Talking about some of the most useful sites online during the past three months mixed with my ongoing interest in online broadcasting inspired me come up with the following list:
Five Things The Internet Is Killing
1. The Music Industry
- I saw a stat somewhere that 80% (!) of teens in the US hadn't bought a single CD in the last year. That's not a good sign if your (inflexible) business model is selling overpriced CD's!
2. The Movie Industry
- see above. It's a bit slower death since the file sizes are bigger and it's harder for the average user to get high quality video displayed in an enjoyable format compared to outputting high quality music to a stereo or even just decent speakers from a computer.
3. Real Estate Agents
- I keep hearing these commercials that slam "do it yourself" real estate sales sites while talking about all the expertise a realtor brings you. Frankly, they reek of desperation. Selling or buying a home yourself is a natural for the strengths of the Internet - many-to-many reach, incredible cost savings (realtors usually charge around 7% for their service), unlimited space for featuring photos and specifications. Plus, ultimately, who's going to care the most about selling a property - the person who sees it as a house or the person who sees it as a home?
4. Traditional Software
- increasingly, people are using online applications that they don't need to buy, install or update instead of their more traditional cousins. MS-Office is the most obvious example of software that Google and others are trying to replicate online but I don't think it'll be long before pretty much everything you do locally on your computer is available online and the only piece of software you'll need is a web browser.
5. Newspapers
- I think classified ad revenue is down something like 20%, subscribers are down 15% in the last few years (disclaimer: all stats quoted in this and any other post I do - are usually from memory. Don't quote them in your academic papers without verifying them!) Online competitors now provide news that is interactive, has alternative perspectives and is more timely. Some newspapers are migrating online but still use old school subscription models or pay-per-article (boo G&M after what, a week?) The New York Times gets it right - all their content is available as soon as it's published, its archived, searchable and free.
Bonus: One Thing The Internet Is Not Killing
Books
- outside of music, more ink (real and digital) is spilled proclaiming the death of the book than anything else. To paraphrase Twain, "the rumours of [the book's] death are greatly exaggerated." I'll always remember going to a national publishers' conference in 2000 where the e-book was all the talk and one presenter said that by 2005, more than half of readers would be using e-books over regular books. Really? Even most of the tech-types I know don't use e-books yet. I don't think e-books aren't without their merits and we're heading to more of a Movie-Television relationship. When TV first came out in the 1940's-50's, commentators warned about the death of the movie theatre. Instead, they developed a symbiotic relationship. I think that's what will happen with "real" books and e-books. E-books will continue to gain traction with users but also continue to co-exist with traditional books.
(Here's an article I found on this topic which discusses many of the same ideas I'm talking about.)
[2008-08-11 - Edit: here's another list on the topic from Cracked that counts phone books, MP3 players, DVD's, magazines, catalogues and newspapers, hard copies of video games, and cash. I'd also add "Post Office" to the list of things you'd think the Internet is killing but isn't.]
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Sunday, March 30
Five Things The Internet Is Killing (and One It Isn't)
by
Jason
on Sun 30 Mar 2008 09:13 PM CST
Tuesday, March 25
LibraryThing Local
by
Jason
on Tue 25 Mar 2008 07:40 PM CST
LibraryThing is already a wicked cool service but it's getting better all the time.
One of their latest features is LibraryThing Local which is "a new [LibraryThing] sub-site devoted to finding, mapping and describing the world's bookstore, library, book fair and festival—as well as all the readings, signings, lectures and other events they host." Here is a fascinating post from one of the LibraryThing blogs looking at the distribution of bookstores v. libraries in cities across North America. Friday, March 21
IIPA Slam Canada For Not Fixing Copyright "Deficiencies", CBC to release program via BitTorrent DRM-free
by
Jason
on Fri 21 Mar 2008 07:22 PM CST
A couple copyright-related stories that warm the cockles of my Canadian heart...
While the inclusion of China and Russia on the "Priority Watch List" isn't surprising, the report also has strong words for a more surprising: Canada. ESA, IIPA slam Canada for not fixing copyright "deficiencies" Sources indicate that the CBC is set to become the first major North American broadcaster to freely release one of its programs without DRM using BitTorrent. This Sunday, CBC will air Canada Next Great Prime Minister. The following day, it plans to freely release a high-resolution version via peer-to-peer networks without any DRM restrictions. This development is important not only because it shows that Canada's public broadcaster is increasingly willing to experiment with alternative forms of distribution, but also because it may help crystallize the net neutrality issue in Canada. (via Michael Geist) Sunday, March 16
Road Stats
by
Jason
on Sun 16 Mar 2008 02:36 PM CST
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I've been on the road for the past two months doing computer and Internet training at our various branches around SE Saskatchewan (for anyone who doesn't know about our territory, if you draw a straight line from Regina east to the Manitoba border and south to the US border, that's pretty much us. Here's a map but I just realised that it doesn't render in Firefox very well so you might have to look at it in Internet Explorer - sorry about that!)
