The Impact of Technology on Society

1
The Impact of Technology on Society Libraries
LS 501 Introduction to Library
Information Studies
Revised Summer 2006, 2010, 2011
C.2003, Deborah J. Grimes
2
What Is Technology?

• Websters New World Dictionary Thesaurus
• a method, process, etc. for handling a specific
  technical problem
• the system by which a society provides its
  members with those things needed or desired
• Not necessarily electronic --

3
Impact of Technology on USA

• 1600s -- Survival, subsistence, colonialization
• Ship-building, small hand tools, farming and
  agricultural equipment, natural tools (potash,
  tallow), mills, charcoal and iron production
• 1700s -- Community self-reliance, catalyst for
  revolution, emerging commerce, new wealth
• Building materials, home furnishings, printing,
  arms and weapons, Conestoga wagons (East/West
  commerce), factories
• 1800s -- National infrastructure, industrial age,
  nationalism, international markets,
  communication, individualism, womens work, war
  as impetus for technological advancement
• Bridge and road-building, steamboats and canals,
  machine manufacturing, local v. European
  technology, railroads, telegraphy, iron and
  steel, homemaking, food production
• 1900s -- Systematizing, social solutions,
  individualism, education, city-building, leisure,
  medical science, war promotes technology
• Electricity, telephones, radio, TV, building
  materials (concrete), skyscraper, photography,
  mining, bicycles and sports, automobiles,
  medicine and diagnostic equipment (MRI, CAT,
  etc.), food preparation (canning, freezing),
  airplanes

4
20th Century Information Technologies

• Before the 60s
• Communication and transportation improvements
• Punch cards
• Reprography (reproduction of print documents)
  into film (microforms) -- 1920s
• Duplicating and photocopy machines

5
Computer in Libraries (1960s)

• Computers in the 1960s contemporary sense of
  technology
• Library mechanization or library automation
• System Development Corp.(SDC), DIALOG (Lockheed,
  1964)
• MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging) --
  created by Library of Congress -- standardization
  of bibliographic records -- allowed electronic
  storage
• Bibliographic utilities originated
• National Library of Medicine -- changed to
  computer tapes and eventually a searchable
  database
• ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency
  Network) -- important first step toward the
  Internet

6
Computer in Libraries (1970s)

• Mainframes and minis -- made online interactive
  capabilities a reality
• Most significant break from past practices
  application of online computer access to
  information retrieval, replacing card catalogs
  and print indexes
• Most online services originated in academic
  libraries because databases were primarily
  scientific and technical
• Specially trained librarians
• Separate facilities and resources
• First inroad of fee-based services
• Creation of search strategies (Boolean searching)

7
Computer in Libraries (1980s)

• Revolutionary development of the Compact
  Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) -- commercial
  vendors
• Development of online computer access catalogs
  (OPACs) or Public Access Catalogs (PACs)
• Turn-Key circulation systems -- commercial
  vendors
• Self-initiated systems
• Automated acquisitions
• Integrated Library Systems (ILS) -- DRA, VTLS,
  Geac, Ameritech
• Linked Systems Project/Linked Systems Protocol
  (LSP) established Z30.50 standard protocol (i.e.,
  national standard for bibliographic information
  retrieval so that different systems can be linked
  electronically)

8
OCLC

• 1967 -- Ohio College Library Center -- most
  prominent bibliographic utility -- originally for
  academic libraries
• 1972 -- OCLC opened services to non-academic
  libraries
• 1981 -- Online Computing Library Center --
  offered access to the MARC database, supplemented
  by cooperative cataloging of member libraries
• Research Libraries Group (RLG), Research
  Libraries Information Network (RLIN) --
  bibliographic databases and research records

9
Is technology revolting?

• Is the age of information really an
  information revolution?
• Notable revolutionary technology
• Transportation revolutionized by locomotion
• Communication revolutionized by mass production,
  telecommunications, photography and other
  printing techniques, television, motion pictures
• Is the computer revolution any more dramatic
  than other technological revolutions of the last
  100 years?
• Does the tool become greater than its purpose or
  service?
• Used to reduce the impact of distance, time,
  location

10
Information Revolution

• First modern information revolution
• Mid-19th through mid-20th centuries
• Telegraph, telephone, radio
• Little impact on government, international
  relations
• Second modern information revolution
• Following WWII
• Television, early generation computers,
  satellites
• Great impact on personal, business, international
  life
• Third modern information revolution - -beginning
  of the Knowledge Revolution ?

