Tame The Web » Blog Archive » Blyberg on the Debasing of L2. Don’t hold your breath waiting for technology to adapt to the library environment.
Web 2.0 did not evolve with libraries in mind, and there’s no reason to think that it ever will. I realize that, at first glance, that statement seems to run counter to what I’ve been saying with regards to not forcing a square peg into a round hole. What I mean is that we cannot expect to retrofit our libraries with tomorrow’s technology. The true pursuit of Library 2.0 involves a thorough recalibration of process, policy, physical spaces, staffing, and technology so that any hand-offs in the patron’s library experience are truly seamless. We can learn a lot about collaboration and individual empowerment from Web 2.0, but we cannot be subsumed by it because we have a mission that eclipses “don’t be evil” which is the closest thing to a conscience the Web will ever have.
I applaud John for articulating so many of the thoughts I’ve been mulling over of late: has L2 been co-opted by vendors? Information Experience. Cracking the Native Information Experience Brand New. The personal blog of Futurist Thomas Frey » Blog Archive » Creating the Ultimate Information Experience. Planning Our Next Generation Libraries Literacy is a learned skill involving an ability to transform characters on paper into mental concepts and images.
Listening to an audio book requires a slightly different skill, but requires the ability to transform audio sounds into mental concepts and images. The trend in the information world is to make the interface between information and our brains as seamless and as invisible as possible. However, if all we do is download tons of information into our brains, we haven’t accomplished much. Information needs to be relevant, useful, and somehow meaningful. So how do we take dry, boring information and turn it into a meaningful experience? In the team-based business cultures of our working lives, where good service is a minimum and professionalism is a given, businesses are grappling with the experience concept as a way to distinguish themselves? An experience is something personally encountered. Blog Archive » The Information Experience. I like David Lee King’s blog because he writes first and revises [his ideas] later, which tends to garner both commendation and consternation.
So, insomuch that there are canonical bibliobloggers, he’s one of them–consistently working through ideas in real-time under the scrutiny of the public eye. Certainly, he had to know that his post about this image was going to stir up some of the latent reservations and resentments surrounding “Library 2.0.” This may not have been the way to approach this particular discussion right now, but the silt has been kicked up again and it’s worth examining to gauge were people are on the issue.
For one thing, asking “how 2.0 are you?” Suggests that there is some metric by which 2.0-ness can be established. Steve Lawson is the closest to touching on this in his response: I object when people treat “2.0” as if it were something that exists in some platonic sense. Except that David did not suggest, in any way, that L2 = Nirvana.