Conference Reports

UKSG 2009: How Technology is Changing Learning and Research In Universities

How Technology is Changing Learning and Research In Universities
Tim O-Shea at U of Edinburgh

-- new modes of research and learning are upon us - new knowledge curation – new modes of use – new modes of ownership
-- focus at U of Edinburgh is on research
-- research through new technologies fed into the student experience

UKSG 2009: Beyond Open Access

The United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG) returned to Torquay, Devon, UK for its 32nd annual conference, March 30-Apr. 1.  I'd intended to blog live from the sessions but TypePad wasn't cooperating.  

Beyond Open Access
Jan Velterop (Knewco, Inc.)
opening plenary

What's wrong – we have far too many returns in terms of actionable knowledge because there is so much data and it is deeply hidden. He discussed how knowledge transfer works now and compared it to a "needle transfer" - he showed a humongous stack of hay (i.e., needles) hanging off the sides of a truck).

We know we have information overload (and that will only increase) but suggests that we also have organizational underload: a lack of conceptual structure to effectively organize information.