Well not quite silence, more that irritating sound of a microphone malfunctioning. Damian Conway, futurist, made a keynote speech at Information Online 2007 this afternoon. It was an exciting presentation showing how Librarians were going to rule the World with the disruptive technology of ubiquitous computing - ambient knowledge — and unlimited storage leading to the demise of the info-stocracy (ie Rupert Murdoch et al.)

But it occurred to me during the presentation that while Librarians might rule the World, they might be hamstrung by the Powers-that-be in the Energy Industry keeping those electrons shuffling along. Just then Damien’s microphone started cutting out. So may be the techies (who by the way are doing a great job at the conference) were listening in and decided to give him a gentle reminder about the fallibility of information technology.

So maybe it won’t just be the Librarian’s ruling the world. Maybe it will be a triumvirate — Energy + IT + Knowledge workers — instead.

I haven’t quite got the energy for much blogging about Info Online as yet. I have been a bit pre-occupied with my own presentation. In some sessions I kept finding myself watching how the speakers were presenting instead of taking in the content — I hope I learned something when the time came for me to get up and speak. However, it is now behind me. I do have quite a few notes to go through, so I’m sure I’ll get around to writing a few things up in the next day or two.