I watched the two videos, read Blyberg's blog entry, and skimmed the article from O'Reilly Press. (The latter was really a stretch as that's usually my husband's realm; he's the geek in our marriage.)
I have a very mixed response to 2.0, I guess.
Professionally, I see the writing on the wall for libraries that don't move to the interactive model that drives so many web 2.0 success stories. Libraries that don't allow interaction with resources are called archives. Beloved by a dedicated few, but not where the vast majority of the population wants to visit, read, and live. And we (in public libraries, anyway) already have trouble garnering our government funding. We can't survive on the support of a dedicated few. (Especially when our elected officials never seem to be among those dedicated few. Why is that?)
And library 2.0 seems to be the next logical step. Public libraries began by making books interactive by loaning them to anyone and everyone--and hosting book groups. Isn't library 2.0 doing the same with today's most common formats (now electronic) of information and entertainment?
Personally, I have almost no interest in what members of the general public have to say on any given topic. I find CNN's iReporters ridiculous beyond belief. I really don't want to read 50 comments on a commercial blog (even one I enjoy like unclutterer.com). And even when it comes to things I love (like books), I'm exceptionally more interested the thoughts of friends and colleagues than the ramblings of random strangers.
I am interested in collective intelligence. I love that rottentomatoes.com can generate a "consensus review" based on all the individual reviews. I'd LOVE to see that applied to user comments--most especially for compiling reviews on consumer products.
Well see. Maybe by Thing 23 I'll be less ambivalent.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thing 1 - A Blog
Well, I've finally created a blog. Maybe if I find it addicting I'll start posting my book reviews online one of these days.
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