Beyond the Button

Vodafone's Receiver Magazine has a feature on the future of online communities.

I love del.icio.us! I use it a lot and think it could be way useful for just about anyone who uses the web. But if you have ever tried to convince a group of non-tech-nerds that it might help them out with their missions then you know the uphill battle I've faced. You not only have to cajole them into signing up for a del.icio.us account but you need to explain the concept of "social" bookmarking, teach them to tag, and then convince them that this will actually be more useful than just keeping their bookmarks on their local computer.

In steps The Common Craft Show. These folks are building a set of fun and quirky videos that do a marvelous job at explaining tech tools to the general population. This great example shows why teachers might want to use del.icio.us. I couldn't have said it better myself. No really I couldn't have.

I often hear from people that Twitter (and my use thereof) is simply pure vanity in a new 140 character format. But internet and technology blogger, Andy Carvin has some interesting thoughts about how the tool could be used in natural disasters. We recently blogged over on Science Buzz, how cell phone and internet technology is helping to report the crackdowns in Myanmar.

I've also thought for a while that Twitter could be a fun way to give the public a picture of what an huge institution like the Science Museum is all about on a daily basis. We could create a group twitter account that any staff member could log into. Then they could post what they were doing at that moment with their work day: "Talking with a visitor about chemistry", "Planning a trip to Montana for a dinosaur excavation", "searching for information on hydrophobic coatings for medical devices", "talking to the state legislature about science education". Over time it could paint an interesting picture of the work our diverse organization is undertaking.