Practical uses for Web 2.0 – an overview

Phil Bradley

http://www.philb.com

What is Web 2.0?

• Let’s just not go there shall we?

• Definitions are less important than what you can do with it

• Oh, if you really insist…

What is Web 2.0?

• Web 2.0 is 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. – Wikipedia entry

• Web 1.0 was computer based

• Web 2.0 uses the web as a platform

• Web 1.0 relied on installed software

• Web 2.0 uses the browser

• Web 1.0 was solitary • Web 2.0 encourages sharing

• Web 1.0 was individuals working alone

• Web 2.0 is community, sharing wisdom

• Web 1.0 was data in one place

• Web 2.0 is the portability of data

• Web 1.0 was about consuming (data)

• Web 2.0 is about creating data– Weblogs– Photograph sharing– Wikis– Collaborative

resources– Social networking– Bookmarking

• Web 1.0 was home pages

• Web 2.0 is weblogs

• Web 1.0 was tracking information down

• Web 2.0 is having information come to you

• Web 1.0 was badging your content

• Web 2.0 is getting the answer out there quickly

• Web 1.0 was slow transfer rates

• Web 2.0 is about broadband

• Web 1.0 was hardware $s

• Web 2.0 is broadband $s

• Web 1.0 was getting it perfect

• Web 2.0 is doing it and moving on

• Web 1.0 was stationary

• Web 2.0 is mobile

• Web 1.0 was about limitations

• Web 2.0 is about a state of mind

Yes… but?

• “It’s vacuous marketing hype”• “Web 2.0 is totally silly”• “Meaningless”• “is made entirely of pretentious self

serving morons.”• “a lot of thin but very hot air blown at you

by those who are convinced that having nothing to say is by no means a good reason to shut up.”

So…

• Is it a question of degrees of difference?

Or…

• A difference of kind? (Is it or isn’t it a fad?)

So…

How can I use it?

Communication & news gathering

• Weblogs– Create a library weblog– Additional or new library resources– Introduce members of staff– Use it as a repository of data and information

by using categories and tags– Don’t regard a weblog as a diary – it’s an

important website in its own right…

Weblogs continued…

• Use the weblog RSS feed on the site home page as a news feed

• Encourage people to add the feed to their start page or RSS reader

• Create a different weblog for a different subject area – invite other authors

• Use it in a different way, on a different page

So what exactly is RSS again?

• Really Simple Search

• Rich Site Summary

• ‘Read some stories’

• Newsfeeds

• It’s a common way of transferring data from one resource to another one

• The version a human being sees:

• The RSS version:• Phil Bradley's weblog• http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/• Internet searching, web design, search engine developments and anything that will interest librarians!• en-GB • 2007-02-23T10:57:53+00:00 Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult'• http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2007/02/egypt_blogger_j.html• Egyptian blogger jailed for 'insult'. Abdel Kareem Soliman has been jailed for four years for criticising and insulting Islam and the

president. He'd used his weblog to take a swipe at the country's top Islamic institution. The link goes to...• <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6385849.stm" title="BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Egypt blogger jailed for

'insult'">Egyptian blogger jailed for 'insult'</a>. Abdel Kareem Soliman has been jailed for four years for criticising and insulting Islam and the president. He'd used his weblog to take a swipe at the country's top Islamic institution. The link goes to the BBC story.</p>

• Current Affairs

• philipbradley• 2007-02-23T10:57:53+00:00

• Google charges for web programs• http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2007/02/google_charges_.html• Google charges for web programs. Well, this is all over the blogs and news at the moment - my link goes to the BBC version of the story.

No great surprise here really; Google is going to start selling a...• <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6385487.stm" title="BBC NEWS | Technology | Google charges for web

programs">Google charges for web programs</a>. Well, this is all over the blogs and news at the moment - my link goes to the BBC version of the story. No great surprise here really; Google is going to start selling a premium version of their email, calendar, word processing and messaging package. It'll cost £27 or 40€ or $50 which includes more storage, phone help and 99.9% uptime (which is actually downtime of about 9 hours per year if you don't want to work it out yourself) and it'll be advertisement free.</p>

• <p>Google is of course saying that it's not an attack on Microsoft.</p>

• Google specific

• philipbradley

• Each RSS resource has its own URL and other applications can point to that URL, gather the data and display it in a different format.

RSS and search

So, what else can I do with RSS?

• Add to content to webpages

• Add content to a news aggregator

• Add content to a start page

• Keep current with comments and updates

• In conclusion therefore… RSS brings data to you, and allows you to send it out to other places.

Using news aggregators

• Such as Bloglines or the Google Reader

• Keep up to date

• Up to the minute

• Create your own searches

• Use these to create your own news feeds

• Combine these and publish them for users

Communication - Podcasts

• Provide access to audio content

• Guides/tours around a library

• Content that can’t easily be made available in other formats

• Content that is accessible on the move

• Not time or place dependent.

Instant messaging

• “Email is for old people”

• Talk instantly back and forth

• Share files (or not!)

