53 million adults trade instant messages; 24 percent of them use IM more frequently than email; and 6 percent say they use IM as frequently as they use e-mail. (Shiu)

http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/133/report_display.asp

Teenagers favor IM over email. According to CNET’s study, the younger population prefers instant messaging over e-mail. Nearly 66 percent of people between ages 13 and 21 say that they are using IM more than email. (Sharma)

http://news.com.com/Study+Teenagers+favor+IM+over+e-mail/2100-1032_3-5944265.html?tag=sas.email

Media devices

New cell phones have come a long way technologically, and been transformed from a basic communication tool into a mega-purpose device used for not only phone calls but many other purposes such as: media players, photo cameras, text readers, digital wallets, remote controls and PDA organizers. OCLC predicted that one fourth of all mobile phone sales would be camera-phones in 2004. (OCLC)

http://www.oclc.org/reports/2004format.htm

Digital media players will enter all spheres of life. For example, a patent by the Walt Disney Co. describes plans to provide portable media players to consumers, potentially at McDonald’s. Consumers would receive free content downloads, including parts of movies, as rewards for food purchases. At the same time, companies like McDonald’s are expanding Wi-Fi access in their franchises. (Bossman) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/technology/12mcdonalds.html?emc=eta1

Audiovisual Media: More and more audiovisual devices will be embedded into future technology formats. Written in 2003, these statistics show the growth in video materials as a percentage of library holdings was well under way three years ago.

• Format Dilemmas Looming – DVDs add up to 37 percent of rentals but only 6 percent of libraries’ collections, “with a projected rise to 31 percent in two years”

• Videocassettes alive and well: “reports of the death of the videocassette industry are not ‘greatly exaggerated’; they are totally wrong!”

• Audiovisual Circulation Increasing: Circulation has grown “by nearly 32 percent over 3 years.”

Statistics: DVD players may have reached 50 percent of the American homes and 25 percent of United Kingdom TV households in 2002. (OCLC)

http://www.oclc.org/reports/2003format.htm

Search engines

Despite the huge popularity of handheld devices, the mature, working population still prefers to receive their information on PCs or Internet Web sites. Of the most popular Web search engines, Google has become the leader in the search market and has 75 percent satisfaction rate among the users. Google is such a well-liked search engine not only because of its brand recognition. It is introducing new features and services at an unprecedented rate. “The arrival of Google five years ago served as a kind of upgrade for the entire Web. Searching for information went from a sluggish, unreliable process to something you could do with genuine confidence. If it was online somewhere, Google and its ingenious PageRank system would find what you were looking for — and more often than not, the information would arrive in Google’s top 10 results.” Other engines such as Yahoo and MSN have 62 percent and 48 percent respectively. (Johnson)

http://slate.msn.com/id/2085668.)

Google's daily query statistics have skyrocketed:

• 1999: 3 million
• 2000: 20 million
• 2001: 100 million
• 2002: 150 million

(Google)

http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/history.html

Web 2.0

With the dot com crash in 2001 a dilemma arose for those who managed to stay in business: how to better prevent the crash from happening again. In addition, users are responding to services that meet their shifting information use habits. Today, a plethora of new, interactive services have arisen in the form of Web 2.0 (O’Reilley).

Example:

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

DoubleClick --> Google AdSense

Ofoto --> Flickr

Akamai --> BitTorrent

mp3.com --> Napster

Britannica Online --> Wikipedia

personal websites --> blogging

evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB

domain name speculation --> search engine optimization

page views --> cost per click

screen scraping --> web services

publishing --> participation

content management systems --> wikis

directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")

stickiness --> syndication

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Blogging is a key part of Web 2.0, as are technologies and applications like RSS and wikis. New services are being introduced so quickly that words like skype, blogging and wikis are not recognized by the spell-checker embedded in the latest version of Microsoft Word. (Bildt)

http://bildt.blogspot.com/2005/11/coming-Web-20-tsunami.html

The media may report that blogs have experienced a tremendous growth in use, but in actuality blogging may not be spreading as quickly as expected, e.g. many knowledge workers who don’t know how to use them. The government and educational sectors appear to be less likely to use blogs than the healthcare and corporate sectors. (Outsell) http://www.outsellinc.com/subscribe/FutureFactsIndustryOutlook.htm

In the emerging era of blogs, experts are convinced that the Internet will bring an even more dramatic change to the news and publishing worlds. (Fox)

http://www.pewInternet.org/PPF/r/145/report_display.asp

Wikis and blogs are indicators of a major change in the information universe that could lead to a new “publishing paradigm”. OCLC reports that wikis, moblogs, and blogs have given the ordinary people power to publish. According to Copeland, “86 percent say that blogs are either useful or extremely useful as sources of news or opinion. 80 percent say they use blogs to read news that they can’t find anywhere else. 78 percent read them because the perspective is better. 61 percent value the faster news and 61 percent say that blogs are more honest.” (OCLC) http://www.oclc.org/reports/2004format.htm

Blogs are extremely popular among teenagers. “Unprecedented numbers of teens are using blogs (Web logs) to do what they once did through personal diaries, phone conversations and hangout sessions: cementing friendships with classmates, seeking new friends, venting, testing social limits, getting support and getting all emotional.” At least 8 million teenagers blog, according to Intelliseek. (Kornblum) http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-10-30-teen-blogs_x.htm

Weblogs are shifting the public’s attention from the traditional news media. Some experts believe we are witnessing the slow death of newspapers due to the "erosion of mindshare by online influences such as news Web sites, chat rooms, message boards and online gaming.” (Fox)

http://www.pewInternet.org/PPF/r/145/report_display.asp

RSS, according to O'Reilly, "is the most significant advance in the fundamental architecture of the web since early hackers understood that CGI could be used to create database-backed websites. RSS allows users not only to to link to a page but also to subscribe to it, with notification every time that page changes." (O’Reilly) http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

VoIP, a telephony service that works over the Internet or corporate data networks, appears to be a growing trend among users who are technology savvy. One of its most popular aspects is that it allows users to cut on telecommunication costs, an advantage that makes users overlook the technology's numerous glitches, bugs and service outages in the system. According to Business Week “already, 52 percent of all US businesses and about 3 million of the nation’s consumers are using VoIP.” (Khariff) http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051128_964764.htm

Younger population as information users

The younger population has its own specific information demands. The Internet is more than a source of entertainment for them. Younger people use the Internet for numerous applications, from searching for restaurants to keeping in touch with their friends. (OCLC)

http://www.oclc.org/reports/2004format.htm

Gaming

Gaming is radically transforming society. Implications include the blurring of fantasy and reality; the creation of virtual economies and societies that begin to have implications in the real world, and the withdrawal of many game users into a virtual world. (Lindgren)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/books/review/18lindgren.html?emc=eta1

Gaming is causing the creation of "virtual societies," with their own economies. The economics of gaming are being transferred to the real world, as well. For example, "gaming farms" are growing in China. Chinese youth play early rounds of video games that other players don't have the time or patience to complete, and pay them for completing. (Barboza)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/technology/09gaming.html

Education

According to US News, podcasts, back channels, and bookless libraries are coming to campus. More and more professors and students are using various technology tools in class to make learning more exciting and fun. The usage of iPods as academic tools for lecture recording is becoming more trendy. Also PDA devices with navigation and other built-in software allow students to walk around campus and do research. (Hallett) http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/051017/17elearn.htm

Pew Internet predicts that within a decade, information technologies will create a situation in which students spend at least part of their school day in virtual classes, grouped online with their peers who have the same interests, mastery and skills. (Fox)

http://www.pewInternet.org/PPF/r/145/report_display.asp

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