)
MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging) -- created
by Library of Congress -- standardization of bibliographic
records -- allowed electronic storage
Bibliographic utilities originated
National Library of Medicine -- changed to computer tapes
and eventually a searchable database
ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network) -- important first step toward the Internet
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Computer in Libraries (1970s)
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Mainframes and minis -- made online interactive
capabilities a reality
Most significant break from past practices: application
of online computer access to information retrieval,
replacing card catalogs and print indexes
Most online services originated in academic libraries
because databases were primarily scientific and
technical
 Specially trained librarians
 Separate facilities and resources
 First inroad of fee-based services
 Creation of search strategies (Boolean searching)
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Computer in Libraries (1980s)
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Revolutionary development of the Compact Disk-Read
Only Memory (CD-ROM) -- commercial vendors
Development of online computer access catalogs
(OPACs) or Public Access Catalogs (PACs)
Turn-Key circulation systems -- commercial vendors
Self-initiated systems
Automated acquisitions
Integrated Library Systems (ILS) -- DRA, VTLS, Geac,
Ameritech
Linked Systems Project/Linked Systems Protocol (LSP)
established Z30.50 standard protocol (i.e., national
standard for bibliographic information retrieval so that
different systems can be linked electronically)
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OCLC
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1967 -- Ohio College Library Center -- most
prominent bibliographic utility -- originally for
academic libraries
1972 -- OCLC opened services to non-academic
libraries
1981 -- Online Computing Library Center -- offered
access to the MARC database, supplemented by
cooperative cataloging of member libraries
Research Libraries Group (RLG), Research Libraries
Information Network (RLIN) -- bibliographic
databases and research records
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Is technology revolting?
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Is the “age of information” really an “information
revolution”?
Notable “revolutionary” technology
 Transportation revolutionized by locomotion
 Communication revolutionized by mass production,
telecommunications, photography and other printing
techniques, television, motion pictures
Is the “computer revolution” any more dramatic than
other technological revolutions of the last 100 years?
Does the tool become greater than its purpose or
service?
Used to reduce the impact of distance, time, location
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Information Revolution
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First modern information revolution
 Mid-19th through mid-20th centuries
 Telegraph, telephone, radio
 Little impact on government, international relations
Second modern information revolution
 Following WWII
 Television, early generation computers, satellites
 Great impact on personal, business, international
life
Third modern information revolution - -beginning of
the Knowledge Revolution ?
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Top 10 Countries
Computers-in-Use, 2008
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Country
Year-End 2008
(millions)
USA
264.10
China
98.67
Japan
86.22
Germany
61.96
UK
47.04
France
43.11
Russia
36.42
Italy
35.69
South Korea
34.87
Brazil
33.30
TOTAL WORLDWIDE 1,190.10
Source: Information Please Almanac (online) , 2009
2008
% total
22.19%
8.29%
7.24%
5.21%
3.95%
3.62%
3.06%
3.00%
2.93%
2.80%
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Percent US Adults Who Use
Computers, December 2008
Category
Per Cent
Women
75%
Men
73%
Generation
Gen Y (ages 18-29)
87%
Gen X (ages 30-49)
82%
Boomers (ages 50-64)
72%
Matures (ages 65+)
41%
Source: Information Please Almanac 2009 (online)
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Percent US Adults Who Use
Computers, 2008
Category
Per Cent
Race and Ethnicity
Whites
77%
Blacks
64%
Hispanic (English-speaking)
58%
Household Income
<$30,000
57%
$30,000--$49,999
77%
$50,000--$74,999
90%
$75,000+
94%
Source: information Please Almanac 2009 (online)
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Computer Usage in U.S.
(Per Cent Adults Who Use Computers -- 2008)
Category
Per Cent
Education
Less than high school
35%
High school grads/GED
67%
Some college
85%
College graduate/graduate degree
95%
Geographic Location
Rural
63%
Urban
71%
Suburban
74%
Source: Infoplease.com/ipa/A0908342.html
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The Emergence of The
Internet (1990s)
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What is the Internet?
