Stupid 2.0 is more interactive!

Yesterday was the SLA libraries 2.0 talk from Stephen Abram. Not much new, and I always leave these sorts of 2.0 talks wondering "who cares?" I mean, it's just more ways to be just as we are. So, now I have a facebook account, on top of my IM account, on top of my personal blog, on top of my work blog, on top of my Bloglines account, on top of my Flickr and YouTube accounts, on top of my Citeulike and Delicious accounts. And does this actually make my life easier/better/more interesting? Not really.

And does it make us any smarter, or at least better informed? I'm still waiting to see evidence of that. I think of my great grandfather reading the Congressional Record on his farmstead in rural Montana, and boy, that's a lot more informed than your average Delicious user. Just think, in 1860 when the Confederates attacked Fort Sumpter everyone thought the war would be quick, easy, over in a month or two. Now, after the invention of the telephone, the interstate highway system, email, cell phones, IM, Twitter, and on and on, the vast majority of Americans believed in March 2003 that war would be quick, easy, over in a month or two. Seems to me we just get to spread our flawed opinions in a slightly faster, and more digital manner. So we learned of the 2005 Tsunami in minutes and it took hours for people to hear about the eruption of Krakatoa? Did that really change anyone's response? (Oh, I would have cared, but this news is six hours old!)

French class seems much more informative and useful. And it's SOOOO 1.0. We actually sit around a classroom, read from a textbook, and attempt to form sentences in front of each other. C'est la vie! (Which reminds me, I do intend to practice my tiny bit of French in a blog post one of these days. Beware French speakers, there will be butchering of your tongue!)