[I have my Science Museum, not Electronic Museum hat on...]
There's a whole bunch of questions there which I guess are as much a
challenge for any sector as they are for us. When does a technology reach a
level of maturity that it stops being just something new and tips over into
an accepted "standard"? Has Flickr got there, for example? I'd argue that it
has, and that in many ways the underlying techniques and technologies it
uses (and the ones that Dan mentions) are already well accepted and bedded
in across the web. I think Nick's point about the last 12 months being an
important time for this is a good one.
The great focus here, from almost every angle, is that it is application of
technology almost entirely from a user perspective. At last we can begin
(only begin..) to provide a desktop-esque experience with things like AJAX.
At the same time, the sorts of innovative approach of mashups and
syndication means that users can create sites which consume data from other
sites. Electronic Museum is an example - I suck in RSS from a number of
places and am therefore able to provide content without having to do all the
work. Wonderful...
Incidentally (sales pitch), I'm hoping to get an Electronic Museum interview
with Macromedia's (actually, Adobe's) head of accessibility to talk about
Flash and what they're up to. I'm particularly interested in how they see
all this web2 stuff affecting what they do. Watch this space!
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Zambonini [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 February 2006 12:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Electronic Museum news - Feb 2006
Hi all,
I think it's interesting how the 'Web 2.0' moniker can mean different
things to different people.
A lot of people will see the flashy mash-ups, podcasting, etc as the
definition of 'Web 2.0', but to me 'Web 2.0' is about achieving the
things (that Nick touched on) that many of us have been yearning for
during the years of excess:
+ Create simple, specific applications/websites, not 'one stop shops'
+ Create open interfaces, build on standards; think less about 'rights'
+ Put the user first (e.g. folksonomies over taxonomies, feedback in
interfaces, etc)
So, to me, the mash-ups and syndication are 'by-products' of Web 2.0's
more focussed, user-centric approach. It enables them, but isn't the
main point. I suppose it's evolved from the 'SOA' (Service Oriented
Architecture) push that was hyped-up about 5 years ago, where everyone
would provide a single, specialised, re-usable service. But thankfully
Web 2.0 has also considered the user, not just the technology.
It would be interesting to get people's thoughts on how they think
Museums could take advantage of this approach.
Thanks,
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Nick Poole
Sent: 01 February 2006 12:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Electronic Museum news - Feb 2006
Dear Tom et al,
I think this raises a really interesting point. I think the last 12
months or so has seen a
maturing of our relationship with technology which places the emphasis
on
proportionate and stable technologies over cutting-edge toys.
While I am all for Web 2.0, mashing up, syndicating, casting and
flashmobbing, I still
want to see a sector in which stable, well-designed websites offer
simple user-
focussed interactivity and services, and to be honest, I think this is
what the majority of
users want too.
[snipped]
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