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The five trends identified as playing a key role in the future of libraries and the information world are:
- TREND 1 New Technologies will both expand and limit who has access to information.
- TREND 2 Online Education will democratise and disrupt global learning.
- TREND 3 The boundaries of privacy and data protection will be redefined..
- TREND 4 Hyper-connected societies will listen to and empower new voices and groups.
- TREND 5 The global information environment will be transformed by new technologies.
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Some points that I found really interesting were:
Google Glass - The new technological glasses will mean that everyone wearing them will be able to conduct surveillance on everyone else, they can record what they see as they go about their daily lives. What will this mean for libraries that are seen by many as a safe place or sanctuary? How will libraries address this issue? In my mind this is a very serious issue for society as a whole. I know we are all recorded on CCTV many times each day but the idea that strangers who we walk past in the street can record us and share those recordings on social media is quite a disturbing prospect.
Information mining - Data is collected on all of us to produce better services and big businesses know all about our lifestyle and habits from the data they collect. Some libraries are already following this trend but how could libraries make more use of data to improve and give personalised to their customers? When is the amount of data collected deemed to be too much?
Search engines - Ingrid asked many questions about the issue of search engines - Can the results returned by search engines be trusted? Should libraries produce a competing algorithm or help people to have the information literacy skills to use the existing technology? Who is responsible for false information on the internet? How do libraries identify important cultural items on the internet? These are just some of the thought-provoking questions on search engines raised in the speech. I know we already have the issue of personalised search results from search engines like Google but maybe alternatives, like Duck Duck Go, that don't track you or use a filter bubble go some way towards a solution.
Hyper-linked societies - Ingrid also spoke about the rise in surveillance by governments so nothing on the internet is private. Even democratic societies are filtering the information and if that is standard government practice, what impact does this have on libraries when they try to collect our digital history?
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A summary of the key points of the report can be accessed here:
Insights into to the IFLA Trend Report
Discussion on the Trend Report can be followed on Twitter at #iflatrends