IFLA Trends Report

Segametsi Molawa08-11 October 2013

LIASA 15th Annual ConferenceWestern Cape

Background information

• IFLA set a steering committee to investigate the current digital information environment

• Literature review, experts and stakeholders from various disciplines were consulted over a period of 12 months.

• Five trends were identified, and they have a great likelihood to impact on:– Knowledge economy– Services provided by libraries across the sectors

New Technologies will both expand and limit who has access to information.

• The world’s information at your fingertips- but what can you do with it?

• The value added by technology to information literacy advantage those who have access and disadvantage those without internet access, literacy:

TREND1

Questions from trend 1

• Who owns information in the midst of open access through internet?

• Is internet able to determine the limitations to access?

• How can you optimise the value of information available for you?

South African priorities• Strengthening information literacy initiatives.• Internet and mobile access, their impact on national

development priorities

Trend 2

Online education will transform and disrupt traditional learning

• Assumption is that online education resources are making learning opportunities more abundant, cheaper and more accessible. Our questions:

• If online education is free, then how much is it really worth?

• If we’re learning together but studying alone – will online education change the face of learning forever?

TREND2

Redefining the boundaries of privacy and data protection• What are the resulting impacts on privacy, and

protection of our personal information? • Who’s profiting from your personal information? • Does your government know more about you than you

do? • Who’s to be trusted more: your government or your

search engine? Or neither?

TREND3

Hyper-connected societies will listen to andempower new voices and groups

• What impact will hyper-connected societies have on traditional political parties?– Mobile technology impact.

• Open government initiatives and access to public sector data will continue to improve, resulting in more citizen-focused public services.

TREND4

The global information economy will be transformed by new technologies

• Will automated translation lead to greater multi-cultural understanding?

• Will individuals and businesses be able to be economically active from anywhere in the world?

TREND5