tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6192130.post-1111121435317582642005-03-17T23:49:00.000-05:002005-03-17T23:50:35.323-05:00Day two at CIL 2005 Spent the day thinking and learning about social software - blogs, wikis, IM, etc. It's funny, I use the stuff and I like it, but I can't help but feel I've heard it before. We, as a profession, seem to be stuck in a bit of a loop. Last year, there were sessions explaining what a blog is. This year there are sessions explaining what a wiki is. I'm just not sure what the purpose is. I can go to wikipedia to get web lingo definitions. I'd like to see more of "here's how to use it in the library" and "here's how to do it" in these sessions. I recognize the limitations of addressing a broad audience and the passive nature of a presentation. (People don't do in these sessions, they listen.) I guess I'm looking for more practice and less theory... Really enjoyed Matthew Dames session on Social Software 101. Some interesting predictions. One that struck me was the idea that blogs and the easy content management systems that are coming up will displace html coded web sites. Not sure it will happen, but the ease of creating a web site will bring more people online. During his session on wikis, Will Richardson called this new model the "Read/Write" web. It's a great turn of phrase for thinking about how social software is moving web users into more active agents. People read the web, but more and more they are creating/publishing it. How does that change things for libraries? Do we need create our sites and services with a level of open editing? I'll have to think some more about that... Presentation is tomorrow morning. I'm ready, just need to get some sleep. Good night, all. jasonnoreply@blogger.com