Web 2.0 Winners

Boy, this is a big category, but I dug in and found some very groovy stuff.

First, the stuff on the winners list that I'd already used: Google Docs, Google Maps, and Youtube. We've already talked about my Google happiness, so I'll mention Youtube. Now, yes, this site does feature all of the movie trailers, amateur video of people hitting themselves in the groin with framing hammers, and bad covers of Pat Benatar, but it also has all sorts of great stuff that you saw once, and figured was lost forever. Things like a Buddy Rich/Gene Krupa drum battle, or Victor Wooten playing "Norweigan Wood" on the bass, or...yeah, you get the idea. If you come across the "You are a pirate" song, and it gets hopelessly stuck in your head...not my fault. Youtube is addictive, and the way it tags things, you keep finding more interesting stuff to watch. You could be up all night.

Now: Looked at Wetpaint wiki. If I didn't have so many sites already, it looks fun. I've considered creating a wiki just for my own knowledge retention (aka, to keep myself from forgetting stuff). Didn't do it, but hey...

Goowy: This is an interesting idea: a "desktop" that's delivered to you over the web. Again, it replacates a lot of stuff I have covered already, but it's a cool idea. Takes the Google Docs/Google Apps a few steps further. If you're a real digital nomad, or a patron who doesn't have a computer of his own, this could be ultra-neato. So, there's your useful bit. If someone's always here, using our computers, and needs some online repository to call his/her own, maybe something like Goowy would be great for that person.

Arcaplay: It's a site that has a bunch of Flash-based mini games. Fun, but not so much different from other, similar sites. Yahoo and others have a think like this in their "games" section. My favorite is miniclip.com, personally. Though, of course, I would never stoop to game playing...

Pandora: Now, this is cool. You put in an artist or song, and it creats an active audio stream where it gives you things that are similar to that artist or song. You put in "The Supremes", it's going to find songs by that group, as well as other early 60's Motown. Wicked, wicked cool. If you know one song, or one artist, you can use this to get clued in to a whole musical genre. Great for librarians in the AV area, to get targeted research done. Also, great for teen librarians, who need to keep abreast of the stuff that the kids are listening to. Another example of how tagging can allow great service over the internet. I'm stoked (again!)