The fourth in the series of Talis Research Days took place today in our Birmingham offices. This particular day was supported by BIC, who presented on their work with standards for the library and book trades. Yet again a well attended day in which the presentations stimulated much constructive debate around the impact of Web 2.0 technologies upon libraries, their processes, and the systems & processes of the library and book supply chains.

As is becoming traditional at these events, I brought together the threads of the day by practically demonstrating how Web 2.0 technologies can be used to draw together web services in to new and innovate applications.

The Talis Whisper demonstrator was updated ready for this research day. This update includes paging of results, a National Libraries map, and most importantly for those without Firefox it is now Internet Explorer compatible.

Many have linked to Whisper, especially in the context of the principles to be found in the [soon to be updated] Do libraries matter? The rise of Library 2.0 white paper. For those that could not, or have not had chance to, look and a play before it is well worth a look.

Actually its worth it just so you can have a play with the global map of National Library Locations and links. I know its sad but I never seem to tire of zooming and panning around a Google Maps mash-up. Select the Locate tab, and then the Global radio button, to see how rusty your geographic knowledge is.

Along with the invite to use and play with Whisper, I must emphasise that this is demonstration software. Although the data that underpins it is real (but not necessarily totally up to date), the services that deliver it from our research servers are not of production strength, and the AJAX application its self is by no means perfect. Also like all ‘concept cars’ functionality & services demonstrated in Whisper are no indication as to the possibility of similar services being provided by Talis in the future.

But nevertheless, on the understanding that you are using an unsupported application, you are welcome to use it for whatever you find useful.

If you have suggestions, questions, or problems around Whisper join in or start conversations on the Whisper Forum.

Technorati Tags: Library 2.0, Web 2.0