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Department of Defense ARPANET + National Science
Foundation (NSF)
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Electronic network that permits access to thousands of computer
networks; a network of networks using standardized practices
1984 NSF established supercomputing centers that required a
highspeed telecommunications backbone
ARPANET funding beginning to decline
NSFNET backbone created for civilians (particularly universities)
National High Performance Computing Act of 1991 -“information highway” and National Research and
Education Network (NREN)
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Internet Timeline
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1969 -- ARPA goes online connecting 4 universities
1972 -- E-mail introduced by Ray Tomlinson, using @
1973 -- TCP/IP designed (becomes standard 1983)
1976 -- Jimmy Carter & Walter Mondale use email to plan
campaign events; Queen Elizabeth first state leader to use
email
1982 -- Word “Internet” used for first time
1984 -- Domain Name System (DNS) established with address
extensions (.com, .org, .edu)
1985 -- Quantum Computer Services becomes AOL
1988 -- Internet Worm shuts down 10% world’s Internet servers
1989 -- First dial-up IP, Archie (ITP Archive), WAIS, WWW
1991 -- Gopher point-and-click navigation (Univ. of Minnesota)
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Internet Timeline
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1994 -- White House launches web site, e-commerce,
spamming, Netscape introduces Navigator browser
1995 -- CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL start dial-up Internet
access, Sun Microsystems releases JAVA, www.Vatican.va
launched
1996 -- Approximately 45 million using Internet, with 30 million
in North America
1997 -- NASA broadcasts Pathfinder photos from Mars
1999 -- College student Shawn Fanning introduces Napster;
150 million Internet users worldwide (50% from US)
2000 -- “Love Bug,” “Stages,” and other computer viruses
circulated; “dot.com’s” fall
2001 -- 9.8 billion email messages daily
2002 -- 164.14 million US uses the Internet with 544.2
worldwide users
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Features of The Internet: ABCs,
Nicknames, and Abbreviations
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TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol
(standard communication protocol)
E-mail -- personal and professional benefits (remember
the invisible college?)
Bulletin boards and listservs
Remote login
Telnet
IP addresses
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Navigation tools, browsers, Gopher
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Percent Households with
Computers, 1998 and 2003
Location
1998
2003
All
42.1%
61.8%
Alabama
34.3%
53.9%
Source:http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931441.html
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Internet2
http://www.internet2.edu/
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Est. 1997 -- university/research consortium to foster the
development of advanced Internet capabilities (in partnership
with government and industry) -- expanded to K-20
Indiana University Abilene [KS] Network -- advanced
backbone
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The World Wide Web (WWW)
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European Particle Physics Lab (CERN) -- Switzerland
-- 1989
The Web is not the same as the Internet but an
interface and navigation tool that helps structure
Internet documents.
Hypertext originated for transmitting scientific
information among researchers
Expanded to business, industry, students, and
general population
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML) -- What’s the difference?
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Technolust and Technojunkies
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Assumes that the new is always better than the old and
that what is in development must be better than what
just hit the market
Tupperware mentality?
Technology to recreate the universe (an end in itself) v.
technology to connect people?
Why does technolust matter?
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Extreme projections of doom and gloom
Unwilling to consider alternative viewpoints
Real-world economics not considered
Sees a simple future
Can’t integrate technology smoothly into workplace
OTOH: technojunkies push us toward change
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Services
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Redesign of physical space -- equipment, facilities,
service centers, wiring, ergonomics, costs
“Library without walls” concept -- does electronic
technology change or replace the role of the library?
Online catalog -- more thorough information (not just
what but where, if checked out, etc.)
Extended services -- word processing, statistical
analysis, desktop publishing, local area networks
(LAN)
Networks -- ability to reach beyond the library walls ,
reciprocity among libraries
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Services
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American Library Association (Fred Weingarten) ‘s five roles for libraries and
librarians on the NII
 On-ramp of first resort
 On-ramp of last resort
 Navigator/guide
 Archivist/depository/authenticator
 Organizer of public information space
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Web 2.0 (O’Reilly & Dougherty ’04)  Library 2.0
 Trends & models that survived the .com crash (collaborative, interactive,
dynamic, users created as much content as they consumed), multisensory
rather than textual, matrix not a collection of dialogues, user-centered
 ‘Biblioblogosphere’ – home of discourse on Library 2.0
 Library 2.0 examples: user-centered/created, blogs, multi-media, ‘socially
rich, communally innovative, virtual community
 See www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a25.html by Jack M. Maness
 Read anything/everything by Marshall Breeding (Vandy)
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Collections
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Definition of “collection” has changed: access v.
ownership
Financial costs challenge “free library ethic” blur lines
between commercial and not-for-profit providers
Online vendor systems facilitate acquisitions -Amazon.com model (catalogs, reviews, ordering -- all in
one database)
Outsourcing
Knowledge of hardware, software, network necessary in
addition to knowledge of collection development
Balancing open access to Internet and quality control
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Electronic Publishing
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What print publications should disappear?
 Ready reference, almanacs, indexes, statistics, etc.
Downloadable formats for the mass market? (multimedia)
 Library-of-the-Month Club? CD-ROM magazines?
Textbooks, encyclopedia, art, other niche markets
Project Gutenberg (aka “Replicator Technology”)
 Michael Hart -- 1971 -- $ 1M computer time -transferring hundreds of print texts into electronic
format with volunteers !
