Elke Boudry

Experts as facilitators for the implementation of social media in the library? A social network approach

Based on the social capital theory, we assume that personal and professional experts are both relevant to people’s competence development. However, to date, there is little empirical evidence of how professional experts can support, or impede, people in learning how to deal with social media. The goal of this study is to examine the role and position of social media experts in the distribution of information on social media within the library as organization. Design/ methodology/ approach – We draw upon social network and qualitative methods, within three public libraries located in Belgium. Findings – The findings suggest that as the most central actors, social media experts in a library play a significant role in either supporting or constraining the distribution of information on social media. Research limitations/ implications – While the sample size was chosen to conduct a mixed methods study that would explore how the position of a social media expert in an organization such as the library facilitates or prevents the exchange of social media information, we acknowledge the need for large-scale empirical studies that can substantiate our findings in larger and more diverse samples. Originality/ value – This unique study explores how the role and position social media experts in Belgian public libraries can support, or impede, librarians in learning how to deal with social media. This study is useful for other public libraries who want to implement social media, establish a social media policy and/ or provide social media training.

It's the services, stupid!: Identifying killer applications for next-generation networks

Cities and countries all over the world are currently in the process of developing large-scale broadband projects in order to upgrade their Internet access infrastructure. They justify this costly endeavor of rolling out fiber to the home (FTTH) networks in believing that state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure will function as a growth engine, bridge the digital divide and increase quality of living. In the meantime, they believe it to be simply indispensable because an ever increasing demand for bandwidth-intensive applications is anticipated. The former goals, however, can only be achieved if citizens and companies alike migrate to this new technology. Hence, it is essential to consider the utility of fiber networks for future users and to explore applications that can convince end-users to migrate from their current connections to high-bandwidth networks. By means of an international expert survey, this paper tries to identify value-added services that benefit from fibers network potential and that can stimulate users to switch to fiber. Health monitoring, online content storage and management services, and desktop sharing were identified as the most promising fiber applications in the short term based on a combination of technological feasibility, time to reach the mass market and overall persuasiveness. Augmented video applications such as health monitoring and virtual classrooms on the other hand were deemed very persuasive but long-term oriented.

Killer Applications for Fiber to the Home Networks: Market Potential, Time Horizons and User Groups

Telecom operators in cooperation with utility companies and public institutions are deploying fiber to the home infrastructure. The roll-out of these networks is justified by the supposed increasing user demand for high-bandwidth applications. Starting from a user-oriented perspective, this paper considers the utility of these networks for future users and explores those killer applications that could convince end-users to migrate to high-bandwidth connections. B y means of an international expert survey, the paper identifies value-added services that benefit from fiber’s network potential in terms of high speed, symmetry and low delay.