Thursday, October 11, 2007

I think I am getting it

I am thrilled, to use an odd word for me, to have (a) created a blog which I blog on; (b) thought about my photographs coming alive for me and others- through flickr; (c) LibraryThing has got me thinking that I might share my thoughts on reading, which is a solitary past time, with "complete strangers"; (d) my mind has expanded, and not because, for an internet sceptic, I have achieved a list of technical feats.


I have been musing about an almost explosion of thoughts lately on the profession of being in a library, in my case, working with the past and history. I have already been totally enthralled with how technology has brought archives to a new sphere of influence and to a whole brand new audience. But today, I read a bit about Web 2.0 -

I got this because I learnt RSS and put the Libodyssey blog as a feed. This extract is from an early Libodyssey post. As I did not wish to explore technical matters other than do my tasks, I ignored this item until today.
....................... "Stephen Fry (actor, author and broadcaster) describes Web 2.0 as "an idea in people’s heads rather than a reality. It’s actually an idea that the reciprocity between the user and the provider is what’s emphasized. In other words, genuine interactivity if you like, simply because people can upload as well as download"[6]. The phrase "Web 2.0" can also refer to the transition of websites from isolated information silos to interlinked computing platforms that act like software to the user. Web 2.0 also includes a social element where users generate and distribute content, often with freedom to share and re-use...............

The little description above explains why I am so enjoying the new mode of internet competency. The internet for me was an inert, useful tool, necessary for and in my world. Since I can hardly understand how Marconi got his telegraph working in Vancouver a century ago, let alone the fax, radio, television, I have taken for granted the mysteries of the internet, as I did the phone and the wireless, etc. and just worked with the tools. With Web 2.0 I am interacting rather than using. This has unlocked for me the reason for my joie de vie about the 23 Things program. It is not simply because I have learnt mysterious techniques. It is because I am using them to communicate (intellectual) thoughts and ideas I would only have discussed in social circumstances, that is person to person. With new skills I can do new things with old (but valuable) information and think new thoughts about it all.

2 comments:

ME on the web said...

this is such a technical post that I honestly found it hard to read. I am pleasantly surprised that you have written it given that you have been such an arty sort of person.

Funnily enough I, who have been computer literate for forty years, cannot write about it the way you can. Writing is a skill that I do't have.

Isn't it strange how we complement each other in our different skills.

Sara Jervis said...

Me,

You have given, in less than 75 words, an assessment of my progress in the 23 Things program, in particular using Web 2.0. I realise I have made quite speedy progress because, as Stephen Fry says, I can expound on any number of life and philosophical matters i like expounding on, to persons "in the ether". I am aware there may be persons in this ether who may want to comment if they see a link between what I say and what they think.

Web 2.0 offers, for the previously disinterested, a way to communicate though the internet with permanent trainer wheels, as access to and using programs are soooo easy.