Google is really good at illustrating the “echo chamber” effect that certain clusters of blogs create for one another. A set of search results contains many links that point back and forth like a hall of mirrors: A says “blah”; B reacts to A’s post; C quotes the dialog occurring between A & B, A takes issue with C, D picks it up quoting A, B and C—well, you get the idea.
After Tim O’Reilly popularized the Web 2.0 phrase last summer (to describe the newer, interactive read/write web we’re all seeing), some library bloggers began using Library 2.0 to describe what they see as a dramatically new way for libraries to interact with and serve their users. Caught my interest but as I read more and more of their posts, I realized that for many of the Library 2.0 boosters, cutting edge ideas were things like RSS feeds (circa 1999); cloud tags; links to Flickr, etc.
But dissing Library 2.0 enthusiasts isn’t the point of this post—I’m all for anyone trying to think up new ways to put technology to work to improve libraries and the Library 2.0 crowd has the right motivations. What I really want to do is introduce my own feeble vibrations into the chamber with a recommendation of Walt Crawford’s lengthy (26K on the word counter) take on the Library 2.0 buzzfest.