Ok, Ok. I know. I skipped from Thing 1 to Thing 3. I guess I better do Thing 2.

What is Web 2.0 and why should I care?
I care because I've been using it. Web 2.0 is about Joe Average using the web to be interactive. It's a wonderful idea that has been forcast in many SF stories, maybe the best is the recent "Halting State" and before that the famous "Snow Crash." Of course those two were more virtual reality, but the characters hopped into and out of an interactive world-wide net or set of networks.

I've been using Web 2.0 in library work for over 10 years. I made an interlibrary loan form for use in the Minnesota State University System over it classic PALS back in 1983 or 84. I made an online interactive workbook for my students in 1994. I also made a web form for faculty to submit book requests to me back in 1997.

Why do I care? It makes life easier and more fun (depending upon whether I'm creating or using).

My thoughts on RSS feeds. Like most “new’ tools, this is just a re-packaged, re-named tool. RSS feeds are subscriptions. If you want to add the technical component, RSS feeds look suspiciously like the old backchannel program of the late 90’s. I loved that one because of the academic news channel. I suppose a real difference is that Backchannel was more of a news aggregator and delivered a lot of information in various channels to which one could subscribe. RSS feeds are much more individualized, rather like one a single channel rather than a whole network of channels.

Librarian Family. Why Librarian Family? Families do things together. Even if it is More Things on a Stick. Even if there are 23 things to do before More Things on a Stick (Do I hear there’s a Hole in the Bucket playing? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7_3DjDot24). My librarian spouse decided that she wanted to do More Things on a Stick. But she wanted company doing it. Hence we are both doing it. Maybe I should email my daughter the librarian and suggest that three are better than two.