Web 3.0

Wonder what the next stage in the evolution of the Web might be? People have been talking about semantic search for years now, but it's easier to talk about teaching a computer to grasp human meaning than it is to do.
PC World has this good explanation of what the goal of semantic search is and how it could revolutionize the way the Web works.

Is Web 2.0 just hype?

Web 2.0 is a big term in both the computer world and, as its corollary Library 2.0, in libraries. This article from PC World, though, may be an indication that much of the buzz over 2.0 has been, well, just buzz. The whole user-producer model of letting people participate in sites has been underwhelming. Social networks haven't taken off and may be dying. Much of the concern focuses on the business model, in other words, how to turn a profit off these features from advertising. Of course, that's not so much a concern for Library 2.0. But it is interesting that some of the underlying ideals, like participation and ubiquitous connectivity, seem to be more attractive to proponents of 2.0 than to real people.

Google newspaper archive

Here's a bit from Google's blog about a running project to digitize newspapers. It's a great idea, as so many of the millions of pages of news have been lost to time. Unlike some of the early attempts at digitizing books, it looks like Google's working with the publishers on this one. It's a pretty monumental undertaking, though, so only time will tell if it's effective.