Wow, so much has been covered! I'll admit that, when we first began the Learning 2.0 project, I was a bit annoyed. I felt like I had already experimented with most of the applications covered, and that I would gain little from revisiting them.
The MLIS program has really changed the way I see a lot of things, and I am actually quite grateful that I was forced to reevaluate Web 2.0 technologies, not only from a librarian's perspective, but from a more ciritical perspective, overall. The library program has taught me, in some ways, to operate like a social and cultural anthropologist. I've begun to look at Web 2.0 technologies not just as shallow opportunities for entertainment, as I once did, but as real opportunities for relationships and fulfillment. Observations like these, in turn, can lead one to understand what has changed in a modern technology society like ours (e.g., the ways that people decide to connect and interact) and what has stayed the same (e.g., the basic human need for social connection and interaction).
This portion of the course has also given me a bit of hope for future generations in a capitalist consumer society. Web 2.0 technologies kind of put the power back in the consumer's hands, if only to a small degree. The "push" techniques of businesses aren't as powerful as they once were, and it is the consumer, now, who is "pushing" their preferences and their style of consumption to the producer. If the producer doesn't respond appropriately, they can lose a sale, and if this happens consistently, they could lose the entire business. Who knows how businesses will respond to this in future. Will they continue to adapt to their markets' preferences with ever-increasing speed? Will they continue experimenting with manipulative ways to manufacture and influence public desires?
This project has got me thinking about some of these issues. Here I was, at the beginning of the course, thinking I had all of this stuff figured out. However, like a true life-long learner, I kept my guard down, kept educational opportunities open, and learned a great deal in the process.
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I agree with you. I learned a lot of new stuff about technologies that I had already used as well.
ReplyDeleteTommy, thank you so much sharing openly and honestly throughout... I am glad you remained open to this portion of the class and I think you learned (and contributed) a lot! So I'm very glad for that!
ReplyDeleteI think your take on the hopefulness for a consumerist society is right on and business do have to take a new approach and maybe listen more to the consumer - this is a very big and important lesson for libraries to learn! We are going to have to learn it and learn it fast to remain alive!