Every year when I return from the Internet Librarian conference in Monterey I make time to review the new acronyms and terms I've learned. Whether I personally use the new words and initialisms frequently is not as important as being cognizant of them -- because I do expect to run across them again in my work or hear them from patrons. It is always useful to review the new terms I've encountered before much time passes following the conference.
What is an API? This acronym is not new, but I feel a need to differentiate it from the AMI acronym below. I nearly always have to refresh my memory about APIs. An API is, as described by Wikipedia, an application programming interface used by a software program that "enables it to interact with other software. It may include specifications for routines, data structures, object classes and protocols used to communicate between the consumer and the implementer of the API." Examples are Java, Carbon, Cocoa, and DirectX. They allow the combination of multiple services on a web page, often resulting in what is known as a "mash-up" or a blend of applications that allow a more interactive and participatory Web experience for users.
What is an AMI? AMI represents Ambient Intelligence. According to the Free Dictionary and Wikipedia, Ambient Intelligence refers to "electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people." Ambient Intelligence is customized, interactive, and possesses characteristics such as being
* embedded: many networked devices are integrated into the environment
* context aware: these devices can recognize you and your situational context
* personalized: they can be tailored to your needs
* adaptive: they can change in response to you
* anticipatory: they can anticipate your desires without conscious mediation.
Criticisms of AMI include concerns regarding loss of consumer privacy and loss of personal empowerment. "New thinking on Ambient Intelligence distances itself therefore from some of the original characteristics such as adaptive and anticipatory behaviour and emphasizes empowerment and participation to place control in the hands of people instead of organizations." [Free Dictionary]
What is QR? QR represents "Quick Response." And QR Codes are data-embedded blocks or matrices in black-and-white (sometimes color)that when photographed with a mobile phone take you to a web page, coupon, online video, or other content. They are also known as "Mobile Codes." As compared to the typical barcode with which we are familiar that are positioned in a horizontal space, QR Codes occupy both horizontal and vertical space. Three corners (small squares) of the QR image are embedded such that regardless of the position or angle of the camera the image is self-righting provided that most of the image is captured or grabbed in the shot.
It is claimed that QR Codes are capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional barcode. These codes can be tracked and monitored, again raising questions of consumer privacy. To read the codes a person first downloads a QR code software reader. Some companies have proprietary codes and require that their software be used to read the codes. Most QR codes and QR code-generators and readers are generic. More can be learned about QR code software, readers and supported mobile phones at Mobile Barcodes.
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