On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Between the idea and the reality,
Between the motion and the act,
Falls the shadow.
...
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang, but a whimper.

The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot


I wanted to use the above quotation for this post, but my mind went blank and all I could remember was between the something and the something falls the something. I was sure it was Eliot, but I didn't have enough for Google to give me anything. I tried, but of course, but my information was too limited. However, the trusty Bartlett's Familiar Quotations came through.

And in a sense this whole experience is a metaphor for Library 2.0 and Web 2.0. All of things that they encompass are wonderful, but they are not the complete picture. That is my problem with the Library 2.0 concept, at least as I have heard it explained by some: that it is wider, broader, bigger, better. It is a component and a good one; it is another tool, another resource, maybe (when talking about the web) even the best, but it does not stand alone. Education, in general, enables us to OPEN our minds, to broaden and stimulate us, and anything that helps us to do that is fantastic. But we (librarians, Americans, the world) seem to be looking for a panacea. There isn't one. While praising all that is beneficial about Library 2.0, etc. let's also admit any failings.

Between the idea and the reality,
Between the motion and the act,
Falls the failure.

(My apologies to Eliot.)

So, don't REPLACE Bartletts (I am speaking here metaphorically), but expand on it, use it and the web as a team, incorporate what is useful to us as librarians from Library 2.0, but take off those rose-colored glasses and be ready to keep moving, because something else is just around the corner.

Twitter

I needed lots of help with this "Thing."
About the only thing I could figure out by myself was that the posts on this account are supposed to be short. Even with help I'm not certain that I totally understand it. But I understand enough to know that I don't want to know any more.
The friend who helped me with Twitter said that the difference between Twitter and regular e-mail was kind of like preferring a Ford or a Chevy. Oh, really? To me, Twitter is a junker that's about ready for the scrap heap. Since this is the Christmas season, I will quote from a funny Christmas song: (The song has a kind of a polka beat.)
"Rust and smoke, the heater's broke, the door just blew away. I light a match to see the dash and then I start to pray."
Twitter to the bone.
Is this post longer than 160 characters? I hope so.

Bookmarking in Delicious

I think tags in general have great potential. Emphasis on potential. Most tags, however, that I have seen assigned seem extreeeeeemely weak.
I think the Nebraska Access website is a great example. I was totally underwhelmed by the tags assigned. For example, "Nebraska" was assigned and certainly, Nebraska is one of the places one can search for when one enters Nebraska Access. But the website is a portal to the United States at large and to a lesser extent, to other countries. It's a huge genealogy tool, but that (genealogy) was not a tag I saw. "Resources" was okay as a tag but "printed publications" is better if one doesn't want to just reuse newspapers and periodicals from the abstract.
I've noticed this in other sites that use tags as well. A novel about Elizabethan England may be tagged "History." Not wrong, but not very specific. Other tags, such as "Great" or "my favorite" are opinions. They are valid, but unless another user knows and trusts the original taggers opinion, I feel that such tags have a limited usefulness.

Library Thing

This was very easy and it can certainly organize someone's personal library, however, it is NOT cataloging. The cataloging was done by LC or whatever group originally entered the information. I have no objections to this tool, I just want users to be accurate.

Technology

Technology is GREAT. We have the capability to do something in an eye blink that would have taken hours and hours without it. And, of course, this gives us lots of time to devote to hobbies, recreation, etc.
However, it can also be overwhelming. There is so much out there that no one can keep up with everything, so one must be discriminating.
Sometimes the instructions aren't the best. Once learned, the directions are often simple, but getting around instructions that are badly written or that use a lot of tech slang can be difficult to overcome.
I'm also extremely weary of redoing or losing things. I mean transferring or re-buying (or, I repeat, losing) movies, for example, from Beta to VHS to DVD to Blu Ray. I am especially piqued at losing things. But when the technology becomes a dinosaur, who can fix the machines that run the software even if the VHS cassettes are still good?
But technology IS exciting, challenging, and stimulating and it helps to keep me from becoming an old fuddy duddy, so I try to keep up. Emphasis on Try.

Finding Feeds

My biggest problem is not getting too much trash. For example, the CNN feed might be really useful to me, but only the solid news. I don't need an update on the next time Britney shaves her head.

Play around with Image Generators

I had a problem with this task and had to ask an IT person for help. However, once I got the help, I was pleased with my Flickr punkin. (Hey if they can spell it Flicker, I can spell it punkin.)