Thing 2

Well, I've read the two web articles about Web 2.0. Some of the software/old product titles discussed I had never heard of, and I consider myself a tech-savvy person. I do remember when Google first started gmail and I received an invite from a friend for the beta (it was invite only at the time). Before that I used a no-name email server and wasn't interested in Yahoo or hotmail. Now I also use Google reader, gtalk/gchat, and Google documents, and am pleased with these products. I guess I'm a bit of a Google fan.

Despite the fact that I spend most of my awake time near a computer, and was born into 'Generation Tech', I'm not real big into the social networking sites. I have a facebook page, but only ever use the site when a friend/classmate sends a message. I just don't find it convenient to update so frequently, which is a reason I have not yet tried twitter. I'm the sort of person who has a few good friends and beyond that, I like to keep my social life simple. Accumulating followers is not something I yearn for.

I appreciated what the O'Reilly article was saying about how the future is the web essentially running and providing services by accumulating data/effort from the masses. I am someone who frequently uses sites like Wikipedia, or the custom maps on Google Maps for special events (like wildfires, or the swine flu) and I love how you don't have to be an expert or someone with authority to contribute to something important.

I've heard on a number of library listserves about concerns that young people and library users are not able to discern between good data sources and bad, and that this is one area that makes reference librarians truly useful. I think in Web 2.0, young people might get the chance to hone these skills more than they might have in the past, when they realize that all data is created by their peers and that it is up to them to decide whether it's true or not.

It would be interesting to compare Web 2.0 theories to the theories of democracy in society. Isn't something run by the masses, for the masses, one of the most democratic things ever? I want to see Government 2.0 next.