Haikus and Prognostication

All seven presenters were introduced with a Haiku of their own creation (or one crafted especially for them.) How do haikus relate to the future of technology? Beats me, except that haikus deliver just the pertinent, pithy parts. Three short lines that pack an emotional punch. Not all the presenters stayed to the 3 points in 5 minutes limit, but each brought their unique perspective to the topic:

• Susan Staples floated the idea of DVD and best-seller vending machines outside libraries for drive-up, 24x7 self-service. She looks outside libraries for solutions (want a DVD with those fries?)
• John Culshaw pointed to front-end ILS software such as Endeca and Institutional Repository software as being on his Academic library radar. He forsees a need for more tech staff to ensure network security and provide specialized programming.
• Jimmy Thomas was peddling TLC's AquaBrowser while struggling to understand why patrons are searching library catalogs for Google and Library Hours? He referenced the "Learning 2.0" class from the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (23 small exercises) that you can do on the web to explore and expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0.)
• Jeff Donlan reported on offering his patrons the tools they need to download and resize photos of their vacation or grandkids for uploading to their FLICKR sites. He struggles with applications not playing nice together. What can't they all just get along?
• Carson Block used a recent ballot initiative for a library district as an opportunity to reconnect with his patron community. His role is to balance the constraints of what a small staff can do with the expectations of a tech-savvy user population.
• Sharon Morris advocated for 3rd party software such as LibraryElf, Plinkit, Engagedpatrons.org and LibraryThing.com to create services and communities for your library. Our definition of community is changing as our pipelines for information exchange become bigger.
• Jo Haight Sarling reiterated John Naisbitt's rallying cry for library staff to be the comfortable friend in helping patrons master new technology. Everyone can be a creator in the new Web environment; everyone can be a critic; everyone can tag content; there are no geographic boundaries to library communities.
• The Q and A session was brief, but one person asked about online predators lurking in MySpace and other social networking sites. Panelists agreed for the need to educate legislators about the low incidence of such predators (reported at less than 1% in MySpace) to preclude reactionary legislation.