Young and Wired How today’s young tech elite will influence the libraries of tomorrow 11.03.06 Mary Madden Tampa Bay Library Consortium Annual Meeting

Young and WiredHow today’s young tech elite will influence the libraries of tomorrow

11.03.06Mary MaddenTampa Bay Library ConsortiumAnnual Meeting

November 3, 2006 2Young and Wired

Way back in 1993, the internet was…

“headless, anarchic, million-limbed” and “spreading like bread-mold” - Bruce Sterling


Internet Marketing 101

Why use the internet?

• Freedom• Free information and

communication tools• It belonged to everyone

and no one

These are some of the same values we associate with libraries…


Libraries are the living internet…

Libraries are connected nodes of information and community exchange that we use to communicate, collaborate, share resources and preserve knowledge.


Internet and Broadband Adoption 1996-2006

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Mar-

95

Mar-

96

Mar-

97

Mar-

98

Mar-

99

Mar-

00

Mar-

01

Mar-

02

Mar-

03

Mar-

04

Mar-

05

Mar-

06

All internet - 147 mill.

Broadband - 83 mill.


Internet Access at Libraries

• 98.4% of public library branches in the U.S. now offer public internet access

• 63.3% of public library branches offerconnection speeds of greater than 769kbps

http://www.ii.fsu.edu


Beyond the Digital Divide

• Libraries are well-equipped to serve patrons at the most crucial points in technology adoption – during introductory and educational stages and at times when a high-quality, reliable connection is otherwise unavailable

• Internet access is best understood as a spectrum, rather than a simple online vs. offline divide.


Libraries and Information Overload

The more we become overwhelmed with information and gadget overload, the more we need librarians to help us make sense of it all…


Libraries & Teens

• Teens need libraries, but are among the least likely to recognize what they have to offer.

• OCLC study finds that teens and college students consider search engines a better “lifestyle fit” for their information needs.

• While more than 50% described search engines as a perfect information source, just 17% described libraries this way.

• Teenagers are increasingly becoming library immigrants in a land of library natives.


Where Teens and Libraries Meet

Teens Technology Libraries

1. Both use technology to connect to people and information



2. Both Teens and Libraries have experienced a great deal of change in a very short period of time:

• Internet connectivity at public libraries rose from

20.9% to essentially 100% in less than 10 years (FSU, “Public Libraries and the Internet 2006”).

• Teens are also in the midst of major changes in identity and expectations.



3. Both Teens and Libraries will always know something the other doesn’t know.

• Teens can’t find everything they need to know with Google.

• Libraries can learn from teens who are ambitious internet explorers and often at the leading edge of technology trends.


Today’s Teen – Born 1990

Personal computers are 15 years old

Tim Berners-Lee writes World Wide Web program


Today’s Teen – First Grade 1996

Palm Pilot goes onthe market


Today’s Teen – Fourth Grade 1999

Sean Fanning creates Napster


Today’s Teen – Starts Middle School 2001

Wikipedia - 2001


Today’s Teen – Middle School 2001


Today’s Teen – Middle School 2003

Skype - 2003


Today’s Teen – Starts High School 2004

Podcasts – 2004


Today’s Teen – Sophomore Year 2005

YouTube – 2005


Today’s Teen – Junior Year 2006

The Year of MySpace:

• More than 100 million accounts created

• Third most popular site in the U.S. (after Yahoo and Google)


Teen Reality #1

Teens are technology-rich and enveloped by a wired world:

• 83% of all teens say that “most” of the people they know use the internet

• 10% say that “some” of the people they know use the internet.

• Just 6% say that very few of the people they know use the internet.


Teen Reality #2

Mobile gadgets allow them to enjoy media and communicate anywhere

• 84% report owning at least one personal media device: a desktop or laptop computer, a cell phone or a Personal Digital Assistant

• 44% say they have two or more devices


Laptops

• 32% of teens own laptops

• 30% of adults own laptops


MP3 Players

• 45% of teens own MP3 Players

• 20% of adults own MP3 players

CBSMarketwatch survey 6.13.06


Teen Reality #3

Teens are multimedia multi-taskers:

Multi-tasking is a way of life – and people live in a state of “continuous partial attention”

--- Linda Stone


Kaiser Family Foundation, Generation M, March 2005


Kaiser Family Foundation, Generation M, March 2005


Teen Reality #4

Teens know that ordinary citizens can be publishers, movie makers, artists, song

creators, and storytellers

57% of online teens have created some kind of content for the internet


• 33% of online teens share their own creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos

Sharing Creative Work


• 32% have created or worked on webpages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends or school assignments

Working for Others


• 22% report keeping their own personal webpage

Personal Webpages


• 19% have created their own online journal or blog

Creating a Blog


Remixing

• 19% of all online teens say they remix content they find online into their own artistic creations

• 35% of teen bloggers remix content


Teen Reality #5

Today's online teens have grown up amidst the chaos of the digital copyright debate,

and it shows


Impact and Implications

• Those who have grown up with interactive media want to manipulate, remix, and share content.

• Ideas about intellectual property and fair use change

• They expect to be in conversation with other creators.


Impact and Implications

• Conversations, research, and learning never end• Expectations about another’s “availability”

change and spontaneous communications increase

• Teens hope they can get help from peers and teachers and librarians whenever they need it


Libraries 2.0

The library of the future is…

• Web-enabled and participatory• Valued as a physical space• Made of people!


Thank you!

Mary Madden

Senior Research Specialist

Pew Internet & American Life Project

1615 L Street NW

Suite 700

Washington, DC 20036

[email protected]

202-419-4500

Documents

Young and Wired How today’s young tech elite will influence the libraries of tomorrow 11.03.06 Mary Madden Tampa Bay Library Consortium Annual Meeting