Web 2.0 Thoughts

I'm not sure what to make of this Web 2.0 phenomenon yet. Is it merely hype as some have come to label it? Or are there profound implications for the Internet? In either case, I find the Web 2.0 virtual landscape quite an intriguing topic of discussion in library circles nowadays. The idea of having a virtual identity in Second Life, tagging items with your self-selected keywords in a library catalog, trapping news items and information through RSS feeds, adding entries into the universal Wikipedia, and sharing opinions and resources collectively through a social bookmarking resource like Delicious are astounding. Using the Internet as a platform for fostering online communities, contributing and changing content, and harnessing collective intelligence via the "wisdom of the crowds" is quite exciting. However, I wonder if these "innovative" technologies are just passing fads . . .

Technorati

Technorati sports a nice, organized interface--one of the more visually appealing ones I've seen. One can search blog postings in videos, blogs, and music which certainly faciliates a targeted search in a specific category. Readers can also vote on their favorite blogs, much like the way Diggs ranks their article findings. The advanced search features includes two handy searches--the blog directory search and tag search--both useful in helping you strategize your search efforts. Overall, I would like to spend more time with this search engine and possibily see how it compares with the others out there such as Google, Yahoo, and Ask.

Delicious

I have yet to explore the full extent of Delicious's potential. Harvesting the collective intelligence or "wisdom of the crowds" on the Web is certainly an intriguing and compelling concept. At first glance, the Delicious site didn't seem very intutitive, so the help menus came in handy.

The whole social tagging folksonomy concept marks a new breakthrough in "cataloging" electronic records, one which seems quite daunting, given the unique perceptions and interpretations individuals might have in assigning tags to objects, people, ideas, etc. I was surprised that the Delicious tags were restricted to one-word terms.

I would like to explore using Delicious as a research tool and compare how this differs from, say, searching electronic discussion groups and blogs. There is quite a bit of potential in this social bookmarking resource, yet the challenge still lies in separating the proverbial chaff from the wheat.

Rollyo

A very handy tool that reminds me of Google's custom search engine. I noticed that the search response time does tend to drag. It appears that your URL links are alphabetized, and that search results appear on the summary list accordingly. It would be nice to have more clearly defined headings for the various result clusters. What is interesting is the "blog results" sidebar on the left, though if the sources you include don't index blogs, that feature would be useless.

LibraryThing

A fun nifty tool for bibliophiles. I'm amazed at the sheer simplicity of this resource which certainly faciliates cataloging and even better, allows you to apply your own tags and share them with other readers. There is also much potential in using this resource for reader's advisory services or as an online discussion forum amongst book groups.