1. DISRUPTION: Are we learning too?
Stephen Abram
stephen.abram@gmail.com
Dec. 17, 2013

2. 2
Objectives for the Day
Re-Frame
Realize the
Possibilities
Relationships

3. 3
Can everyone source their force?
Can we contribute to everyone‟s self-actualization?

4. 4
The disruptions that were predicted . . .

5. 5

14. Is Google that 5 inch wave. . . ?

18. 18

19. 19
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 1. Librarians have a healthy attitude toward
technology. I am afraid my latent sexism will show here, but
the majority of our librarians are female, and females often
exhibit a healthier attitude toward technology than do we males.
On seeing a new box that plugs in, rather than asking “How fast
is the processor?” or “How big is the hard drive?”, a librarian
tends to ask “What is it good for?” Good librarians are neither
technophiles nor technophobes. The librarian considers and
teaches not just how to use technology, but why and under what
circumstances it should be used. An old adage says that when
your only tool is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail. For
many technologists, technology can become the solution to
problems that actually require traditional or human solutions.
(Ever see someone spend 45 minutes using a computer to address
an envelope?)
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

20. 20
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 2. Librarians have good teaching skills. Unlike technicians
they are more likely to use good pedagogical techniques and have
more developed human relations and communication skills. We
are understanding and empathetic when technologically related
stress occurs in the classroom.
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

21. 21
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 3. Librarians have an understanding of the use of
technology in the information literacy process and its
use in fostering higher level thinking skills. We view
technology as just one more, extremely powerful tool that can be
used by students completing well-designed information literacy
projects. “Technologists”, it seems, are just now understanding
this powerful use.
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

22. 22
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 4. Librarians have experience as skill integrators and
collaborators. Integration of research and information literacy
projects has been a long-term goal of school library
programs, and as a result many librarians have become excellent
collaborators with classroom teaches, successfully strengthening
the curriculum with information literacy projects. We know
kids, know technology and know what works.
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

23. 23
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 5. Librarians are models for the successful use of
technology. The library’s automated library
catalogs, circulation systems, electronic reference materials, and
student accessible workstations all showed up well before
classroom technologies. Teachers rightfully see the librarian as
the educator with the most comfort with technology as
well, which in turn bolsters their own self-confidence.
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

24. 24
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 6. Librarians provide in-building support. A flexibly
scheduled librarian is a real asset to teachers learning to use or
integrate technology. The librarian can work with the teacher in
the library, lab or classroom. The librarian is available for
questions that might otherwise derail a teacher’s application of
technology. This as a primary advantage of the librarian as
opposed to a classroom teacher having primary responsibility for
staff development in technology.
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

25. 25
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 7. Librarians have a whole school view. Next to the
principal, the librarian has the most inclusive view of the school
and its resources. The librarian can make recommendations on
where technology needs to be placed or upgraded as well as on
what departments or teachers may need extra training and
support in its use.
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

26. 26
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?
• 8. Librarians are concerned about the safe and ethical
use of technology. Students will need to have the skills to selfevaluate information; understand online copyright laws and
intellectual property issues; and follow the rules of safety and
appropriate use of resources. Who but the librarian worries
about digital citizenship?"
From The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd ed.

27. 27
• Who are the tech leaders in your school?

28. 28
Then what is disruptive to the ecosystem of learning and
libraries, learners and librarians?

29. It‟s an Information
Ocean, not a Highway.

30. Libraries are an
“Exploration Space” not a
collection space.

31. Libraries are an
Experience animated by
the staff for a purpose

32. Information Engagement Levels
Stimulate/Live
Present/Teach
Argue/Defend
Act on/ Discuss
Content
Read/View
Source
Situation
Dr. Thomas Davenport

33. Intelligence and Learning Styles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visual/Spatial (Picture Smart)
Verbal/Linguistic (Word Smart)
Musical/Rhythmic (Music Smart)
Logical/Mathematical (Number Smart)
Bodily/Kinesthetic (Body Smart)
Interpersonal (People Smart)
Intrapersonal (Self Smart)
▫ Piaget, Bloom, Gardner, etc.