11
Top 10 CountriesComputers-in-Use, 2008

• Rank Country Year-End 2008 2008
• (millions) total
• USA 264.10 22.19
• China 98.67 8.29
• Japan 86.22 7.24
• Germany 61.96 5.21
• UK 47.04 3.95
• France 43.11 3.62
• Russia 36.42 3.06
• Italy 35.69 3.00
• South Korea 34.87 2.93
• Brazil 33.30 2.80
• TOTAL WORLDWIDE 1,190.10

Source Information Please Almanac (online) ,
2009
12
Percent US Adults Who Use Computers, December 2008
Category Per Cent Women 75 Men 73
Generation Gen Y (ages 18-29) 87 Gen X (ages
30-49) 82 Boomers (ages 50-64) 72 Matures
(ages 65) 41

Source Information Please Almanac 2009 (online)
13
Percent US Adults Who Use Computers, 2008

Category Per Cent Race and Ethnicity Whites
77 Blacks 64 Hispanic
(English-speaking) 58 Household
Income lt30,000 57 30,000--49,999 77
50,000--74,999 90 75,000 94
Source information Please Almanac 2009 (online)
14
Computer Usage in U.S.(Per Cent Adults Who Use
Computers -- 2008)
Category Per Cent Education Less than high
school 35 High school grads/GED 67 Some
college 85 College graduate/graduate
degree 95 Geographic Location Rural 63 U
rban 71 Suburban 74

Source Infoplease.com/ipa/A0908342.html
15
The Emergence of The Internet (1990s)

• What is the Internet?
• Electronic network that permits access to
  thousands of computer networks a network of
  networks using standardized practices
• Department of Defense ARPANET National Science
  Foundation (NSF)
• 1984 NSF established supercomputing centers that
  required a highspeed telecommunications backbone
• ARPANET funding beginning to decline
• NSFNET backbone created for civilians
  (particularly universities)
• National High Performance Computing Act of 1991
  -- information highway and National Research
  and Education Network (NREN)

16
Internet Timeline

• 1969 -- ARPA goes online connecting 4
  universities
• 1972 -- E-mail introduced by Ray Tomlinson, using
  _at_
• 1973 -- TCP/IP designed (becomes standard 1983)
• 1976 -- Jimmy Carter Walter Mondale use email
  to plan campaign events Queen Elizabeth first
  state leader to use email
• 1982 -- Word Internet used for first time
• 1984 -- Domain Name System (DNS) established with
  address extensions (.com, .org, .edu)
• 1985 -- Quantum Computer Services becomes AOL
• 1988 -- Internet Worm shuts down 10 worlds
  Internet servers
• 1989 -- First dial-up IP, Archie (ITP Archive),
  WAIS, WWW
• 1991 -- Gopher point-and-click navigation (Univ.
  of Minnesota)

17
Internet Timeline

• 1994 -- White House launches web site,
  e-commerce, spamming, Netscape introduces
  Navigator browser
• 1995 -- CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL start dial-up
  Internet access, Sun Microsystems releases JAVA,
  www.Vatican.va launched
• 1996 -- Approximately 45 million using Internet,
  with 30 million in North America
• 1997 -- NASA broadcasts Pathfinder photos from
  Mars
• 1999 -- College student Shawn Fanning introduces
  Napster 150 million Internet users worldwide
  (50 from US)
• 2000 -- Love Bug, Stages, and other computer
  viruses circulated dot.coms fall
• 2001 -- 9.8 billion email messages daily
• 2002 -- 164.14 million US uses the Internet with
  544.2 worldwide users

18
Features of The Internet ABCs, Nicknames, and
Abbreviations

• TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet
  Protocol (standard communication protocol)
• E-mail -- personal and professional benefits
  (remember the invisible college?)
• Bulletin boards and listservs
• Remote login
• Telnet
• IP addresses
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• Navigation tools, browsers, Gopher

19
Percent Households with Computers, 1998 and 2003

Location 1998 2003 All 42.1 61.8 Alabama 3
4.3 53.9
Sourcehttp//www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931441.html
20
Internet2
http//www.internet2.edu/

