Since I arrived in Korea I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around the ways I’ve seen technology used in this country. If we think the United States is driving the use of technology, if we think we are on the forefront of that field, we are sadly mistaken. Korea is one of the most connected countries in the world. The technology infrastructure is amazing. Even in the smallest towns there will be at least on of the computer places I’ve been using to keep you all updated. The only internet connections available to people are the really fast ones and they don’t cost a whole lot of cash.
Everyone - from teenagers to middle agers to old agers has a cell phone (or a hand phone as they are sometimes called here).Some of you think I’m crazy with the amount and speed of my text messages, I am nothing compared to the way the kids here send text messages. I am in awe. They use their cell phones to listen to music, take pictures, watch videos, buy coffee, ride the subway, buy things from vending machines. And now they can read books on them too.
Booktopia (unfortunately the website is in korean) is the company making it possible. They have an exhibit at the conference and the exhibit caught my eye today because it was full of digital gadgets! So I slowed down and eventually stopped to take a peek. Then one of the young gentlemen who was working the booth (and also a graduate of Southern Illinois University) came over to talk to me about the company and what they had to offer.
I never fancied myself as someone who would ever want to read a book on a computer or an ebook reader etc. but the Booktopia exhibit may have changed my mind…let me put it in perspective. For this trip I brought along 4 books and since have bought one because I read the other 4. These books average 250+ pages. Combined they weigh more than I’d like to be carrying around and take up space, although I’ve left two behind already. I brought my ipod which has 650 songs and the charger for the ipod. I brought my camera and the wires to charge that as well. And I brought my cell phone. I would have much more room in my bag if I only had to bring my phone and my camera (no cell phone camera will ever be enough to take trip pictures with). If I lived in Korea i could have downloaded the books to my phone and had my music on my phone too. Heck, I could have downloaded some video to watch as well. And while I’m on the subway, eating dinner or wherever I could pop my phone open and start reading.
But in the United States doing these sort of things on cell phone hasn’t really caught on. Even just a few weeks ago when I was in the process of buying a new cell phone I couldn’t imagine why I would want one I can listen to music on when I have my ipod. I get it now.
So, really, what does this all mean? I start thinking about how this will affect what I do and how the students will be expecting their information to be delivered to them in the future. will the expect the library to be able to loan them a book by zapping it to their cell phone? Is that how they will want journal articles too? For me it is so much to think about and struggle with how we provide our services and are we really meeting the needs of the students? I guess in time we will know…
I have no idea if this has made any sense, I’m still grappling with it all even as I write this. It makes me realize even more that the United States is not the center of the world…and it is high time to start paying attention to what is going on elsewhere in the world.
Yeah, Korea is way beyond us (and so does Finland) when it comes to connectivity…but we do have the biggest bombs and the most bombs. One question,though, that will eventually influence Korea’s ability (and ours) to progress electronically is the sheer amount of electrical power (i.e. carbon based fuel) massive computing takes. Look at Google’s new computing center in Oregon–and it is in Western Oregon (the middle of nowhere) simply because it is close to the power source and, therefore, cheaper. Microsoft is building a similar facility in a similar location for a similar reason.
Oh and I bought a new dual core laptop.
William Thompson
August 22nd, 2006