What application is that?
Continuing my train of thought, I am sitting here bemused at the similarities between technology and an enormous supermarket.
Swamped for choice is the common thread. Which washing powder is going to get the whites white, but not the coloured items as well, what will leave clothes soft but not be an allergen, what is good for the environment is as complex a decision making process as which tool is going to help me use and manage Twitter – do I want it to come into my phone, send from my phone, from my desktop, from the web, through Second Life, or from any of the other options I have not even been able to check out.
The choice seems absolutely endless for just one tool. How many communication tools are there? How many tools badged as Web 2.0? Some friends seem to be waiting on the edge of their seats for the next version, the next widget or the next tool, and joyously dive in and add it to their collection. I cannot.
I took on some very good advice from a friend, and made a conscious decision not to keep signing up for and trying to learn every tool that was listed / recommended. Heaving a sigh of relief I was able to concentrate on what was set up and functional, and manageable.
That worked well for all of a fortnight. Then it started. As an example, a group I was in put up some resources in Slideshare – sign up, add to list of applications. This has happened more than once. There are so many tools that the odds on multiple groups selecting the same tools to use seem to be very long.
So many tools seem do the same thing in similar ways. I wonder if there will be a rationalisation of tools, or will the variety and number just keep on climbing?
Could that swamped feeling be one of the barriers for some people in moving into the online and Web 2.0 world or is it part of the excitement of being an active creative participant on the web?
5 comments August 20th, 2008
