1. Teens are Different
And that’s OK
Stephen Abram
iSchool @ Toronto
Jan.14, 2014

2. Has The Future Changed?

3. How?

4. Has the future changed?
Has our future changed?

5. A Short List
• Genomic knowledge
• Nanotechnology
• Thin – batteries,
screens, etc.
• Embedables and
wearables
• Bio-everything, Siri
• Storage, Moore’s law
• Wireless electricity
• AI, Siri, Watson, ‘Her’
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stem Cells
fMRI and The Brain
Cloning
Trucking and GPS
Wind and other energy
Robotics
Massive Book Digitization
Translation
Streaming Media
Seed Bank

7. A 1965 iPhone

8. Can libraries keep up with change?
Can you recall buying a 45?
Can you recall dials on TVs? Can you recall dialling?

10. Books

14. Books
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Print vs. digital (retronyms)
Fiction vs. non fiction
Articles vs. chapters
Sound, visual, moving image, games,
experiences
Search vs. discovery
Organization and storage
Physical vs. device
Ownership, access and use

15. HOW MANY MOONS ARE THERE IN
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM?

16. 146 Moons plus 23 provisional moons

19. Considering the Whole Experience

20. 1
Fill That Gap
2.0
3

23. PROGRAMS

24. WHAT’S THE POINT?

25. Opinion
• Every collection facet should be justified
reciprocally with a program
• It should be persona not demographically
based
• Consider user and community goals: culture,
employment,
• Makerspaces (for all ages and including
writing)

26. Smelly
Yellow
Liquid
Or
Sex
Appeal?

27. Have Students Changed?

31. News Flash
The Internet and technology have
now progressed well beyond
their infancy.

37. News Flash
News Flash
Shift Happens

38. E-Learning

39. E-Learning

48. NextGen Differences






Increase in IQ - 15-25 Points
Brain & Developmental Changes
Eye Movement Changes
Massive Behavioural Changes
Major Decline in Crime Rates – 65%+
But still a 70% behavior overlap
with Boomers (see Boomers &
Beyond)

49. Discovery & Ideas

50. Has the future changed?
Has our future changed?

52. COWS, etc.

56. Books

58. Grocery Stores

61. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

62. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

63. People Need Meals

68. Trans-Literacy: Move beyond reading & PC skills








Reading literacy
Numeracy
Critical literacy
Social literacy
Computer literacy
Web literacy
Content literacy
Written literacy








News literacy
Technology literacy
Information literacy
Media literacy
Adaptive literacy
Research literacy
Academic literacy
Reputation, Etc.

71. Can we frame the e-book issue
so that it can be addressed
rationally?

72. MindMap: What is a book?
Reading
1. Reading
2. Learning
3. Pedagogy
4. Scaffolds
5. Research
6. Exploration
7. Reference
8. Engagement
9. Enjoyment
10.Evaluation

73. MindMap: What is a book?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Reading
Learning
Pedagogy
Research
Exploration
Reference
Engagement
Enjoyment
Evaluation

74. What do we
need to know?
What are
we going
to do next?

76. Be More Open to the Users’ Paths Filtering

77. Serve
Everyone!

78. Teens and Libraries
Lee Rainie
Director
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
Presented to: YALSA Teens and Libraries Summit
January 23, 2013

79. What is the Pew Internet Project?
A comprehensive and groundbreaking new report
released Monday by the Pew Research Center’s
Internet and American Life Project has found that
only four users of Facebook derive pleasure of
.... “As it turns out, the vast majority of human
any kindtend to become depressed when they
beings from the popular social networking
website. past five years of their life
see the
According to the report, the remainderin a
of
summarized right there in front of them
the 950 million people registered with Facebook,
sad little timeline,” said lead researcher John
despite using the site on a regular basis, take no
Elliott.
joy in doing so, and in fact feel a profound sense
of hopelessness and despair immediately upon
logging in…
Number Of Users
Who Actually
Enjoy Facebook
Down To 4

80. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have different priorities in library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

81. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens’ use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

82. The super-tech-saturated teens
• 95% use internet / ~ three-quarters have
broadband at home
~ 60%-70% access internet on mobile device
• 78% have cell phones / 47% have smartphones
– 80% have desktop/laptop
– 23% have tablet computers
• 81% use social networking sites
– 24% use Twitter
– Approx. from young adult data: a quarter of teens use
Instagram; 1 in 7 use Pinterest; 1 in 10 use Tumblr

