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Recently I was asked if some software applications I was involved in were Web 2.0 compliant. This was amusing and distressing on so many levels. It's amusing because what is being called Web 2.0 isn't a "standard" in almost any sense of the word. It's distressing because it shows how quickly a conversation becomes an expectation in today's world.
This is a perfect example of the power of the 95 theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto. You can remind yourself about these at www.cluetrain.com. The major thesis is No. 1: "Markets are conversations." Anyway, I thought it might be useful to devote this month's column to a little information on Web 2.0 and its newborn babies. Library 2.0 and Librarian 2.0. And why should you read this column? You've heard it all before but in a few years these Web. 2.0 conversations will have the power to drive huge transformations in our media landscape and therefore our life, work, and play environments. Sigh.
Web 2.0
According to some sources, the term Web 2.0 has been around since about October 2004. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (gotta love the price), it is defined as:
"... a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving Web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes. (http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Web_2.0)"
I think Web 2.0 goes much further than this, actually beyond an application focus. It's really about the "hot" Web. I am talking here about "hot" in the McLuhanesque sense of the hot and cold or warm and cool aspects of technology.
What makes the Web warmer or hotter? Interactivity. Of course the Web is already interactive in a cooler sense. You can click and get results. You can send e-mail and get responses. You can go to Web sites and surf. The old World Wide Web was based on the "Web 1.0" paradigm of Web sites, e-mail, search engines, and surfing.
Web 2.0 is about the more human aspects of interactivity. It's about conversations, interpersonal networking, personalization, and individualism. In the special library world this has relevance not just to the public Web but also...