• Share webcam discussions

• Group chat

• IM from webpages

• Create chatrooms

Instant Messenger Services

Using…

• Plugoo

• Gabbly Chat

• Meebo rooms

Communication - microblogging

• Twitter– “What are you doing?”– 140 character messages– News, information about you, your

organisation– Alerting service– Port weblog entries across– Use with a mobile phone

Collating and sharing data

• Providing answers to enquirers in a dynamic format

• Setting up a mechanism to self update

• Getting assistance from other people

• Sharing data easily and quickly

Collating data - Start Pages

• Pageflakes or Netvibes• Collate data into one place• Not machine dependent• Good for:

– Links– Email – Search engines– RSS feeds– Weather – Etc…

Using start pages

• Individually

• As a group– Share tabbed pages– Alternative to email contact– To Do lists– Note pads– Always immediately available

Pageflakes

Collating content - Wikis

• Create your own websites

• Allow multiple authors

• Instant updating, editing

• Embed content from various sources

Example Wikis

• LIS wiki

• Library success wiki

• Wikipedia

• Peanut butter wiki

• Library Instruction wiki

Collating data – other resources

• Flickr

• Zimbio

• Squidoo

• Facebook

• Slideshare

Facebook

Sharing resources

• Content in a wiki

• On a start page

• In a community

• Bookmarking services

Bookmarking

• Limited to a specific machine

• Not informative

• Difficult to find what you want

• Inflexible

• Cannot easily share bookmarks

What are the alternatives?

• Del.icio.us

• Diigo

• FURL

• Simpy

• SPURL

You can:

• Share your bookmarks– Between computers– Between colleagues– Between users

• Create bookmark sets– To supplement projects– To assist users

• Annotate (or tag) bookmarks

Great for searching!

• http://del.icio.us/tag/<search_term>

Get an RSS feed automatically

• http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/[insert your tag here]

Web 2.0 for searching - Search builders

• Create your own search engines

• Limit to trusted sites

• As small as you want, as large as you need

• Use the given URL or

• Cut and paste onto your own site

• Use them and then throw them

That would be:

• Rollyo

• Google Custom Search Builder

• Eurekster swicki

• Yahoo Search builder

And…

• Topicle

• Quintura

Collaborate on knowledge

• Provide content onto a webpage

• Items, notes, articles

• Links to news or blogs

• Search functions

• Video options

• Let others collaborate

Collaborate

• On documents – Google docs

• On spreadsheets - NumSum

• With calendars – 30 Boxes

• With training - WizIQ

• With projects – MyWebDesktop

• With To Do lists – TaDaList

Combine everything!

• With RSS and other Web 2.0 resources anything can work with anything else

• Content can be changed and manipulated into different formats that you control

• Users can get involved

• Geography doesn’t matter

• Speed is easy

• It’s not technical!

Make Web 2.0 work for you

• Choose a newsreader like Google RSS reader or Bloglines

• Identify weblogs to read and follow using blog search engines like Technorati

• Create your own home or start page using Pageflakes, Netvibes or iGoogle

• Create search engines for often searched subject areas

• Copy these into your home page app

• Create RSS feeds for your main areas of interest

• Share these resources with colleagues

• Share content

– Allow access to start page tabs

– Put your content onto a wiki

– Place material onto content sharing sites such as Slideshare and Google docs

• Involve others

– Communicate more widely with Instant Messaging or your own weblog or microblog

– Let them update and contribute to your content

– Let go of ownership and emphasis facilitation

And then…

• Start a library weblog?

• Create a flickr group

• Podcast information

And then…

• Create del.icio.us or FURL accounts and share them

• Create a book reading club using LibraryThing, Amazon and a weblog

• Have a library tour on YouTube

Or even

• Create trading cards from Flickr photographs

• Create fun/interesting new posters

• Set up a Facebook, Bebo, MySpace account for the library

BUT…

Expect…

• “It can’t be done”

• “We don’t have the resources”

• “Bandwidth problems”

• “Security issues”

• “Write a proposal”

• “Not your job”

• “Not enough time”

AND…

Ignore it! Because Web 2 is changing:

• The way we use the web

• The way we use information

• The way we find information

• The way we do our jobs

• The way we interact with people

• The way that we look at everything

FOREVER

Final thoughts:

• “Librarians must be like Krishna! And descend into the world to combat ignorance!” S.R. Ranganathan

• “The librarian must be the librarian militant before he can be the librarian triumphant.” Melvil Dewey

Want more?

Acknowledgements• Slide 5 http://www.nasa.gov • Slide 7 http://www.bbc.co.uk • Slide 9 http://thederringdos.com/• Slide 9 http://www.problogger.net/wp-content/spiders-web.jpg • Slide 10 http://www.vorkt.com/ • Slide 10 http://www.nps.gov/ • Slide 11 http://www.tailoredtime.com/ • Slide 11 http://www.letsgomobile.org/ • Slide 13 http://www.ctp.co.uk/ • Slide 13 http://www.hereticpress.com/ • Slide 14 http://www.stdmfg.com/ • Slide 14 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/ • Slide 15 http://www.stainedglassoriginals.com • Slide 15 http://img.thesun.co.uk/

Thank you!

• Website: http://www.philb.com

• “I want to”: http://www.philb.com/iwantto.htm

• Weblog: http://philbradley.typepad.com/i_want_to/

• Presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/Philbradley/