Heather Clark, BCR
- How technology is changing how we understand information and in the economy
- Book by Chris Anderson, Editor in chief of Wired magazine
- How does this apply to the library world
- Web 2.0
- move from retreival to interaction on the Web
- Original article in 2004
- why the futurs of business is selling less of more
- theory of change in economics
- paradigm shift regarding hits and misses
- The Long Tail
- [long tail graphic from www.longtail.com/about.html]
- the low sellers in total outsell the total of big sellers
- brick & mortar, focuses on the head, selling many of a few items
- amazon focuses on the long tail as the space requirements are lower
- Comp tech is causing a move away form hits to niche markets
- counter to the 80/20 principle
- Long Tail Themes
- Niche markets
- Disaggregation of content
- smaller bits
- new revenue streams
- Tyranny of Geography
- marketing
- shelf space
- Long Tail Principles
- Democratize production
- new tools
- new producers
- increases amount of content/product
- motivation is not necesarily monetary
- “exposure culture”
- Democratize distribution
- amatures can produce and distribute
- aggregators as warehouses
- Internet is central distribution center
- examples
- Amazon.com
- eBay
- YouTube
- Tecnorati
- Connect supply and demand
- connect supply and demand
- social sharing of information
- the hyperlink phenomenon
- filters
- search engines
- social services
- Google page rank
- Amazon recommender services
- NetFlix user reviews
- Libraries have lost the battle when it comes to the distribution principle
- Libraries need to be the connectors
- Long Tail Assumptions
- Ubiquitous computing
- not everyone has access
- not everyone knows how to use ths access
- Entertainment-centric model
- people will purchase w/o tactile input
- Low costs of networking
- storage
- intensive bandwidth
- system maintenance
- “infinite shelf space”
- Positives
- richer culture
- “pull together parallel tribes”
- easier for artisan & global producers to market their goods
- Negatives
- eroding local culture
- loss of shared culture
- archive for future
- physical items still need shelf space somewhere
- truly profitable?
- Libraries are the long tail!
- Long Tail & Libraries: Currently
- collections
- robust & rich
- reader’s advisory and reference services
- original recommender sevice
- no matter the format
- built-in fodder for filters
- MARC record
- obsolete outside the library world
- physical serendipity
- Long Tail & LIbraries: Needs Improvement
- making discovery happen readily
- improving OPAC search functions
- link to local
- expediting delivery
- NetFlix model?
- rethinking resource sharing group
- Find it / Get it browser plugin
- Reader’s advisory
- recommender services to patrons
- blogs
- patron reviews in OPACS
- copyright implications
- Conclusions
- will it change the economic world as we know it?
- not dramatically in her opinion
- what about libraries?
- how well do you know your community?
- what can a small library serving a small population can gain from this?
- put up a wiki for a local group then let them add content
- academic
- get your local info to your students
- blackboard
- MySpace & Facebook
- Your environment should guide your application of these concepts
