The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Tablet and E-book Reader Ownership Nearly Double Over the Holiday Gift-Giving Period.

Here's an excerpt:

The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period.

The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

The Pew Research Center has released The Digital Revolution and Higher Education.

Here's an excerpt:

• The Future of Online Learning. College presidents predict substantial growth in online learning: 15% say most of their current undergraduate students have taken a class online, and 50% predict that 10 years from now most of their students will take classes online.
• Digital Textbooks. Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital. . . .
• College Presidents and Technology. The leaders of the nation's colleges and universities are a tech-savvy group. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) use a smartphone daily, 83% use a desktop computer and 65% use a laptop. And they are ahead of the curve on some of the newer digital technologies: Fully half (49%) use a tablet computer such as an iPad at least occasionally, and 42% use an e-reader such as a Kindle or Nook.

| New: Google Books Bibliography, Version 7 | Digital Scholarship |

The Online Publishers Association has released "A Portrait of Today's Tablet User".

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Key findings from "A Portrait of Today's Tablet User" include:

• Today's tablet users represent 12% of the US internet population ages 8-64; that number is projected to grow to 23% by early 2012—a group that represents an estimated 54 million people
• 87% of tablet users are accessing content and information, the dominant activity for this device
• 93% of tablet users have downloaded apps; the average tablet user has downloaded 20 apps
• 79% of app downloaders have paid for apps in the last 12 months; 26% of all apps downloaded are paid

| Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has released Who's in the Queue? A Demographic Analysis of Public Access Computer Users and Uses in U.S. Public Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Public access computers in U.S. public libraries continue to be in high demand according to Who's in the Queue: Public Access Computer Users, a new research brief by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The report dispels some myths that have lingered regarding the target service population for public access computers in U.S. public libraries. It also provides a demographic analysis of public access computer users and uses and demonstrates that public libraries are providing much more than basic technology access. . . .

This newly released research brief relies on data compiled for U.S. Impact Study, which was conducted by the University of Washington in summer of 2009 and funded by IMLS and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The mixed method national survey was administered at the point-of-service in public libraries across the country via a web-based tool and as a national household survey. There were over 48,000 respondents to the study in the public data file. This data set provides information on the demographics of respondents and the nature of their public access computer use.

The brief also analyzed data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, persons not in the labor force, hours of work, earnings, and other demographic and labor force characteristics. The 2009 computer use data was collected through a supplement to the CPS. The survey has included questions on Internet use since 1997.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliography | Google Books Bibliography | Institutional Repository Bibliography | Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Social Networking Sites and Our Lives.

Here's an excerpt:

Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project decided to examine SNS in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 |

The University of Melbourne's Trinity College has released Report on the Step Forward iPad Pilot Project.

Here's an excerpt:

KEY FINDINGS:

• Pilot project staff and August Entry students overwhelmingly recommend iPads for use by other TCFS staff and students: 76.2% of staff and 80% of students
• iPads are effective, durable, reliable and achieve their educational aims of going further, faster and with more fun
• iPads have advantages for TCFS over other technologies such as netbooks and laptops
• iPads are not a replacement for desktop/laptop computers or other educational technologies but are an enhancement
• High quality audio-visual equipment in the classroom (such as flat screen TV monitors and document cameras), along with timely IT support, are required to enable full integration and best use of the iPads. Such equipment and support are crucial if the educational aims of iPad use are to be realised rather than thwarted
• iPad use reduces printing and paper use

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications |

Cisco has released Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2010-2015.

Here's an excerpt:

Global mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015. . . .

There will be nearly one mobile device per capita by 2015. . . .

Mobile network connection speeds will increase 10-fold by 2015. . . .

Mobile-connected tablets will generate as much traffic in 2015 as the entire global mobile network in 2010.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications |

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Generations and Their Gadgets.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Many devices have become popular across generations, with a majority now owning cell phones, laptops and desktop computers. . . .