• Est. 1997 -- university/research consortium to
  foster the development of advanced Internet
  capabilities (in partnership with government and
  industry) -- expanded to K-20
• Indiana University Abilene KS Network --
  advanced backbone

21
The World Wide Web (WWW)

• European Particle Physics Lab (CERN) --
  Switzerland -- 1989
• The Web is not the same as the Internet but an
  interface and navigation tool that helps
  structure Internet documents.
• Hypertext originated for transmitting scientific
  information among researchers
• Expanded to business, industry, students, and
  general population
• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext
  Markup Language (HTML) -- Whats the difference?

22
Technolust and Technojunkies

• Assumes that the new is always better than the
  old and that what is in development must be
  better than what just hit the market
• Tupperware mentality?
• Technology to recreate the universe (an end in
  itself) v. technology to connect people?
• Why does technolust matter?
• Extreme projections of doom and gloom
• Unwilling to consider alternative viewpoints
• Real-world economics not considered
• Sees a simple future
• Cant integrate technology smoothly into
  workplace
• OTOH technojunkies push us toward change

23
Implications of Computers in Libraries Services

• Redesign of physical space -- equipment,
  facilities, service centers, wiring, ergonomics,
  costs
• Library without walls concept -- does
  electronic technology change or replace the role
  of the library?
• Online catalog -- more thorough information (not
  just what but where, if checked out, etc.)
• Extended services -- word processing, statistical
  analysis, desktop publishing, local area networks
  (LAN)
• Networks -- ability to reach beyond the library
  walls , reciprocity among libraries

24
Implications of Computers in Libraries Services

• American Library Association (Fred Weingarten) s
  five roles for libraries and librarians on the
  NII
• On-ramp of first resort
• On-ramp of last resort
• Navigator/guide
• Archivist/depository/authenticator
• Organizer of public information space
• Web 2.0 (OReilly Dougherty 04) ? Library 2.0
• Trends models that survived the .com crash
  (collaborative, interactive, dynamic, users
  created as much content as they consumed),
  multisensory rather than textual, matrix not a
  collection of dialogues, user-centered
• Biblioblogosphere home of discourse on
  Library 2.0
• Library 2.0 examples user-centered/created,
  blogs, multi-media, socially rich, communally
  innovative, virtual community
• See www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a25.html by Jack M.
  Maness
• Read anything/everything by Marshall Breeding
  (Vandy)

25
Implications of Computers in Libraries
Collections

• Definition of collection has changed access
  v. ownership
• Financial costs challenge free library ethic
  blur lines between commercial and not-for-profit
  providers
• Online vendor systems facilitate acquisitions --
  Amazon.com model (catalogs, reviews, ordering --
  all in one database)
• Outsourcing
• Knowledge of hardware, software, network
  necessary in addition to knowledge of collection
  development
• Balancing open access to Internet and quality
  control

26
Implications of Computers in Libraries
Electronic Publishing

• What print publications should disappear?
• Ready reference, almanacs, indexes, statistics,
  etc.
• Downloadable formats for the mass market?
  (multimedia)
• Library-of-the-Month Club? CD-ROM magazines?
  Textbooks, encyclopedia, art, other niche markets
• Project Gutenberg (aka Replicator Technology)
• Michael Hart -- 1971 -- 1M computer time --
  transferring hundreds of print texts into
  electronic format with volunteers !
• E-Journals (not those in databases)
• Vaguely defined, numerous formats, technology in
  transition, complement not replacement to print

27
Electronic Books

• Early 1990s -- publishers began to digitize books
  (Sonys portable e-books, CD-ROM
  encyclopedia/multimedia, Adobe Acrobat, Portable
  Document Format PDF)
• Download to PCs, hand-held PDAs, proprietary
  readers (Kindles and Ipads) publishing on
  demand
• Digital paper and e-ink in development by
  Xerox, MIT, IMB, Motorola
• Format standards none (but US Dept. Commerce
  convening groups to develop common standards)
• Legal issues
• Title is tied to device, making sharing difficult
  and resale impossible (unlike print books)
• Buying v. licensing
• Readers issues -- Pricing, portability, comfort,
  privacy
• See Electronic Books To E or not to E
  That Is the Question at http//www.infotoday.com/
  searcher/apr00/ardito.htm by Stephanie Ardito in
  Information Today

