<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">NFAIS Enotes, October,
2011</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Written and Compiled by
Jill O’Neill</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Catching
Fire?!</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I
am quietly excited. In just about two weeks, I will be opening up the Amazon
package containing my Kindle Fire device. I was able to use that one-click
order button ahead of the teeming masses and am supposed to receive mine on
November 17. Come that day, I will be able to navigate across the touch screen
of the device to read news on Web sites such as CNN, watch BBC television shows, and check my Twitter stream
using a vetted Android app from Amazon’s App Store. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">This is not very different
from what I am currently able to do on my second-generation iPod Touch device;
indeed, the biggest difference in the hardware is that the Fire’s screen is
significantly larger (although the same resolution as the Touch). The storage
size (8GB) is the same on both; the battery life purports to be roughly the
same as well. The Fire lacks a camera, but so does my Touch. Both Amazon and
Apple are pressing me to store content in their cloud services. The rumor is
that Fire is essentially the RIM Playbook, tailored slightly to Amazon
specifications.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As a form factor suited
to couch computing, this jazzy addition to the Kindle family promises to occupy
and distract me, at least until the end of 2011. For comparisons with other
devices, you might look at:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">1.
What you get with $199 tablets</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/241686/what_you_get_with_199_tablets.html">http://www.pcworld.com/article/241686/what_you_get_with_199_tablets.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">2.
Amazon's Kindle Fire Tablet vs. the Competition: Spec Showdown</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/240746/amazons_kindle_fire_tablet_vs_the_competition_spec_showdown.html">http://www.pcworld.com/article/240746/amazons_kindle_fire_tablet_vs_the_competition_spec_showdown.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The
Amazon product page for the Fire is here: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051VVOB2/ref=sa_menu_kdpo3">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051VVOB2/ref=sa_menu_kdpo3</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Truth
be told, I’ve had some moments of buyers’ remorse since my order date of
September 28, but more on philosophical grounds than functional ones. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Like Apple, Amazon is running a proprietary ecosystem
and nothing about the Fire suggests anything other than Amazon’s hope that I
will continue to play only in their private garden. I’ve been a customer of
Amazon’s since 1995 so it seems unlikely that I would switch allegiances, but I
would prefer that Amazon not discount that loyalty. The twofold aspects of the
Fire that did intrigue me were its Silk browser and its use of the Cloud for
purposes of storage and streaming. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Silk
is a more of a re-engineered rather than entirely new browser, one better
suited to the limited computing power of a small tablet. It is built on what is
called split architecture. Split
architecture has been used in the Opera browser for mobile devices because it
reduces the processing load on devices where the internal chip may not be all
that powerful. I quote from a technology expert here: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">what is split architecture? The tasks included in the process of web
browsing are split between the tablet and the back end, which is in the cloud.
The main systems are on the Kindle Fire, and the additional elements are found
remotely on the Amazon Cloud. When clicking a link, the request is being
delivered to the cloud, which fetches the elements, optimizes them and loads
them to the mobile device. According to Amazon, the cloud functions as a
limitless cache where images, CSS,
and JavaScript are stored for the most common visited pages. This will lead to
lighter processing on the tablet (see: </i><a href="http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2011/10/is-amazon-silk-the-future-of-browsers/">http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2011/10/is-amazon-silk-the-future-of-browsers/</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) posed
some serious objections to use of the cloud on the grounds of privacy and
indeed, Congressional antennae were briefly raised in alarm.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>By virtue of this split architecture, <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Amazon will preload some Web sites based on
discernible user behavior in order to shorten the time and load for delivering
those web sites to the individual. I, as a user, may favor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">The Atlantic Wire</i> and, knowing that I am not alone in that
favoritism, Amazon will preload segments of that page in anticipation of crowds
heading to that location. Amazon has indicated that user data will not be
retained more than 30 days so that some concerns may be allayed. But there was
also a data-mining concern raised by Apple employee and blogger Chris Espinosa:
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Amazon now has what every storefront
lusts for: the knowledge of what other stores your customers are shopping in
and what prices they’re being offered there. What’s more, Amazon is getting
this not by expensive, proactive scraping the Web, like Google has to do;
they’re getting it passively by offering a simple caching service, and letting
Fire users do the hard work of crawling the Web. In essence the Fire user base
is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, scraping the Web for free and providing Amazon
with the most valuable cache of user behavior in existence </i>(see<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> </i><a href="http://cdespinosa.posterous.com/fire">http://cdespinosa.posterous.com/fire</a>]).