34. Information Literacy
• Standard Curriculum Components
▫ Mathematics / Arithmetic
▫ Science, Biology, Physics & Chemistry
▫ English, Languages
▫ History, Geography, Politics, Sociolog
y
▫ Music, Art, Phys. ed.
▫ Guidance, Religion

35. Information Literacy
• Information literacy is integrally tied every aspect of the curriculum:
▫ Mathematical logical thinking skills - Math
and Arithmetic
▫ Scientific method - Sciences
▫ Criticism, interpretation and comprehension English and languages
▫ Analytical thinking - History, Geography
▫ Interpretive and imaginative- music, art &
phys. ed.
▫ Inter and Intrapersonal skills Religion, Guidance, etc.
▫ There is an imperative for people to have a lifelong curriculum a personal learning strategy

36. Taking The Knowledge Positioning
Data Information Knowledge Behaviour
====> =======> ======> ======>
Apply
Standards
Store
&
Move
Display
Chart
Graph
Publish
Picture
Format
Knowing
Learning
Filtering
Evaluating
Gerunds
Do
Decide
Choose
Apply
Enact
Action
Verbs

37. 37

38. 38
And that‟s just so easy, comfortable and beguiling…

39. 39
Retronyms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Guitar . . . Electric guitar
Carriage . . . Horseless carriage
Book . . . E-book
Mail . . . E-mail
Store . . . Online store
Catalogue . . . OPAC
Games . . . Video games . . . PC Games . . . Gamification
Blackboard . . . Whiteboard . . . Smartboard
• In our world just put an „I‟ or an „E‟ in front of any noun.

40. 40
Rogers

41. 41
So we’ve seen . . .
•
•
•
•
•
Banks become ATMs
Books become e-books and documents become PDFs
Textbooks become e-textbooks
Classes become e-classes
Conferences become virtual conferences

42. 42
Let‟s talk verbs…

43. 43
What is the disruption here?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Radio
Telephone
Cars
Planes
Television
Talkies
PCs
Internet
E-mail
Wax, vinyl, tape, CD, MP3
Beta, VHS, DVD … Streaming
media
• Smartboards
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Online databases
Amazon
Google, Yahoo, Bing
eBay
eBooks
Boolean
Digital Cameras – camera
phones
Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, Insta
gram
Siri, Facetime
WebEx, AdobeConnect, G+
Hangouts, Web Conferencing
Cloud, (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS)

44. 44
What is the next disruption?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Robotics
Nano
Embedded devices
Internet of Things
3D printing
Making culture
Genomic advances
Frankenfoods
Holographics, holodeck?

45. Black and White
• The polarization of discussion
Dogmatic vs. Professional positions on:
eBooks, access, copyright, etc.
Political and social value systems in conflict

46. Black & White

51. 51
• Examples of B&W discussions
• These can sometimes lack professional perspectives, be politically
dogmatic and belief driven, and use metaphors symbolic of death~!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
E-books versus Physical Books
Textbooks – eTextbooks - Coursepacks – Learning Objects
Open access versus Proprietary Content
Free versus Fee
Business Models versus Social Models
Apple versus Microsoft PC
Desktop vs. Laptop vs. Tablet vs. Phone vs. Phablets
Privacy and Confidentiality
• Make no mistake. I‟m not saying the discussions are wrong or taking
sides, I just think professionals see colours and shades of gray.

52. 52
So let’s really think . . . What’s really going to happen?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Evolution or Revolution?
Education versus Learning
Teaching versus Engagement
Librarian versus coach, partner, developer, …
Publisher / Vendor versus School / Academic Institution
Curriculum versus Common Core
Delivery Institution or Learning Ecosystem
Diplomas versus Accredited Providers

54. Are you locked into library mindsets?

55. What about value and impact?

56. Or shall we stick with this?

57. Grocery Stores

58. Grocery Stores

59. Grocery Stores

60. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

61. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

62. Meals

63. 63
Finding the BIG TRENDS
1. Follow the money and the market opportunity . . .
equity and venture capital
2. Watch the consumer market first for
devices, behaviours, entertainment . . . e.g.
ringtones
3. Watch the rest of the world
4. Who stands to lose? Win?
(cataloguers, systems, metadata . . .)
5. What is on the fringes? (e.g. eBay and cars)
6. Think clearly about price, scalability and
penetration.
7. “I spy with my little eye… something that is . . .”