28
Implications of Computers in Libraries
Instruction

• Library skills, library instruction,
  bibliographic instruction
• One-on-one computer training
• Online training (tutorials)
• Group/class computer training
• Train-the-trainer
• Information literacy, computer literacy

29
Technology Preservation

• Preserving legacy of the past while ensuring
  long-term accessibility of digital records in a
  rapidly evolving technical world
• Print resources of past 150 significant portion
  of US cultural heritage
• All post-1850 books pubns at risk due to acidic
  paper used in manufacturing with unbleached wood
  pulp (LC estimates that 77,000 books become
  brittle annually.)
• Electronic resources, esp. magnetic media,
  subject to both physical deterioration and
  hardware obsolescence
• Exacerbating circumstances multiplicity of
  formats, age and scope of collections, variation
  in life expectancy, no warning signs of
  deterioration in electronic formats

30
Three Arenas for Advancing Preservation

• National Efforts
• ARL and CLIR, ALA, LC, NEH National strategy to
  address brittle books (microfilming) NEH US
  Newspaper Program (microfilming) proactive
  solutions to change formats (elimination of
  acidic paper production)
• Collaborative Programs
• Cooperative agreements for preserving specific
  collections -- Am. Theological Lib. Assoc.
  filming deteriorating theology serials,
  monographs ARL dividing up task for microfilming
  publications from 1870-1920 among member
  libraries
• Institutional Programs
• Local, individual efforts of research libraries
  to deal with their own collections (esp. properly
  controlled temperature and humidity,
  deacidification, reformatting)

31
Preservation

• Keepers of the Crumbling Culture

32
Special Issues in Digitized Collections

• Mediated materials (i.e., anything that uses
  equipment for access, such as microfilm, CD-ROM,
  etc.) -- more complex problems of preservation
• Ephemeral-ness of online resources (not fixed
  in place like traditional print ) -- issues of
  authenticity and accuracy-- hard to catalog but
  theyre doing it!
• Costs are considerable, particularly for
  retrospective conversion
• Scanning v. bitmapping (to improve search
  capabilities for scholars/ researchers)
• Current digitization projects are really pilot
  projects for future consideration

33
Implications of Computers in Libraries Human
Resources

• New positions -- require different skills,
  training (esp. older staff), systems staff
  (culture clash?), accidental positions?
• Organizational changes -- outsourcing,
  patron-initiated service, blurring between public
  and technical services
• Human beings -- ergonomics and physical concerns,
  technostress
• Compulsive use of technology
• Tension caused by degree of individual and
  organizational adaptability to new technologies
• Adaptability of human mind to increased pace and
  lack of repose (exaggerated by technology)

34
Graying of the Profession

• US librarians older than their counterparts in
  most comparable professions
• 1990 -- 50 age 45 and over 1994 -- 58 age 45
  and over
• Rapid increases in technology over past 20 years
  gt OJT training, workshops, conferences, classes
• Other impacts of age of librarians and technology?

35
Implications of Computers in Libraries New Jobs?

• Technology Consultant
• Information Specialist
• Technology Training Coordinator
• Head of the Digital information Literacy Program
• Head of Computer Services
• Systems Librarian
• Web Page Librarian
• Cybrarian
• Internet Services Librarian

36
Are Libraries to Become Museums of Failed
Technology?

• 8 track tapes, audiotapes, videodisks, Betamax
  video, CD-ROM, etc.
• Maintaining hardware (equipment) for software
  storage devices -- what is the shelf life of
  information technology?
• How do libraries decide which technologies to
  adopt?
• How do libraries decide what to do when one
  medium gives way to the next?
• Paper v. digital
• Long-term benefits
• Long-term problems
• Ultimately gt the new improves or sustains the
  old

37
Implications of Computers in Libraries Mission

• Is technology value-neutral?
• Is technology in libraries the means or the end?
• Are we developing electronic warehouses?
• Is the purpose of technology to benefit the user
  or those who provide the service?

38
Technologys Challenge to Librarians

• Bringing the best of new technologies to bear on
  the best of library traditions and values

Coming up Using the best of library traditions
and values for social advocacy