A critical review of Anderson, P. (2007) 'All That Glisters Is Not Gold: Web 2.0 And The Librarian', Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 39 (4), 195+.
The author is a technology writer and at the time of writing this editorial was the Technical Editor of JISC Technology & Standards Watch. With a long history in the IT field he applies his knowledge of computer science and technology development to providing a framework for analysing what is happening in the field of Web 2.0 and specifically what may work in the context of Libraries. The article is heavily based on the frequently quoted works of Tim O’Reilly and reviews the challenges and opportunities open to libraries from Web 2.0 technologies.
The author briefly summarises the various origins of the term Web 2.0 and the impact that the modern technology is having on all aspects of professional life. He makes the interesting observation that user expectations have rapidly changed in this technology rich environment, but that this is not always due to Web 2.0 features. The example is given of users comparing interlibrary loans with Amazon’s book delivery mechanism, which is not actually one of their Web 2.0 features. I think this is relevant for libraries in that they can’t just introduce Web 2.0 services and think that this will solve all their problems but that they need to look at all aspects of the services provided.
Anderson’s proposed framework consists of three aspects that I like to think of as an onion. The visible outer surface consists of mature social software applications and services that everyone sees and interacts with. This is the visible face of Web 2.0. Peel this layer away and the middle layer consists of what Anderson calls his “Six Big Ideas” that provide an understanding of current developments and a way to analyse future trends. He summarises these as: ”Individual production and user generated content; harnessing the power of the crowd; data on an epic scale; the architecture of participation; network effects; openness.” These are the key principles that the outer layer is built on, with the middle layer itself overlaying the inner core web technologies and standards such as AJAX, XML, Flash etc. This I feel provides a useful visual guide to understanding Web 2.0 and demonstrating how core technologies are built on by principles to provide interactive, powerful and inclusive web services.
The author also discusses the impact of Web 2.0 on libraries and some of the opportunities and challenges that they face. The tag Libraries 2.0 is used to group the use of these technologies and ideas in the library setting with the point being made that the focus should be on reaching out from the physical setting of the library to “offer new and more convenient ways of bringing together pieces of data held in individual libraries”. I think this goes to the heart of the issue for libraries in that they need to interact and communicate with their users using the technologies that are in use in society. A challenge for libraries, outlined by the author is the rapidly changing nature of the technologies and that a characteristic of Web 2.0 is that the software is in constant ‘beta’. This highlights the constantly changing nature that libraries will work in and that librarians will need to be continuously evaluating how they provide services and the technology they use to provide those services.
In summary the author has provided a brief overview of the origins of Web 2.0 and a structured framework for reviewing current and future Web 2.0 services with the challenges and opportunities faced by librarians in developing and implementing these services.
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