The end of the beginning?

Good-bye Web 2.0, hello Social Media. This story from Mashable is about how the second term has now become more popular than the first, so Web 2.0 as a term is probably on its way out. Has Web 2.0 itself actually become established now? This blog was about exploring bits and pieces of it, and now I take many of those bits and pieces for granted. Cloud computing still falls apart at inconvenient times, but I'm relying on it to get through grad school. Not only could I find my new address through Google Maps, but it showed me the building itself at street level, where I could turn my focus around and see my neighbors. My heart and my book collection belong to Library Thing. Now that I finally have high-speed Internet, YouTube is no longer terra incognita.

But through all this, social media reigns. Just about everything I read on the Web offers me options for sharing with others, via Facebook, Twitter, or a dillion other sites. I've got an idea of what many of my friends did for the holidays because they posted to Facebook. The sites I shop from want me to be their fan on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Welcome to the mainstreaming of social media.

$ea Change

Microsoft is discontinuing its Microsoft Money software. Credit this to Mint.com and its ilk: apparently online banking, both from banks and from free websites, has gotten to the point Microsoft decided to drop out. It's not that I have deep sentimental attachment to Money--please, we're talking financial software here--but I've been using it since 1998 and I'd gotten used to it.

I'm guessing there are ramifications here beyond just the end of one program. Just how well is Microsoft doing lately? It's a shaky economy for everyone of course, but here we are entering the era of cloud computing, and Microsoft is more known for tangible products sold in stores with updates only every few years. I hear they've discontinued Encarta as well, although that will barely affect me.

Off to explore my banking and accounting options...

Thing 47: Evaluation

Oh wow, I actually made it. I gather that More 23 Things took about a month longer to complete than the original set. In my case, anyway, I see that the original 23 Things took place over the summer, while More 23 Things was running during winter and spring. It was easier for me to work on these sorts of things during the summer; earlier, I was in class and had less time and energy.

Overall, I enjoyed the program. I think each Thing needs to be fairly simple and straightforward though. Twitter felt like it had gotten out of hand. I enjoyed Books 2.0 and Bloggers' Toolkit, but it took way too much of that precious time and energy stuff to look at a good sample of the possibilities for either Thing. By comparison, Screencasting and Online TV & Video felt so much more manageable. It might've worked better if each Thing only mentioned a few activities or sites with the rest in a sort of "appendix" to each Thing.

As with the original 23 Things, I don't see our library getting much use out of most of these Things, although we've started Twittering and I suspect we'll find a use for screencasting. Personally, though, I'll be listening to Internent radio, watching online TV, discussing my travels online, and so on. It was a great introduction to Library 2.0 and Web 2.0; thank you.

Thing 46: WebJunction Minnesota

Well, here I am at WebJunction Minnesota. I'm not sure what to say about this site. Like LinkedIn, it's something that's purely professional for me . . . and like LinkedIn, I suspect that means I'm going to forget to visit it after a while. Social networking--or in this case, professional networking--is just more attractive when you've met the people you're networking with. With WJMN, I suspect the only people I know are the coworker and former coworker that I've gone through the 23 Things programs with, and by now, we're connected on all sorts of websites.

I like the idea of a site specifically for library networking, but I think WJMN needs some time to mature. I glanced over the classes. This is a good idea for letting people know what's available, and ditto for the calendar. However, the website itself could do with a redesign. Overall, the design seemed scattered and I found it difficult to focus on any one section. The Quick Links are "below the fold" and it took me multiple visits to the page before I saw them, and through them, finally found where the groups were listed. After all that, I did join a group: on Library 2.0, of course. I see that you can read group discussions without necessarily joining the group. I like this, as I have a tendency to lurk on groups, and this way, I won't be building up a long list of groups I joined because I found one discussion months ago to be interesting.

At this point, it's probably the courses that set WJMN apart from all the other networking sites out there. Discussions, contacts--those could be found on other sites, including LinkedIn and Ning. Perhaps as more people join WJMN, they'll expand their features, much as these other social networking sites have done.

Thing 45: Cloud Computing

Huh. There's not much in this Thing about the downside to cloud computing. Try searching "cloud crash Google" (ironically, you can Google this). You'll get a slew of articles on what happened this spring when Gmail and GoogleDocs went down for a few hours. Apparently there are already a lot of people who can't function without them.

Obligatory cynical reaction now taken care of, let's move on to the benefits of cloud computing. I'm getting more cloudy by the moment, it seems. My most recent switch is to using web-based email for my primary account. I'm making the change for several reasons, but one of them is that I'm tired of not being able to access my email from any computer I'm at. Yes, I could have left my emails on the server, but my ISP's webmail is unpleasant to use. I figured I might as well switch to a service that assumes you'll be keeping your messages online, and doesn't just offer a MB as a backup while you're on vacation.

