Kathleen Gilroy of the Otter Group writes about Learning 2.0. In the first part she describes how our new world of communications, social networking, blogging, tagging and so on are fundamentally transforming how people learn and teach. This is what she calls “Learning 2.0.“:

Rather than working alone inside of centralized applications users now access distributed web services that allows them to do things collaboratively. These services include social bookmarking services like del.icio.us, which allows users to independently upload and tag URLs to a server where they can be accessed and shared; and web software services like Basecamp where projects are managed using a web service as opposed to an application on the PC. Web services are easily interconnected through open standards and open application interfaces (APIs).

Plugged together, these services can replace more rigid centralized applications and put their power in the hands of the users. (from “Learning 2.0 Basics“)

In part two, especially interesting for us at BlogBridge, Kathleen puts forward world in which the aggregator  becomes the new desktop. Here the role of RSS and aggregators in Web 2.0 is explored further:

“RSS provides an essential framework that organizes Web content into clean, crisp chunks (known as items) that have vital metadata associated with them, like the date of publication, authorship, categories and tags. RSS is increasingly becoming the “language” of Intranet 2.0.” (from “Learning 2.0 Basics, Part 2“)

A couple of interesting bits about that quote. First, note the term “Intranet 2.0″. Everyone, almost, who thinks and writes about Web 2.0 is thinking about the public internet. Kathleen posits, and I agree, that equally interesting changes are happening inside the firewall.

In fact, we at BlogBridge will soon be describing a new product that we are releasing which we are calling, for now, BlogBridge: Library. It’s not quite in stealth, but on the other hand we aren’t being especially loud about it yet, because it’s not ready yet. But soon!

The second interesting bit is the screenshot you see to the left. Clearly it’s a picture of the BlogBridge screen. But I am struck by how Kathleen labels the left column “Reading Lists.”

If you know BlogBridge terminology you know that we’ve called those Guides. But I have to admit that the term Guide is problematic. Many people say, “Why don’t you just call them ‘Folders’? After all that’s really what they are?” And yes, this is true to some extent.

Ok I admit it, I find the term Folder just boring, and Guides more evocative. But it’s a term that’s unique in BlogBridge. The term Reading List though has currency far beyond BlogBridge. And it’s a damn good description of what those Guides are.

Ok, first of all a prize if you are still reading But to you BlogBridge users, a question: what would you think if we renamed Guides to be “Reading Lists”? There’s a nice consistency with the rest of the product and how else we use the term. And we’d be rid of “Guides”. What say you?

Technorati Tags: learning2.0