Friday, January 7, 2011
More Information and Less Time to Analyze It
Link to January 7 San Jose Mercury News column by Mike Cassidy, "Tech revolution changing our world view".
Excerpt: If you've read anything out of this week's Consumer Electronics Show (and face it, you can't avoid it), you've heard how the tablets and smartphones are coming or are here or have taken over the world. Forrester Research says 82 million Americans will be staring at tablet screens by 2015. Smartphone sales will grow to 72 million phones this year, up 31 percent, the Consumer Electronics Association says.
Of course, information has never been perfect, no matter how it's been delivered. It is provided by imperfect people and is open to vagueness and imprecision. And as we hurtle deeper into an era of fast-twitch data bombarding us 24/7, the trend will be for information to become less perfect just as the time for consumers to evaluate and analyze it further deteriorates.
Forest County: A Half Century of Growth in Library Use
Part 21 of a county-by-county overview.
Between the 1960 and 2009 bookend years, Forest County doesn't fit the generally established pattern. As a point of comparison, the 1999 circulation is 31,563 and 2001 circulation is 32,137 -- still a significant dip from 1990 in both cases.
Between the 1960 and 2009 bookend years, Forest County doesn't fit the generally established pattern. As a point of comparison, the 1999 circulation is 31,563 and 2001 circulation is 32,137 -- still a significant dip from 1990 in both cases.
Forest County, 1960-2009:
Population and Circulation
Forest County, 1960-2009
Forest County public libraries
Let's Look It Up (Since David Brooks Didn't Bother To)
As David Brooks notes in "Buckle Up for Round 2" (New York Times, 1/7/2011), Right now about 53 percent of Americans oppose the health care law and 43 percent support it, according to an average of the recent polls. Complaints are especially high among doctors. According to a survey by the Physicians Foundation, 60 percent of private practice doctors say the law will force them to close their practices or to restrict them to certain categories of patients.
Let's take a look at the bigger picture.
This train left the station at least 9 years ago.
The number of doctors in private practice has declined from 70% in 2002 to 47% in 2008, all while George Bush was still President. And the trend has accelerated since 2005.
David, don't you read your own newspaper?
"More Doctors Giving Up Private Practice", New York Times, 3/25/2010.
Excerpt: A quiet revolution is transforming how medical care is delivered in this country, and it has very little to do with the sweeping health care legislation that President Obama just signed into law.
Let's take a look at the bigger picture.
This train left the station at least 9 years ago.
The number of doctors in private practice has declined from 70% in 2002 to 47% in 2008, all while George Bush was still President. And the trend has accelerated since 2005.
David, don't you read your own newspaper?
"More Doctors Giving Up Private Practice", New York Times, 3/25/2010.
Excerpt: A quiet revolution is transforming how medical care is delivered in this country, and it has very little to do with the sweeping health care legislation that President Obama just signed into law.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Fond du Lac County: 50 Years of Growth in Public Library Use
Part 20 of a county-by-county overview.
The standard disclaimer for this type of comparison. The city/county division of per capita circulation figures should be taken with a grain of salt. In 2009, the Fond du Lac Public Library reported 302,167 nonresident circulations out of a total of 835,282, or 36% of the total.
Fond du Lac public libraries
City and County of Fond du Lac:
Population and Circulation
City and County of Fond du Lac
Circulation Per Capita
The standard disclaimer for this type of comparison. The city/county division of per capita circulation figures should be taken with a grain of salt. In 2009, the Fond du Lac Public Library reported 302,167 nonresident circulations out of a total of 835,282, or 36% of the total.
Fond du Lac public libraries
Fond du Lac County is located in the Winnefox Library System.
Students' Textbook Preference: Continuing to Go Against the Digital Grain
Link to January 6 Book Industry Study Group news release, "Landmark research into preferences of college students reveals e-texts lagging far behind print, for now".
Excerpt: Despite their fondness for social networking and cell phones, most college students say they prefer textbooks in printed rather than e-text form. Nearly 75% of students to recently respond to a major new research survey from the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) said they prefer printed texts, citing a fondness for print's look and feel, as well as its permanence and ability to be resold.
