Web 2.0

I am blown away by the advantages and capacity of tagging using del.icio.us. I love the idea of being able to access my favorites from anywhere. And as many times as I hear "Oh, it's on my computer at home", when patrons want to access a site here at the library -- if they could bookmark or tag their favorites and know they could get them here, what a wonderful way to serve them! I see a great potential for increased customer satisfaction.
Also, in writing my weekly column, "Question Authority" for the Daily Times, I can see a wide use for del.icio.us and tags. I can access my account from anywhere rather than jotting things down and waiting until I get home to pursue ideas (and hope my computer starts!)

I visited technorati too, and was surprised to see some of the top tags being used and searched for the day. I expected to see "Harry Potter" at the top of the list, but he wasn't. No posts either about my new toy, a Zen Vision W (better than an iphone, which I never pursued). Guess I'll have to add one!

As far as Web 2.0 is concerned. Michael Wesch's "The Machine is Us/ing Us" at YouTube (here) is interesting. It reminded me of a new book by Steven Hall, "The Raw Shark Texts", in which a man who refused to die becomes part of our internet/computer systems and is able to access every piece of information there is. What a huge world we live in, and how easy it is to experience it all! It can be a bit overwhelming, especially when you consider the speeds at which we can access, process, and discard information. I think it will be easy to lose ourselves, and we'd better be careful. I thought the article by Wendy Schultz, on the OCLC newsletter was especially insightful. We must remember that no matter where or how information is to be accessed, the library is a facilitator and librarians must be able to navigate successfully and efficiently through tremendous amounts of information.