OLITA Digital Odyssey 2010 – Going Mobile
On Friday, I attended the amazing workshop Digital Odyssey 2010 – Going Mobile, held by the Ontario Library and Information Technology Association. Focused on how to develop information/library services and products in a mobile environment, the individual sessions discussed augmented reality, QR code, designing for mobile, ebooks, and more. Jason Griffey, keynote speaker, discussed why the mobile world is important and why we should be thinking about it. Here are some highlights from his session:
- 4.1 billion people on the planet have cellphones.
- More cellphones and cellphone contracts than people in some countries. People are carrying multiple devices.
- 2.4 billion people in the world use text messaging on their cellphones.
- More people are accessing the Internet via mobile devices.
- People are expecting to access your organization’s services via wireless connectivity.
- Modern smartphones aren’t the most popular phones being sold right now, but this is expected to change very quickly.
- The iPhone is the most popular image of a modern smartphone in the US and Canada.
- Apple is an enormous force in the tech world.
- Apple is the second largest company in the US. It is worth about $226 billion (Rogers is worth about $20.88 billion).
- Canada has a low cellphone penetration rate. 61% of people have a cellphone. This is a low rate for a developed nation.
- The US has a penetration rate of 91%.
- Cellphones aren’t the only mobile way people get connected to the Internet.
- Digital e-readers are becoming very popular.
- They are going to get very cheap very fast. There will probably be a $100 one by Christmas, and a $50 digital e-reader by next year.
- It makes more sense for a library to buy a $50 e-reader and put 1,000 books on it than to buy a book in print.
- Tablets will become very popular.
- The iPad is the most important tablet right now.
- Apple sold 2 million iPads in 60 days.
Jason concluded his talk with the idea that sometimes asking our users/clients what they want doesn’t always tell us what they really want or need. We have to know what they want before they do because they might not be aware of important technological trends and issues.
Agnese, I didn’t realize you were there also. I thoroughly enjoyed Griffey’s talk and found the statistics he through out incredible.
I feel the low penetration rate of cell phone coverage in this country is soon going to be holding us back as a nation, if it isn’t already.
Overall I found the day to be quite interesting, and learned a lot from the other speakers as well.
Connie – I agree.
I thought the workshop was great and definitely inspiring.
I’m interested in the comment that “it makes more sense for a library to buy a $50 reader and put a thousand books on it….”. What happens when someone borrows the reader?
Seems to me it makes sense for libraries to focus on content, not containers. Digital books should be available, but I think the borrower may have to supply the device. Otherwise, you risk giving away a large chunk of your collection to satisfy one reader.
Here’s a report from the Government of Canada which adds nicely to this discussion http://www.planpouruncanadanumerique.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=11&lang=en
“Plan for a Digital Canada”
Wendy, I think the implication was instead of buying several books for $50 each, buy several ereaders for $50 each and load them *all* up with books. But of course, this is looking to the anticipated future when the cost of those thousand books comes down also, I’m guessing. Regardless, it was food for thought.
There’s a Luminato discussion this Saturday on the future of publishing in an e-book universe. I’m planning to attend. I think it’s going to be a fascinating conversation. The presenters are from among the large Canadian fiction/textbook publishing houses, I think.
Indeed, the idea that I was throwing out was that when eReaders cost <$50, what sense does it make for a library to keep replacing copies of Public Domain works, when instead they could give their patrons _every public domain work in existence_, almost, for $50. I wasn't actually talking about loading them up with commercial, modern books (I think that's not the way eReaders will eventually be used in the library context).