Streaming video takes over the Internet!

Taken from WIRED magazine: streaming entertainment biggest Internet user.

Netflix Beats BitTorrent’s Bandwidth

• By Ryan Singel
• May 17, 2011 |
• 6:39 pm |
• Categories: Broadband
• 
  

Netflix streaming movies now fill more of the United States’ internet tubes than any other service, including peer-to-peer file sharing, which long held the top spot — to the consternation of Hollywood.

That means for perhaps the first time in the internet’s history, the largest percentage of the net’s traffic is content that is paid for.

The change is reported in the spring 2011 internet traffic report (.pdf) from Sandvine, a company that sells network management and measurement software to large ISPs.

Netflix accounts for 22.2 percent of all U.S. broadband traffic compared to BitTorrent’s 21.6 percent share. And at peak times, Netflix hits 30 percent of all traffic, a bounce of 44 percent over results from the fall. Note that these numbers are about percentage of usage, and say nothing about what percentage of “capacity” the net has, so hold your horses on predicting an internet brownout due to people streaming Blazing Saddles.

Streaming real-time entertainment is also on the rise, including such things as the “March Madness” NCAA basketball tournament, the British royal wedding and PGA golf tournaments. The increase in streaming media decreased the percentage of traffic headed to websites and social networking sites, but there’s no evidence that the number of visits to those sites down at all.

Two things that might be the take-aways here.

One, internet traffic is cheap. A streaming-only, all-you-can-watch monthly Netflix subscription costs just $9.

Serving up a movie likely costs Netflix somewhere between two cents and a dime — it’s the licensing of content that’s expensive.

Secondly, peer-to-peer file sharing, a large proportion of which is people trading copyrighted files, isn’t going to disappear overnight. And it won’t decline significantly until Hollywood makes more of its back catalog and new releases available for rental and online streaming.

And finally, it’s clear that Americans have accepted that in the future all information flow will be IP-based, even as we’re stuck leaving that future’s infrastructure in the hands of private companies that would rather we would stop all the downloading.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/netflix-traffic/

Oklahoma State Study

Ran across an interesting study recently concerning the classroom use of the iPad by Oklahoma State University during the Fall 2010 semester (see the link below).  It raises some very good questions but left me questioning the savings implied by the study.  While the iPad and electronic books may have been less expensive than the paper bound version, I don't see where they included the resale of those paper books back to the bookstore at semester's end which is a ritual most undergraduates eagerly anticipate.  That may have swung the debate away from the new technology from a purely cost perspective.

This study is particularly fascinating to me since I did get the opportunity to play with an iPad just last week. I was not impressed, but then, I'm old school and am rather resistant to change.  I'll happily  pound a keyboard like I mean it rather than sashaying my fingers and flicking my wrist over an electronic marvel working faster than my mind can follow.  I really did grow up with electron tubes and manual typewriters and still feel one of the 20th century's great inventions was the IBM Selectric.  Typewriters, even electric ones, are now as rare as punch cards and mylar tape although still very useful.  Alas, the world doesn't care about my preferences, which is probably a good thing.

http://news.okstate.edu/press-releases/929-ipad-study-released-by-oklahoma-state-university

When the discussion topic the impact of the Internet on libraries came up I was delighted to look through my notes from the CLA Conference last weekend. In the panel, Generation Z: preparing your library for the next generation, Univ. of Tenn. library IT pro, Jason Griffey, and library designer and visionary, Joan Fry-Williams, had much to say about the influence of the Internet on libraries.

Griffey pointed out that the next generation will value access not ownership of information and they are all about content consumption. When quantifying usage in the University of Tennessee library, he found that 42% of all the Internet traffic is in streaming video. These kids are not collecting the movies, they're just watching them. This exemplifies the point: It's the access to the content that they value, not ownership. Because "information" is something they can get for free, and they don't understand the value of content credibility or the expertise of the librarian skills.

Joan Fry-Williams pointed out that "libraries invented the access not ownership business" so we should make ourselves meaningful by enhancing the library experience by making the library a welcoming place aimed toward the local interests. Our patron's personal devices used to access the Internet are not used to exclude their friends and environment: just the opposite. Our present (and future) patrons use the Internet to enhance and augment their environment, not to reject it. "If you want to create an inviting library environment for your patrons, you must welcome their devices". Providing an abundance of electrical drops and free wifi Internet access are what our patrons want and library designers would do well to keep that in mind.

In summation: library patrons will value access over ownership and the libraries of the future will provide content not container. The next generation of taxpayer will be going to library databases for reliable, easy to access information when it is easy to use. They will be comfortable attending online classes because it will fit into their "accessing content online" mindset. Librarians will again be information specialists- just with different media. The physical library building will remain and will achieve relevance through unique community services and identity.

Another Use for Libraries

If e-books make a library obsolete, collection diversification may be the answer. 

UConn will test a bicycle sharing program on campus which allows students and employees with current school ID to borrow one of 20 bikes at the Homer Babbidge Library for use on campus.  The student government purchased the bikes and will purchase more if the program is successful.  Apparently, Yale, Emory, and the University of Chicago have similar programs in place. 

Electronic Textbooks - A Followup

On the heels of my earlier post concerning electronic textbooks comes another from the Chronicle of Higher Education about some colleges considering forcing students to switch to e-textbooks as a cost containment measure.  The full link can be found below.

The plan would be to charge students a course-materials fee which would be used to bulk purchase e-books resulting in a lower cost per item than if purchased individually.  Saving trees and transportation costs is always a good thing, I guess, but what about all those work study students that depended on the bookstore job for spending money?   Taken one step further, what does this portend for the library as institution?

http://chronicle.com/article/The-End-of-the-Textbook-as-We/125044/

Electronic Textbooks

Stumbled across an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education concerning students reluctance to try electronic books, see the link below.  On one hand, I would have thought the younger generation would have readily adopted e-books. That may be an unfair observation but it's based on the high end phones I see in use by our current students and what they seem to be doing with them.  This dinosaur has only recently attempted texting and found that I can't type very well with my thumbs on a keyboard the size of a credit card.  I haven't a clue what most of the acronyms I receive mean and aren't sure I want to learn a new language. The more I look, I wonder if those high tech phone users are really only a very small, but highly visible, sampling of the overall student population.

I do remember having to haul a backpack with 20 pounds of books and supplies around as a commuter student and thinking there had to be a better way.  I would have liked to trade a 3 lb iPad or Kindle for that burden I found myself with but I also remember taking copious notes in the margins to highlight some point I thought significant.  Since most of my college textbooks still reside on my bookshelf, the resale advantage wasn't a factor for me, but long term retention certainly was.  I wonder what the shelf life of an e-book is? 

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/students-remain-reluctant-to-try-e-textbooks-survey-finds/27866?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

The Future of Books

What will books look like in the future?  Will we still have paper books or will the electronic formats become the primary method of publishing?  Wonder what that will mean for the future of the library as a brick and mortar building?  Want a say in the outcome?  If you were in Australia, you'd have your chance.  I encourage you to visit the link below to see what the Book Industry Strategy Group is doing down under.  I find it interesting that any government formed a focus group to ask these types of questions.  Any parallel undertaking here in the US?

http://www.innovation.gov.au/Section/Industry/Pages/BookIndustryStrategyGroup.aspx