Recent Material on Top Tech Trends

Here are 3 very recent items on tech trends that will have an impact on the environment in which librarians work.

• In a recent "Tech Special Report", Business Week presented Eight Tech Trends for 2006. Among the trends identified by the magazine are social search (tagging) and the imminent release of new, more advanced wireless devices.
• The website IT Conversations presents interviews and audio programs with movers and shakers in information technology. Some earlier guests include Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive (one of the promoters of the Open Content Alliance international library digitization project), Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig (known for his outspoken work against narrow interpretations of copyright that could stifle innovation and discourse online), and New York University professor Clay Shirky (an expert on the social and economic effects of the Internet and social software).
• Finally, Michael Stephens, who was in Toronto last week for a presentation at the annual Ontario Library Association conference, made a link-rich post last week to his Tame the Web blog on the Ten Techie Things for Librarians 2006. He explores the use of blogs and wikis, the potential of open source software, talking to ILS vendors about built-in RSS feeds, tagging, and user commenting, the expansion of digital rights management and many other things.