One Phone Call From Jail?

What does the Egyptian Police, the micro blogging site Twitter, a mobile phone and the word “arrested” all have in common?

April 10, UC Berkley journalism student James Karl Buck was photographing a demonstration in Egypt when he was taken to jail. Egyptian Police didn’t take his mobile phone! Buck typed out the message “ARRESTED” on his cell phone and posted it to his Twitter account. That message was then instantly broadcast to those who follow Buck’s Twitter account. It was those friends who called, UC Berkley, the American Embassy and the Associated Press. Buck was released the next day.

Hope to see you tomorrow for Hand Held Libraries

More Statistics on Portable Devices

Digital activities away from home or work

According to the Pew Internet Project’s December 2007 survey:

58% of adult Americans have used a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) to
do at least one of ten mobile non-voice data activities, such as texting, emailing,
taking a picture, looking for maps or directions, or recording video.

41% of adult Americans have logged onto the internet on the go, that is, away from
home or work either with a wireless laptop connection or a handheld device.

This comes to 62% of all Americans who have some experience with mobile access to digital data and tools. That is, they have either used a cell phone or PDA for a non-voice
data application or logged on to the internet away from home or work using a wireless
laptop connection or with a handheld device. Not only are young people attuned to this kind of access, African Americans and English-speaking Latinos are more likely than white Americans to use non-voice data applications on their cell phones. The Pew Internet Project’s December 2007
survey interviewed a sample of 2,054 adult Americans, which included 500 respondents
contacted on their cell phones.

For more information, see the Pew Report on Technology and Media Use.

Lee Rainie Keynote

Yes, Lee. We know you are charming and smart and love librarians. We appreciate that. Especially the results from the last Pew survey: LIBRARIANS ROCK.

But seriously, this is what fascinated me and leads right into the SCLS Handheld Libraries conference on April 22nd. 78% of Americans have cellphones. CELLPHONES HAVE TURNED AROUND THE INFORMATION DIVIDE. Cellphone owners are using their devices to connect wirelessly to the internet. Email is important to them, and THEY ARE USING THE INTERNET TO STORE INFORMATION using their cellphones.

So how can libraries have a no cell phone policy? People are talking on cell phones, and they are USING THEM TO ACCESS THE INTERNET, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE NO COMPUTER AT HOME!!!!

If you are not seeing this in your library, it may be due to the prevalence of the image above.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee, which by the way is Starbucks at the conference.