Educational Attainment in America is an interactive dot-density map designed by these clever folks at the Center for Urban Studies at Texas Christian University showing the US population aged 25 and over by educational attainment.Click on the map anywhere - scroll out or in to focus on y our area of interest.

Bar Chart - America

Data are summarized into five categories organised along the colour spectrum, representing the highest education attained: RED-less than high school; ORANGE-high school or equivalent; YELLOW-some college or associate's degree; GREEN-bachelor's degree; and BLUE-graduate degree.

According to Kyle Walker, Assistant Professor of Geography and Director of the Center for Urban Studies at Texas Christian University. "Data are from  the 2011-2015 American Community Survey Table B15003, distributed by NHGIS. Dot locations are approximate and do not represent the locations of individuals. Also, as the ACS is a survey of the US population, its estimates are subject to a margin of error.

I originally saw this article on line at: BoingBoing

I think it is instructive to compare and contrast the visual representation of the data on the two coasts (I have taken screen shots) compared to the center of the continent. Zoom around this map to find your own areas of interest.

Bar Chart-San Francisco

Section of Map - Mid Continent

Bar Chart - Mid Continent

Bar Chart - New York

According to the OECD-The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the US remains in the middle rankings for Science. (click on the images -they pop up larger)

  You can see for yourself the ranking for Maths: Cred and ScrnGbs: GitHub - walkerke/education_map: Educational Attainment in America  and PISA - PISA

Got your attention?

This summary article (Wiley.com) written by Lluis Anglada, Director of the Department of Libraries, Information and Documentation of the Consortium of University Services of Catalonia (CSUC), of his paper, Are Libraries Sustainable In World Of Free, Networked, Digital Information? gives us the straight goods about the future of libraries and a formula (yes, a mathematical formula!) to help us find our way into our future as viable libraries.

Are Libraries Sustainable In World Of Free, Networked, Digital Information? and available open access here  talks "...about the sustainability of libraries in a world where information is increasingly digital, networked, and free, based on a speech he gave at the 22nd Bobcatsss conference in Barcelona, January 21-24 2014."

He proposes that "the same stages and library events have taken place in all countries and in all library types, but not at the same time. Therefore, the different phases that libraries passed through to become automated are similar in each country, but they occurred in different years (Anglada , 2006)." And "a division of the recent history of libraries  (can be organised) into three major phases over the past 50 years."

Mechanization, a period characterized by the construction of new buildings and mechanization of processes; Automation, in which networks of libraries were created, OPAC was introduced and union catalogues were created; and Digitization, in which electronic journals and books appeared and documents stored in libraries have been digitized (Buckland, 1992)

Here is a portion of his discourse on the third phase:

"During the Digitization phase, however, despite librarians’ ability to adapt (both in terms of their own roles and how the library space is used), the speed of change has been so great that dysfunctions (defined as the difference between expectations and realities) have continued to increase. For example, duplication in catalogs as a result of one book being catalogued more than once; the ‘Googlization’ of information, while library catalogues – once so innovative – have failed to keep up with; and the failure of libraries to sufficiently adapt their services to meet users’ changing expectations. As a result, applying the formula to the Digitized library shows a clear downward trend in terms of its sustainability."

It continues:

"Basically, libraries are suffering from the fact that the public perception of them remains attached to the printed book, which – with the advent of the Internet and digitization of information – is no longer valued as much as it was. Among other things, this has led to the steady decline in library budgets – both in real terms and as a proportion of the overall university budget. Some classic library services are also experiencing significant declines – loan transactions, reference inquiries, and displacement of the starting point for literature searches from the library catalogue to and A&I service or the internet, for example."

and concludes:

"We need to establish a new stereotype of ‘library’ in people’s minds, one that is not based on physical elements – buildings and books – but on the role of providing support and assistance in the difficult process of using information and transforming it into knowledge.

The creation of this new perception must be performed by the current generation of young librarians – “those who are inheriting renovated libraries but also a mental image that is associated with becoming less powerful for society. This is the challenge and responsibility for young librarians: to create a new perception of our profession.”

All your (electronically) recorded information is up for grabs, making you (and your information) accessible to organizations you’ve never even heard of (and never will!).