Related articles:
The textbook to e-book debate continues. (4/15/2010)
All Fulltime Seton Hill University Students to Get iPad in Fall 2010. (3/31/2010)
The Coming Shift in Textbook Formats. (3/11/2010)
Revised As You Go: Customized, Interactive Textbooks. (2/22/2010)
Battle in Ebook War Likely to Take Place on College Campuses. (12/1/2009)
Ebook Readers Get Less Than Rave Reviews on Campus. (7/17/2009)
Huckleberry Finn Without the Offensive Words? It's Already Been Done
Link to January 4 NPR article, "New Edition Of 'Huckleberry Finn' Will Eliminate Offensive Words".
Excerpt: Saying they want to publish a version that won't be banned from some schools because of its language, two scholars are editing Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to eliminate uses of the "N" word and replace it with "slave," Publishers Weekly writes.
The edition, from NewSouth Books, will also shorten an offensive reference to Native Americans.
As PW says, "for decades, [Huckleberry Finn] has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation's most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of a single, singularly offensive word."
What about folks who are offended by Huck Finn himself, who don't think he's an appropriate role model for children?
Best advice I ever received in college. Professor Victor A. Doyno, during the first session of a class on Chaucer, suggests that if we want to fully understand Chaucer's world and the people who inhabited it, we need to step out of our present-day mindset. (Not the easiest thing for a college student to do, particularly in the spring semester of 1970.) It's advice that can be applied to any historical text. (I imagine now Professor Emeritus Doyno has plenty to say about this latest Twain development.)
Planned Obsolescence: Sometimes the Consumer Rebels
During the mid-to-late 1980s, many of us made the migration from vinyl to disc. Yes, I was one of those who had to -- just had to -- replace all of my favorite albums.
"That was easy!" some executives of media conglomerates exclaimed, before most of us had finished making our purchases. "Let's try it again."
In spite of the Recording Industry of America Association's fears of unauthorized recording of music, which was already rampant with analog cassette tapes (who, me?!), the format died from confusion and the lack of interest of consumers.
The merry-go-round continues.
Link to January 6 New York Times article, "A Bonanza in TV Sales Fades".
Excerpt: By now, most Americans have taken the leap and tossed out their old boxy televisions in favor of sleek flat-panel displays.
A pair of glasses for 3-D HDTV. One analyst said 3-D sets had hidden costs for glasses and Blu-ray players, which could deter some potential buyers.
Now manufacturers want to convince those people that their once-futuristic sets are already obsolete.
After a period of strong growth, sales of televisions are slowing. To counter this, TV makers are trying to persuade consumers to buy new sets by promoting new technologies. At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, which opens Thursday, every TV maker will be crowing about things like 3-D and Internet connections — features that have not generated much excitement so far.
The more things change......
And unfortunately, we've all been bitten more than once.
CES: Now the Fun Begins
Link to January 6 San Jose Mercury News article, "Internet coming soon to ovens and washing machines".
Excerpt: Pretty soon, it may be all but impossible to get away from the Internet.
Net-connected PCs are already ubiquitous, and Net-loving smartphones are quickly becoming so. But whole new classes of products will be connecting to the Internet in the near future, if the announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show are any indication.
Among the new classes of connected products shown off here: televisions, car stereos, refrigerators and even ovens and washing machines. And that's not to mention all the new tablet computers companies are introducing at the show.
"We're approaching a point where not having an Internet connection in a consumer electronics product is becoming conspicuous. It's just an inherent assumption that these devices will be connected," said Van Baker, an analyst who covers consumer technology for research group Gartner.
[snip]
Perhaps the most surprising new Net devices in the works are appliances. Samsung showed off a new refrigerator that includes a touch-screen display directly above the ice dispenser that can access online calendars and photo albums. LG is developing "smart" appliances, such as washing machines and ovens, that can use Internet connections to download new, customized applications, such as a special wash cycle for particular types of clothes or special cooking settings for particular recipes.
Internet connectivity may or may not be a boon for consumers, but it could prove to be a headache for manufacturers, Baker said. Consumers are likely to expect manufacturers of Net-connected devices to provide frequent updates and new features long after the device has been purchased. That's something manufacturers haven't had to deal with in the past, he noted.
"Basically, it means that they're not going to be in the hardware business anymore. They're going to be in the hardware plus software plus services business," he said, adding, "most have no idea how to do that."
