By Bethany
Web 2.0 uses the internet as a collaborative tool. While most of the time we broadcast our message to the world with little regard for or ability to hear feedback from our audience, Web 2.0 actively encourages and rewards participation and response from our audience. What fun is Facebook if no one responds to your status update? All that liking, commenting, and posting is Web 2.0 in action. But that's not the only way Web 2.0 functions. For other ways view this short video Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0:
While not everything you use on the Internet is Web 2.0-based, you might be surprised at how many Web 2.0 tools you use. A basic rule of thumb is that when you’re using the internet, through social networking sites, wikis, blogs, or other streams to have a conversation with someone else or otherwise share information that’s Web 2.0. Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Youtube are all really popular examples of Web 2.0 in action. They exist because people share information back and forth.
While I find the conversation model most useful in describing Web 2.0, it’s more about collaboration intentional and unintentional. The Internet acts as a great net catching all the information people are sharing everyday. Yes, a lot of that happens in conversation, but even the information you save for personal use like bookmarks or map routes can be gathered with similar data from other people to make something great. Social bookmarking, sites such as Diigo, Delicious, or Stumble Upon, allows a user to share interesting websites, to tag them for personal (and public) reference later on, and to find the most popular links on the site at any given time. All the apps that ask you to share your location, upload your scores to a general server, or are made better when you share information are aspects of Web 2.0. Even the customer reviews you read or post on Amazon or the App Store came about through the implementation of Web 2.0 practices.
Web 2.0 is all over the internet and you probably already use it without thinking about it. However, when you intentionally harness the power of collaboration through Web 2.0, you can do great things. You can discover new trends and avenues for exploration. You can connect with people in ways you never thought possible. And you can create a community. All things libraries like to do in our quest to serve the public.
For more information about the role Web 2.0 can play in libraries, check out our blog post “What defines a library presence on the internet?”
For more information:
Abram, S. (2006). Web 2.0, library 2.0, and librarian 2.0: Preparing for the 2.0 world. SirsiDynix OneSource 2(1). Retrieved from: http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000505688.cfm
Dunn, J. (May 15, 2012). 100 web 2.0 tools every teacher should know about. Retrieved from: http://edudemic.com/2012/05/best-web-tools-slides/
Stephens, M. (2006). Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software. Library Technology Reports, 42(4), 6-68.
I can truly appreciate the excitement that Web 2.0 can and will give to not only libraries, but in how we interact with others on the web to help improve and expand information to those who seek it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I personally do not use Facebook nor have a Facebook account, I have read and heard so much about Facebook that I can appreciate its potential to allow librarians and patrons to exchange information that would not only allow the library to grow and prosper as a source of information, it would allow librarians to use something like Facebook to pass along information to patrons that will foster communication, leading to a more effective institution that is the library.
Before Web 2.0, I do not believe we had nearly as much opportunity to share information that expands both the success of the library and the fulfillment of more information (in any form) for its patrons. Now in this era of Web 2.0, even before the advent of mobile web-based technologies, I believe that interactions between librarians and patrons had helped spread beneficial information beyond the very physical walls of libraries -- bulletin boards, formation of information groups....the possibilities have become quite endless.
I was reading this blog regarding Web 2.0, and I was particularly interested in how Wikipedia has become such a popular and instrumental source behind Web 2.0's success. I will admit, I am a Wikipedia junkie myself, although I do not apply any of it in an academic capacity. However, I am intrigued with how it is possible to use Wikipedia as a means to converse with others socially in regards to information that may be found in Wikipedia. In fact, last night I looked in Wikipedia to see if it had information about a short-lived animated series from the late 1980s, and if it did have information about it (which it did), I wanted to see exactly how much information it contained. While I was rather impressed to see some information about this animated series, I felt that I, personally, knew even more information about this series that I would love to further contribute. This is an excellent example of how Web 2.0 allows not only for enhanced information exchange between other people who use and interact with the Web, but it also allows for communication between at least 2 people to ask a question such as "I know a great deal more about this animated series. May I help contribute much more information about it because I feel much more versed in it and it's history?"
What a neat world that we are living in thanks to Web 2.0 -- it allows us to expand our minds by expanding more information to an ever expanding society where many more people could potentially benefit from it now than we ever could decades ago. And sure, this concept of Web 2.0 can surely apply to the sustainability and success of libraries this very day and to the community that our libraries serve in the process.
The above comment regarding Web 2.0, with the example of Wikipedia and an animated series, is by Meredith Joseph Blaine.
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