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The internationally recognized NMC Horizon Report series and regional NMC Technology Outlooks are part of the NMC Horizon Project, a comprehensive research venture established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming five years in education around the globe. . . .

To create the report, an international body of experts in education, technology, and other fields was convened as an advisory board. The group engaged in discussions around a set of research questions intended to surface significant trends and challenges and to identify a wide array of potential technologies for the report. This dialog was enriched by a wide range of resources, current research, and practice that drew on the expertise of both the NMC community and the communities of the members of the advisory board. These interactions among the advisory board are the focus of the NMC Horizon Report research, and this report details the areas in which these experts were in strong agreement.

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This report outlines some technology trends and issues of interest and relevance to CETIS. It should be seen as a set of un-processed perceptions rather than the product of a formal process; a great deal of ground is not scanned in this paper and it should be understood that no formal prioritisation process was undertaken.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 |

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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

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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.

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This document summarizes the various technologies developed in W3C that increases the power of Web applications, and how they apply more specifically to the mobile context, as of February 2011. . . .

The features that these technologies add to the Web platform are organized under the following categories:

• Graphics
• Multimedia
• Forms
• User interactions
• Data storage
• Sensors and hardware integration
• Network
• Communication
• Packaging
• Performance & Optimization

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Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The report identifies six technologies that are expected "to enter mainstream use in learning-focused organizations." Each of the six is assigned to one of three adoption horizons: one year or less, two to three years, and four to five years. For 2011, electronic books and mobiles are identified in the one-year horizon; augmented reality and game-based learning in the two- to three-year horizon; and gesture-based computing and learning analytics in the four- to five-year horizon.

The advisory board for the project identified these technologies through comprehensive review, analysis, and discussion of research, articles, papers, and interviews. It then drafted a roster of over 100 candidate technologies, which it gradually refined to the six key technologies appearing in the 2011 report. This year, the advisory board consisted of 43 experts from numerous fields and was more internationally diverse than it has ever been. It included representatives from 10 countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.

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Here's a selection of sessions:

• Featured Session: Clouds: From Both Sides Now
• In the Hot Seat: Phasing Out Public Computing Labs
• Track Session: The Academic Library in 2025
• Track Session: Dealing with the Changing World of E-Textbooks
• Track Session: Owning a Data Center Is So Last Century!
• Track Session: Real-World Cloud Computing
• Track Session: A Survey of Video-Streaming Practice and Aspirations in Academic Libraries

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

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The term 'mash-up' refers to websites that weave data from different sources into new Web services. The key to a successful Web service is to gather and use large datasets and harness the scale of the Internet through what is known as network effects. This means that data sources are just as important as the software that 'mashes' them, and one of the most profound pieces of data that a user has at any one time is his or her location. . . .

Since, as this report makes clear, data mash-ups that make use of geospatial data in some form or other are by far the most common mash-ups to date, then they are likely to provide useful lessons for other forms of data. In particular, the education community needs to understand the issues around how to open up data, how to allow data to be added to in ways that do not compromise accuracy and quality and how to deal with issues such as privacy and working with commercial and non-profit third parties—and the GeoWeb is a test ground for much of this. Thirdly, new location-based systems are likely to have educational uses by, for example, facilitating new forms of fieldwork. Understanding the technology behind such systems and the way it is developing is likely to be of benefit to teachers and lecturers who are thinking about new ways to engage with learners. And finally, there is a future watching aspect. Data mash-ups in education and research are part of an emerging, richer information environment with greater integration of mobile applications, sensor platforms, e-science, mixed reality, and semantic, machine-computable data. This report starts to speculate on forms that these might take, in the context of map-based data.

The participants were:

• John Blyberg
• Lorcan Dempsey
• Jason Griffey
• Monique Sendze
• Cindi Trainor
• Joan Frye Williams

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Some 895 experts responded to the invitation of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to predict the likely progress toward achieving the goals of the semantic web by the year 2020. Asked to think about the likelihood that Berners-Lee and his allies will realize their vision, often called Web 3.0, these technology experts and stakeholders were divided and often contentious.

Some 47% agreed with the statement:

"By 2020, the semantic web envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee will not be as fully effective as its creators hoped and average users will not have noticed much of a difference."

Some 41% agreed with the opposite statement, which posited:

"By 2020, the semantic web envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee and his allies will have been achieved to a significant degree and have clearly made a difference to average internet users."

Experts generally agreed that progress will continue to be made in making the web more useful and information retrieval and assessment more meaningful. They recognized the fact that there are already elements and programs of the semantic web in place that are helping people more easily navigate their lives. While many survey participants noted that current and emerging technologies are being leveraged toward positive web evolution in regard to linking data, there was no consensus on the technical mechanisms and human actions that might lead to the next wave of improvements—nor how extensive the changes might be.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Today, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) and the New Media Consortium (NMC) released the 2010 Horizon Report, the seventh edition of this annual joint publication. Each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education and creative expression over the next one to five years.

The report identifies six technologies that are expected "to enter mainstream use in learning-focused organizations." Each of the six is assigned to one of three adoption horizons: one year or less, two to three years, and four to five years. For 2010, mobile computing and open content are identified in the one-year horizon; electronic books and simple augmented reality in the two- to three-year horizon; and gesture-based computing and visual data analysis in the four- to five-year horizon.

The advisory board for the project identified these technologies through comprehensive review, analysis, and discussion of research, articles, papers, and interviews. It then drafted a roster of over 110 candidate technologies, which it gradually refined to the six key technologies appearing in the 2010 report. This year, the advisory board consisted of 47 experts from numerous fields and was more internationally diverse than it has ever been. It included representatives from 10 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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Developing m-library services is usually expensive and resource intensive, requiring expertise that existing library staff may not have. Before committing funding and staff time to such projects, it is important to try and ensure, as far as possible, that such investments are targeted at meeting actual needs, and are adding value to existing library services.

The Information Use on the Move project was undertaken in that spirit—to scope the information requirements of academic library users on the move in order to inform future development of library services to mobile devices. The aim was to identify trends in the way people currently interact with information using their mobile phones, and then extrapolate ways that libraries could support those mobile information needs.

Read more about it at "New Memory Material May Hold Data For One Billion Years."

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

NISO is pleased to announce the approval by the NISO Voting Members of a new work item to focus on perfecting single-sign-on (SSO) authentication to achieve seamless item-level linking in a networked information environment. A new working group will be formed under the auspices of NISO's Discovery to Delivery Topic Committee to create one or more recommended practices that will explore practical solutions for improving the success of SSO authentication technologies and to promote the adoption of one or more of these solutions to make the access improvements a reality.

This work item is the outcome of NISO's new Chair's Initiative, an annual project of the chair of NISO's Board of Directors. NISO's current Chair, Oliver Pesch (Chief Strategist, EBSCO Information Services), has identified single-sign-on authentication as an area that would benefit greatly from study and development within NISO, with a focus on a solution that will allow a content site to know which authentication method to use without special login URLs in order to provide a seamless experience for the user. Possible solutions include providing a generic mechanism for passing the authentication method from site to site; use of cookies to remember the authentication method that was used the last time the site was accessed by that computer; and/or providing a mechanism to discover if the user has an active session for one of the common SSO authentication methods. "By developing recommended practices that will help make the SSO environment work better (smarter)," said Pesch, "libraries and information providers will improve the ability for users to successfully and seamlessly access the content to which they are entitled."

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Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities.