Library Innovation

Bobbi Newman runs a great blog on all things library related.  Recently she posted a great slide deck titled Set the World on Fire, keynote, Colorado Association of Libraries. I like the deck because it is simple and really applies to a broader audience then just librarians.  Give it a quick look!


Set the World on Fire, keynote, Colorado Association of Libraries/strong> from Bobbi Newman

Are you inspired yet?  Need more?  Read on…

The James B. Hunt Library at North Carolina State University describes itself as the library of the future.  That is a pretty bold statement.  But if their promotional videos are reflective of the real life experience they may be understating their status.

Now check out the article below from Fast Company featuring the library.  There are some great pictures as well as another video discussing the innovations they’ve implemented.

Fast Company: This New Library Of The Future Brings You Your Books Via Robot 

(What If…) Build a School in the Cloud

Sugata Mitra has won the $1 million TED Prize for his wish to build a school in the cloud. The TED Prize is meant to “inspire dreamers to think bigger about what’s possible.” Sugata’s wish is inspiring indeed.

“My wish is to help design the future of learning by supporting children all over the world to tap into their innate sense of wonder and work together. Help me build the School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India, where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online. I also invite you, wherever you are, to create your own miniature child-driven learning environments and share your discoveries.”

Here is Sugata Mitra talking about his wish at TED.

With $1 million, it is now more than a wish. There is a plan and ways that anyone can help. As a part of the plan they are looking for some core technology assistance including “Cloud-based software design to manage laboratory school operations and education resources.”

SCSU might not be ready to dive into Sugata’s wish just yet, but what if we started with a smaller, more local concept? I am excited about the new ISELF building that will house fantastic equipment for our students to use for their studies.

What if… we made some of the equipment available via the internet? It could be used as a “Virtual Lab” by our own students. It could be used by nearby high schools. Or, let’s get crazy, the world. This concept is already being applied today. iLabCentral is a great example project supported by the National Science Foundation.

 

(What If…) Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Awards

Major leaders from the technology industry (Google, Facebook, Apple, and Mail.ru) have joined together to create a not-for-profit corporation, Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, that will offer 5 annual prizes of $3 million to breakthrough scientists. This is pretty darn cool as most big awards like this go to established scientists that have already completed their work. Often the awards come from large government or health organizations. Changing the model may have a huge impact on research.

What If… Information Technology Services teamed up with partners and created our own award to be given to new ambitious faculty using technology in the classroom? This would give us an opportunity to connect ITS with faculty, showcase great work being done, and encourage others to use technology in new ways. There are many schools out there doing this already: Brown University, California Community Colleges, Old Dominion University, Rochester Institute of Technology

Reference Articles
eWeek: Google’s Brin, Facebook’s Zuckerberg Help Fund $3 Million Science Awards
CNN: Tech titans create $3 million ‘Breakthrough Prize’ for scientists

 

ISELF Tour

Last week I was fortunate enough to join a few other members of the ITS team on a tour of the new ISELF building. Dean DeGroote was kind enough to be our tour guide showing us around and explaining the function of the various areas of the building. The key takeaways for me were that the building is very open, flexible, and ready to support the emerging science fields.

When we first entered the building we could see that there was a lot of windows and open spaces. Dean DeGroote pointed out many areas that he described as “informal gathering spaces” – particularly on the West end of the building. As we toured the Dean’s Reception Area, and the Senior Design Lab he explained that the layout was intentionally open, with casing on the exterior and the floor space was flexible and reconfigurable to support any number of activities and configurations. In the lab areas that meant that power, data, gas, fluids, etc. would be available overhead allowing for furniture and equipment to be movable. As a side note, the Dean’s Reception Area reminded me of a video on the “Workplace of the Future.”

While the current configuration of the rooms is flexible, so are the walls themselves. Most areas have walls that could be removed or reconfigured without great expense. Some rooms are deemed “unassigned” and can be renovated to accommodate future needs (i.e. a 2 year grant from the National Science Foundation). The ISELF building itself may be expanded on with another phase added to the West of the building. The loading dock was built large enough to serve the new addition removing the need for another loading dock to be added.

Dean DeGroote explained that the entire building is intended to be a space for research and lab work, not for offices and residency. The thought here is that professors will have their departmental space and office services hosted in other buildings. When it comes time for the faculty and students to work in the lab, they will be able to leverage the spaces in ISELF. After they are done with their lab work, they may collaborate informally in ISELF, but otherwise they will most likely return to their departmental areas back in other buildings on campus.

Earlier I had blogged about ISELF getting an X-ray diffractometer. Turns out, we got it! There are a lot of really cool spaces and equipment that we be available to our students and community once ISELF is complete. I am proud of the work Dean DeGroote and his team have done. And I am excited to see our students, faculty, and community make the most of this cutting edge resource. Added to the recent announcement of the $4.8 million enhancement to the UTVS TV studio, and the Presidents engagement in attracting the brightest students from all over the world, this sets SCSU and our community on an exhilarating trajectory.

I’ve built a quasi-virtual tour of ISELF on Prezi if you are interested in seeing more.

Creative Response to a Nexus of Forces?

Recently Gartner held their annual Gartner Symposium where they discussed what they see as the onset of a “nexus of forces” descending onto businesses and forcing IT departments to change their perspective.  PC Magazine has a great article here.  These forces: cloud, mobile, social, and information are not new forces, but the impact of their peak and convergence in a focused way is new, and presents a real challenge for IT and businesses as a whole.  While Gartner’s focus is often centered around the business world, it is easy to argue that education may be impact sooner given that their customer base is often comprised of a population that embraces new technology and trends.

St. Cloud State University like all other organizations will need to decide how to respond to this nexus of forces.  Responding to the challenge will take more than just finding ways to modify our existing services.  Instead, we’ll need to think outside of the box and develop new services.  Below is a TED talk where Catherine Courage suggests using creativity, experiments, and storytelling.

An Innovative Web Experience

Developers working with Google created a browser experiment that allows you to visit a website using Google Chrome and follow a Cirque du Soleil character through a whimsical journey with acrobatic  performances and imaginative scenery.  The coolest part is that the experience is interactive and crosses any device, it’s awesome!  Their blog post explains that because it was built using HTML5, it works  across all devices and leverages capabilities like the accelerometer, camera, and microphone and allows you to actually participate in the story.

I highly recommend visiting www.movikantirevo.com using Google Chrome to check it out.  If you have a device with a camera/microphone/accelerometer that would be best.