The Next Big Thing

Just when Librarians and Information Management professionals thought they understood what is happening with regards to the use of Web 2.0 technologies, along comes Jason Cranford Teague, author and web futurist, to fill them in on what will be on the not-too-distant horizon involving next generation uses and applications. I recently had an opportunity to sit in on a talk by Jason at the Library of Congress sponsored by FedLink, and the theme of the talk was “Web 2.0 Applications and the Future.”

I won’t bother with the Web 1.0 and 2.0 background as most information professionals are quite familiar with the general concepts. The focus of Jason’s talk was more geared towards Web 3.0, or the next revolution in the use of technology. One interesting analogy which kind of contextualized his talk was his comparison of the terms 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 as being similar to Victorian Age, Modern Age, and Post-Modern Age in literature and history — general concepts capturing the popular uses of a certain trend or technology rather that something that is defined by the term.

In terms of search engines and usability, he defined Web 3.0 as the movement to “Synthesize Information” in new and meaningful ways. For example, when doing a search on Saturn one can get hits through Google that include the car company (or former car company), the planet, or the Roman God. Web 3.0 will understand the context, doing so through a “Semantic Web” (structuring html code and docs) and “Microformats” (ID’s that help identify the context).

In the Web 3.0 world, websites will need “Sincerity” as a key ingredient in terms of attracting visitors who come back and use the service, or to follow the traffic generated. Two other aspects that go hand-in-hand with “Sincerity” are “Credibility” and “Trust.” The sites and services that have these three aspects will be the ones that are visited most and gain the most traffic. The drawback to this is the risk that people will tend to those sources that most speak to them, rather than becoming more exposed to different views and tones of dialogue, although I found surprising that he refuted the common misconception that people read what they can on the internet and take it as truth. He said that his research found the opposite is actually true, particularly with the younger generation of users. They tend to look at content and information much more skeptically than people realize, more so than any other generation. The most trusted source of information for the younger generation of Americans is Jon Stewart firs and Steven Colbert second — I rest my case.

Here is the crux of his talk: historically there has always been “Trusted Filters”— people or organizations that have the trust and credibility to present information correctly. Examples are parents, teachers, and LIBRARIANS; these are people who are trusted to provide the information requested in a way that is not colored and is more forthright and honest. Those networks have, over time, moved from the home/neighborhood to the media (print, radio, TV which is now too colored to be credible), to the computer (too much information to filter through). The next step will be to leverage applications like Twitter, Facebook, etc. to search out sources of information. Finding “Trusted Filters” is the next step in Web 3.0 evolution, networks of people sharing information that filter the news and information they receive and consider when making decisions.

Teague says there are applications/websites that are starting to move in this direction. Tiseme.com and vark.com are two such applications. They will take your IM buddy list and link through all your buddies to source out experts in certain fields who may best be able to answer a question.

By Jon Johnson, Client Services Manager for Library Associates Companies / LAC (LibGig's parent company)

Jon's Commentary: All-in-all this was a relatively interesting talk. The people in attendance were animated and engaged, and it made me think of LibGig. LibGig appears to me to be establishing the three necessary aspects (according to Teague) into the site already: Sincerity, Credibility, and Trust. Should things continue on the path that they are going I am can certainly envision LibGig evolving into the go-to place for librarians for all things library. It is something that I think is not only possible but probable. After all, librarians are always looking for a good, credible trusted source, and who do they trust more than each other.