Reflection on Library 2.0 & Participatory Service: A little politics, a little 2.0
I am going to deviate a bit from “Library 2.0,” and discuss “web 2.0″. I got to thinking about web 2.0 this evening as I made my way home from the Obama rally in Minneapolis. I found it amazing that the event sold 20,000 tickets on-line within 24 hours. To get a ticket, you had visit to Obama’s website, which is essentially a “lite” social networking site. During his speech, Obama discussed the success of his on-line fund-raising efforts. This made me think about how campaigning is different in a 2.0 world. While campaigning on the television and radio are not lost, it is shown that being connected to on-line participatory services really helps.
During the presidential debates a few months ago, I attended an event on Facebook. The event followed the topics covered during the debate in real time. I was able to vote on different issues, which were then discussed by the television newscaster moments later. There were comments made by other Facebookers during the debate, which were also read by the newscaster. I felt like I was watching the debate with thousands of other people.
During the Facebook event, Ron Paul was voted as the #1 republican candidate via an on-line survey. This statistic in no way matches the national polls- but this is not surprising in the least. The reason why Facebook voted him #1 is because Ron Paul has been dubbed the “2.0″ candidate- his campaign has been almost entirely on-line. His “2.0″ supporters were there on Facebook.
I find it interesting to see if and how candidates work with 2.0 tools. It shows me how connected people are with their Internet lives. And, watching the debates with the Facebook event was totally characteristic of the impact that participatory services has made on our American society.
Til next time! -Lindsey
Very interesting and it fits! Do we have better access to candidates and better “voice” via 2.0 tools. What role can the library play?