Category: Emerging Technologies

"JISC CETIS 2011 Informal Horizon Scan"

JISC CETIS has released the "JISC CETIS 2011 Informal Horizon Scan."

Here's an excerpt:

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.

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Report on the Step Forward iPad Pilot Project

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

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

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.

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"Standards for Web Applications on Mobile: February 2011 Current State and Roadmap"

W3C has released "Standards for Web Applications on Mobile: February 2011 Current State and Roadmap" by Dominique Hazaël-Massieux.

Here's an excerpt:

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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The Horizon Report: 2011 Edition

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and the New Media Consortium have released the The Horizon Report: 2011 Edition. The report is under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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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Streaming Videos of EDUCAUSE 2010 Annual Conference Sessions Released

EDUCAUSE has released streaming videos of sessions from the EDUCAUSE 2010 Annual Conference.

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

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Data Mash-Ups and the Future of Mapping

JISC has released Data Mash-Ups and the Future of Mapping.

Here's an excerpt:

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 Fate of the Semantic Web

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released The Fate of the Semantic Web.

Here's an excerpt:

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.

Horizon Report: 2010 Edition

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and the New Media Consortium have released the Horizon Report: 2010 Edition.

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.

Mobile Libraries: M-Libraries: Information Use on the Move

The Arcadia Programme at the Cambridge University Library has released M-Libraries: Information Use on the Move.

Here's an excerpt:

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.

NISO to Form Single Sign-On Authentication Working Group

NISO will form a single sign-on authentication working group.

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."

“What Cloud Computing Really Means”

Eric Knorr and Galen Gruman provide a concise overview of "cloud computing" in "What Cloud Computing Really Means."

Here's an excerpt:

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.

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and New Media Consortium Horizon Report: 2009 Edition

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and New Media Consortium have released the The Horizon Report: 2009 Edition.

Here's the abstract:

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2009 are:

  • Mobiles (i.e., mobile devices)
  • Cloud computing
  • Geo-everything (i.e., geo-tagging)
  • The personal web
  • Semantic-aware applications
  • Smart objects

Each section of the report provides live Web links to examples and additional readings.

New Pew Report: Future of the Internet III

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released Future of the Internet III.

Here’s an excerpt from the announcement:

Here are the key findings on the survey of experts by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that asked respondents to assess predictions about technology and its roles in the year 2020:

  • The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
  • The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
  • Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
  • Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
  • The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
  • Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

What's a Fast Wide Area Network Data Transfer? Now, It's 114 Gigabits per Second

At SuperComputing 2008, an international team headed by California Institute of Technology researchers demonstrated wide area network, multiple-country data transfers that peaked at 114 gigabits per second and sustained a 110 gigabit per second rate.

Read more about it at "High Energy Physics Team Sets New Data-Transfer World Records."

New Book from EDUCAUSE: The Tower and the Cloud

EDUCAUSE has published a new book, The Tower and the Cloud, which is freely available in digital form (a print version is also available).

The book is a wide-ranging overview of major information technology trends and their impacts on higher education, with essays written by prominent authors such as Clifford A. Lynch ("A Matter of Mission: Information Technology and the Future of Higher Education"), Paul N. Courant ("Scholarship: The Wave of the Future in the Digital Age"), and John Unsworth ("University 2.0").

ARL SPEC Kit: Social Software in Libraries

The Association of Research Libraries has published Social Software in Libraries, SPEC Kit 304. The table of contents and executive summary are freely available.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

This survey was distributed to the 123 ARL member libraries in February 2008. Sixty-four libraries completed the survey by the March 14 deadline for a response rate of 52%. All but three of the responding libraries report that their library staff uses social software (95%) and one of those three plans to begin using social software in the future.

Survey results indicate that the most broadly adopted social software—chat or instant messaging—was also the earliest implemented social software. While one respondent was using instant messaging for reference and another was using chat for internal communication as early as 1998, the earliest use of this type of social software dates back to 1993.

While chat and instant messaging have been in use for several years, use of other types of social software in libraries is very recent. Beyond isolated cases, a steadily increasing number of ARL member libraries began implementing social software in 2005, with the largest rate of adoption being in 2007.

