Short Wiki Paper Ruminations

So I'm really not sure what to write about for my Short Wiki Paper. Which is not a great thing, as it is coming up due in less than 2 weeks. I was thinking of doing something with Facebook, because I really like Facebook and I think it is more "implementable" than many other Web 2.0 technologies - the user can personalize their profile but not too much. In MySpace, users can change backgrounds, fonts, songs, colors, whatever they can think of, which means that one person's page may only take a few seconds to load, but someone else's page may take up to a minute.

But then I realized that I was thinking of Facebook as a personal tool. I like faster loads because my time is very precious, even if it means the profile is more bare than the user would like. But teens love personalization, and they don't care if it take a long time to load - if it looks cool, they'll like it. But I don't want to do a paper on MySpace, so I guess I'll throw that idea out.

Since my final project is looking more and more like it is going to have something to do with SL, perhaps it would be good to start doing some research on it now. But I think the point of this paper is to explore something different from your final project, so I guess I should throw this idea out too.

Now I'm thinking that perhaps I can do something related to my home library. My library at home in Virginia is the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, and they are part of the QuestionPoint cooperative. Here's the blurb from the page:

QuestionPoint Ask a Librarian is a live online interactive reference service, available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This chat service combines the speed and convenience of the Internet with the information savvy of professional reference librarians.

When you connect, the librarian online may not be from your local library and will not have access to your personal library account information. The librarian may be from any one of over 500 public libraries in this national 24/7 reference cooperative.

The Central Rappahannock Regional Library is a member of the nationwide QuestionPoint cooperative. We provide coverage when our libraries are open. During busy periods and off-hours the service is supported by other librarians working throughout the country from their own libraries. This national support allows us to have librarians available whenever you need information.

This sounds a lot like Florida's Ask A Librarian, and is clearly a virtual reference environment. I think this would be great, as I don't think anyone else will be doing this topic. I'm going to run it by Dr.. Mon before I start my research, but I think it's a good, original idea.