Anyhow, I thought I'd sum up the last couple months in numbers...  Branches Visited - 45 (out of 48)Number of kilometres put on the company car - 10 000+Cancellations Due To Illness (mine) - 1Cancellations Due To Illness/Family Emergency (the branch librarian) - 2 (and it was the same person both times which makes me wonder if she was just really nervous about the training as happens with some people)Cancellations Due To Cold and/or Blizzards - 1.5 days (the half day is because I went out for my daytime sessions but had the evening one canceled by the local librarian)Number of blizzards I drove through when travel wasn't recommended - 1Number of -30 degree or colder days - too many to countNumber of 0 degree days where, the mix of melting/half-frozen snow and massive wind gusts made it feel like you were driving on a combo curling rink/jet engine turbine simulator scarier than any blizzard - 1Number of members of the general public who attended my sessions overall - 150-200? (sounds impressive until you realise that averages out to 3-4 people per library)Number of communities that had not one person show up for either of my two public sessions - a drop-in Q&A and a one-hour "guided tour" of the Internet - 3Not having done the math, what I think my average rating would be for all training sessions (2 with general public, 1 with branch librarians) based on the feedback forms (out of 5) - 4.0What it would be if you discounted the people who obviously filled out the form wrong - 4.5 (some examples - a few people gave all 1's - our lowest mark - but wrote nothing but favourable comments, some put lower marks in the "Length of Session" field meaning they enjoyed it and wish the session could've been longer but which comes across as a negative when you include it in the average rating. Who said survey design in 504 was useless?)Two reasons I probably got higher marks than I deserved. 1) I often mentioned I was from Indian Head and had grown up in SRL which immediately sets a "you're one of us" vibe and 2) people filled out the feedback form before actually going home to see if my advice actually would help with their problem!Number of our branches still on dial-up - 5Question I should've expected but which caught me off-guard with how much it was asked - "how do I get satellite Internet on my farm? What does it cost? What are the advantages/disadvantages?" In my opinion, the single biggest problem for people who at least have the skills to get online but are otherwise total beginners? They don't recognize ads on pages or know how to tell when they've surfed away from a site. The amount of people I'd show a site to and have them miles away as soon as I looked away because they just started clicking on the page randomly boggled my mind.Number of people I helped figure out how to use a mouse - 4Number of people I (may have  ) instructed in the use of BitTorrent - 6 Number of members of the general public who brought me fresh-baked cookies when they came to the second session after attending the first one - 1Number of 80+ year old ladies I helped sign up for Facebook accounts - 2  Saturday, March 15
Link Dump (and Blog Survey Reminder)
by
Jason
on Sat 15 Mar 2008 01:42 AM CST
Just clearing up some things I've come across recently. I sometimes forget to make a note of where I found stuff so if I got this from you or your site, apologies in advance - feel free to post a comment or drop me a line to let me know (although admittedly 90% of my stuff tends to come from Reddit these days so you can usually find the discussion for these sites there by doing a search on the relevant topic.)
Also, this is a good place to remind you that my annual blog survey is open right now. If you haven't already, please take a quick moment to fill out the 10 questions (most of which are checkboxes - can it get any easier?) Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to respond so far. I can only make educated guesses as to who's reading this blog from the various programs I have tracking traffic to this site. So it's especially nice to see responses from former classmates and colleagues at FIMS when I wasn't sure if they were still "tuning in". On to the links... Bookshelf Blog BookShelves By Colour R.E.M. to debut new album on the social networking application, iLike The World's 50 Most Powerful Blogs And for the survey respondent who said "Pace rocks - more Pace!", here you go...   Friday, March 14
Friday Fun Link - Google Sky (March 14, 2008)
by
Jason
on Fri 14 Mar 2008 10:37 PM CST
Previously available as part of Google Earth, Google has just launched a web-based version of Google Sky which allows you to explore the universe from the comfort of your own home. More information about this product is available from TechCrunch.
In semi-related news, Google gained the most advertising dollars of any media company - new or traditional such as TV/radio/print/etc. - in the last year and by a long shot...which is why they can put so much money into projects like this that aren't immediately seen as potential profit centres. (via Reddit) Thursday, March 13
Collegial Connections in a Digital Age
by
Jason
on Thu 13 Mar 2008 11:06 PM CST
It's fascinating to think about the relationships we have with our colleagues in this digital age compared to how it was in pre-Internet (or at least the Jurassic era of the Internet - the years around 1995 or so).