<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Amazon responded to Chris’ concerns via
Om Malik by pointing out that they only retain URLs for purposes of
troubleshooting and diagnosing technical issues arising with Silk <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(see:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><a href="http://gigaom.com/2011/09/28/amazon-silk-or-a-spider-web/">http://gigaom.com/2011/09/28/amazon-silk-or-a-spider-web/</a>).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Given
that the original browsers associated with my original Kindle and with the 3<sup>rd</sup>
generation Kindle were slow and entirely lacking in user-friendliness, I look
forward to the possibilities of Silk even as I wonder how much of a data trail
I might be leaving in my wake. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The
Silk browser was touted by technology analysts as one of the interesting
innovations offered via the Kindle Fire. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But within weeks, other mobile suppliers such
as Opera and Nokia were pointing out that Silk (while nifty) is not truly an
Amazon innovation </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">(see:
<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395333,00.asp">http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395333,00.asp</a>).
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Touted
as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">other</i> major innovation found
in the Kindle Fire (but again, perhaps, not really)<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>was the tie between the Kindle Fire and
Amazon’s existing Cloud Drive (see: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><a href="https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/learnmore/">https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/learnmore/</a>)
for purposes of back-up and storage of both very large files (as in videos) and
application files (as in Android apps). MP3 files being stored on the Fire for
listening at odd moments is also a selling point for the device and Amazon will
undoubtedly be using the Fire to encourage users to purchase storage above the
free 5GB currently offered. (Amazon has fee-based storage options associated
with Cloud Drive
ranging from $20 annually up to $1000.) <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Numerous
analysts are proposing that the Kindle Fire is aimed at competing with Apple’s
iPad or with Barnes & Noble’s e-reader, the Nook. Undercutting both in
price for only slightly less functionality, the assumption is that Amazon will
take a loss on the actual device because they estimate a longer life-time
profit from a customer purchasing multiple forms of content beyond the book. While
an eInk Kindle device may offset Amazon’s costs through e-book sales and ads
delivered to the user, a Fire may encourage users such as myself (so far, neither
a buyer of Amazon MP3s or Instant Video) to expand content consumption into
those other realms (see: <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111026/why-amazon-is-happy-to-burn-money-on-the-kindle-fire/">http://allthingsd.com/20111026/why-amazon-is-happy-to-burn-money-on-the-kindle-fire/</a>).
They want to turn me into a digital omnivore (see comScore’s white paper
available at: <a href="http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/Digital_Omnivores">http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/Digital_Omnivores</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As the research from that white paper shows,
nearly half of tablet owners make or complete a purchase using their tablet
device. The same research shows that iPads now drive more Web traffic than
iPhones (46.8% vs. 42.8%).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">There
is a downside for Amazon in this situation – one not announced in close
conjunction with its launch of the four new Kindle devices. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The
Kindle Fire represents a forced shift for Amazon – specifically, a shift in the
e-book format supported on Amazon’s devices. In an effort to compete in the
lucrative market for graphic novels, children’s books, cookbooks, and similar
design-reliant forms of content, Amazon announced that the new Kindles will
support KF8 files (a bastardized version of HTML5). Specifically, the
announcement noted:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">Kindle Format 8 replaces the Mobi format and adds over 150 new
formatting capabilities, including fixed layouts, nested tables, callouts,
sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics, opening up more opportunities to create
Kindle books that readers will love.</i> Certainly, based on the surrounding
buzz, it was disappointing to many publishers to learn that Amazon would not
move to what many consider the industry standard, the E-Pub format. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Technology Review</i> offers some insights
on the expanded possibilities (see: <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27282/?p1=blogs">http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27282/?p1=blogs</a>).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">That
there will be fall-out from this is inevitable as one author and tech expert
immediately pointed out (see: <a href="http://guidohenkel.com/2011/10/amazon-introduces-new-indle-ebook-format-and-makes-a-major-misstep/">http://guidohenkel.com/2011/10/amazon-introduces-new-indle-ebook-format-and-makes-a-major-misstep/</a>).
