What did you like from yesterday’s MLA webcast on web2.0? I have a lot of notes to review, but David Rothman’s list of medical wikis and discussion on how to evaluate them was especially helpful to me. The next step: take MLA’s free (to members) 8 week CE course on web2.0 101.
Thanks to the thirty-something folks who came out to Herbut Auditorium and congratulations to the raffle winners!
My reactions to this program are mixed. While I think they presented the principles (precepts) of Web 2.0 well (web as platform, users add value, users are co-developers, interactivity), and while they presented some good examples of the different kinds of Web 2.0 technologies, I think they did not actually provide what I would call “best practices.” Unless you’re producing a site based on Web 2.0 technology, you can’t internalize how to integrate best practices into your work on that site. Since this program was not so much about creating content as an introduction to what types of technologies fit into the category of Web 2.0 and providing examples of what other organizations have created, maybe this omission is not so egregious. I did feel that this program really was just a very long promotional pitch for the Web 2.0 101 course. This program could indeed serve as the first class of the course. That said, Am I going to “attend” that course? Yes. Why? Because I’m interested in understanding how to use the technology both as a consumer/customer/patron and as a producer/publisher; because the course is free; because I don’t know when/if it will be offered again at that price.
Incidentally, one of the presenters, J. Dale Prince, kept using the phrase “free kittens.” The origins of that phrase can be found on Karen G. Schneider’s blog, Free Range Librarian.
http://freerangelibrarian.com/2007/06/06/free-kittens-author-thereof/