To Continue with Web 2.0...

In my continuing series, of which I have written here, and here, and here, and also here, Paul Anderson's What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education is the most comprehensive to date. As I have mentioned, I am compiling and synthesizing the literature surrounding Web 2.0, and will be writing an article. As information experts, we are constantly handling information, where we sit behind a computer most of the day churning through emails and invisible matter. Hence, I believe it's important to understand the architecture behind what we are doing online, and I believe Anderson does a superb job highlighting six major concepts of Web 2.0:

(1) Individual Production and User Generated Content - Free social software tools such as blogs and wikis have lowered the barrier to entry, following the same footsteps as the 1980s self-publishing revolution sparked by the advent of the office laser printer and desktop publishing software. In the world of Web 2.0, with a few clicks of the mouse, a user can upload videos or photos from their digital cameras and into their own media space, tag it with keywords and make the content available for everyone in the world.

(2) Harness the Power of the Crowd - Harnessing not the "intellectual" power, but the power of the "wisdom of the crowds," "crowd-sourcing" and "folksonomies."

(3) Data on an Epic Scale - Google has a total database measured in hundreds of petabytes (a million, billion bytes) which is swelled each day by terabytes of new information. Much of this is collected indirectly from users and aggregated as a side effect of the ordinary use of major Internet services and applications such as Google, Amazon, and EBay. In a sense these services are 'learning' every time they are used by mining and sifting data for better services.

(4) Architecture of Participation - Through the use of the application or service, the service itself gets better. Simply argued, the more you use it - and the more other people use - the better it gets. Web 2.0 technologies are designed to take the user interactions and utilize them to improve itself. (e.g. Google search).

(5) Network Effects - It is general economic term often used to describe the increase in vaue to the existing users of a service in which there is some form of interaction with others, as more and more people to start to use it. As the Internet is, at heart, a telecommunications network, it is therefore subject to the network effect. In Web 2.0, new software services are being made available which, due to their social nature, rely a great deal on the network effect for their adoption.

(6) Openness - Web 2.0 places an emphasis on making use of the information in vast databases that the services help to populate. This means Web 2. 0 is about working with open standards, using open source software, making use of free data, re-using data and working in a spirit of open innovation.

MBA and MLIS

Managers Not MBAs by Henry Mintzberg is an intriguing book not only because it offers insight into the flimsiness of MBA programs, but also because I think it is applicable to the information profession and offers something which MLIS programs can learn from. Although they may appear to be quite different disciplines, I see a lot of connections between these two programs. Why? While MLIS produces managers who run libraries and information services MBA graduates go onto higher management positions.

In fact, librarians often have a more difficult job because they not only learn about the profession while in library school, but must also learn how to manage, often right out of school and into their first day on the job.

1. Science vs. Profession - There are two schools of thought in the history of MBA education. The Carnegie school believes in business as a science; hence the curriculum is very much lecture-based. The Harvard school believes business is a profession; hence, its curriculum is case studies-based. But there is little emphasis on actual management, which is ironic because the very skills needed in graduates of the program once they are hired and assigned senior managerial positions, don't have the requisite skills. In MLIS programs, there appears to be two schools of thought, too: (1) The I-School approach; and (2) the "traditional" library school. But what appears to be neglected is solid management skills on project management and leadership courses.

2. Experience vs. Education - MBA programs attract the best and brightest - but often the youngest and inexperienced. There is a huge disjunct between passion and ambition, with the latter being the more dominant of the two. Instead of admitting seasoned veterans who have managerial experience, MBA programs are often comprised of students with either only a year or two of "work experience" or straight out of undergraduate studies. Hence, MBA programs are not training managers like they're supposed to, but instead are giving ambitious individuals credentials to bypass the corporate ladder, and jump straight into influential positions. The MLIS appears to offer a similar ticket for those who want to move up, but not necessarily move in.

3. Integration vs. Specialization - MBA schools don't produce graduates with the skills to be managers because they force specialization rather than integration. Disastrously, specialization does not a good manager make, because it merely produces individuals with narrow skills and knowledge whereas managers need to be able to selectively adapt from a wide array of tools for different situations. In other words, while managers need to see the "big picture," MBA programs only pushes particular concepts, ideas, and rules on them and lets the individual to sink or swim after he or she graduates. MLIS pushes various combinations of "core" courses from cataloguing and reference without and leaves it at that.

4. MB/A vs. ML/IS - It appears these programs are comprised of two different intentions. While MBA programs are structured around "business" and "administration," where on one side is B: specialization in the business functions mostly for people with little experience, and on the other side is A: administration and management: programs designed to educate the experienced, and so adopting a wholly different approach. Similarly, MLIS programs are of "librarianship" and "information science." In essence, faculty is split among these two streams and often, the product is disintegrated and inconsistent.

5. Fast-track vs. Professional Will - What the MBA has produced is a culture of elitism, where one realizes that the MBA is not an education, but rather a fast-track up the corporate ladder. Whereas experienced and dedicated individuals languish in their positions because of their lack of credentials, MBA graduates freely jump from one industry to the other, and into positions without much knowledge of the industry other than the soft introductions from their MBA courses (or none at all). What this has created is a culture of "elitism." Managers at the top of the pyramid often lose sight of lower echelons when in fact they need to be seeing the whole pyramid. Mintzberg interestingly proposes an equation for explanation: Confidence - Competence = Arrogance

6. Best Bang for the Buck - With the high cost of education, applicants want to maximize on their education. Hence, the most popular programs are those of the shortest length (12 months) but offers the same degree as those with lengthier schedules. In a way, isn't this the same with MLIS programs? In terms of breadth, does this really shortchange students? Or perhaps the question should be, why the disparity?

