Research Roundup
November 24, 2009


Tools for the Future
The Near Future
Social Trends, etc.
Other articles, essays, and recent items of interest
Refresh and Reflect:


Tools for the future:
  • Or "imagine a world where data becomes the everyday, simply embedded in what you normally do" -- as in The Ambient Life, a video speculation from Freeband with unsettling overtones of Big Brother. (Spotted at Flowing Data.)
  • Good advice about the effective presentation of data from our librarian colleagues at In the Library with a Lead Pipe (my new favorite name for a website!) -- and lots of good links to online tools that can help generate the "simple, compelling and interactive graphical data visualizations that are critical for libraries [and museums] to best express value, communicate trends, and test assumptions about ... services and collections." 

The near future:
  • "Study Finds that Driving has a Positive Effect on the Economy; Efforts to 'Get People out of their Cars' Put Economy at Risk." According to the Cascade Policy Institute (a libertarian think tank based in Portland, Ore.), "artificial attempts to limit driving through taxation or regulation will cause a significant decrease in economic output."  The analysis draws upon "historical data from the U.S. and from 177 countries to examine the relationship among vehicle activity, energy use, and the economy." Read a summary or download the full report.
  • Dawn of the Dead Mall. Mark Dery at Change Observer discusses the rise and fall of the enclosed shopping mall. As the "landscape ... [becomes] littered with the giant carcasses of failed retail emporia," designers and (sub)urban planners are thinking about ways to re-use the buildings and the surrounding acres of parking. One possibility, according to an article in Parade magazine (of all places), is museum and gallery space.

Social trends, etc.:
  • "Youth audiences have quite particular interests  and expectations when it comes to museums" -- and not always the interests and expectations that museums think they have. That's one  conclusion from a very useful summary of "key findings drawn from a literature search and various reports on youth and museums" prepared by researchers at the Australian Museum.
  • In 2025, New York will still be the largest city  in America. But the projected rankings (by bizjournals) of some of the other cities in the top 250 may surprise you. For comparison, see the latest Census Bureau stats on the current growth of U.S. cities at. And for a global perspective, see this prediction of the wealthiest cities on Earth in 2025, which is based on projections of economic growth (hint: only three U.S. cities will break the  top 10). 
  • A recent report from the market researchers at Mintel documents the growing popularity of ethnic food in the United States. "With an expanding ethnic population calling the US 'home,' ... sales of ethnic foods have climbed steadily since 2004, set to reach a record high of $2.2 billion in 2009. In addition, Mintel forecasts solid growth of nearly 20% from 2010-14.  Mexican/Hispanic foods represent the largest segment of the ethnic foods market with nearly two-thirds (62%) of sales. In fact, Mexican food has become so mainstream, it is hardly considered ethnic anymore."

Other articles, essays, and recent items of interest
  • Mark Alleyne, "Theorizing the Museum as Communication: Forgetting and Remembering Race in the 'New South' and the 'New Guatemala,'" a paper presented at the 33rd Annual National Council for Black Studies (Atlanta, March 19, 2009).  A provocative abstract is available: "This paper explains how museums work in social discourses on race and racism in two locales that have been attempting to present an image of having  overcome a racist past: the southern United States and the state of Guatemala, Central America ..."
  • Henry Jenkins, et al., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century (MIT Press, 2009). "This report aims to shift the conversation about the "digital divide" from questions about access to technology to questions about access to opportunities for involvement in participatory culture and how to provide all young people with the chance to develop the cultural competencies  and social skills needed. Fostering these skills, the authors argue, requires a systemic approach to media education; schools, afterschool programs, and parents all have distinctive roles to play." Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Read the summary or download the entire report.

Refresh and Reflect:
  • Thanksgiving statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics  (includes the falling price of turkeys and the popularity of Thanksgiving football games), the U.S. Census Bureau (more, perhaps, than you want to know about the production of foodstuffs for your holiday table), the American Automobile Association (travel and traffic trends), and Dunkin' Donuts (actually, this one is a prediction that 58% of Americans will take a nap on Thanksgiving). 
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