SIL 20 for 2.0 - Summing it Up

I can say with absolute certainty that I've learned a lot by going through this self-guided tutorial on Web 2.0 applications. I will also have to admit, with some reluctance, that I''ve mastered very little, having completed the twenty segments with what my limited time and talent would allow. In a way, it was very much like a whirlwind two-week trip to Europe during which you stop to see the major sights and then move on, hoping to return when you can travel at a more leisurely pace.

I'm no stranger to some of the Web's most common applications. I've been a fan of Yahoo Messenger because it allows me to have live chats (and lowers our long distance bills). Our family photos are on Picasa, and I've listened to New Yorker podcasts before starting the Twenty Things. But, it wasn't until I became a Facebook user and uploaded my own video on YouTube that I discovered the enormous impact these two applications have on life in the 21st century. Suddenly it came to me: you can make instant connections with millions of people. You can be a writer, photographer, rock musician or any other kind of performer just by having the ability to manipulate an electronic mouse. You can indeed, publish yourself, broadcast yourself, and even advertise yourself. I know of no other mechanism that caters as well to one's narcissistic tendencies. With the aid Facebook Twitter, and YouTube, they can become full-blown.

You can have it all. At the same time, there's the lingering feeling that you won't have the time to experience it all.

A friend who is a keen observer of modern life and sees clearly, but, through very dark lenses, thinks that we are fast becoming a nation of perpetual adolescents (I think the effect is global) seeking pastimes that are mere distractions (not a synonym for happiness, he says). It's evident in how we choose to spend our spare time. That notion may not be entirely true. Sometimes it's not a choice. A rainy stretch in the Pacific Northwest, for instance, can bring on a sudden appetite for those very distractions even I am trying to avoid. After previously deciding that I wasn't ready for an an adventure in Second Life, on a wet and windy day in Everett, I found myself spending the afternoon on Facebook, taking my avatar to YoVille, and moving over to an apartment. Since I didn't have a scheduled shift in any of the Sno-Isle libraries, I proceeded to work at the widget factory and collected my pay there. In Dickens' words, "It was the best of times and the worst of times." I had succumbed to a new-found world of virtual reality.

In conclusion, I have this to say: my thanks to the originators and other creators of this incredible journey. It made me fully aware of Web 2.0's infinite potential, and empowers me to communicate some of that potential to curious readers and would-be users I may encounter at the library's circulation desk. And finally, I can at the very least, hold an enlightened dinner conversation on my favorite "posts" and "tweets."

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