There are some clever people out there

10 Trends and Technologies for 2009

From one of my favourite blogs, Tame the Web, is this brilliant post about trends and technologies that Michael Stephens believes will impact on what we do in libraries and information centers.

Michael Stephens, Ph.D., is currently Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.

Customer Service.

Today I was bowled over by incredible customer service; and naturally I want to tell everyone I know about it.

I bought a tent from Kathmandu 2 summers ago. It has been quite heavily used for 3 summers now - like pitched and used for weeks on end - and this summer the tent fly has ripped... well kinda shredded in parts... and this was a $NZ1,000 tent.

I emailed Kathmandu and asked if I had any options for replacement or repair. I don't have a receipt, they have only my word for how many years old it is, and I realise it is out of the 2 year warranty period. But given it is an outdoor tent one, and not a cheap one, I had expected it to be a bit more robust in the UV rays (which have clearly rotted it). What were my options for replacing the fly as the tent itself is still fine?

So 3pm yesterday I wrote the email to their online customer service team, 12 noon today I got a reply asking if I could take it to a Kathmandu store for assessment, 2pm today I have a replacement fly in my hot little hands.

That is truly great customer service; despite having no proof of purchase, and being out of warranty, they still happily replaced the item.

Thank you Kathmandu. You have reminded me of a study which showed that a disgruntled customer will tell 7 people about a bad experience, a perfectly satisfied customer will tell 1 or 2 people, but a customer who has had a problem put right will tell everyone they know.. and thats what I find myself wanting to do now!

OCLC Change in Policy

Nicole Engard posted a link to this post by Tim from The Library Thing blog about the proposed change to OCLC policy and why librarians must oppose it. WorldCat is why OCLC was created ...

"I have been thinking about the new, proposed OCLC Policy, scheduled to take effect in mid-February. I was driven to act after a recent AUTOCAT posting, in which a librarian suggested libraries not expose their collections to the web, except for "original cataloging," for fear of the new OCLC Policy. How terrible would that be?

I'm not sure the specific fear is justified, but fear certainly is. As the Policy states, violations of the OCLC Policy "automatically" terminate a libraries right to use any OCLC records. And OCLC gets to say what constitutes a violation.

It got me thinking about compiling all the arguments against the Policy. I want to start with the process and legal ones, which have gotten very short shrift. OCLC spokespeople are persuasive personalities, and OCLC's "Frequently Asked Questions" allay fears, but the Policy itself is a scary piece of legal writing and, as it explictly asserts, the only writing that matters". More>>

Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM)

While in Venice at the 2007 WSA Awards, I learnt of an amazing project in Fiji which won the award for the e-culture section. more>>

It used participatory 3D modelling to capture the stories around a landscape. I am really interested in using this method as a way to uncover local stories and informal names of land features in our district, particularly from iwi. I especially like the opportunity for inter-generational interactions in the passing down of local knowledge. What I'd really like to do is then link this model into the digital content being created in Kete Horowhenua using GPS coordinates to pull it all together...

This from Wikipedia:

"Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) is a community-based mapping method which integrates local spatial knowledge with data on elevation of the land and depth of the sea to produce stand-alone, scaled and geo-referenced relief models. Essentially based on local spatial knowledge, land use and cover, and other features are depicted by informants on the model by the use of pushpins (points), yarns (lines) and paints (polygons). On completion, a scaled and geo-referenced grid is applied to facilitate data extraction or importation. Data depicted on the model are extracted, digitised and plotted. On completion of the exercise the model remains with the community."

I was given a CDRom at WSA by Giacomo Rambaldi, from the series: Participatory Learning and Action. Called "54. Mapping for change : practice, technologies and communication", it includes a number of very interesting articles and case studies. The contents are licensed under a Creative Commons license and so I will make them available from the kete.net project site.

The Wikipedia article contains a bunch of links including this video presentation:

Another Technology Prediction 2009

Influencers On Online Marketing 2009 Predictions By Trendsspotting

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Technology Predictions for 2009

Over the next few days, TrendSpotting will be publishing a series of trends and predictions as presented by influencers and experts in different consumer fields. Here are the first 2:

Social Media Influencers Predictions 2009 By Trendsspotting

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Influencers On Mobile 2009 2020 Predictions By Trendsspotting

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Thanks to Paul Reynolds for the heads up on his blog.