Sunday, October 20, 2013

I recently ran across Tom Koulopoulos, Delphi Institute blog in which he speaks 
about the end of his life in two worlds. No he wasn't talking about his imminent death. He discussed how Google Glasses changed his perception of the world from the plugged in world and the unplugged world to actually having the two worlds merged. His blog speaks about how he used the glasses and how long it took him to get used to them. In his blog he speaks about the differences between how the generations view the world, specifically how Gen Z views the world as opposed to their parents. Gen Z according to Tom sees no difference between the two worlds. They only see the "integration of offline and online will multiply the potential opportunities to live, work and play." This statement made me think. Who are these Gen Z's and when will they be entering the workforce? There is no clear cut answer on the dates for this generation, however according to a Forbes blog they are pragmatic and tend to face problems rather than hiding from them. 

What will happen when these kids come into the workforce? There is no telling what exactly will happen, however, they will impact the way we work, communicate, and deliver information/records. There will probably be an end of the "paper record" and the "electronic record" distinctions that we have so carefully crafted. Will this change the way that we manage records--most certainly it will. The question for us, as records managers or members of the records management community, is do we embrace the new ways of doing business or do we try to keep with the traditional approaches?

Even as we learn to deal with new technologies, we should never forget that information is everywhere and needs to be managed. If we don't embrace the new technologies our functions will become obsolete