Companies and governments realise that your electronic devices - mobile devices, lap tops, home appliances with links to the internet and even implanted biometric devices are "powerful data collection tools." 

Are you a victim or a willing participant in sharing of information about your life?

Have a look at this short, clearly written article to learn more about things you probably don't want to know about but must ...3 Ways Technology Can Be Used To Limit Your Privacy & Freedoms, By Rick Delgado on 5^th March, 2015 - on the makeuseof site

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Today more than 300 committed citizens of the world are working to help you control your private and personal information. They are all global Ambassadors for PRIVACY by DESIGN. (PbD)

The "PbD framework" for the "unanimously (adopted)... resolution by International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Jerusalem at their annual conference in 2010 ensures that privacy is embedded into new technologies and business practices, right from the outset – as an 'essential component of fundamental privacy protection'.”

screen shot

Privacy by Design is a concept that was developed by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, back in the 90’s, to address the ever-growing and systemic effects of Information and Communication Technologies, and of large–scale networked data systems.

"At the time, (when PbD was started) the notion of embedding privacy into the design of technology was far less popular – taking a strong regulatory stance was the preferred course of action. Since then, things have changed considerably and the Privacy by Design approach is now enjoying widespread popularity.

Privacy by Design advances the view that the future of privacy cannot be assured solely by compliance with legislation and regulatory frameworks; rather, privacy assurance must ideally become an organization’s default mode of operation.

Initially, deploying Privacy–Enhancing Technologies (PETs) was seen as the solution. Today, we understand that a more substantial approach is required – extending the use of PETs to taking a positive–sum, not a zero-sum, approach."

More: The Origins of Privacy by Design

Quoting directly from their site:

Privacy by Design does not wait for privacy risks to materialize, nor does it offer remedies for resolving privacy infractions once they have occurred – it aims to prevent them from occurring. In short, Privacy by Design comes before-the-fact, not after.

PdD (ensures that) privacy and gaining personal control over one’s information and, for organizations, gaining a sustainable competitive advantage — may be accomplished by practicing the 7 Foundational Principles.

Proactive not Reactive; Preventative not Remedial

Privacy as the Default Setting

Privacy Embedded into Design

Full Functionality – Positive-Sum, not Zero-Sum

End-to-End Security – Full Lifecycle Protection

Visibility and Transparency – Keep it Open

Respect for User Privacy – Keep it User-Centric

We are honoured and proud to announce that with Robert's acceptance at PbD,PLAN22 has just become a member Ambassador.

screen shot-Twitter

PbD keeps up to date with international Privacy Precedents.

"Increasingly, courts in Canada and the U.S. are deciding vital issues related to law enforcement, technology, and our right to privacy. In an effort to counter any impression that privacy is somehow dead or dying in this area, we will be pointing you to the latest privacy-protective decisions that caught our eye. You are invited to actively participate. Please submit any judicial decisions you see to [email protected] to be considered for the site."

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Data, Data Everywhere The Need for BIG Privacy in a World of Big Data by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D., Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada #FOCI14 #MRX #GreatTalk

Every library is facing this issue. Some realise it sooner than others but all libraries are making changes to their 'business model' - yes, it is a business model - the way you do business.

Take heart, everything changes and not all chages are bad for libraries or the pursuit of knowledge. What goes around comes around in unexpected ways. Librarians are masters of going with the flow - of life, of information, of democracy and freedom.

The Skokie Chamber of Commerce meets in a section of the public library where the reference collection was once kept.(Photo: Anne Ryan, USA TODAY)

This piece from USA Today is just one of the hundreds of articles on this subject making the  rounds today on Twitter and Blogs across the world. You may want to check it out.

Who controls the on/off switch?

Is it possible all of our digitized information could all go away? ...or just some of it?

These are questions that immediately came to mind when we were listening all day to the Webcast from NYC of the Institute of Museum and Library Services - Strategic Priorities 2014.

Being that the scope of the conversation was Digitizing All the Information in the World!, we thought the on-line following was paltry.  What has to happen before we all wake up and together try to fashion our future into a scenario with which we can almost cope?

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Event: Digital Cultures Conference

73% of Americans are 'likely' to ask an on-line librarian for research help.