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The previous column on educational trends briefly mentioned haptic technology in the context of the future of educational technologies (Fernandez, 2017). However, haptic technology is important enough to merit further consideration on its own terms. Haptic technology is a term that encompasses a set of rapidly evolving technologies centering on recreating the sense of touch, with a wide range of applications, and is poised to influence a wide range of industries and transform how we interact with technology. This paper aims to provide an overview of what haptic technology is and elucidate some of the crucial ways it is likely to develop in the future.

At its most basic level, haptic technology provides sensory feedback. This can be in service of making an experience more interactive; for example, when playing a video game, the remote control might vibrate in response to what is happening on the screen. It can also provide a wider range of previously unexplored feedback – as when a cell phone vibrates to notify its owner that they have received a text message.

As the technology around the sense of touch develops, it will have the capacity to provide richer experiences as well as new opportunities for communication. This column will provide an overview of what haptic technology is and elucidate some of the crucial ways it is likely to develop in the future

A fundamental shift is underway in how we interact with our computers and devices. Sensation-based products are being launched across a variety of industries, including consumer electronics, automobiles and health care.

The purpose of this column is to interrogate what it means for photographs as practical storehouses of data, how that interacts with society’s understanding of photography and what all of this may mean for the role of libraries as they relate to photographs.

A new generation of camera technology, integrated into phones, is being released. This column examines the implications for society at large, adding libraries in particular.

Once it is easy to do dramatic photo manipulation on the device that takes the photos, it will change how users think about photos. This has implications for how libraries plan information literacy, advocate for their users in the creation of standards and manage their collections.

This column will help information professionals think through the implications of this change for the future of the profession.

This study aims to inform and guide information professionals in thinking clearly about the challenges and opportunities this technology may create.

This column uses the Web browser Arc as a focal point for exploring elements that seem key to understanding how artificial intelligence (AI) may change our relationship with information. Large language model’s were used to help draft or rewrite sentences. That text was then reviewed or revised by the author.

The following elements are key to understanding the potential of informational interface software like Arc. The ability to abstract information from the original content. The ability to produce multimedia compelling user experiences. The ability to “read” multimodal forms of information and take action based on that “understanding”. This may impact the value exchange between the user and the underlying information, with implications for libraries.

Everything about AI the future of AI or any technology is speculative.

Libraries that wish to continue to be part of adding value to how users interact with information need to pay attention and find ways to adapt.

As new paradigms are created to ensure information exchange is sustainable for everyone, there may be opportunities for libraries. And even if not, libraries may leverage their expertise or relationships to build something that could not be imagined without them. Yet these are only possible if libraries engage.

This column aims to explore how AI is being used to impact books and help them understand how it may develop in the near future. Exploring these possibilities will help information professionals better understand the ways in which this technology is already being developed to impact books, a technology near and dear to many libraries.

This column discusses a series of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are being used to change what books are. They include AI that adds context with the help of experts, AI that leverages the content of the book itself to create an interactive persona, and AI that makes books multi-modal either by adding narration and likely someday visuals inspired by the text.

Many of these transformations do not require breakthroughs in AI technology. Rather, they only require the application of existing technologies, layering on new interfaces and frameworks.

As a book evolves, libraries, who know their patrons’ needs, have expertise and often operate within ethical frameworks, have an opportunity to participate in the process.

This column takes a big picture look at some of the technology-related trends in education to identify potential opportunities for libraries.

In particular, it is inspired by the 2016 NMC Horizon Report, which attempts to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching and creative inquiry in education.

Although this report was created in the context of higher education, it impacts all libraries that support lifelong learning. In fact, some of the concepts considered in the report, such as digital literacy and makerspaces, are already well integrated into the operations of many libraries.

This column’s focus will be on the concepts of personalized learning, competing models of education and the blending of informal and formal learning, and it will examine how libraries can use related technologies to position themselves to best assist their patrons in the future.

By understanding these trends, information professionals can better position themselves to help their patrons as the technology develops, as well as position their organizations for success in the world the metaverse will create.

This paper defines core concepts of the metaverse, including defining what it is, explaining the narratives surrounding it and exploring its implications for intellectual property and libraries.

The development of the metaverse is poised to change the parameters by which libraries work, with implications for information accessibility as well as possible technological barriers. The same economies of scale and disconnection that could potentially threaten libraries could also be an opportunity to develop new partnerships and frameworks for cooperation, if information professionals choose to help shape the metaverse instead of only react to it.

Understanding the range of possibilities for how the metaverse might develop helps to navigate the role libraries might play as it emerges.

Humans use the written language to tell stories and exchange ideas across time and space, and it is the core innovation on which libraries are founded.

Even as the transmission of writing has evolved from hand-written scrolls to mass printing to digital distribution, it has remained one of primary communication methods in the world. Through websites, e-mails, news articles, Facebook posts and more, writing is core to how humans interact. Writing well is also an activity that many people find arduous.

This paper will explore some of the current technologies and emerging trends that are designed to assist with the writing process.

Along the way, the paper will highlight some specific applications that can be used now. Examining these technologies, many of which only currently serve niche audiences, serves another purpose as well, as they point the way to what the future of writing will look like.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on tracking technologies and artificial intelligence, two technologies many of us carry as part of our smartphones every day in the context of the 2020 pandemic.

This column is part of a series using examples and headlines generated by this unique pandemic to explore larger technological trends and to provide a glimpse into the future of these underlying technologies.

Looking ahead, it is clear that the current pandemic has heightened the value and importance of these technologies, accelerating existing trends and heightening the importance for information professionals to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

This column will help information professionals have the context they need to understand these technologies as they evolve and enable them to prepare their organizations and communities to effectively use, promote and develop policies to deal with them. Once a technology has been integrated into our lives, its impact can feel invisible, regardless of its impact. Over time, as the technology continues to improve and change, those evolutions may remain unseen. Yet, extraordinary circumstances, such as a global pandemic, can provide a new lens for understanding these underlying technologically evolutionary trends. This is particularly true if the technology interacts with our lives in novel ways.