web 2.0 is the BOMB!

First, I recommend the book Social Software in Libraries by Meredith Farkas (2007). In the introduction to the book, Roy Tennant, User Services Architecht from the University of California says the following: "The Internet's creators thought that moving data from place to place was an essential component of a computer network; file transfer was one of its first applications....the need for two-way and many-way communication has once again reasserted itself in the form of social software. Social software provides easy-to-use ways to communicate, collaborate, and participate on an unprecedented scale....As institutions rooted in our communities, libraries are social institutions. Therefore, libraries belong in the social network. We belong where our users can be found--and they are increasingly found online, interacting in completely new ways....Brick-and-mortar libraries are not going away, but they are now not the only way to be there for our clientele. Social networking is a new tool that lets us accomplish many of the same things we've done before, but in new and more effective ways." (pp. xix-xx). Farkas (2007) summarizes the impact of web 2.0 by saying the following about Social Information: It allows people to communicate, collaborate, and build community online. It can be syndicated, shared, reused, or remixed. . . . It lets people learn easily from and capitalize on the behavior or knowledge of others. (p. 1) I personally have reaped tremendously from free shareware, provided via web 2.0. I also endorse the sharing in return. I have begun 92 wikis and several blogs. Only a few of these are open to the public [most of them are my own databases, organizing my own material--hence, doing something in a new way]; but within months of having been launched, my available material was viewed by people from 28 countries. That blows my mind! Web 2.0 is sharing of resources; and in my opinion, that is the Internet. Farkas, Meredith G. (2007). Social software in libraries: Building collaboration, communication, and community online. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc. Note: I just created that APA bibliographical entry, using a free, interactive web 2.0 resource, from the following site: KnightCite Citation. That resource and my other favorite web 2.0 sites are stored in my computer's Bookmarks, my own Ready References, at my fingertips--as long as I am at home and my Internet and/or my computer are not down. By placing the information on a wiki or in a blog, I organize the material for myself and share it with others simultaneously. One more important point: Once the material has been launched online, it won't be lost by my computer's crashing. That problem can be eliminated. *No, I take that back. I had stored several podcasts with some site that discontinued. I lost all of those podcasts, Many of the podcasts were the sound for some of my blogs and wikis. Probably we should store the material in several places. We should probably continue storing material in more than one place--at least for a while longer. One last benefit of web 2.0 is that all of us can be creators of our own audio-visual production companies; and we can take it to the public. Another great book to read: The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (2006). In this book, he talks about the aforementioned phenomenon, the fact that web 2.0 makes it possible for us little people to produce, direct, and publish ourselves. That is actually putting a squeeze on some of the former major hitters in the information industries. Anderson, C. (2006). The long tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more. New York: Hyperion.