83. Other factoids
• Teens who play video games: 97%
• Young adults (YA) who own e-reader or tablet:
50%
• YA who prefer to get call rather than text: 45%
• YA who prefer to get text rather than call: 40%
• YA who have bumped into another person or
object when they were concentrating on cell
phone: 41%
• YA who have been bumped into by another
person concentrating on her/his phone: 61%

84. The traits of networked information
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pervasively generated
Pervasively consumed
Personal
Participatory / social
Linked
Continually edited
Multi-platformed
• Real-time /
just-in-time
• Timeless /
searchable
• Given meaning
through social
networks and
“algorithmic
authority”

85. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

86. Online survey of 2,462 teachers with
College Board and National Writing Project
• 77% of
teachers
surveyed say
the
internet and
digital search
tools have had
a “mostly
positive”
impact on
their students’
research work
• 87% agree
these
technologies
are creating an
“easily
distracted
generation with
short attention
spans”

87. Online survey of 2,462 teachers with
College Board and National Writing Project
• 76% of the
teachers in
this study
strongly agree
“the internet
enables
students to
access a wider
range of
resources
than would
otherwise be
available”
• 76% strongly
agree that
internet
search
engines have
conditioned
students to
expect to be
able to find
information
quickly and
easily

88. Online survey of 2,462 teachers with
College Board and National Writing Project
• 65% agree to
some extent
that “the
internet
makes today’s
students
more selfsufficient
researchers”
83% agree that
the amount of
information
available online
today is
overwhelming
to most
students

89. Online survey of 2,462 teachers with
College Board and National Writing Project
• 90% agree that
the internet
encourages
learning by
connecting
students to
resources
about topics of
interest to
them
• 71% agree that
today’s digital
technologies
discourage
students from
using a wide
range of
sources when
conducting
research

90. Grading students’ research skills

91. “Today’s students are really no
different from previous
generations, they just have
different tools through which to
express themselves.”
Agree
Disagree
47%
52%

92. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

93. How many books Americans read
Among book readers, the mean and median number of
books each group read in the past 12 months, among all
Americans ages 16 and older
Mean number of
books read
(average)
Median
(midpoint)
All those 16 and older
17
8
Ages 16-17 (n=144)
18
10
Ages 18-24 (n=298)
17
7
Ages 25-29 (n=186)
17
6
Ages 30-39 (n=434)
14
6
Ages 40-49 (n=449)
15
6
Ages 50-64 (n=804)
18
8
Ages 65+ (n=622)
23
12

94. Reading on a “typical day”
(among
book readers)

95. Young readers are instrumental readers

96. Young e-book readers read on all kinds of devices

97. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

98. Used library in past year

99. Got help from a librarian (among library users)

100. How important is the library?

101. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

102. Teens say they would likely use …

103. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

104. How will hyperconnected Millennials live?
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Hyperconnected-lives.aspx

105. Vote for …

106. Millennials’ future
• In 2020 the brains of multitasking teens and young
adults are "wired" differently from those over age 35
and overall it yields helpful results. They do not suffer
notable cognitive shortcomings as they multitask and
cycle quickly through personal- and work-related tasks.
Rather, they are learning more and they are more
adept at finding answers to deep questions, in part
because they can search effectively and access
collective intelligence via the Internet. In sum, the
changes in learning behavior and cognition among the
young generally produce positive outcomes.

107. … or …

108. Millennials’ future
• In 2020, the brains of multitasking teens and young
adults are "wired" differently from those over age 35
and overall it yields baleful results. They do not retain
information; they spend most of their energy sharing
short social messages, being entertained, and being
distracted away from deep engagement with people
and knowledge. They lack deep-thinking capabilities;
they lack face-to-face social skills; they depend in
unhealthy ways on the Internet and mobile devices to
function. In sum, the changes in behavior and cognition
among the young are generally negative outcomes.

109. Millennials’ future
Change for the better
52%
Change for the worse
42%

110. Theme - Supertaskers

111. Theme – New winners/losers

112. Theme – Distracted

113. Participatory, creative class -extras
Close to three-quarters of online
teens have created content for the
internet
January 9, 2009
114

114. Other content creation
39% of online teens
have shared their
own creations
online
January 9, 2009
115

115. Other content creation
~37% of online teens
have rated a
person, product, or
service online
January 9, 2009
116

116. Other content creation
26% of online teens
report keeping
their own
personal
webpage
January 9, 2009
117

117. Other content creation
~25% of online teens
have created or
worked on webpages
or blogs for others,
including those for
groups or school
assignments
January 9, 2009
118

118. Other content creation
20% of online teens
say they remix
content they find
online into their
own artistic
creations
January 9, 2009
119

119. 7 takeaways from our research
1)
2)
3)
4)
Teens live in a different information ecosystem
Teens live in a different learning ecosystem
Teens’ reading levels match/exceed adult levels
Teens use libraries and librarians more than
others, but don’t necessarily love libraries as much
5) Teens have their own priorities for library services
6) Teens will behave differently in the world to come
7) The public and teachers recognize this and want
libraries to adjust to it

120. Teachers press for literacy
• 57% spend class time helping students improve
their search skills
• 35% devote class time to helping students
understand how search engines work and how
search results are generated
• Asked what curriculum changes might be
necessary in middle and high schools today, 47%
“strongly agree” and 44% “somewhat agree” that
courses or content focusing on digital literacy
must be incorporated into every school’s
curriculum.

121. New literacies are being elevated
- navigation literacy
- connections and context
literacy
- skepticism
- value of contemplative time
- how to create content
- personal information literacy
- ethical behavior in new world
June 25, 2010
122

122. Libraries.pewinternet.org
Lee Rainie
Email: lrainie@pewinternet.org
Twitter: @Lrainie
Kathryn Zickuhr
Email: kzickuhr@pewinternet.org
Twitter: @kzickuhr
Kristen Purcell
Email: @kpurcell@pewinternet.org
Twitter: @kristenpurcell

123. Teens, Social Media and
Privacy:
Reputation management,
third party access &
exposure to advertising
June 25, 2013
Maryland Children’s Online Privacy Workgroup
Amanda Lenhart
Senior Researcher, Director of Teens & Technology
Pew Research Center

124. About Pew Internet / Pew Research
• Part of the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan “fact tank” in
Washington, DC
• Studies how people use digital technologies
• Does not promote specific technologies or make policy
recommendations
• Data for this talk is from nationally representative telephone
surveys of U.S. adults and teens (on landlines and cell phones)
Twitter version: We’re the public opinion,
“just the facts”, non-advocacy, nonpolicy part of the Pew universe

125. Teens care about privacy and take technical
& non-technical steps to manage it.
• Teen Twitter use up significantly; Facebook remains
dominant platform
• Teens are sharing more details about themselves on
profiles, but few do so publicly
• Teens take steps to manage their reputations online by
curating content they and others post to social media sites.
•Teens do not show high levels of concern over third party
use of their personal information
•Teens express mixed feelings about advertising practices
•

128. Teens care about privacy and take technical
& non-technical steps to manage it.
• Teen Twitter use up significantly; Facebook remains
dominant platform
• Teens are sharing more details about themselves on
profiles, but few do so publicly
• Teens take steps to manage their reputations online by
curating content they and others post to social media sites.
•Teens do not show high levels of concern over third party
use of their personal information
•Teens express mixed feelings about advertising practices

133. Teens care about privacy and take technical
& non-technical steps to manage it.
• Teen Twitter use up significantly; Facebook remains
dominant platform.
• Teens are sharing more details about themselves on
profiles, but few do so publicly.
• Teens take steps to manage their reputations online by
curating content they and others post to social media sites.
•Teens do not show high levels of concern over third party
use of their personal information.
•Teens express mixed feelings about advertising practices.

137. Teens care about privacy and take technical
& non-technical steps to manage it.
• Teen Twitter use up significantly; Facebook remains
dominant platform.
• Teens are sharing more details about themselves on
profiles, but few do so publicly.
• Teens take steps to manage their reputations online by
curating content they and others post to social media sites.
•Teens do not show high levels of concern over third party
use of their personal information.
•Teens express mixed feelings about advertising practices.

