ACRL on Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy

ACRL = the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

ACRL recently published Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy: Creating Strategic Collaborations for a Changing Academic Environment. It is a white paper that ". . . explores and articulates three intersections between scholarly communication and information literacy." (It is an interactive online publication; there's also a pdf version here.) 

Here is the executive summary (as chapter one): 

This white paper explores and articulates three intersections between scholarly communication and information literacy, arguing that these intersections indicate areas of strategic realignment for librarians in order for libraries to be resilient in the face of tremendous change in the scholarly information environment. The three intersections are:

1. economics of the distribution of scholarship (including access to scholarship, the changing nature of scholarly publishing, and the education of students to be knowledgeable content consumers and content creators); 
2. digital literacies (including teaching new technologies and rights issues, and the emergence of multiple types of non-textual content);
3. our changing roles (including the imperative to contribute to the building of new infrastructures for scholarship, and deep involvement with creative approaches to teaching).

Based on these intersections, this paper provides strategies that librarians from different backgrounds and responsibilities can use to construct and initiate collaborations within their own campus environments between information literacy and scholarly communication. These strategies, or core responses, will support libraries in becoming more resilient in the face of the changing digital information environment.

After articulating these intersections and exploring core responses, the paper recommends four objectives, with actions for each, which could be taken by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), other academic library organizations, individual libraries, and library leaders. The overarching recommendations are:

1. integrate pedagogy and scholarly communication into educational programs for librarians to achieve the ideal of information fluency;
2. develop new model information literacy curricula, incorporating evolutions in pedagogy and scholarly communication issues;
3. explore options for organizational change;
4. promote advocacy.

This white paper is issued as both a PDF and an interactive format. The latter serves to "model new dissemination practices," an objective of ACRL’s Plan for Excellence (2011). Moreover, we hope readers will add comments and reactions there to help further the conversation. 

Mashable

Mashable is an excellent website that focuses on technology, social media, mobile, online video, web, gadgets, entertainment, lifestyle; if you're at all involved in IT, higher ed, or libraries, you might want to follow this site. It's not too geeky, and it strikes a nice balance between serious and fun. You can follow via Facebook, Twitter, email, RSS feeds.

Every once in a while, Mashable publishes a compilation of recent posts -- 

50+ Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Bob Al-Greene 

This was a relatively quiet, contemplative week at Mashable, as we took you behind the scenes of both Newark Mayor Cory Booker's Reddit AMA and the new Pope's social media team. 

The week was flush with Google news. Even as news junkies flocked from the condemned architecture of Google Reader, the search giant introduced a new note-taking app, refined its image search for a more modern user and floated the idea of a unified chat service — all while Glass continued to generate buzz and speculation (and a little humor). 

Twitter celebrated its seventh birthday this week, and we had all the Twitter tips you'll need to stay informed as March Madness heats up. For the rest of the social media and tech news you might have missed, read on. 

See the link for the full list. Some examples -- 

• What It's Like to Be Pope Francis' Social Media Intern 
• Pinterest Begins Rolling Out New Site Design 
• March Madness: 17 Twitter Media Must-Follows 
• Facebook Like a Ninja With These Keyboard Shortcuts 
• Amazon Launches Imprint for Literary Fiction 
• More Than 500,000 Google Reader Users Migrate to Feedly 
• Facebook Updates iOS App With Cover Photo Control 
• Samsung Is Working on a Wristwatch of Its Own 
• Apple Sets Sights on Augmented Reality for iOS Devices 
• 10 Online Courses to Beef Up Your STEM Knowledge 
• Vacation Disconnect Doesn't Mean Leaving Your Devices Behind

Gamification

"Gamification" is the notion that the experience of playing games -- perhaps focusing on online and computer games -- including rewards and incentives (such as points, badges, achievement awards, virtual currency, and such), can infuse business and commerce (for purposes including marketing, customer engagement and retention, and product development), education and training, personal health care, government, etc. (See this decently thorough introduction in the Wikipedia.) 

Incentives in particular have been around for a long time -- think of frequent-flyer clubs. 

This article in The New York Times about gamification introduces its use in several different contexts. 

All the World’s a Game, and Business Is a Player 

By NICK WINGFIELD 

Published: December 23, 2012 

Congratulations. Reading the first paragraph of this article has earned you a badge. 

If this made-up award makes you feel good about yourself, then you are on your way to understanding gamification, a business trend — some would say fad — that aims to infuse otherwise mundane activities with the excitement and instant feedback of video games.

social.oglivy.com

Many businesses are using these game tricks to try to get people hooked on their products and services — and it is working, thanks to smartphones and the Internet. 

Buying a cup of coffee? Foursquare, the social networking app that helped popularize the gamification idea, gives people virtual badges for checking in at a local cafe or restaurant. 

Conserving energy? More than 75 utilities have begun using a service from a company called Opower that awards badges to customers when they reduce their energy consumption. Customers can compare their progress with their neighbors’ and broadcast their achievements on Facebook. 

"I’m not going to lie — I hate those online game apps on Facebook. I delete them," said Brett Little, who works for an environmental nonprofit group in Grand Rapids, Mich., and has been known to share his energy-saving progress online. "This one I really enjoy."

Article continues at link. 

Smartphone OS Updates

Geek level: medium.

Via Gizmodo, here is far-and-away the most comprehensive thing I've seen about the business of upgrading smartphone operating systems, why Android devices are seemingly slow to get upgraded, the actual story with Apple's iOS upgrades. . .

Why Android Updates Are So Slow 

Brent Rose 

If there is one complaint we hear from Android users more than any other, it's the speed at which software updates arrive. Or don't arrive. It's especially tough on tech enthusiasts who read about all the advantages of the new update, but can't get it on their own devices for six months, if at all. Even brand new devices typically fail to launch with the latest version of Android. The Verizon Galaxy Nexus—a marquee Android flagship if there ever was one—only got its new Jelly Bean (Android 4.2) update today.

This has been going on for years. So what the hell? Why hasn't the problem been fixed? And who's to blame here? We asked Android manufacturers, carriers, and Google what the hold-up was. And, what a tangled web we found. 

Full story at link -- covers wha goes into an upgrade, why there seems to be hold-ups, why Apple's experience is seemingly better, and what can be done/what are your options. 

Disruptive Technologies

Many of these are already being called out here, but here is a handy chart from the Alitmeter Group's Jeremiah Owyang: a list of "Disruptive Technologies" along the y-axis and, on the x-axis, Description and Example. 

Index of 2013 Disruptive Technologies
 
One Line Goal:  List disruptive technologies in 2013 on one page, with your help in the comments.
The number of technologies that are creating disruptions to companies and ecosystems are increasing at an alarming rate. Even though Altimeter rated the technologies that matter from last week’s SXSW, we see even more technologies emerging on the heels of mobile world congress, and CES. Expect even more technologies to emerge, radically altering the power shift of those who use these technologies to gain power over existing institutions.

In an attempt to track and then analyze these technologies, I’ll host the following “industry index”, where I list out examples, and the community adds to it in comments. I’ve done this multiple times over previous years, which often results in discrete research projects, market definition reports, and ratings and rankings of technology vendors.

I’ve kicked off the list with 10 technologies I see (with help from colleague Chris Silva), and at Altimeter, we’ve embarked on looking at research themes that impact business. With your help through the comments, we can keep this list updated for the year.

Full matrix at the link.