64. 64
It‟s simple really, shift happens, gedoverit
• Users & Communities will continue to be diverse in the extreme
• Expectations around timeliness will increase
• We will have a foot in both camps for many, many years to come:
digital and physical
• Content will (is already) be dominated by non-text
(gamification, 3D, visual, music, video, audio, etc.)
• Search will explode with options and one-step, one box search is for
dummies
• The single purpose anchored device declines as a target environment
• Devices will focus on
social, collaboration, learning, sharing, multimedia, creation and
successful - Services will align with that
• Librarians will need to focus primarily on professional service(s) and
strategic alignment (reduced roles in organizing knowledge and
step&fetchit politeness): Service Professionals NOT Servants
• Users will NOT differentiate public from school libraries
• E-Learning, collections and metadata will go to the cloud massively

69. 69
So what am I spying . . .?
From a School Library focus
• Global learning and publishing investments
• Online high schools (Gale Cengage, Stanford)
• Devices are markets (CleverU and Newmindsets)
• E-Learning (Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, ...)
• MOOCs (Almost 24 months of EdX, Udacity, Coursera)
• Learning and Experience Portals as classrooms (Khan)
• What is happening with the textbook?
• New business models (big data models...)
• Discovery trumping Search
• Non-Text: Video, audio, read-speak, etc.
• Search Tuning – Lexiles, sentiment, visual, semantic, Sciencescape
• Advanced stuff – 3D printing, gamification, …
• Partnerships, alliances, mergers, on the state and national level

71. Deer in headlamps slide here.

72. 72
The signs . . . There‟s always another view…

73. Definitions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Discovery
Search – known item retrieval
Topical or Subject Search
Research
Immersive Learning
Assembly
Two step discovery: discover, searching, finding, use
The pressure is ON for librarians to scale up their
information fluency and experience curation
initiatives

74. What are the real issues?
• Craft versus Industrial Strength
• Personal service only when there‟s impact
• Automated personalization and archiving
• Pilot, Project, Initiative versus Portfolio Strategy
• Hand-knitted prototypes versus Production
•
•
•
•
•
e.g. Information Literacy initiatives
Discovery versus Search versus Deep Search
eLearning units
Citation and information ethics
Repository and content archipelagos
• Strategic Analytics
• Value & Impact Measures, Behaviours, Satisfaction
• Policy, economic and strategic alignment

75. What Does
Boundarylessness
mean?

77. 77
So what do you do as both an educator and librarian?
• Scale up! Province-wide and nationwide (a la OCLC)
• Understand deeply the research on genome, behaviours, learning
styles, child and teen development, brain research . . . In the digital
context.
• Develop your skill portfolio as a team instead of individuals and do
both your attitudes and aptitudes
• Avoid LONE WOLF syndrome

78. 78
Build (some examples)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Online teaching skills
Online learning skills
LMS MOOC development skills
Teamwork competencies
Partnership competencies (and not just not-for-profit)
Your sacrificing skills
Priority-setting and Milestone skills
Cooperation and Collaboration skills
Culture of Trials and Experiments “always in beta”
Assessment skills and data analysis in a digital age.
Advocacy and influencing skills

82. Smelly
Yellow
Liquid
Or
Sex
Appeal
?

83. Until lions learn to write their own story,
the story will always be from the perspective
of the hunter not the hunted.

84. So, how should Info Pros react?

85. BRAINS
• We KNOW more than
they do!
• We have VERY high
information literacy
skills.

86. HEART
• We care about
excellent customer
service.
• You‟ve got the stuff!
• We strive to meet
their REAL needs.

87. COURAGE
• We‟re out there every
day doing this.
• We will survive and
thrive.

89. 89
Re-Frame

90. 90
Your Frame

91. 91
Goal of an effective working relationships

92. 92
Realize the Possibilities

93. Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
Consultant, Dysart & Jones/Lighthouse Consulting
Cel: 416-669-4855
stephen.abram@gmail.com
Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.com
Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn: Stephen Abram
Twitter: @sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1