Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Thing 2 - Library 2.0

Well, better late than never... Apparently I needed to look at the blog prompts and consider time right away.


I definitely see the shift - 1.0 to 2.0 if you will. When I first started accessing the web, I was amazed by how much information was out there. But I was only an onlooker reading all the information that others had created. I knew a few people that had developed their own websites, but they knew code and were very techie. I did not think of this information in terms of something that I would be able to contribute to. That was only for "other people" to do.


Now the concept of anyone being able to add to the web is common place. You are behind the times if you don't have a blog, video on YouTube, etc. I see the 2.0 concept as much more interactive and user friendly. The web is no longer "other people". It's "us".

I also agree with the ideas presented in the video "The Machine is Us/ing Us" in that we need to rethink copyright, authorship, identity, ethics and privacy. It seems that the content creators of today are less concerned with copyright - for example, there is so much available through open source that in days of old would have been only available to users at a very high cost. As a school librarian, I am also grappling with authorship. Now that it is so easy to create content on the web, the line between authority and opinion is grayed. In going through the material for Thing 2, I was able to read the contributions of many individuals in the information profession. I consider them "authorities" since they have experience in this area. But where is the line between authority and opinion when I no longer have the safety of going to known "credible sources" that are "peer reviewed". This is a definite shake up from Library 1.0.


Another concept that struck me as I was reading through the links for Thing 2 is that technology, including the web, has gotten much more "human" as one of the writers suggested. Users can now manage and create their own content. Technology is much more plug and play. In other words, it's much more interactive. Which means as librarians, we must recognize this shift and run with these developments. We need to consider and include our users in this interactive, dynamic and increasingly changing environment. As one contributor wrote, we must have a "living, breathing tech plan".

As I begin this journey of 23 things on a stick, I am hoping to gain additional knowledge and ideas of what is already out there as well as what is on the horizon. The students at my school tend to have computers, but they don't necessarily have Internet access. So I am also hoping to keep them up to date on the many 2.0 tools out there. The last two years I have focused on technology, so we have done projects with videos, blogging, video conferencing, etc. But there is so much more. The 23 things experience will be a great way for me to take the time to learn more of these new skills so that I can share them with our staff and students.


Oh, and the time issue, it has been solved by summer vacation!

:)

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