• Cell phones are by far the most popular device among American adults. Some 85% of adults own cell phones, and 90% of all adults—including 62% of those age 75 and older—live in a household with at least one working cell phone.
• Desktop computers are most popular with adults ages 35-65, and Millennials are the only generation that is more likely to own a laptop computer or netbook than a desktop: 70% own a laptop, compared with 57% who own a desktop.
• Almost half of all adults own an iPod or other mp3 player, but these are still most popular with Millennials—74% of adults ages 18-34 own an mp3 player, compared with only 56% of the next oldest generation, Gen X (ages 35-46).
• Game consoles are uniformly popular with all adults ages 18-46, 63% of whom own these devices.
• Overall, 5% of adults own an e-book reader, and 4% own an iPad or other tablet computer.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released The Rise of Apps Culture.

Here's an excerpt:

The most recent Pew Internet Project survey asked a national sample of 1,917 cell phone-using adults if they use apps and how they use them. Broadly, the results indicate that while apps are popular among a segment of the adult cell phone using population, a notable number of cell owners are not yet part of the emerging apps culture.. . .

Of the 82% of adults today who are cell phone users, 43% have software applications or "apps" on their phones. When taken as a portion of the entire U.S. adult population, that equates to 35% who have cell phones with apps. . . .

Yet having apps and using apps are not synonymous. Of those who have apps on their phones, only about two-thirds of this group (68%) actually use that software. Overall, that means that 24% of U.S. adults are active apps users. Older adult cell phone users in particular do not use the apps that are on their phones, and one in ten adults with a cell phone (11%) are not even sure if their phone is equipped with apps.

The Federal Communications Commission has released Internet Access Services: Status as of June 2009.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Report highlights include the following, as of June 2009:

• Out of a total of 71 million fixed – as opposed to mobile – connections to households, only 44% met or exceeded the speed tier that most closely approximates the universal availability target set in the National Broadband Plan of 4 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream
• The number of mobile wireless service subscribers with data plans for full Internet access increased by 40% over the first six months of 2009, to 35 million
• Cable modem connections increased by 3% to 41 million and aDSL by 1% to 31 million in the first six months of 2009
• A 23% increase in fiber connections, to 4 million, was the largest rate of increase among fixed-location technologies
• Satellite Internet connections increased by 6% to 1 million

The California Digital Library has released Mobile Strategy Report, Mobile Device User Research.

Here's an excerpt:

This report is a collection of findings and recommendations from a mobile device user research project conducted in the summer of 2010. The California Digital Library undertook this project for three reasons:

1. CDL wanted to understand how the proliferation of mobile devices with internet access in the general public and the explosion of mobile tools and products in higher education and libraries affect CDL constituents and services.
2. UC campus libraries expressed a need for guidance regarding mobile access.
3. CDL programs were trying to understand if they needed to support users in a mobile capacity and if there were opportunities for new ways to meet user needs.

In order to answer these questions, we performed an extensive literature review and conducted user research. The literature review helped us to clarify what is happening in the mobile world in terms of technology changes, device ownership, internet access, and mobile projects, especially within the higher education and library spheres.

We wanted to learn additional details about the role mobile devices play in the lives of CDL constituents. Very little literature focuses on academic populations in regard to mobile devices, and even then it usually focuses on undergraduate students. We wanted to expand this study to faculty, graduate students, and academic librarians. We sought information about the kinds of devices users owned, how they used mobile devices with internet, and what kinds of preferences and frustrations they encounter while using mobile devices as part of their academic lives.

Based on these findings, we developed both specific and general strategic recommendations in order to guide CDL in supporting and developing mobile access to its services.

Read more about it at "All Things Mobile."

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Older Adults and Social Media: Social Networking Use among Those Ages 50 and Older Nearly Doubled over the Past Year.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

While social media use has grown dramatically across all age groups, older users have been especially enthusiastic over the past year about embracing new networking tools. Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010.

• Between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking use among internet users ages 50-64 grew by 88%—from 25% to 47%.
• During the same period, use among those ages 65 and older grew 100%—from 13% to 26%.
• By comparison, social networking use among users ages 18-29 grew by 13%—from 76% to 86%.