Top Technology Trends, 2001 ALA Annual Conference

Technology and library users, an ongoing discussion

The 2001 ALA Annual Top Trends Discussion was held Sunday, June 17th in San Francisco. A greater variety of topics were raised than in more recent meetings, with recurring topics such as E-Books, XML, Open Source Software, and Digital Preservation still being closely watched.

Top Technology Trends



New Topics Raised :

   

   Wireless


*Updated Midwinter 2003*

News, FAQs, Vendors, etc.

allNetDevices-Wireless Devices -
http://www.allnetdevices.com/wireless/ -

A comprehensive site which includes a wireless FAQ, wireless devices (cell phones, handhelds, etc.), current news stories, etc.

Mobileinfo -
http://www.mobileinfo.com/networks.htm

This site provides information including wireless hardware vendors, faqs, practical introductions to such topics as Mobile Computing Systems Design Issues, and a rich resource list for more information.

Mobile Village -
www.mobilevillage.com

A site providing current news, a glossary of wireless terms, etc.

Wireless Internet Resource Channel
http://www.internet.com/sections/wireless.html

This site provides links and short summaries to over a dozen wireless information webpages. The page also has a "What's New" at the top of the page, linking to hot topic articles on wireless.

Wireless.com Everything Wireless
http://web.wireless.com/index.php

This site contains primarily vendor and business related wireless news, and is regularly updated. Categories are divided into topics such as "Wi-Fi," "Wireless Broadband," "Bluetooth," and "RFID."

Wireless LAN resources for Linux
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/

A clearinghouse of information on Linux based wireless implementations. Includes "how-to" information, driver information, software, security information, lists of institutions utilizing wireless networks using Linux, etc.

Wireless Week -
http://www.wirelessweek.com/

A comprehensive site featuring current news on wireless.

ZDNet -
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/filters/itdmain/

ZDNet's portal to information on various technology topics. A good site to check for current information on wireless technologies, including news, white papers, links to wireless companies and products, etc. Library Specific Information

Wireless Librarian -
http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/

This page contains a listing of online and print articles dealing with wireless (including articles detailing wireless in libraries), a list of libraries currently utilizing wireless network

Innovative Interface's AirPac
http://www.iii.com/pdf/airpac.pdf

This details Innovative Interfaces' Airpac product, and provides an example of how integrated online library system vendors have begun to look into wireless applications in conjunction with their systems.

Standards

Bluetooth -
http://www.bluetooth.com/

Bluetooth, a de-facto wireless technology standard, has received a lot of press. This is the official Bluetooth Website, containing news information, a FAQ, listing of events, technical information, etc.

IEEE -
http://standards.ieee.org/wireless/

The Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers is a chief developer of standards for Wireless technologies. This page provides information on the current status of wireless standards, and a link to other resources providing news on wireless technology.

Open Mobile Alliance
http://www.openmobilealliance.org/index.asp

An organization whose mission is to "grow the market for the entire mobile industry by removing the barriers to global user adoption and by ensuring seamless application interoperability while allowing businesses to compete through innovation and differentiation." This organization has an impressive member list. Some interesting information can be found under the "FAQs" and "Documents" section. White Papers

Information Week White Papers
http://whitepapers.informationweek.com/data/web/iw/iw_index.jsp

Information Week provides links to numerous vendor authored, technical white papers, including white papers on wireless LANs. Note: You must register to view the white papers (free). Authors include such well-known companies as Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, and Sprint. The primary Information Week website provides additional information on wireless topics (http://www.informationweek.com/techcenters/networking/wireless )

The Semantic Web

W3C - Semantic Web Activity
http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/ - Includes specifications, presentations, discussion forums, news, and publications.

Scientific American, May 2001
by Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, and Ora Lassila
http://www.scientificamerican.com/2001/0501issue/0501berners-lee.html - An overview of the Semantic Web concept with some examples of how making Web content more meaningful to computers would ultimately benefit humans.

Semantic Web: A Primer
by Edd Dumbill, Nov 1, 2001
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/01/semanticweb/ - Gives a brief overview of key technologies like XML and RDF, as well as relevant tools and applications to use for development.

SemanticWeb.org: The Semantic Web Community Portal
http://www.semanticweb.org/ - A research and commercial mix of resources, projects and tools for developers.

Dave Beck's Resource Description Framework (RDF) Resource Guide (University of Bristol)
http://www.ilrt.bristol.ac.uk/discovery/rdf/resources/ - Extensive resource list for RDF, including tutorials, projects, examples, publications, tools, documents and other resources.

Metadata Harvesting

Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting -
http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.htm The goal of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) protocol "is to supply and promote an application-independent interoperability framework that can be used by a variety of communities who are engaged in publishing content on the Web." The protocol helps specify both how to make data/content available (through XML and etc.) and how to properly format retrieval requests.

Exposing and Harvesting Metadata Using the OAI Metadata Harvesting Protocol : A Tutorial -
http://library.cern.ch/HEPLW/4/papers/3/ Defines what the OAI is conceptually, then gives specific examples of using the protocol to expose and harvest metadata.

Nordic Metadata Projects -
http://www.lib.helsinki.fi/meta/ Details projects undertaken by the national library of Norway to investigate many aspects of metadata, including developing harvesting and indexing software.

CLIR Activities - Metadata Harvesting Project -
http://www.clir.org/activities/details/metadata-docs.html Links to background documents on the plans and involvement of CLIR and the DLF in investigating methods and standards of Metadata Harvesting like the OAI protocol.

UKOLN Metadata -
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/ Details and links to many metadata projects and tools, including the popular Harvest indexing software.

The Copyright War

IP @ National Academies

http://ip.nationalacademies.org/

Intellectual Property Rights in a Knowledge-Based Economy

http://www.nationalacademies.org/ipr

STEP (Board on Science Technology and Economic Policy)

http://www4.nationalacademies.org/pd/step.nsf

Association of American Publishers (AAP)

http://www.publishers.org/home/index.htm

Association of American Publishers – on Copyright

http://www.publishers.org/home/issues/index.htm#copyright

Association of American Publishers Copyright Committees

http://www.publishers.org/home/abouta/copy/index.htm

Association of American Publishers Open eBook Publishing Standards Initiative

http://www.publishers.org/home/ebookstudy.htm

ALA Washington Office – Copyright Issues

http://www.ala.org/washoff/copyright.html

Electronic Freedom Frontier

http://www.eff.org/

EFF "Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)" Archive

http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/

EFFector Online Newsletter -- July 22, 2001    

http://www.eff.org/effector/HTML/effect14.15.html

Other

Copyright Wars and Digital Dreams, Part II

http://www.macopinion.com/columns/tangible/01/03/16/

Report From The Front In The Copyright Wars

http://www.ipcounselors.com/report.htm

Library "radicals" targeted in latest copyright battles

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201-6545588-0.html

American Association of Law Libraries – Washington Affairs Online

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/

American Association of Law Libraries – UCITA

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/Isbrucit.html

UCITA Online

http://www.ucitaonline.com/

Consumer Project on Technology

http://www.cptech.org/

Bad Software: A Consumer Protection Guide

http://www.badsoftware.com/uccindex.htm

Hiring Good Systems Personnel

Salary Surveys:

The following articles discuss options available to librarians, especially those with subject specialties, outside of traditional librarian roles.

General article about low pay for librarians.