One last message: Over and Out

If there is anyone out there reading this blog, and I am guessing that's a big if, you would know that I have been a bit philosophical about some Web 2 applications. Are some of them really offering something new? And might we be losing something along the way? But I don't want to leave a lasting impression of a Luddite because, if there is actually someone out there reading my past blogs, they would know there is far more that I like than not. YouTube and Googlemaps have become a regular part of my daily life. Admittedly YouTube is more of a guilty pleasure, but Googlemaps has become an essential tool. I suppose it is all about what works for you. What works for the library that's another matter. I think it is important as librarians to ask ourselves, is an application providing a useful service or simply and enjoyable experience? I think we should be focusing on applications that will have long term use. Not that there is anything wrong with thinking about the experience of our users. Ideally we should be providing both something useful and enjoyable. But if we are to avoid getting caught up in fads that will eventually fade, we need to ask the question: Are we helping our users to learn more effectively by embracing a particular Web2 application? So far I think we have done well.
Well that's it.
Over and out from me!

Facebook and MySpace: Bringing it all together

Facebook and MySpace, this does seem to be the point where most of Web 2 comes together. Particularly in relation to the social/communication tools. Not being the most social creature in the world I have never really been driven to explore either of these sites, and it's probably good that I have now taken a peek. I still don't feel the need to participate, but I think I now understand why many do. It's the ultimate way of staying in touch. I am sure it will grow and develop. I was a little concerned about how pervasive advertising was on these sites. But I suppose they have to make money somehow.

Twitter: No detail of your life is too dull to share

What can I say about Twitter? Not really my cup of tea. I can see how it might have appeal during the big adventures: i.e. having a baby, travelling etc as a continuous, live update. It appears to me though that it's mostly an outlet for chatterboxes that find themselves alone but unable to turn off the impulse to talk. Hopefully someone is listening.

Podcasting

I have always thought of Podcasting as a technology just waiting for a bit of bandwidth to really take off. Perhaps this new super speed optical fibre network we are getting will be the key that opens the flood gates. When it comes to flexible delivery Pod/Vod casting is the dream we have all been waiting for. It's what we want, home delivered, reading and waiting. Too bad the video quality is so ordinary. It will be very interesting to see what happens to other delivery modes such as television, radio and optical disk, once the cables are in the ground and connected.

YouTube: The medium is the message

Sorry for getting all Marshall McLuhan but I really do think that YouTube is a terrific example of The medium is the message. Leaving aside the whole copyright minefield. The YouTube clip is about as disposable as K-Mart junk mail, and for this reason we are happy to view, and even enjoy, material we would quickly reject if it appeared on TV or the cinema. I use YouTube all the time, and along with Google Maps, I think it's one of the few Web2 icons that I will continually come back to. Most simply because it's fun!
I'm not sure however that libraries should get too involved. We all know there is good stuff on YouTube, but we also know a whole lot of what you can find is of little or no value. Combine this with the fact that it is free, and you have at best a trash and treasure of mostly stolen goods.
Do we really want to associate the Library brand to closely?
However for those who are interested here is my current favourite, copyright suspect, YouTube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvKtxTsVoMo

iGoogle: The hompage you have when you don't have a homepage

I don't have too much to say about iGoogle other than it's just another example of how Web 2 is all about taking web resources out of the hands of the tech heads, and allowing the rest of us to do our thing. You want to fill a web page with all the stuff you like? Try I Google.

Googling Maps and Docs

I'd love to see usage statistics of these two Google products. I suspect that Google Maps gets a lot of use while Docs not so much. Google maps seems to me to be the perfect internet product. It takes advantage of the internet's multimedia capabilities, it provides access to far more material that any competing format, there are few privacy issues, and most importantly everyone will find it useful at some point. It's one of my favourite web products.

Docs on the other hand is markedly inferior to its offline competitors in regards to its functionality, and perhaps most crucially there's the privacy issue. Who is going to trust their business reports, latest novel or memoirs to Google when pc based word processors and spreadsheets are so easy to come by? Still, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong.