All that Glistens is not Gold

My third and last critique is of "All that Glistens is not Gold: Web 2.0 and the Librarian", a 2007 article by Paul Anderson from Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 39(4), 195+.

This article provides a history and definition of the term Web 2.0 using Tim O’Reilly’s 2005 paper as a springboard; and discusses the implications of Web 2.0 services, and where librarians are positioned to contribute to the further development of these services.

Anderson’s definition of Web 2.0 uses Tim O’Reilly’s work as a basis (O'Reilly, 2005). Both works stress that Web 2.0 is more than just the technologies usually associated with it such as blogs, wikis and RSS feeds. Anderson argues that it is more complicated and is more about a bringing together of ‘economics, technology and new ideas about the connected society’ (Anderson, 2007, p195).

Have a look at the meme map at the top of this post. Created by O’Reilly, it shows that Web 2.0 is based on a number of principles: the Web as a platform (rather than applications); harnessing collective intelligence; the importance of the user; a focus on services rather than software; and the importance of data management (O’Reilly, 2005).

The emphasis on the power and interaction of users and the openness of information echoes Tim Berner Lee’s original ideas about having freely available data on the Web and encouraging others to see the importance of this idea and contribute . Barby however believes that Web 2.0 has been ‘sidetracked by the commercial web’, arguing that many of Web 2.0’s services directly or indirectly are commercial activities, rather than information-sharing ones (Barbry, 2007, p92).

Anderson takes O’Reilly’s principles and other ideas and uses them to create a framework for analysis. His framework has three aspects to it:

1. the ‘visible surface’ which are the more mature social software applications, such as blogs, wikis, podcasting, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook. He says that these services are the ‘building blocks of the technologies and open standards that underpin the Internet and the Web’ (Anderson, 2005);
2. the Big Six Ideas which are basically an extension of O’Reilly’s ideas; and
3. Web technologies and standards, such XML, AJAX and Flash, which enable idea to be brought together and used for concrete purposes, such as Facebook and MySpace.

Anderson’s Six Big Ideas are:

1. Individual production and user generated content – the importance of the user involvement
2. Harness the power of the crowd – an increase in Internet users increases the collective wisdom
3. Data on an epic scale – the importance of the collation of data
4. Architecture of participation – how participation both is facilitated by services and generates the improvement of services
5. Network effects – the importance of understanding the interlinking of networks on the Web
6. Openness – commitment to open ways of working – open standards and open source code

Going back to Anderson’s Big Six Ideas, there are a few points to be argued. The idea of collective wisdom is one that needs further evaluation. Eero Pantzer (2000, p231) believes that the idea that access to more information will inevitably lead to more wisdom is flawed. He argues that ‘(m)ere information or raw knowledge as such will not be enough to reduce poverty, unemployment, solitude, anxiety, crime, feelings of insecurity or war’. This is a valid point that needs far more exploration in this article.

The other aspect that needs discussion is openness, although Anderson does expand on this further on in the article. Anderson’s article finishes by discussing the role of Web 2.0 in library services. He points out that there has been interest in Web 2.0 by libraries which has given rise to the term Library 2.0. The impact of Web 2.0 on librarians seems to be highlighted by articles such as Karen Coomb’s (2007) which use O’Reilly’s ideas to create her six pillars of Library 2.0 framework. Her six pillars are:

1. Radical decentralization
2. Small pieces loosely joined
3. Perpetual beta
4. Remixable content
5. User as contributor
6. Rich user experience

Library 2.0 is about moving beyond the physical walls of the library and making use of Web 2.0 services to reach the customer base. Anderson admits that Library 2.0 faces its own challenges. The first challenge is the need for theoretical and peer-reviewed work related to Library 2.0. The other is the ethical issues around privacy and copyright. This discussion is unfortunately short and doesn’t move beyond assuming that librarians’ public sector ethos will overcome this and thus help to influence developments in the future.

This lack of discussion on the issues of privacy and copyright is the weakest aspect of the article. These are issues of importance to librarians and ones that are explored more robustly in such writings as Houghton and Berryman’s “Ethics and law for information practice” in Libraries in the twenty-first century (2007), which examines the challenges facing librarians in being both legal and ethical with such issues as intellectual property, censorship and privacy.

Overall, this article helped me to understand the concept of Web 2.0 and to start thinking about how this concept can be applied to libraries. However its brevity on some important issues such as privacy and copyright is indicative of an overall need for more research in this area.

Reference List

Anderson, P. (2007) All That Glistens Is Not Gold: Web 2.0 and The Librarian. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 39(4) p195

Barbry, Eric (2007) Web 2.0: Nothing Changes... but Everything is Different. Communications & Strategies, No. 65, p 92

Berners Lee, T from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIioH6Yt0YM

Coombs, K. A. (2007). Building a Library Web Site on the Pillars of Web 2.0. Computers in Libraries, from http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jan07/Coombs.shtml

Houghton, J. and Berryman, J. (2007). Ethics and law for information practice. In Libraries in the twenty-first century. S. Ferguson (Ed.). Centre for Information Studies, CSU: Wagga Wagga. pp267-288

O'Reilly, T. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation. from http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html

Pantzar, E. (2000). Knowledge and wisdom in the information society. Foresight, 2(2), p231