Keynoting in Multimedia

To get us off on the right foot here at CIL, Lee Rainie reminded us over and over, via numbers, YouTube videos, graphs, and screenshots, why we should care about Web 2.0. Before I launch into it, though, I was told to say this: “All you bloggers out there, please note, I adore librarians” (yes, that’s a direct quote from Lee Rainie). So there you have it.

Also, I love rooms where they set up the rows of chairs with room for real human to walk between the rows. You can even walk past the inevitable isle-sitters without sitting on their laps!

Anyway, Rainie gave a good basic overview of Web 2.0 (participatory… data-driven…long tail…all that), laid out the 6 hallmarks of Web 2.0 that matter to libraries, and laid out the 5 challenges of this technology for us and our communities. I can give you a list of all 6 hallmarks and 5 challenges, if you want it.

But I was struck by a couple of statements about how young people are simultaneously savvy and un-savvy about their online presences. Here’s what I mean. Rainie said that “most” students in their survey seemed to be more savvy about what they share on their facebook and myspace page profiles that has previously been thought. They often shift what they share depending on whether or not they’ve opened up their profiles to the world or have restricted access to friends only, for example, and they don’t share as much publicly as they used to. On the other hand, they still don’t get it that blogging is highly public, and so they feel invaded if parents, teachers, or prospective employers look at their blogs. Why this disconnect, I wonder? Is it because there’s something inherently artificial about a profile? Is it because privacy options are more and more often placed front and center in profile-creation pages?

The Pew Internet and American Life survey also found the primary cohorts of Wikipedia users: highly educated people. This group was closely followed by college students, and then by younger users. So it’s the people most able to read skeptically that are on there the most (which is good) followed by the people who are still struggling to read skeptically. I don’t have much to say about that, but it’s interesting. (They also found that users are likely to try to verify what they find on Wikipedia by doing more searches online, and if they’re still unsure they tap their social networks for help. I want to be in THAT social network!)

Oh, and newsflash: people with wireless or other always-on internet connections spend more time online. Take that and chew on it. :)

(Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t tend to blog raw notes. I’m not very good at taking notes that way. But I do take a lot of raw notes, which I’m happy to translate for you if you want them, so just ask.)

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