#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

My tool from the Web 2.0 awards on http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/ was http://pipl.com/ - picking up info on people through the invisible or “deep web” often hidden elsewhere, would seem to be a goldmine in a library or personal situation. And indeed there was only an incomplete overlap between pipl & google. Addresses & some other types of info through pipl (not necessarily of course the person you want) so perspective does produce other angles. Better results if country not specified. I think it would be useful for libraries.

In my quest for a site which I could assimilate & make any kind of comment on, I had earlier looked at City maps & guides, Travel, & Visual arts. All wonderful but all needing lots of time to explore.

Then tried Books – http://www.lulu.com/ self publishing for our many aspiring authors. http://www.biblio.com/ for 2nd hand books. Congratulations to our friend, winner www.librarything.com & acquaintance, honourably mentioned http://reader2.com/ . Also http://bluerectangle.com/ especially book review component. No contest that customers would love the interactivity & ability to choose & control their individual forms of involvement with resources & literature, whether their own or in libraries, & with others who share their commitment, wherever they may be in the world. Therefore these sorts of tools are crucial if libraries are create, empower & contribute as essential parts those networks.

There’s another friend in Search http://www.rollyo.com/ .
http://www.eurekster.com/ - way beyond my skills to contemplate any role in creating a swicki or custom social search portal on a particular topic. But extremely relevant to libraries.
http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm & http://www.zuula.com/ a super, super search engine, both needing a lot of exploration but will have to defer.

Looked at Web 2.0 tool Directory & was again overwhelmed. Noted Gizmoz (animate yourself), Qunu (help me with …right now), Stikkit (little yellow notes that think), Unpackd (Share the joy of unpacking stuff – not operational yet) & Widgipedia (widgets). It’s a brave new world all right.