E Ink to Hit the Newsstand: Esquire Will Use It for Magazine Cover

The October issue of Esquire will have an E Ink cover powered by a small battery.

Here's an excerpt from the press release.

Esquire, one of America’s iconic magazines, is turning 75 this year. As part of the celebration of this milestone, the October issue will be the first magazine ever to embed a revolutionary digital technology—electronic paper—into a mass-produced print product.

In partnership with the all-new Ford Flex Crossover and in collaboration with E Ink Corporation, the world's leading supplier of electronic paper display (EPD) technologies, Esquire’s groundbreaking cover will make a profound statement about how the print medium can expand its capabilities while continuing to exploit its own unique strengths. Ford will prominently feature its highly-anticipated Ford Flex on the inside cover, utilizing the same E Ink VizplexTM flexible display technology, in a double-page advertisement.

"This cover is both a breakthrough for magazines and an expression of the theme of our anniversary issue," said David Granger, editor-in-chief, Esquire. "We’ve spent 16 months making this happen as one of the ways we’re demonstrating that the 21st century begins this fall. The entire issue is devoted to exploring the ideas, people and issues that will be the foundation of the 21st century. . . ."

Esquire will distribute 100,000 issues with the special cover on newsstands. They will be available at Borders, Barnes & Noble and select newsstand vendors.

Read more about it at "News Flash From the Cover of Esquire: Paper Magazines Can Be High Tech, Too."

Verizon Wants to Improve Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Performance with P4P

As other ISPs try to reduce and shape P2P traffic, Verizon has taken a different tack: investigating how to improve throughput with the new Proactive network Provider Participation for P2P (P4P) protocol. In tests with file sharing company Pando, use of P4P boosted performance between 200 and 600 percent.

Read more about it at: "Goodbye, P2P! P4P is Coming" "Verizon Embraces P4P, a More Efficient Peer-to-Peer Tech" and "With Eyes Open, Verizon Peers into the Future."

RAD Lab: Cloud Computing Made Easy

The RAD Lab (Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory) is working to "enable one person to invent and run the next revolutionary IT service, operationally expressing a new business idea as a multi-million-user service over the course of a long weekend."

Read more about it at "RAD Lab Technical Vision" and "Trying to Figure Out How to Put a Google in Every Data Center."

There's a 20% Chance That You Are a Digital Simulation Living in a Virtual World

Nick Bostrom, Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford, says in a New York Times article today:

“My gut feeling, and it’s nothing more than that,” he says, “is that there’s a 20 percent chance we’re living in a computer simulation.”

Bostrom thinks so because, barring a future prohibition on creating simulated worlds or disinterest in doing so, that our posthuman descendants are almost certain to create simulations of the past. The more simulations that are run, the more likely that you are in one.

By some estimates, there will be enough available computing power to create a simulated world by 2050.

However, there could be a recursive problem:

It’s also possible that there would be logistical problems in creating layer upon layer of simulations. There might not be enough computing power to continue the simulation if billions of inhabitants of a virtual world started creating their own virtual worlds with billions of inhabitants apiece.

I wouldn't count on it though.

Source: Tierney, John. "Our Lives, Controlled From Some Guy's Couch." The New York Times, 14 August 2007, D1, D4.

Second Life Impacts Real Life and Vice Versa

What happens in Second Life is increasingly influencing real life and vice versa. Here are some recent highlights:

Turning the Pages on an E-Book—Realistic Electronic Books

In this June 26th Google Tech Talk video titled Turning the Pages on an E-Book—Realistic Electronic Books, Veronica Liesaputra, PhD candidate at the University of Waikato, discusses her research on realistic e-books.

Here’s an excerpt from the presentation’s abstract:

In this talk, I will describe and demo a lightweight realistic book implementation that allows a document to be automatically presented with quick and easy-to-use animated page turning, while still providing readers with many advantages of electronic documents, such as hyperlinks and multimedia. I will also review computer graphics models for page-turning, from complex physical models based on the finite element method through 3D geometric models to simple "flatland" models involving reflection and rotation—which is what the demo uses.