Web 2.0 is all about democracy - everyone's ideas seems to be equal, and all can participate. I recently read an article in U.S. News and World Report concerning democracy on the web, and the difficulty of attracting older people to these new technologies. The article stated that people between 30 and 49 are significantly less likely to read blogs or consult Wikipedia. This is a generation which does spend alot of time online, and a new generation of sites is trying to court them.
Like alot of librarians, and people my age in general, I find the general idea that EVERYONE can blog on and on about their ideas kind of boring, and I have significant reservations about sites like Wikipedia where self-described "experts" present information of questionable validity. I don't want to read anyone else's diary (possible exceptions: world adventurers, etc.) and don't feel like my random musings have a great deal of significance to the outside world. In the article, sites like Helium, where posters must be invited, and show expertise, are shown as the response to the skepticism of people like me.
Since the web is constantly evolving, it will be interesting to see what comes next.
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2 comments:
You make some good points, and I found and read the US News and World Reports article as well.
BTW, I like your blog name and your moniker! Beaches and books -
it doesn't get much better than that!
I agree with your comments about wikis that are used as expert sites. What I am excited about is the use of wikis as a collaboration tool. Say, if all childrens librarians put their storytime programs on a wiki, we would have a bank of storytime ideas to last until the next century. It becomes a collective brain.
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