BYOD (Bring your own device)

Vivian Sanchez

Hi Everyone! I hope you’re reading this from a comfy cozy place, safe and sound. I heard a talk show host commenting the other day that (because of the pandemic) having to work from home is so crazy, she’s considering just moving the camera and computer over to the bedroom. Why bother getting all dressed up when I could probably do the show while in bed.

This pandemic has a lot of people using electronic devices as if they were the last thing on earth. If we were talking moderation in using electronic devices before, well that’s all gone out the window. And our libraries are closed. Every day, friends, family, and neighbors ask, “When are the libraries going to open?” Soon I hope. However, there are so many people reading eBooks now. It makes you wonder if this will change the use of the stacks. I have a group of friends who have tablets and read eBooks, and they love them. They love that connection no matter where they are. Does this make things better for libraries or worse?

In my opinion, it’s an asset. See I’m a little bit of a tech nerd. Yes, I confess, I love all the electronic gadgets. In a prior job, I remember my first palm pilot (dream sequence music playing). We thought we were so cool downloading the employee phone directory on to our palm pilot. Yes, I was that bad. Technology changes so frequently, I say it’s kinda like dog years, for every year, seven years of technology has gone by. When we did have patrons in the library; I loved it when they would ask questions on how to connect to the Wi-Fi or how to check out eBooks.

I also love books. How much you ask, well I’m halfway through my fourth book (880 pages) in the Outland series.

I believe it’s all about balance.

Okay, now I have to intermingle this discussion with an interesting study I found published in an academic, peer-reviewed study the Higher Education Journal, Sociomaterial Texts, Spaces and Devices: Questioning ‘Digital Dualism’ in Library and Study Practices, 2015. In short they wanted to see how people used technology; how, where, and when and there was a lot more. The great part I liked about the study were some interesting mapping they did and demonstrating how students used technology, the text, the digital, etc. The students were given gadgets to document study habits, using both paper and digital.

Of course this was 2015. Remember the dog years? I really like this mapping of Juan’s writing process. There’s a mixture of using several digital and non-digital tools to work his process.

Here’s another mapping example. It’s a little hard to read and you may have to zoom in. It’s a good insight into how people study. It’s not always about the devices. It’s about how, where, and why.

Here’s an excerpt from the “Findings” of this study,

The data suggest then that for these students ‘learning landscapes’ are not just about physical spaces, but are complicated social networks of people, analog and digital resources, and nonhuman actors. These distributed, diverse networks of practice are to some extent ‘visible’, and map-able as physical places, their distributed nature made possible to a large extent as a result of digital mediation.

Like I said it was a good study, check it out and apologies for the lengthy post. I’m just very glad to see the Library is still part of the process.

Stay safe everyone!

Works Cited

Gourlay, L., Lanclos, D. M., & Oliver, M. (2015). Sociomaterial Texts, Spaces and Devices: Questioning “Digital Dualism” in Library and Study Practices.
Higher Education Quarterly,
69(3), 263–278.

https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.palomar.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=ad0eade1-15d9-40f0-802b-96a6ce0b5e03%40pdc-v-sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=EJ1067510