The Utopian Library

Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project

See the slides here.

He’s got a new book coming out: Connected Lives: New Social Network Operating Systems

Follow him on twitter: lrainie

What’s the value of twitter, anyway?

• promotion
• praise
• self-correction: followers and fans can challenge and correct

Use those hashtags! (e.g., “#CIL2009“) to share, search, and gather tweets on a topic

The digital landscape looked like this in 2000…

• 48% of adults used the Ineternet
• 5% had broadband connectivity at home
• 50% owned a cell phone
• 0% connected to the Internet wirelessly
• <10% used “cloud computing” (stuff on servers that somebody else hosts, like Google tools)
• connections were slow, stationary, and built around the user’s computer

In 2008 it is like this…

• 75% of adults use Internet
• 57% have broadband connectivity at home
• 82% own a cell phone
• 62% are connected to the Internet wirelessly
• >53% use cloud computing (the ability to access stuff from anywhere)
• connections are fast, mobile, and built around outside servers and storage

The digital “ecosystem” has changed

1. The volume of information flowing into our lives has grown
2. The variety of information has increased. There are many more options for choosing and filtering information.
3. The velocity of information is accelerated. There’s more stuff coming out in more ways.
4. The times and places to experience media have grown larger. Time- and place-shifting allow us to watch it when we want to, not on someone else’s schedule.
5. Our vigilance for information expands when we care about something (e.g., searching for health information) and contracts when we want to screen out information (continuous partial attention)
6. The immersive qualities of media are more compelling, changing how people think about media, interact with media, and allocate their time
7. The relevance of information improves. We can set up “the daily me” (TM Nicholas Negroponte @MIT media lab) to find/filter information according to our personal needs/wants/etc.
8. The number of information voices explodes and becomes more findable (half of adults and one-third of teens are content creators)
9. Voting and ventilating are enabled through opportunities to rank and rate our experiences with people and institutions
10. Social networks are more vivid

People turn to their social networks when they need help sorting through and making sense of information.

institutions can be actors in peoples networks in a way that they never have been before

Homo Connectus, a new with a different sense of…

• expectation about access to info
• place and distance
• presence with others: conversations can continue at any place and time
• opportunities for play
• allocation of time
• sense of personal efficacy: those at the top of the social heap are “in charge”

New PEW report, The Mobile Difference, takes an inventory of peoples’ relationship with technology

• Tech assets: What kind of tech stuff do you have? (gaming devices, iPods, computers, etc.)
• Actions: What do we do with our tech assets?
• Attitudes: What is the role of our gadgets in our lives?

39% of users are motiviated by mobility and have built mobile Internet access into their lives
61% are tied to stationary media
mobility stimulates content creation

Motivated by Mobility and how libraries can be their friends

Five groups identified

1. Digital Collaborators (8% of population)
   • The “geek squad” who have iphones, blogs, twitter presence
   • At the cutting edge of tech adoption and building it into their lives
   • Have and do more with their tech assets and feel good about what they’re doing
   • Dear Library…
     • be a place where we can connect into the Internet
     • give us a place to collaborate and share
     • we are the early influencers, adopters
     • enlist our help and feedback on future plans, services, etc.
2. Ambivalent Networkers (7%)
   • Not thrilled with all of the extra productivity, availability, and pressures of the digital lifestyle
   • Strong interest in being able to take a break from tech, but don’t think they can afford to do so
   • Must be “always on” in order to exist
   • Fanatic cell phone texters, but not big email users
   • Dear Library…
     • be a place where we have permission to unplug
     • we’re gamers. play with us.
     • understand our concern about information overload
     • give us the freedom to be off the grid for a while
3. Media Movers (7%)
   • Social group oriented toward community, sharing content and information.
   • Internet and cell phones are good ways to be social
   • Aren’t so into creating content or blogging, but are heavy cell phone and digital camera users.
   • These are the people who send you links, family photos.
   • Social networking experience is personal, not-work related
   • Dear Library…
     • provide tips and strategies for how links to info can be a social currency
4. Roving Nodes (9%)
   • Cell phone is the most critical device in their lives, a primary planning device
   • Heavy email users.
   • Not big content creators: they’re too busy to be blogging
   • Mostly female
   • Dear Library…
     • help us be efficient
     • show us ways to manage lists, time, and avoid information overload
     • teach how to use calendaring, social bookmarking, etc.
     • provide information about cloud computing
5. Mobile Newbies (8%)
   • Have just obtained their first tech assets (cell phone is the central gadget)
   • Not big Internet users
   • Mostly female
   • Oldest group
   • Don’t know/hear much about the Internet
   • Dear Library…
     • provide us with coaching, mentoring, and access to how-to materials
     • be our “tech support”
     • help us understand how we can find good resources despite threats of porn, hackers, viruses. etc.

Stationary Media Majority and how libraries can be their friends

Five groups identified

1. Desktop Veterans (13%)
   • Not into mobility
   • Internet veterans
   • Just want to sit at their desks and access the stuff that they need
   • Dear Library…
     • offer us good connectivity
     • stay out of our hair
     • provide automated services (e.g., self-check)
     • we might like/use some tutorials on content creation
2. Drifting Surfers (14%)
   • Mostly female
   • They’re just not that into it
   • Attitudes have worsened because technology doesn’t bring control into their lives or someone else in house is more proficient and does the tech stuff
   • Dear Library…
     • be our “tech support”
     • we don’t really care about all those computers
     • we appreciate your traditional library services
3. Information Encumbered (10%)
   • They have the technology but don’t like what it does to their lives.
   • Prone to overload
   • Dear Library…
     • don’t force stuff on us
     • help us navigate information and whittle down that list of 12K hits into a meaningful list of reliable information
4. Tech Indifferent (10%)
   • Can take tech or leave it
   • Dear Library…
     • provide us with some basic tutorials
     • don’t force stuff on us
5. Off the Network (14%)
   • Don’t have Internet or cell phones
   • Some used to have tech assets, but they’ve left the grid for a variety of reasons (financial, technical, etc.)
   • They love their old stuff
   • Dear Library…
     • we like the library for what it is
     • we appreciate traditional library services
     • offer some tutorials
     • pitch it gently

FRIENDING LIBRARIES

Libraries are pathways to…

1. problem-solving information
2. personal enrichment and life enhancement
3. entertainment
4. new kinds of social networks built around people, media, institutions, and the things that interest our users
5. the wisdom of crowds, through their large audience the the communities that love them

How can libraries be participants/nodes/friends in our users’ social networks?

Filed under: CIL2009, change, conference notes, libraries, technology