InfoTech: Leonard Souza’s “Technozoo” Wows Crowds at PLA
Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 4/8/2008 9:31:00 AM
- Presentation focuses on the tools and gadgets likely to crop up in libraries
- Apple’s iPhone, Sony eBook reader, Amazon’s Kindle, Nintendo’s DS handheld gaming device, and the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop demoed
Proving that nearly everyone has a touch of technolust when it comes to the latest and greatest, Leonard Souza’s popular “Technozoo” drew a packed audience at the 2008 Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis in late March. He even gave an encore presentation. Though not library tools per se, the gadgets he focused on are ones librarians are likely to see (or have seen) at their libraries, including Apple’s iPhone, the Sony eBook reader, Amazon’s Kindle, Nintendo’s DS handheld gaming device, and the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop, as well as software such as Joost, a peer-to-peer television portal, and Skype, the integrated phone, video, and chat communications tool.
Nearly every new product description from Souza elicited a chorus of oohs and aahs from the audience, but his live demonstrations of Apple’s iPhone and the Nintendo DS got the most attention, as did the live Skype phone call demonstration, complete with video from both of the call’s parties. Souza exuded an infectious enthusiasm throughout as he navigated from one “totally awesome” product to the next, and was grounded only briefly by the occasional question from concerned librarians centering on real-world privacy and piracy issues.
