A win at last!

Image by Paul Thomas UK found on Flickr.com

I can't write about Web 2.0 stuff all the time, so I'm very happy to report that my great passion (or stupidity depending on your view point) for Newcastle United FC has been duly rewarded with a well fought win.
This follows on from a great draw with Arsenal midweek. Here's hoping that the Toon are turing a corner...

UKSG Web 2.0 seminar Nov 07 London

I went to an excellent seminar hosted by the UK Serial Group, where the emphasis of the day was focused on Web 2.0 and what it means to library and information professionals.
The seminar had a range of speakers, most of whom were excellent, and I learnt a great deal.
Here are my highlights from some of the presentations. Full details of the programme and links to individual presentations can be found at: http://www.uksg.org/event/web20

The threads of Web 2.0
Leigh Dodds, Chief Technical Officer, Ingenta
* Gartner Hype Curve which is a graphical representation of the maturity, adoption and business application of technologies. See: http://www.gartner.com/pages/story.php.id.8795.s.8.jsp for details and follow the links to see the graph.
* Successful communities and social networks often spring from those communities which exist in real life.

There are real people in there?: blogging, IM and more in Worcester
Paul Williams, Library Systems Manager, University of Worcester
* Worcester achieved success with their blogs by altering the tone of the blogs to suit different audiences.
* Worcester were using an RSS aggregator to view collections of blogs
* Feedback has been that blog usage has helped raise information resources awareness as opposed to being used as a tool to alleviate information overload.


Web 2.0 and distributed services: good things for everyone
Mike Ellis, Eduserv
* I really liked Mike's presentation, he really seems to understand things from the user perspective.
* References to check out - Tom Standage, Victorian Internet
* Web 2.0 is about people and content, not computers
* Web 2.0 can be perceived as dangerous, but it is also powerful because it empowers users. We do face challenges around authority, voice, moderation and brand etc with web 2.0
* Embrace the user and the concept of Web 2.0, it's happening anyway. Web 2.0 is all about loosing some element of control.
* Users are the single most important thing about your site bar none.

The adventures of LASSIE: libraries, social software and distance learners
Jane Secker, Learning Technology Librarian, Centre for Learning Technology,
London School of Economics and Political Science
* This was a very interesting presentation and the LASSIE project is worth a look at: http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Projects/LASSIE.php
* The LASSIE project was set up to investigate how social software might be used to enhance distance learner's use of libraries
* Large numbers of US University libraries are using blogs as a means of communication
* Many publishers are now offereing RSS feeds and you can even get library applications in Facebook now.
* The LASSIE team have found that blogging was a good tool for publicity and as a research tool for reflection etc. They found that maintaining a 'light hearted' style to blogging got more responses.

Themes of the day
The theme that I noticed coming through loud and clear from this seminar was that Web 2.0 is not about technology, it's about people and content and allowing people to connect to one another. I thought that Richard Willis'(Talis) statement that Web 2.0 is 'more of an attitude than a technology' neatly summed up the feeling of the day.
Many of the presenters outlined the importance of reaching out to end users and providing them with information where ever they may need it; the days of expecting people to visit your website are over.

All in all a very informative day with a great range of speakers and plenty of scope for thought.