Relevance

I was talking with an IT manager recently (actually there were a few of them in the discussion), who offered this observation, which elicited much head-nodding:

The problem with collaboration is that once you get to the people high enough in the chain of command to effect a change, you find they don't even know what a computer is.

The example at hand was a case of IT support checking on a web access problem for individual users and finding the problem could be solved by installing and using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. But the computers are set up by another department, which only installs I.E. on the computers. So the IT support folks are constantly going out to install Firefox. The problem was how to get the other department to include Firefox in the applications they install on new computers.

What does this have to do with Libraries and 23Things? The chain of command.

It's very nice to encourage employees to update their knowledge of web technology. But what good is that knowledge within an organization if the ones required to effect change don't know or understand the very technology they are encouraging the employees to learn about? What good is knowing about Zoho, or Technorati, or LibraryThing, or PBWiki, if there is no hope of doing anything with them beyond the 23Things exercise because the people high enough in the chain to effect change "don't even know what a computer is"?

Web 2.0 is disruptive technology. It requires administrators face risk and rethink what is and what will be. The status quo will not work any more. 23Things will be relevant when library administrators understand the technology of Web 2.0 and are willing to accept the risk of disruptive technology and start rethinking what is and what will be.