Design firm IDEO came up with some crazy ideas for the future of the book, one of which is really social in nature. These are some cool ideas/videos.

I'm surprised that this NYT story doesn't have any better reasons for why teenagers are a new surging market in ebook sales. My guess, which I posted on eCollege was that they're used to having tech gadgets in their hands and that maybe a book seems antiquated to them. But that's just my guess.

Like the etextbook story I just linked to, this video on "what is a vook?" shows how interactive ebooks can be. I'm not sure how I feel about all this functionality just yet. It makes sense for certain kinds of etextbooks, but I'm not sure if I want video to go with my "Pride & Prejudice."

This NPR story shows how an etextbook can be more contextual than a standard 2-D book. Imagine being able to watch an example of cell division and not just read about it?

I mentioned this video in a comment I made in this week's discussion. It highlights several reasons why school librarians are so essential now more than ever.

Here's a link to a Web site described as a "global humanitarian internet portal to feature engaging stories about the lives of real people in even the most remote parts of the developing world." The creator saw a gap in all content aggregator-type sites, which tend to cover breaking news, and launched something aimed at human interest stories from the developing world.

Really great talk on the Brian Lehrer show from two days ago about content curation. The angle has a lot to do with what journalists/bloggers are doing, there even was talk about a Pulitzer Prize for curation. The featured author talks about how "search is broken." There was a caller (with whom I once worked at People magazine!), who has a site that curates human interest content about the developing world, filling a niche that she says has been greatly under-served. I'll also post a link to her Web site.

This book was mentioned in the NYT article on SXSW that I just posted. Instead of arguing whether technology makes us dumber or smarter, the author provides insight on how we can better adopt technology into our lives, which involves periods of disconnectedness.

Interesting roundup of the South by Southwest Festival and the proliferation of movies and panels about the effects of technology.

This Newsweek cover story from March 7 gets into how information overload is hindering our ability to make clear decisions.

And so artificial intelligence type software is now threatening the livelihood of those in the legal profession. I have a friend who's a paralegal doing the type of work these "e-discovery" software programs can now do. I wonder if he's been aware of this kind of technology developing. I also wonder what will come next....

This is an interesting use of a social media tool to better connect four homeless men with the "community around them," to quote one of the people involved in this project. There are interesting comments, everything from someone calling Mr. Wiggins' followers "compassionless voyeurs," to others praising the fact that these men are given a voice that might one day help their plight. I think only good things can come from giving voice to people on the edges of the digital divide, but that's my opinion.

Sherry Turkle has a new book out...

One of the reasons why I will likely never be good at joining virtual communities such as Second Life is that I get really, really nauseous when moving through images on a screen when I'm sitting in a chair. Apparently, people call this "cybersickness."

The writer of the article I just posted pollled NYT readers for how they use technology to manage the many directions their lives are pulled every day. So far, there are 69 comments...

Very good article on the invasion of technology in one's family life, via smartphones.

I read this article last week, but thought I'd post it to the group after watching the Kevin Kelley talk.