As we learned yesterday: But among the thousands of products showcased this week, only a handful will make it into consumers’ hands during the next year. The rest will hang in limbo as ideas.
Related articles:
Like clockwork, the CES buzz is building. (1/5/2011)
The CES buzz: HD TV in 2010, Tablets in 2011. (1/4/2011)
It's that time of year again. (1/3/2011)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Like Clockwork, CES Buzz Is Building
Link to January 5 Las Vegas Sun article, "CES ready to open; this year’s hot gadget is…"
Excerpt: The 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show won’t officially begin until Thursday, but Las Vegas convention halls are abuzz with talk of products to be unveiled later in the week.
For more than a decade, Las Vegas has played host to the world’s largest technology show, where thousands of companies showcase their latest and greatest products. The VCR was one of the first breakthrough technologies introduced at the show in 1970, with more recent product releases including the Xbox, Blu-ray and HDTV.
But among the thousands of products showcased this week, only a handful will make it into consumers’ hands during the next year. The rest will hang in limbo as ideas. During a CES preview event Tuesday, Consumer Electronics Association research analysts discussed their picks for the top trends on this year’s show floor.
Related articles:
The CES buzz: HD TV in 2010, Tablets in 2011. (1/4/2011)
It's that time of year again. (1/3/2011)
Florence County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use
Part 19 of a county-by-county overview.
The subtitle of this series of blogposts hangs a bit loosely on Florence County, which in 1990 was the last of Wisconsin's 72 counties to become part of a public library system. It's also the second least populated county in the state (5,346), which is reflect in its low population density per square mile (10.9).
Florence County is best known in the Nelson family for the Spread Eagle Chain o' Lakes, the destination of family vacations since 1960, although visits there have been much more infrequent since 1986.
(For those of you of a certain age, I bet I know what's going through your head right now. From the land of sky blue waters.....)
Florence County Public Library
The subtitle of this series of blogposts hangs a bit loosely on Florence County, which in 1990 was the last of Wisconsin's 72 counties to become part of a public library system. It's also the second least populated county in the state (5,346), which is reflect in its low population density per square mile (10.9).
Florence County is best known in the Nelson family for the Spread Eagle Chain o' Lakes, the destination of family vacations since 1960, although visits there have been much more infrequent since 1986.
That's U.S. Highway 2 running across the bottom of the postcard.
(For those of you of a certain age, I bet I know what's going through your head right now. From the land of sky blue waters.....)
Florence County
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009.
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1990, 2000, 2009)
Florence County, 1960-2009.
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1990, 2000, 2009)
Florence County Public Library
The Evolution of Twitter Usage
Link to January 5 emarketer article, "The Evolution of Twitter Usage". (A misleading title in that the article quickly skims across the surface of the topic."
Excerpt: Tweeting is still a relatively niche phenomenon among the population as a whole, with a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey indicating just 8% of US web users participate in the service. But those users may be developing a deeper relationship with the site that will keep it a vibrant community for marketers.
Related articles:
Pew Research asks, "Who tweets?" (12/9/2010)
Twitter: Survey says.... (5/15/2010)
Lance Ulanoff on Twitter: "It's about information, not socialization". (5/4/2010)
Billions of 'in-the-moment' pieces of history. (5/2/2010)
Library of Congress acquires Twitter archive. (4/14/2010)
TV + Twitter = Mystery Science Theater 3000. (3/15/2010)
Business website profiles 6 Twitter types. (12/14/2009)
Slow Reading in a Snippet Age
Excerpt: The Oakland apartment of Martha Mueller and her daughter, Nora, teems with books and magazines. Their library consists of fiction and nonfiction books, cookbooks and teen novels. Martha, a librarian, says she'll read just about anything.
"It can be the subject matter that attracts me or that perfectly written first sentence," she says.
She comprehends what she reads, too. Ask for her thoughts on the Millennium Trilogy by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, for example, and she'll weave a tale about how the books, while interesting reads, seem overly violent. The main character is a victim, she says, and a sad one at that.
While Mueller loves sitting down with a good book, she may represent a vanishing breed. There is some concern in literary circles that, even though electronic readers grow increasingly popular and book sales are still strong, many people are finding it difficult to sit alone with one book and simply read to comprehend.