E-Journals (not those in databases)
 Vaguely defined, numerous formats, technology in
transition, complement not replacement to print
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Electronic Books
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Early 1990s -- publishers began to digitize books (Sony’s portable e-books,
CD-ROM encyclopedia/multimedia, Adobe Acrobat, Portable Document
Format [PDF])
Download to PCs, hand-held PDAs, proprietary readers (Kindles and Ipads) –
publishing on demand
“Digital paper” and “e-ink” in development by Xerox, MIT, IMB, Motorola
Format standards = none (but US Dept. Commerce convening groups to
develop common standards)
Legal issues
 Title is tied to device, making sharing difficult and resale impossible (unlike
print books)
 Buying v. licensing
Readers’ issues -- Pricing, portability, comfort, privacy
See “Electronic Books: To ‘E’ or not to ‘E’; That Is the Question” at
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr00/ardito.htm by Stephanie Ardito in
Information Today
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Instruction
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Library skills, library instruction, bibliographic
instruction
One-on-one computer training
Online training (tutorials)
Group/class computer training
Train-the-trainer
Information literacy, computer literacy
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Technology & Preservation
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Preserving legacy of the past while ensuring long-term
accessibility of digital records in a rapidly evolving
technical world
Print resources of past 150 = significant portion of US
cultural heritage
 All post-1850 books pubns at risk due to acidic paper
used in manufacturing with unbleached wood pulp (LC
estimates that 77,000 books become brittle annually.)
Electronic resources, esp. magnetic media, subject to
both physical deterioration and hardware obsolescence
Exacerbating circumstances: multiplicity of formats, age
and scope of collections, variation in life expectancy, no
warning signs of deterioration in electronic formats
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Three Arenas for Advancing
Preservation
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National Efforts
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Collaborative Programs
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ARL and CLIR, ALA, LC, NEH; National strategy to address brittle
books (microfilming) ; NEH US Newspaper Program (microfilming);
proactive solutions to change formats (elimination of acidic paper
production)
Cooperative agreements for preserving specific collections -- Am.
Theological Lib. Assoc. filming deteriorating theology serials,
monographs; ARL dividing up task for microfilming publications
from 1870-1920 among member libraries
Institutional Programs
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Local, individual efforts of research libraries to deal with their own
collections (esp. properly controlled temperature and humidity,
deacidification, reformatting)
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Preservation
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“Keepers of the Crumbling Culture”
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Special Issues in Digitized
Collections
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“Mediated” materials (i.e., anything that uses equipment
for access, such as microfilm, CD-ROM, etc.) -- more
complex problems of preservation
“Ephemeral-ness” of online resources (not “fixed” in
place like traditional print ) -- issues of authenticity and
accuracy-- hard to catalog but they’re doing it!
Costs are considerable, particularly for retrospective
conversion
Scanning v. bitmapping (to improve search capabilities
for scholars/ researchers)
Current digitization projects are really pilot projects for
future consideration
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Human Resources
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New positions -- require different skills, training (esp.
older staff), systems staff (culture clash?), “accidental”
positions?
Organizational changes -- outsourcing, patron-initiated
service, blurring between public and technical services
Human beings -- ergonomics and physical concerns,
“technostress”
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Compulsive use of technology
Tension caused by degree of individual and organizational
adaptability to new technologies
Adaptability of human mind to increased pace and lack of
repose (exaggerated by technology)
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“Graying of the Profession”
 US
librarians older than their counterparts in most comparable
professions
 1990 -- 50% age 45 and over; 1994 -- 58% age 45 and over
 Rapid increases in technology over past 20 years > OJT training,
workshops, conferences, classes
 Other impacts of age of librarians and technology?
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: New Jobs?
Technology Consultant
 Information Specialist
 Technology Training Coordinator
 Head of the Digital information Literacy Program
 Head of Computer Services
 Systems Librarian
 Web Page Librarian
 Cybrarian
 Internet Services Librarian
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Are Libraries to Become
Museums of Failed Technology?
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8 track tapes, audiotapes, videodisks, Betamax video,
CD-ROM, etc.
Maintaining hardware (equipment) for software storage
devices -- what is the “shelf life” of information
technology?
How do libraries decide which technologies to adopt?
How do libraries decide what to do when one medium
gives way to the next?
Paper v. digital
 Long-term benefits
 Long-term problems
Ultimately > the new improves or sustains the old
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Implications of Computers in
Libraries: Mission
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Is technology value-neutral?
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Is technology in libraries the means or the end?
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Are we developing electronic warehouses?
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Is the purpose of technology to benefit the user or
those who provide the service?
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Technology’s Challenge to
Librarians:
 Bringing
the best of new
technologies to bear on the best of
library traditions and values
Coming up: Using the best of library
traditions and values for social advocacy
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