2011

The World (and Jason Griffey) Interviews Vernor Vinge

Jason Griffey kicked off the session by introducing Dr. Vernor Vinge and talking about his many accolades as a science fiction writer and futurist. Dr. Vinge then talked about how humans are the best tool-creating animal and the only animal that has figured out how to outsource their cognition — how to spread their cognitive abilities into the outside world.  As an example, he talked about how  writing and speaking are an outsourcing of our thinking and money represents an outsourcing of our perceived value for things. As humans continue to outsource cognition more effectively by harnessing powerful machines and complex networks, we move closer to a point of technological singularity.  At this point, where a superhuman intelligence can be achieved by machines or some combination of humans and machines, it will become too difficult for humans to fully grasp the present or to predict the future.  As an example, he talked about how someone might be able to explain the…

2010

LITA Top Tech Trends ALA 2010

OPENING Gregg Sylvis, Chair for the LITA Top Trends Committee kicked off the session.  Six panelists were  each to address current trends, imminent trends and long term trends (3-5 years out). John Blyberg, Darien Library (CT), Assistant Director for Innovation and User Experience Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President OCLC Research and Chief Strategist, OCLC Jason Griffey, Head of Library Information Technology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Monique Sendze, IT Director Johnson County Library, Overland Park, Kansas Cindy Trainor, Coordinator for Library Technology and Data Services, Eastern Kentucky University Joan Frye Williams, IT Consultant CURRENT TRENDS Blyberg discussed the new world of  “multilevel convergent media.” With the explosion of new devices and communication channels, people are finding new ways to describe, explain, and interact with the world around them, and the boundaries between personal and professional domains have been blurring. This has paved the way for a move to devices that are optimized across multiple applications to support diverse communication and information sharing needs….