Back then, you would become colleagues at University but then, it took an extra special effort to stay in touch with people once you convocated. Now, because of the Internet and tools like Google, Facebook, blogs, RSS and more, I'm able to keep up with friends who move across oceans (very happy to see Renee back blogging after a move from China to Amsterdam!) and across continents. I've connected with current students at FIMS and alumni who I never would've known had our digital paths not crossed (okay, slight fib as I met the Canuck Librarian at OLA in 2006 but all the other alumni I know via online connections tend to be via Facebook and don't have blogs I can easily link to.) I've also "met" LIS students in schools across Canada and the US that I likely also never would've met unless we crossed paths in the physical world somewhere somehow. And I've even become "friends" with Internet-celebrity librarians who are kind enough to reply to my messages and treat me like a normal human being when I write them with ideas, comments or questions. So what's my point? I think it's no secret that the dynamic for interpersonal relations has vastly changed in the last five years because of online tools and it's only going to change more in the years to come. Before, you might know of a job opening and say "Tim would be perfect for that - too bad we lost touch after grad school." Now, it's a quick Facebook message to let Tim know about the opportunity. Before, you might chat over beers about the latest issues in librarianship with colleagues who work in the same city, attend the same conferences and belong to the same organizations. Now, you can do the same with librarians across the continent and around the world. Before, if you wanted to meet a librarian who had specific expertise in an area, it took a lot of digging. Now it often takes no more than a Google search or a message on a listserv to find someone with that specific knowledge. Tuesday, March 4
Google Saved My Ass!
by
Jason
on Tue 04 Mar 2008 08:00 PM CST
Well, that title's probably a bit of an exaggeration but it got your attention, no?
I have an add-on in my Firefox called "Tab Mix Plus" which is great - it allows you almost total control of how your tabs operate with the bonus feature of keeping track of the sites you have in open tabs when your browser closes or crashes. (I know Firefox has something like this built-in now but I still prefer the Tab Mix Plus version.) Because of this feature, I've gotten in the habit of keeping anywhere from 10-20 tabs open at any one time rather than using bookmarks or delicious or some other option to keep track of them. Unfortunately, I recently had a Firefox crash which didn't allow a session restore for some reason. I went into the hard drive looking for a back-up file but couldn't find anything. I tried the online backup program I subscribe to (which has saved my bacon in the past when I've needed to restore files) but it didn't have the proper file either. I was just starting to accept that I'd lost all my tabs - again, nothing major but things like stories I come across that I mean to read at a later date, potential sites to use as blog fodder, etc. I was trying to be zen about losing all of these links but the feeling lingered that I'd lost something really good that I'd regret. Then, for some reason, I thought of one other avenue I could try. When I set-up my Gmail account, without even thinking, I gave Google permission to keep a record of my searches. I logged in and, for the first time ever, realised that I'd also agreed to allow Google to keep a record of which sites I visit and when (plus helpfully keeping track of which sites I've visited the most.) We can have the debate about privacy in the digital age another time (I have a feeling I'd lose!) but the reality is that, by giving Google access to this information, I was able to page through my last month's worth of surfing and pick out the sites I'd had open in my browser when it crashed because they were the ones that showed up as having been visited multiple times (due to the fact that they get reloaded every time I open and close Firefox which I occasionally do on purpose as well!  )So, long story short (too late), I was able to rediscover pretty much every site that I'd had bookmarked when the crash happened. And I realised that most of them were things I'd probably not miss if I hadn't gotten them back. But yeah, it was nice to have my little brain feel settled anyhow. For the tin-foil hat types, Google also has another feature where they not only track your searches AND sites visited but they can helpfully compile them to show your most frequent searches, sites visited and links clicked on in the past week, month, year and all-time. Yikes! (Okay, I'll start the debate by saying that I don't mind putting out my personal information because I'm not worried about more serious consequences than having ads targeted to me - something that I actually prefer to be honest. Am I way off-base here? Are the Google overlords plotting my demise? Could the government knock on my door for my frequent clicks to "The Poo Bomb"???) Saturday, March 1
FTRW - "The Charms of Wikipedia" (with discussion of the policy of deleting of "non-notable" articles)
by
Jason
on Sat 01 Mar 2008 11:25 PM CST
Author Nicholson Baker takes a look at Wikipedia and includes a critique of the number of articles being deleted for less-than-solid reasons. [Edit to add a link to the article which is a pretty important detail to leave out!]
In the fall of 2006, groups of editors went around getting rid of articles on webcomic artists—some of the most original and articulate people on the Net. They would tag an article as nonnotable and then crowd in to vote it down. One openly called it the "web-comic articles purge of 2006." ... Rob Balder, author of a webcomic called PartiallyClips, likened the organized deleters to book burners, and he said: "Your words are polite, yeah, but your actions are obscene. Every word in every valid article you've destroyed should be converted to profanity and screamed in your face." |
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