Some thoughts on Web and Library 2.0

This whole "23 things" learning experience is wonderful on a personal level, and thinking about it in terms of libraries of the future, including ours, is very exciting. WiFi will mean not having to concern ourselves with how many PCs we provide as people can bring their own laptops (or borrow library ones from a pod) so multiple users can be connected for at the same time, for as long as they wish, and the question of "how many power points do we need in the library building" will never again need to be asked. I was reflecting on how things have changed in such a short time, reading the link "To more powerful ways to cooperate". My previous job was in a school library, and when I started, in 1996, there was only one Internet computer, obviously dial up using good old Trumpet Winsock. It was only available to Year 13 students, who had to not only get written permission from their parents, but also had to have a "sponsoring teacher" who would take the rap if the student accessed any inappropriate sites, or used email. That's only twelve years ago. That same school is now investigating Web 3.0 and several staff have been trained in Marvin which is a tool for creating avatars. I do find it all very exciting, but I find it equally horrifying to think that Second Life devotees spend up to forty hours a week online. It doesn't say much for their "First Life". I think it would be interesting to compare statistics from OECD countries about Web 3.0 use, particularly among the under-25s - I suspect that the US would be far out in front, followed by the UK and other parts of Europe and that Australia and New Zealand would show a healthy disregard for spending forty hours a week being an avatar, preferring instead to balance an online presence with sport and actually talking to people and physically being with them rather than a click and a hyperlink away. I hope so - once again I vote for "all things in moderation", which is probably the same as sitting on a virtual fence.