I love to read, always have — what a surprise right?  And I always thought I liked the actual books but now I know it is really the content I love — the ideas, the puzzles, the stuff that makes you think and imagine.  And I know this how?  I am in love with my Amazon Kindle.  I thought it would be great for taking a bunch of books away with me when I’m gone for several weeks or so.  Less weight since air travel is such a pain these days.  I wanted to try it out as I have always love to gadgets.  I was amazed last November when a plane I was on had half the people using ebook readers.

So I downloaded a bunch of books to take away with a month ago.  BTW, it is easy on the Kindle as it has wireless capabilities.   I loved the feel of the Kindle, the weight, the ease of use as soon as I started using it.  I could bump the font up so I don’t have to squint (yeah, I’m getting old!).  I could take it anywhere; even on the bright sunny beach it excelled.  The one thing I had not anticipated was that I could rest the reader on my knee, on the back of the seat in front of me on the plane, on a pillow and only flick the next page button — so almost hands free,  amazing.  The Kindle even passed the bathtub test ( I didn’t drop it) although I’m now trying to design a bathtub accessory for hands free usage!

After reading 3 ebooks, I read a trade paperback and couldn’t wait to get back to the Kindle.  So I now know it is definitely all about the content, not the format, for me.  There will be many less piles of books in my future, and many more ebooks in my Kindle.  Oh Kindle, My Kindle, I love you!’

I also think it’s interesting that Deloitte’s top predicition for TMT (Technology, Media, Telecommunications) in their Canadian predictions for 2010 is, “E-readers will see strong growth in 2010, but this will slow down the following year due to competition from other mobile devices like smart phones, netbooks and tablets. Deloitte anticipates e-readers will ultimately remain a niche device, while e-book sales skyrocket.”  Content rules, containers change and so do we!

Pic & Tips: http://www.blogohblog.com/page/16/

Some of us are not real visual people (that’s me, tho’ I have been trying to improve), but others are extraordinary.  Images and videos are really adding to the learning experience, to gaining attention and making an impression, and so much more.  Just saw this article on digital photography tips which reminded me about the Digital Photographer Boot Camp being held at Internet Librarian 2009 on Saturday afternoon in Monterey, CA.  Led my Cindi Trainor, Michael Porter, and Michael Sauers, this workshop will be a great way to learn how to create, edit and add images to your website, to your marketing, and more.  So if you’re one of those visually challenged, take advantage of learning from these experts!IL

I’ve been thinking a lot about news and newspapers lately as many friends say goodbye to their newspaper careers.  So I was interested in this post by Jeff Jarvis, journalist, media consultant, founder of DayLife, an online news source and content platform, and \author of What Would Google Do?

“The Guardian just announced that it is releasing all its content through an API as well as making available many different data sets through a data store, all of which can be mashed up into others’ sites and applications. They join other organizations - the BBC, National Public Radio, and The New York Times - in releasing APIs; notes that it’s the creme of news that sees the wisdom in APIs. The Guardian’s offers more than headlines: articles, video, galleries, everything. It also adds one more important element to its offering: a business model, creating an ad network for users of the API.”  There’s lots more interesting stuff, and then,

“News organizations already lost control of packaging, whether they all knew it or not, when most of us most days come to content not through carefully designed home pages but through search and links and now Facebook. The media brand is less a destination and a magnet to draw people there than a label once you’ve found the content, wherever and however you found it. So the more places you can find it, the better.”

Interesting to see that CMS Watch is using different modes to convey their 12 predictions about the content management landscape — an article and a YouTube production — which notes significant changes for 2009 according to their research:

Interesting interactive site to visit – Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Just heard from one of the creators, Chris Willis, VP Social Media, Footenote.com, who worked with a team to take pictures of the wall (6500) and then opened the site where people can share memories, memorabilia (including super 8 film), etc.  You can search the wall, browse names by category, enlistment types, service, and home town.   This new site ended up on the front page of CNN on Apr 2.  Very interesting. Footenote.com also has a partnership with the US National Archives.  Check it out.

At Information Today’s Buying & Selling eContent 2008 event, Y.S. Chi, Vice-Chair, Elsevier gave a great analogy about the different levels of content available to users.  He compared content to baseball.  You can watch a ball game from the bleachers, from box seats, from a private suite with pop-up screens and access to stats, video clips, etc., or from your TV at home.  It’s the same content, the ball game, but the user experience is different.  I love this example.  Chi also listed 8 ways information can retain value:  personalization (content tailored to you), immediacy (early content is better), interpretation, authenticity, accessibility, embodiment (tangibility), patronage and findability.