Thing#18

I think that the Web 2.0 Awards would be better applied to customer resources than for staff use. Most of the sites wouldn't be necessarily applicable to what we do behind the scenes, but I think that out on the floor and interacting with customers, it's a nice place for those unfamiliar with the broad network available online to situate themselves. They are instantly connected to the "Best of the Best".

#17

I am really impressed with GoogleDocs. It's very efficient and is great to suggest to many of the students who struggle to meet at the library to work on school projects! At work, there wouldn't be a need to constantly pass around documents that we may be collaborating on. It cuts out waiting to check your work email and you can immediately see changes and make suggestions, rather than arranging time to meet and discuss.

#15

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page

Taking a look around this site, I think it works well with our catalog. Users who are used to looking up books by search terms and genres will be familiar, and some of the webpages are extensions of magazines, books, and serials that we have available in our collection.

Because anything more complicated would have blown my mind.

Thing Nueve

It's so hard to really navigate around all the blogs. It's nice to have a starting place. I found a blog page on three of my favorite things; books, food, and Haruki Murakami. It was bliss.

http://blogs.menupages.com/philadelphia/2008/11/food_lit_haruki_murakami.html

Thing #8!

What a useful tool! A quick way for me to catch up on the news I missed during the day. It seems like a good way for customers to feel that their experience is 'personalized'.

Thing #6!

http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php

I can't believe that this didn't take a team of 25 years to do.

#14

Themes of "knowledge is power" keep reappearing in most of the dialogues concerning Web 2.0. The first article I read, talks about how by limiting the need to keep and maintain all hard copies of information, the progression of technology is impacting what is available to customers. Customers are privy to vaults previously restricted to them by having to move to a physical location in order to view information. The internet is largely responsible for redistributing knowledge, making it possible for most people to gain access, and with free internet available in most public libraries, it greatly extends the availability of this knowledge.

Technology

Blogs seem to have the power to give authority to a variety of people. Every person has the ability to becoem an expert and with an audience and a public space available for feedback and exchanges, a push to master skills and hobbies is encouraged.

Comme des Garçons at H&M

Browsing through the comments on nymag.com, there seems to be a lot of negative feedback about how boring and bland the Rei Kawakubo's line for H&M is. 

Girl, let me break it down. 

This is designed in order to accommodate a broader audience. Granted it isn't the visually jarring innovative forms her clients are used to, but this line was created with a wider audience in mind; consumers who value affordability and the flexibility of these pieces, because, let's face this together now, the application of couture to our daily lives is not always successful. They pulled off the aesthetic transition from East to West, focus from the form of the garment to the form of the body, while still retaining the juxtaposition of the morose with whimsical that we love the line for. 

For all the difficulties presented, I think the team brought it together pretty well.