The Decline Of Web 2.0, Niall Harbison, TNW Industry (Dec 19)
Several much favoured Web 2.0 sites and services are in decline: delicious (thanks to Yahoo's poor management), MySpace (usurped by others), Digg (stale - can't compete with Facebook), several others.
Maybe the message is that people don't have the time to support several of these, and today - those willing to be social - will do it thru Facebook.
Mathew Ingram on Obama's inauguration online, Globe and Mail (Jan 15)
Mathew Ingram answered questions about accessing sites that are covering the inauguration of Barack Obama.
He began by explaining why people who are not in the US are often blocked from viewing streamed video from Hulu or Joost. This is generally because a distributor who has paid to broadcast the content would not want it given away on the Web - and so opts to block it.
But, everyone can tap into the Twitter lines. Ingram has many suggestions about Twitter pages / feeds to follow (such as Twitter / inauguration or Obama Inaugural ) and how to search Twitter to pick up conversation.
Another live method to use or view is Cover It Live, a Canadian service that makes it easy to host a live blog showing text, chat, live video. Globe and Mail reporters will be using it on Jan 20 for the inauguration - "We're hoping to have a live-blog/chat going on the day of the inauguration, so that we can talk about it not just with other Globe journalists who are covering the event, but with people who are there and Twittering about it or want to comment."
The Globe and Mail will also have a hub with a variety of content about US Presidential inaugurations. Link given was http://www.theglobeandmail.com/Obamainauguration
For searching for more information or events, Ingram recommends using several key words or finding specialty services (Twitter in this case) -- "include as many unique keywords as you can -- Obama and inauguration and "live stream" for example, or Obama and inauguration and video and streaming, or something like that. That's where Twitter search like search.twitter.com or Twitscoop or Tweetscan can help, because it's a smaller group of people who are already focused on what you're trying to find. "
MORE: Learn more ways to virtually participate from this article in PCWorld -- Obama Inauguration: Be There Without Being There by Mark Sullivan, (Jan 14) -- "These sites and services, used together or separately, will immerse you in the media experience of Obama's inauguration on Tuesday."
defragging taxonomies and folksonomies - slideshow by Karen Schneider (late 2007)
"A presentation about the strengths and limitations of taxonomies and folksonomies, with a brief history of library automation thrown in for good measure"
Research Sharing Gets New Tools and Goes Trendy by Paula J. Hane, Newsbreaks (Sep 4)
There are more tools to help researchers work together. Now dubbed Research 2.0 (as in Web 2.0), these are described by Paula Hane.
"Some of the tools emphasize organizing and managing references—an online extension of a software tool such as EndNote. Others emphasize collaborative knowledge sharing."
Discovering the latest in Web 2.0 developments by Connie Crosbie, LLRX.com - presentation done May 2007 - very good on Library 2.0 - covers blogs, rss, wikis, tag clouds, podcasts, social networking (though not social bookmarking).
Participation on Web 2.0 sites remains weak by Eric Auchard, Reuters via Yahoo News (Apr 18)
Web 2.0 sites get many visitors, but not a lot of participants. People search and lurk, but they don't contribute. .16% of visitors to YouTube upload videos, and only .002% of visits to Flickr are to upload photos. Wikipedia is the exception - 4.6% of visits are to add and edit. But Bill Tancer, an analyst with Web audience measurement firm Hitwise, says that visits to Web 2.0 sites have jumped 668% in 2 years - and account for 12% of web activity.
"Web 2.0, a phrase popularized by conference organizer Tim O'Reilly, refers to the current generation of Web sites that seek to turn viewers into contributors by giving them tools to write, post, comment and upload their own creative work."
Watch this YouTube video to get a sense of how the web has changed from the flat web pages of the early web to today where the web truly means connecting people and content in conversation. Also nicely shows how xml is used to add the structure and enable the exchange.
Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, is the author. This is part of a digital ethnography project.
[4.25 minutes - requires Flash - click on the forward button.](DIscovered through Steffen Fiaervik's blog E-Media Tidbits - Web 2.0 and XML Explained. )
Top 25 Web 2.0 Search Engines, Online Education database (Feb 6)
I think it is a stretch to call any search engine Web 2.0 including the very blue Live.com, but here's a list of search tools that all do something different - mashups, visuals, tags. Some on this list do have social networking aspects where members help out.
Building a Library Web Site on the Pillars of Web 2.0 by Karen A. Coombs. Computers in Libraries (Jan 2007)
Identifies six pillars of Web 2.0 that could be used for rebuilding a library Web site.
1. Radical decentralization
2. Small pieces loosely joined
3. Perpetual beta
4. Remixable content
5. User as contributor
6. Rich user experience
Google: How to succeed in the web 2.0 world By Elinor Mills, Silicon.com (Nov 10)
Users want to see results right away or they will leave the site - that was the message from Marissa Mayer, VP of search products at Google.
"Internet users want to see results right away or they will leave the website, she said. Speed - the ability to interact with software and content, and see immediate results - is a key aspect of web 2.0 applications, she said. The popularity of user-created and user-edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia, for example, illustrates that people like to have an "immediate feedback loop", Mayer said."
Web 2.0 Replaces Music Teachers by Michael Calore, Wired (Nov 8)
In the Chair "for music students and budding guitar heroes" is one of many Web2.0 applications being shown at the Web 2.0 Summit.
"The theme of the summit is "disruption and opportunity," and it could be argued that it's also the mantra of the entire Web 2.0 movement."
"Companies of all sizes are harnessing the Web 2.0 aesthetic -- hosted applications, user-generated content, open programming interfaces and online communities -- to give their users a more personalized and fulfilling web experience and to gain an advantage."
There are more examples of new Web 2.0 plays in the article.
"Internet Librarian International: Impressions from a First-Time Attendee" By Jill Fenton, Freepint (Nov 2006) -- Internet librarians use social software to reach and serve their customers. Here's a telling sentence -- "All were there to further understand how their roles and libraries could and would evolve as collaboration, communication and community technology tools develop, for example Web 2.0, Library 2.0, RSS, blogs and wikis. As one delegate put it, you need to be as up-to-date as your younger staff."
Article has links to some of the sessions related to Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and wikis at Internet Library International 2006
Web 2.0 Has Corporate America Spinning -- What every CEO needs to know about the array of new tools that foster online collaboration -- and could revolutionize business -- by Robert Hof, Business Week ONline (June 5)