2002's Top Tech Trends

The past year in educational technology has been a busy one. Several education-oriented dot-coms collapsed in 2001 when the economy teetered, and the terrorist attacks of September 11 have only compounded our nation's fiscal ills. The financial unraveling of netLibrary, a company that attracted lots of attention at ALA conferences and convinced hundreds of libraries to sign up for e-book subscriptions, was particularly unnerving.

However, several promising technologies, on the cusp of more widespread adoption, hold out the opportunity for more revolutionary ways for kids to learn. Those innovations, as well as several evolving legal and policy developments, are certain to frame the landscape for librarians serving youth in 2002.

1) Wireless Net access. Wireless cards for student and faculty laptops have been a dream for many schools over the last two years but a reality in too few of them. Wireless networks, which allow cable-free access to the school network and the Internet, wherever one is on campus, may appear this year in many more K–12 schools. Visit "Wireless Networks Come of Age" (www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/~vanderlyn/news.wireless-network.htm.)

2) E-rate in the eye of the hurricane. The demand for e-rate funding for schools and public libraries grows just as government requirements for those schools and libraries to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) become more restrictive. Many public libraries refuse to comply, waiting for the courts to rule on ALA and ACLU challenges to CIPA. Both challenges go to trial on February 14. Visit ALA's CIPA site (www.ala.org/cipa ).

3) Cyberterrorism. Over the past two years Net users, particularly those on institutional networks, have seen the damage that sophisticated and destructive viruses and worms, like Code Red and Nimda, can wreak. It is possible, say virus experts, for terrorists to use the Internet as a weapon and cripple U.S. corporate and government Web sites—as well as all the computers in a school or library. Antivirus information sites, such as About.com's (antivirus.about.com), tell us how to combat the latest threats .

4) Handhelds. Palm began promoting its handhelds in K–12 education during the 1999–2000 school year (see www.palm.com/education), and now Handspring, with its Visor handhelds, is targeting the K–12 market. When these devices become inexpensive as well as wireless, allowing Internet access in a form even more portable than laptops, librarians may find themselves checking the catalog on their handhelds as they walk through the stacks.

5) Tablet computers. In a recent Newsweek story (www.msnbc.com/news/645566.asp?cp1=1), Bill Gates predicts that wireless networks will allow students to use "tablet PCs"—devices taking the place of small, Palm-style handhelds. They'll have high-resolution screens, on which students can take notes with a stylus and watch multimedia presentations. It's doubtful we'll see them with all these features in schools this year. But tablet computers, by combining the advantages of a laptop (larger, easier-to-read screen) and those of a handheld (greater portability and lower cost), are sure to attract a lot of attention from educators. For a current version intended for student Web browsing and e-texts, see the goReader (www.goreader.com).

6) Less free, more fee. Many Web sites that offered services free to users, such as Britannica.com, now charge for those services, or severely limit what is available for free. There's an ongoing chronicle of this trend at The End of Free at www.theendoffree.com. However, a recently released report by Forrester Research confirms that Net users are unwilling to pay for most online information, preferring to switch to free resources. Libraries could take advantage of this finding by promoting the high quality of information available free through their online databases, as well as their own skills as information navigators.

7) More online students. Secondary students seeking academic enrichment in specific subject areas, but who live in rural or cash-poor communities, will increasingly become consumers of online education. Expect schools providing distance education through the Net, such as Florida Virtual School (www.flvs.net), to become more common.

8) The copyright war continues. Library and education organizations must counter efforts by intellectual property owners (such as AOL Time Warner and Microsoft) to limit fair use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes and make it more difficult to download multimedia information for educational or personal use. ALA Washington Office's copyright site at www.ala.org/washoff/copyright.html describes the conflict, which has important consequences for future libraries.