"Deep reading," or slow reading, is a sophisticated process in which people can critically think, reflect and understand the words they are looking at. With most, that means slowing down -- even stopping and rereading a page or paragraph if it doesn't sink in -- to really capture what the author is trying to say. Experts warn that without reading and really understanding what's being said, it is impossible to be an educated citizen of the world, a knowledgeable voter or even an imaginative thinker.
Related articles:
The art of slow reading. (The Guardian, 7/15/2010)
Thomas Newkirk makes the case for "slow reading". (6/18/2010)
The PC is Dead. Long Live the PC.
Expect heavy coverage from the San Jose Mercury News of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) show in Las Vegas.
Link to January 5 San Jose Mercury News article, "The PC's reign is ending".
Excerpt: The PC has ruled the computer world for the past 30 years. But its reign is ending.
In fact, this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas could be seen as the official beginning of the transition to a new computing era, one dominated by mobile devices, Internet-connected televisions and car information consoles.
Product announcements often point to where electronics makers think the market will go, or to where they want it to go. In the case of computers, the direction of change already is clear. The major tech companies are expected to roll out a slew of tablet computers that hope to rival Apple's iPad. Many also are expected to show off new smartphones, "smart" automobiles and "smart" televisions that are essentially big-screen living-room computers.
Smartphones are catching up to PCs in terms of quarterly sales. Tablets, which already threaten laptop sales, are expected to represent a sizable chunk of the PC market by next year.
"The PC isn't going away, but it's going to have to coexist" with other computing platforms, said Mitch Cline, global director of consulting firm Accenture's electronics and high-technology business. [Emphasis added, playful headline aside.]
Link to January 5 San Jose Mercury News article, "The PC's reign is ending".
Excerpt: The PC has ruled the computer world for the past 30 years. But its reign is ending.
In fact, this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas could be seen as the official beginning of the transition to a new computing era, one dominated by mobile devices, Internet-connected televisions and car information consoles.
Product announcements often point to where electronics makers think the market will go, or to where they want it to go. In the case of computers, the direction of change already is clear. The major tech companies are expected to roll out a slew of tablet computers that hope to rival Apple's iPad. Many also are expected to show off new smartphones, "smart" automobiles and "smart" televisions that are essentially big-screen living-room computers.
Smartphones are catching up to PCs in terms of quarterly sales. Tablets, which already threaten laptop sales, are expected to represent a sizable chunk of the PC market by next year.
"The PC isn't going away, but it's going to have to coexist" with other computing platforms, said Mitch Cline, global director of consulting firm Accenture's electronics and high-technology business. [Emphasis added, playful headline aside.]
Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles Decision Likely to Drum Up More Library Business
(Arrows added.)
Excerpt: Representatives of local charitable organizations say they worry the elderly and other groups will be inconvenienced by state officials' decision to end renewal of license plates at license branches.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced this weekend that Hoosiers will now have to go online or apply by mail to obtain registration cards, stickers and plates.
[snip]
Amy Mangold, marketing communications director for the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library system, said local library branches have more than 200 computers the public can use to apply for various services. She said that even those who do not have library cards can pay $1 for a bar code that will let them use the terminals.
Mangold said residents often log onto the computers to apply for various services and will be able to do the same if they want to obtain a license renewal.
"The public is more than welcome to come in and use our computers for business such as that," she said.
$350,000 in State Funding Keeps 4 Boston Public Library Branches Open Thru June
Link to January 5 Boston Globe article, "Budget bill funds city's branches".
Excerpt: Governor Deval Patrick signed a second midyear spending bill yesterday, approving $330 million to help pay Medicaid bills, give the Legislature more money, extend an immigrant health insurance program, and keep all Boston library branches open through June.
More specifically, the $350,000 will keep the following 4 branches open:
- Faneuil in Brighton
- Lower Mills in Dorchester.