Seven Steps to Searching The Invisible Web

Even with Web 2.0, searching for information is not an easy task. There's still an amazing mass of hidden content in the Invisible Web. Although an older article published back in 2001, librarians Gary Price and Chris Sherman's Exploring the Invisible Web: Seven Essential Strategies is nonetheless an excellent read for those of us interested in becoming better searchers. Information-seeking is a never-ending life-long learning curve.

Strategy #1: Adopt the Mindset of a Hunter - Searchers are passive users of information-seeking tools while hunters are use tools, but also take advantage of their environment, the weather, knowledge of their quarry to act opportunistically whenever possible, using all manner of tactics when stalking their elusive prey. Thus, when attacking the Invisible Web, an active mind is needed to turn over every stone, ceaselessly looking for new "possibilities" of every website encountered keeping in mind that one can never find "everything."

Strategy #2: Use Search Engines - Even though a great deal of content of the Invisible Web is hidden in databases unreachable by search engines, some of this content have Web interfaces still have simple HTML pages that are visible to search engines.

Strategy #3: Datamine Your Bookmark Collection - Invisible Web content sometimes are already on webpages, but hidden in the databases within the site. Look through the sitemap and really "dig" into what the site has to offer.

Strategy #4: Use the Net's "Baker Street Irregulars" - Even Sherlock Holmes relied on an extensive intelligence network, a motley crew of street urchins called the Baker Street Irregulars, to provide him with the most updated information of London. The Web has its own group of characters that are experts on searching and take pride in sharing their knowledge with others. Take advantage of such resources, which often includes discussion lists (and now blogs).

Strategy #5: Use Invisible Web Pathfinders - Such pathfinders are like directories that lists links to Invisible Web resources.

Strategy #6: Use Offline Finding Aids - Books, magazines, and journals offer valuable content about the Invisible Web. However, instead of relying on such printed material for website reviews, the trick is to find the "unreviewed" material by personally exploring the webpages for hidden databases and Invisible Web resources.

Strategy #7: Create Your Own "Monitoring Service" - This requires a two-step procedure. First, identify the Invisible Web resources you find most relevant and monitor the "What's New" or press releases pages. The second is to subscribe to "What's New" lists such as the Librarian's Internet Index New This Week for weekly emails about useful internet resources. Of course, Web 2.0 has made this possible for everyone with RSS feeds!

Mr. Bean Goes to the Library

Nothing like a little midweek humour to cure away the malaise and pass the time. Every now and then, I try to post something different to "mix things up" a bit and provide a different flavour to this blog.




I just couldn't help not sharing with you this intriguingly funny Mr. Bean clip, starring Rowan Atkinson (one of my favourite comedians) which is one of the rare sketches that didn't quite make it to the big screen and got left on the cutting room floor, only to be released when the DVD format came out. Just in time, too, for Mr Bean's return the big screen with his latest movie when it comes out later this summer. This clip is certainly ones that librarians would hold their breaths. Enjoy!

The 10 Forces

Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat is a must-read for information professionals. Although the word "Web 2.0" is not found anywhere in the book because it was written before 2005, the concepts are there. The ideas presented in this book are exceptionally juicy and thought-provoking for those interested in understanding not only how we got to where we are in the information world, but also where we are going. Friedman points out Ten Flatteners defines our 21st century world:

#1: Collapse of Berlin Wall: The fall of the Berlin Wall is the starting point for leveling the global playing field. Because the event became the ultimate symbol for the end of the Cold war, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the global economy.

#2: Netscape: With Netscape, the World Wide Web broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used primarily by scientists, to everyone who has internet connection.

#3: Workflow software: Technically, what makes this possible is the development of a new data description language, called XML, and its related transport protocol, called SOAP. Such programming allows a vast network of underground plumbing which enables Web and software applications to communicate with each seamlessly.

#4: Open sourcing: New open source software such as blogs and wikis has allowed communities to upload and collaborate on online projects. Free software has leveled the playing field for all, preventing big businesses to monopolize as they could in the past.

#5: Outsourcing: Outsourcing has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components, with each component performed in most efficient, cost-effective way. At the same time, poorer countries such as India benefits because not only can workers can achieve a better lifestyle and higher pay without leaving their homes, India as a whole becomes a global economic power by preventing a braindrain because of these new technologies.

#6: Offshoring: Similar to outsourcing, countries that could not produce certain products in the past suddenly can do so and become global players. Offshoring allows countries such as China to manufacture the very same product in the very same way, only with cheaper labor, lower taxes, subsidized energy, and lower health-care costs . How? With the internet, anyone from anywhere can have fast, free information blueprints to build just about anything and anywhere.

#7: Supply chaining: Using Wal-Mart as its primary example, supply chaining allows horizontal collaboration among suppliers, retailers, and customers to create value at a more efficient pace and at a lower price, thus resulting in the adoption of common standards between companies and more efficient global collaboration.

#8: Insourcing: Using UPS as a prime example, insourcing is about one company performing services on behalf of another company. For example, UPS itself repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS employees. Instead of being competitors, businesses are actually collaborating with each other in order to maximize profits and efficiency through the use of greater communication technologies.

#9: In-forming: With the advent of Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search, everyone who can type has the same basic access to overall research information. Search engines has become a total equalizer. In-forming is the ability to not only build an deploy one's own personal supply chain - a supply chain of information, knowledge, and entertainment, but also for self-collaboration - that is, becoming your own self-direct and self-empowered researcher, editor, and selector of entertainment, without having to leave the house or office.

#10: "The Steroids": "Wirelessness" is the ultimate "flattener" because it amplifies and turbocharges all the other flatterners, making it possible to do each and every one of them in a way that is "digital, mobile, virtual and personal." Some of these new technologies are already a big part of our lives, including cell phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over IP, or VOIP. These are but the early technologies: the best is yet to come.