This week’s trio of articles deal with the structure of the internet and show how the development of “Web 2.0” has changed how businesses, people, and the library have viewed and used the internet. The first article, “How the Internet Works” discusses the architecture of the internet, beginning with a survey of its initial development and then deconstructing the various applications that make it function. The author discusses routers, backbones, IP addresses, and networks and networks within networks. As the author states, “the entire internet is a gigantic, sprawling agreement between companies to intercommunicate freely,” (Tyson). It is into this milieu that we begin to learn about Web 2.0.
The two articles, “Enhancing Library Services with Web 2.0 Functionalities” by Gavrilis, Kakali and Papatheodorou, and “All that Glisters Is Not Gold: Web 2.0 and the Librarian” by Paul Anderson, deal with how Web 2.0 technologies are specifically affecting libraries. As Anderson summarizes, the group of technology associated with Web 2.0 is blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, etc, and these “facilitate a more socially connected Web where everyone is able to add to and edit the information space,” (Anderson, 2007). Some libraries have made attempts to incorporate some of these technologies and concepts into their information systems. The Ann Arbor Public Library has integrated a social facet into their OPAC system, called SOPAC, which allows the users to rate, review and comment on the library items (Gavrilis, Kakali, and Papatheodorou). A study by the same authors shows that users were more satisfied with a prototype library information system that utilized Web 2.0 technologies.
It is quite a large task to try and incorporate all of these new applications and platforms into pre-existing library information systems. Fortunately, librarians are making the effort to keep up with these rapidly evolving technologies. As Anderson points out though, as the new technologies begin to have limitations due to copyright or perhaps privacy issues, librarians will be perfectly poised to influence their development as they have been trained to serve the public and to always be aware of how these technologies affect the greater society.
Question: What are some of the copyright or privacy concerns that have arisen, or could arise, from libraries implementing Web 2.0 technologies?
References
1. Tyson, Jeff. How Internet Infrastructure Works. Retrieved from: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure8.htm
2. Gavrilis, D., Kakali, C., and Papatheodorou, C. (2008). Enhancing Library Services with Web 2.0 Functionalities. In Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries (Aarhus, Denmark, September 14 – 19, 2008). B Christensen-Dalsgaard, D. Castelli, B Ammitzboll Jurik, and J. Lippincott, Eds. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 5173. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 148-159. Retrieved from: http://www.wcl.ece.upatras.gr/publications/gavrilis/Enhancing%20Library%20Services%20with%20Web%202.0%20functionalities-rev5-chr.pdf
3. Anderson, Paul. (2007). “’All that Glisters Is Not Gold’” – Web 2.0 And The Librarian”. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Vol. 39, No. 4, 195-198 (2007) (available Sage Premier 2009)