After peeking at the Web OS articles, I don't think I'm going to need to leap into this right away. Beyond surfing the web and handling email, much of what I do just involves the basic Microsoft Office programs. GoogleDocs can handle most of this--okay, it'd be nice if they'd upgrade to the point they can handle .docx files, but if I have to, I can revert to .doc. And rumor has it that Microsoft is planning to make the next version of Office cloud-compatible ("Office Web"), so maybe a little patience is all that's necessary.

On the other hand, I really do need to pay attention to data backup. Again, with a dial-up connection, online backup was just a fantasy. Now it's a practical option, and yes, sounds much cheaper than the therapy I'll need if I lose both the computers and the external hard drive.

At present, I don't think cloud computing is affecting my productivity one way or another. Basically, I don't take my work home and I don't travel as part of my job, so I almost never have to access work files when I'm not physically in the office. It's pretty obvious, though, how this could benefit all those people who do need to carry their work with them, at least virtually. Likewise, I'm not that worried about security right now, simply because I'm not working with confidential materials. But it's a good question: is your data safer in the cloud or on a laptop or flash drive that could be lost, stolen, or damaged?

Say, if I decide Mint.com is a safe option, that's cloud banking, isn't it?

Thing 44: The Economy

Ah, this is going to be one of those blog posts where I try to list my reaction to as many things as possible in as short a time as possible. Got it.

The educational tools were, well, educational. That was a pretty good little "how it all fell apart" video. I couldn't think of any pressing financial issue I needed to research on MyMoney.gov, but it looked like it would be solid information about the basics.

My interest level rose when I tackled Banking 2.0. Understand, I just don't find personal finance and economics all that gripping, so one of the ways to pique my interest is to involve software and websites. But the security issues around online banking make this less fun than online music or video. I wonder if sites like Mint.com have been having an influence on software: Microsoft Money has vanished from stores. You can still get it online, but in general, it's gone, and it and Quicken were the big names for personal financial software. How do you judge the safety of these sites? At first, I wondered why anyone would trust their financial data to a free website, but then, Money could be forwarding my account information to Zanzibar every time I go online and I wouldn't know. Plus financial software leaves your data on your hard drive, which is difficult to erase securely when you're done with the computer. Just try thoroughly wiping a hard drive when the computer won't boot. Maybe Mint.com is no worse a risk.

On to the potential savings in my daily life. I don't own a car, so I skipped the entire driving section. My cell phone comes in cheaper than any of the plans at MyRatePlan.com. Self-sustainability, although noble as all get-out, is clearly not targeted to people who live in apartments: a woman who can't keep oregano alive in her windowsill for lack of sunlight is not going to be able to maintain a victory garden. I don't go to garage sales and thrift stores now, so I'm not going to start the habit. The pennypinching websites were an odd lot. I was pleased to see that I'm already doing lots of the tips on FrugalDad, although if you water down juices a là #31, I don't think you can count them as servings of fruit. I clicked on an article on Wisebread and found myself reading a product review of a webcam--what's that doing on a frugal living site? Finally, the coupon sites looked like an awful lot of effort for minimal reward.

I think I'm going to research Mint.com and ClearCheckbook more thoroughly, since they interested me the most. I'm hoping to find some expert opinions on whether or not they're safe enough to use (or at least no more risky than Money or Quicken).

Thing 43: Online TV and Video

I first heard of Hulu the old-fashioned way: I saw commercials for it on television. Like Internet radio, online TV wasn't much use to me as long as I had a slow connection, but I've been testing it out a bit now that I can actually watch the episodes. Stripped of most commercials, this will be a faster way of watching TV, but I'm still a bit hesitant to really get into this for fear it's going to eat up a fair chunk of my time. I'm not going to underestimate the instant gratification factor. I'd missed a few episodes of Dollhouse, and normally I'd have to wait until they came out on DVD to see them, but hey, now I can just wander over to Fox's website and see them there.

This will also let me see programs I just wouldn't be able to see otherwise. Since I don't watch a lot of TV, I don't spring for anything except the most basic level of cable. Except for the very few programs I'll buy in DVD, cable-only television is a mystery to me. Mystery no longer, it seems. So what is The Colbert Report like, anyway? Well, now I can find out. I suppose I'm going to want to hook my TV up to my computer at some point.

I'm not sure how much of an impact this will have on broadcast TV--will they notice after the long-term impact of cable? Cable is another matter though. Will people be willing to pay exorbitant fees if they can get good stuff for free? And how will advertisers respond? Print media is disintegrating almost daily because people realized they could get the same stuff for free online, and advertisers haven't figured out how to capitalize on that. Television may follow suit in a year or so for the same reasons.

Incidentally, I can't see any applications for personal mashups, Internet radio, or online TV for our library. Alas, we're dull. :)