<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Amazon is moving away from the purely
text-based format, Mobi (designed for small screen mobile phone displays) and
towards HTML5 – more suited to the graphic displays to be viewed on a fluid
Web-enabled device with a larger screen size. But, as one of my Twitterati
friends noted, this is creating a tiered system of generational devices and consumers
will likely not be happy once they realize it. Is it any wonder then that
Amazon began a buy-back program for older generation Kindles still out there in
the landscape? (see: <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/amazon-now-accepts-old-kindles-in-exchange-for-new-ones/">http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/amazon-now-accepts-old-kindles-in-exchange-for-new-ones/</a>).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The
introduction of the new format suggests as well that the Kindle apps that run
on other devices (iOS, Android, Windows, etc.) will need to be re-engineered as
well. And what of the library community hoping to serve e-books to patrons
using those various Amazon Kindle devices? Is Overdrive equipped to serve up
KF8 editions?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">If
you have only time to read one article this month about what’s happening in
this space with Apple and Amazon (and the two distant rivals of Google and
Facebook), I strongly recommend that you read in full an excellent piece by
Farhad Manjoo and published by Fast Company entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">The Great Tech War of 2012</i>. Manjoo proposes scenarios for each of
these players in “winning” the war, but he underscores the importance of three
elements for them as well – hardware, media and data. Apple and Amazon have all
three as part of their strategies, where Google and Facebook do not. [<a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/160/tech-wars-2012-amazon-apple-google-facebook">http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/160/tech-wars-2012-amazon-apple-google-facebook</a>]
Recognizing that this is a fast moving area, the publishers have established a
supplemental sidebar for 30 days after the publication of that article where
you can see comments and updates from the major players.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Manjoo’s
piece echoes something I recently heard from Evan Schnittman of Bloomsbury
Press at the recent Really Strategies User Conference. Schnittman, who has
worked in both STM publishing as
well as for a major university press (Oxford,)
noted that success in the current environment required major players to be able
to leverage three things – a device, content, and an operating system or
platform. It is perhaps worthwhile to note that most NFAIS member organizations
have amassed a body of content and some have platforms, but few, if any, have
devices. That’s not a problem necessarily (despite Evan’s statement), but it
does suggest that NFAIS members must monitor the strengths and weaknesses of
these devices closely if they want to deliver to users intelligently and
effectively.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">I
may question the wisdom of my Kindle Fire order, but I have looked long and
hard at the broad range of tablet providers -- ASUS, Acer, Toshiba, Samsung,
HP, Motorola, and, yes, Apple. With the technology shifting so rapidly, it
seems foolhardy to invest much of my limited disposable income in any device
that won’t last more than a year or two. Indeed, two years is about all I
should expect to get out of it. An Apple analyst noted that, given that
tablet-style-devices are primarily personal devices, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">“…it’s reasonable to assume that tablets will be sold on a more
one-to-one basis than PCs. (Also, probably on a shorter replacement cycle than
a typical PC.) Probably not to the extent that mobile phones are, but probably
more than PCs. Or, you might at least want to have a few of them around the
house, so that multiple people could use them simultaneously</i>” (see: <a href="http://www.splatf.com/2011/10/tablet-pc-market/">http://www.splatf.com/2011/10/tablet-pc-market/</a>).
<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If that’s the future, it doesn’t really
matter if I buy the new Kindle Fire or upgrade to the 4<sup>th</sup> generation
iPod Touch. Disposable devices demand disposable price tags. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">MARK YOUR CALENDARS:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>2012 NFAIS Annual Conference: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Born
of Disruption: An Emerging New Normal for the Information Landscape</i></b>,
February 26-28, 2012, Philadelphia, PA.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>For more information, go to: <a href="http://nfais.brightegg.com/page/335-2012-nfais-annual-conference">http://nfais.brightegg.com/page/335-2012-nfais-annual-conference</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">2011
SPONSORS</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Access Innovations, Inc<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">.</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Accessible Archives,
Inc.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">American Psychological
Association/PsycINFO</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">American Theological
Library Association</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">CAS</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">CrossRef</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Data Conversion
Laboratory</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Defense</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> Technical
Information Center</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Elsevier</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Getty Research Institute</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">H. W. Wilson</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Information Today, Inc.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">International Food
Information Services</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Philosopher’s Information Center</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">ProQuest</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Really Strategies, Inc.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">TEMIS, Inc.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Thomson Reuters IP &
Science</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Unlimited Priorities
Corporation</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""> </span></p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Jill O'Neill<br><a href="mailto:jillmwo@gmail.com">jillmwo@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jilloneill">http://www.linkedin.com/in/jilloneill</a><br>