- Orchid Heights in East Boston
- Washington Village in South Boston
Related articles:
Residents fight to keep 4 neighborhood branches open. (10/26/2010)
Editorial takes library officials to task. (9/11/2010)
BPL on the ropes. (7/1/2010)
Four library branch closings delayed. (6/22/2010)
Boston Magazine profiles Amy Ryan, Public Library President. (6/5/2010)
State funding at risk. (4/29/2010)
Library board votes to close 4 branches. (4/10/2010)
Recommendation to close 4 branches (among other cuts). (4/8/2010)
More than 100 gather to fight possible branch library closings. (4/4/2010)
The Skinny on Boston's branch libraries. (4/1/2010)
Library measures data published. (3/31/2010)
Don't close the book on us. (3/29/2010)
Citywide Friends of BPL to Hold Demonstration. (3/28/2010)
BPL Budget News Available at Website. (3/25/2010)
A Small Branch Makes a Big Impact. (3/24/2010)
Friends of Boston Public Library Host Read-in to Support Tax Increase. (3/14/2010)
Emotions Reach Boiling Point in Boston Public Library Discussion. (3/13/2010)
The Boston Public Library Dilemma, Continued. (3/12/2010)
Boston Speaks Up for Its Libraries. (3/10/2010)
Boston Public Library Branches to be Ranked in Consolidation Plan. (3/9/2010)
Boston Public Library Anticipating Budget Cuts in 2011. (3/2/2010)
Meet Ben Miller, New Director of the Sauk City Public Library
Link to December 29 Sauk Prairie Eagle article, "New Sauk City library director looks toward future".
Excerpt: With the Prairie du Sac Public Library within $74,000 of its $1.4 million fundraising goal for a new riverfront location, the Sauk City Public Library's new director said he's looking toward the future, too.
"I'd like to expand the library's virtual presence," said Ben Miller, who took over the director job from Peggy Heidenreich last month. Heidenreich is now the assistant director.
Miller, 28, said he started a Facebook page for the library and hopes to make his library's resources accessible via mobile devices like smart phones. However, that's in the future.
"I'm still kind of in a wait-and-see phase," Miller said. "I want to go out in the community and learn more about the community and library before I make any sweeping changes."
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Never Heard of the Sheboygan Red Skins Until Today
Link to January 3 FiveThirtyEight (Nate Silver's Political Calculus) column in the New York Times, "The Seattle Seahawks. Worst. Playoff. Team. Ever?"
At #6 of Silver's worst playoff teams ever (the 2010 Seahawks end up at #2) are the 1949-50 Sheboygan Red Skins. In the earliest days of the National Basketball Association — 1949-50 was the first season the league played under that monicker; before then it had been known as the Basketball Association of America — the league’s Western Division featured obscure expansion franchises like the Anderson (Indiana) Packers and the Waterloo (Iowa) Hawks. The Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Red Skins sneaked in to the playoffs at 22-40 despite a roster with only three players who had previous professional experience.
The team played here.
Eau Claire County: A Half-Century of Growth in Library Use
Part 18 of a county-by-county series.
Once again, we have this 1960 spike in circulation, which occurs at libraries reporting a significantly above-average percentage of juvenile circulation.
Mystery solved. Just as I suspected. Here's what I found while searching the L. E. Phillips' website for historical info: the 1960 annual report! Thank you thank you thank you to the staff members who digitized this and the many other documents found here. (Circulation includes the high school, junior high, and grade school libraries.)
City and County of Eau Claire:
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2009)
Once again, we have this 1960 spike in circulation, which occurs at libraries reporting a significantly above-average percentage of juvenile circulation.
1960 Circulation
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 2009)
Mystery solved. Just as I suspected. Here's what I found while searching the L. E. Phillips' website for historical info: the 1960 annual report! Thank you thank you thank you to the staff members who digitized this and the many other documents found here. (Circulation includes the high school, junior high, and grade school libraries.)
City and County of Eau Claire, 1970-2009
The city/county division of per capita circulation figures should be taken with a grain of salt. In 2009, for example, Eau Claire's L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library reported 302,240 nonresident circulations out of a total of 1,062,711, or 28% of the total.
But as you can see from the table below, the City of Eau Claire's public library has always tallied the lion's share of circulation in Eau Claire County.
(I'll have to read The Public Library in Eau Claire to see if there's any mention of a county library system. The county's population distribution makes it a good candidate for this form of governance and funding model. But then maybe someone will set me straight as to why it was never considered to be a good idea.)
Eau Claire County public libraries.
Eau Claire County is located in the Indianhead Federated Library System.
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