Article: University of Central Florida students freak out when they go tech-free

Mary Ann Murdoch, who teaches English composition at the University of Central Florida, had one of her classes go tech-free for a week. Tanya Caldwell at the Orlando Sentinel, wrote about their experience. The rules were:

No cell phones, iPods, portable CD players, text messaging, e-mail, computers, TVs, DVDs, video games.

THE EXCEPTIONS:

Computers and cell phones could be used for work and school. Land-line phones and radios were OK, too.

The results where that 24 students (out of 26) were not able to make it through the week without their technology. Only two students were able to live by the rules for the five days.

I'm quoted in the article:

It's like giving up meat or giving up something for Lent. You want to see how you could get along without it. It's more about limiting it than eliminating it.

The older generation needs to adapt to what the younger generations' technologies are, because the technology is never going away.

Unfortunately, some of the points I made, when talking to the reporter, didn't make it into the article. Could they limit their usage? No, not only because some of them didn't want to, but also because their friends and family hadn't given up technology. Using the Lent analogy, it is easier to give up meat on Friday, if your entire family is doing it. But what if you are the only one? That makes the change difficult. And since the assignment had exceptions built in, I suspect that may have automatically made it more difficult. (Is it a sweet if it is a breakfast food or only when I eat it for a dessert?)

They also didn't know what to do instead of using technology. Yes, some did useful things, but some just did anything in order to stay occupied. Like all diets, they were doomed.

As for the second point I made, a few commenters on the article have jumped all over that! Yes, a massive power outage can make technology go away. That wasn't the point. The clocks are not going to turn back to a previous less-technology focused era. Our grandparents had to get used to the technology our parents used. Our parents had to adopt to the technology we used. And now we must adopt to the technology that our children are using. That is the way it has always worked.

I wonder if Ms. Murdoch could have reached her goals of the assignment in a different way. She is quoted as saying:

I just think that to be a complete and whole human being, you have to be able to interact with other human beings. Technology is the new family. It's become the new computer-chip fabric of our lives.

Could she have built a different assignment that created face-to-face interactions, rather than technology interactions? Could she have used information on how the different generations have used technology in order to get the students to think about technology differently? Yes. And I think they would have gotten much more out of the experience.

By the way, I asked the reporter if Ms. Murdoch was willing to become hyper-connected for a week, in order to walk in the shoes of her students. Wouldn't that be an interesting experiment?

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Technorati tag: Technology

Library Camp @ Syracuse, part 2

The final breakout session of the afternoon for me was "Implementing & Using Technology" with 10 participants. Mark Costa was the host and Bradley Shipps was the scribe. We talked about the breadth of technology that is used by -- or under the preview -- of a library including computers, TVs, projectors, MP3 players, etc. While we and our users must be aware of the technology, our goal is the use of content. We talked about the smart house and other places were technology is available yet not the focus.

"We like the technicians in the garage." We, unfortunately, need to be able to troubleshoot, select the correct technology for our patrons, etc.

Now the final session -- the wrap-up or Reporting Session -- is going on. Every host is going through three things that stood out from each session.

This has been a wonderful day! There has been lots of conversation and many ideas exchanged. Tonight there is a session on gaming (board and electronic), then tomorrow is the Collection Development Conference.



Photos from Tuesday night.

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Technorati tag: unyunc, Technology, social networking tools

Library Camp @ Syracuse, part 1

Today is the first day of our Library Camp and today's focus is The Future of Libraries. We have more than 80 people who have signed up for the two-day event, including librarians from school, academic, public, and special libraries (hospital & museum) as well as a couple consultants and a couple of SU faculty members. People have come from Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, Watertown, Albany, and Corning -- so this is truly an Upstate NY event.

Feedback so far is very positive. People like the conversations, the ability to "talk shop" during the sessions. One person mentioned that the unconference is calm, less hurried than normal conference. People have shared ideas and web sites. People are offering support to each other, which is very appreciated.

The first session I was in was "2.0 Show and Tell" which had 24 participants. Jen Sullivan was the host of the session and Kat Burturla was the scribe. Since this was the first unconference session of the day, the conversation started slow, but once it started, it kept going! People mentioned that they (the librarians) are more advanced using 2.0 tools than some of their patrons. They need to be able to use and teach about the tools, since their patrons are coming to them for help. Some grandparents are feeling pressured by their grandchildren to learn and use some of the social networking/web tools. Others mentioned that students don't want to be networking through Facebook, etc., with library staff.

One person mentioned that the need to prove return on investment for these tools. Just knowing about them is not enough. Can we prove the benefits?

One person said that she is building the library's web site using HTML, not only to keep it simple but also because that meets her users' needs.

Tools/sites mentioned including:

• Wikis
• http://www.buffalostate.edu/library/
• http://askehbl.wordpress.com/ (The blog for the Buffalo State Library.)

The second second in the Technology Track was "Open Source" with 13 people. Mark Costa was the host and Kathryn Lulofs was the scribe.

• N-view (composer)
• OPALS
• Drupal
• Open Journal
• Open Conference
• Google --> Sites
• RIT Ghost Map, http://library.rit.edu/
• http://www.opensourcecms.com/
• http://www.wikimatric.org/
• http://www.eol.org/

We also talked about open access journals (content) while "open source" is the structure.

What is a librarian's role in open source?

The error rate on Wikipedia is similar to the error rate on a printed encyclopedia. However, errors in Wikipedia can be corrected more quickly.

After a buffet lunch (excellent food), the third session was "Social Networking" with 13 people Kathryn Lulofs was the host and Mark Costa was the scribe.

We began by brainstorming ideas for a school library system on doing a "teleconference" using different web-based tools. She took lots of notes and walked away with ideas to follow-up on.

A participant from RIT showed us the widget that they built for searching their library catalogue from Facebook. Ken from Buffalo State showed the Meebo Me widget that he has placed in Facebook for doing chat reference. (Good anonymity and good for the deaf community, for example.)

One school librarian mentioned that students need to understand the implications for social networking tools. Since there is no access from schools, teachers and librarians cannot help students understand the pros and cons of these tools that they are using outside of the school setting.

What makes the library's homepage the community's homepage? What should be on the homepage to entice people to come back? What makes "a page" a page people will use everyday?

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Technorati tags: unyunc, Technology, social networking tools

Article: 10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life

While all 10 technologies are cool, numbers 10, 8, and 5 will be of particular interest to those who read this blog. They are:

• Digital Libraries
• Pervasive Wireless Internet
• Location-Based Computing

One sentence really caught my eye:

Unjacking to get away and relax, however, may not be so easy.

That statement is already true!

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Technorati tag: Technology