141. Teens don’t always have a good understanding about how their
personal data is used:
Middle Schooler: “Anyone who isn’t friends with me cannot see anything about
my profile except my name and gender. I don’t believe that [Facebook] would
do anything with my info.”
High Schooler: “I don’t know if Facebook gives access to others. I hope not.”
High School Boy: “I don’t think [Facebook] should give anyone access to profile
information.”
High School Girl: “It depends on what kind of profile information they’d share. If
it was only my age and gender, I wouldn’t mind. If they went into detail and
shared personal things, I would mind!”
High school boy: “I don’t think it would be fair because it is my information and
should not be shared with others, unless I decide to.”

142. Other teens were more knowledgeable about information
sharing with third parties, and were often philosophical about
the reasons why that information might be shared.
High school boy: “I think that Facebook gives apps and ads info to try and
give you ads that pertain to you.”
Middle school boy: “I know that Facebook gives access to my info to
other companies. I don’t like that they do it, but they have the right to so
you cannot help it.”

143. Teens care about privacy and take technical & non-technical steps
to manage it.
• Teen Twitter use up significantly; Facebook remains
dominant platform.
• Teens are sharing more details about themselves on
profiles, but few do so publicly.
• Teens take steps to manage their reputations online by
curating content they and others post to social media sites.
•Teens do not show high levels of concern over third party
use of their personal information.
•Teens express mixed feelings about advertising practices.

144. Exposure to inappropriate ads
• 30% of teens say they’ve received online
advertising that is “clearly inappropriate” for their
age.
• Equally likely to encounter inappropriate ads based
on age, sex, SES status or location.
• “Inappropriate” was defined by the respondent –
could be younger, could be older.

145. Male (age 17): “Those ads are annoying. There’s no point for those
ads.”
Male (age 16): “It's mostly just bands and musicians that I ‘like’ [on
Facebook], but also different companies that I ‘like’, whether
they're clothing or mostly skateboarding companies. I can see
what they're up to, whether they're posting videos or new
products... [because] a lot of times you don't hear about it as
fast, because I don't feel the need to Google every company that
I want to keep up with every day. So with the news feed, it's all
right there, and you know exactly.”
Male (age 13): “I usually just hit allow on everything [when I get a
new app]. Because I feel like it would get more features. And a
lot of people allow it, so it's not like they're going to single out
my stuff. I don't really feel worried about it.”

146. alenhart@pewresearch.org
@amanda_lenhart
@pewinternet
@pewresearch

147. What do I care about?
Stephen Abram, MLS

148. ROLE OF LIBRARIAN(S), TEACHERS,
ADMINISTRATION

149. VALUE AND PROOFS
ADVOCACY

150. CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

151. ASSESSMENT

152. READABILITY: LEXILES

153. DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES

154. SCAFFOLDING: AGE / STAGE

155. EXPERIENCE PORTALS

156. LEARNING STYLES

157. FROM GROCERY STORE TO MEAL

158. FRAMING: THE ROLE OF
ENCYCLOPEDIA

159. DISCOVERY

160. THE DIGITAL SHIFT CREATES
WEAKNESSES TOO

161. PRIMARY SOURCES

162. SECONDARY SOURCES

163. TERTIARY, NEXT GENERATION
SOURCES

164. BEYOND TEXT

165. INFORMATION ETHICS: CITATION

166. SAFETY: IDENTITY, PRIVACY,
BULLYING, CONFIDENTIALITY,
PURCHASING, …

167. PARTNERSHIPS FOR ACTION

168. SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS

169. PUBLIC LIBRARY / SCHOOL LIBRARY
PARTNERSHIPS

170. GAMIFICATION

171. TECHNOLOGY SKILLS: BYOD,
FORMAT, SEARCH, …

172. SCALABILITY

173. IMPACT: OUTPUTS,
MEASUREMENTS, PERFORMANCE,
…

174. PREPAREDNESS

175. THE WORLD THEY’LL SUCCEED IN
AND NOT THE ONE THAT’S OVER

176. DISCUSSION

177. To whom do I listen and follow?








Justin Hoenke
YALSA
Michael Stephens
Sara Houghton
Buffy Hamilton
Bobbie Newman
Gretchen Caserotti
David Lee King
 Rebecca Jones & Jane
Dysart
 Seth Godin
 Blake Carver
 JP Porcaro
 Patrick Sweeney
 Aaron Schmidt
 Don Tapscott
 Aaron

178. er of libraries
The pow

180. Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
VP strategic partnerships and markets
Cengage Learning (Gale)
Cel: 416-669-4855
stephen.abram@cengage.com
Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.com
Facebook: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen Abram
Twitter: sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1