Well, both in the process of learning about all of the very cool web 2.0 apps out there, and beginning to try and use them to create content and organize my life, I have come to the following conclusion: the apps are great, but integration still sucks.

First, there's the blogging issue. I keep 2 blogs of my own, and contribute actively to one community blog (at nosi.net) and could, potentially, contribute to quite a number of others. I don't get paid to blog, so I don't really want to spend my time doing that. And, I also don't want to do too much cross-posting of content. But the community blogs do provide a way for a wider audience to read the content that I have created. Unfortunately, the nptech world hasn't yet caught on to the "Planet" phenomenon of the open source world (see Planet Ubuntu Women.) These are sites that are simply aggregators of the blogs of those involved in a particular open source project (like, in this case, women involved in Ubuntu). It's a great idea, I think. I'm aggregated on live.linuxchix.org - a planet for those who are involved in Linuxchix. I think it would be very great to have a few nptech-focused "planets" out there. I think those are better ideas than community blogs - and it's so easy for people to get involved. (Hint to NTEN: Affinity Group Planets!)

Second, is bookmarking. I now have accounts at del.icio.us, ma.gnolia, furl, and stumbleupon. They each have their good points and bad, strengths and reasons I use them (I use furl, for instance, to save pages I think might go away, or become paid content after a short time being free.) But I'm really getting toward the end of doing double or triple bookmarking. It's just so ... painful.

And then there are to do lists. Right now, I am a pretty multi-faceted person (well, I always was, but right now, I am very much so in practical terms.) I am working on several projects, both collective and personal. And I like and use to do lists. But, I have some to do lists I need to share, and others I don't. And, of course, not everyone I work with is choosing the same to do list or project manager. And even if they were, they might not integrate well (For example, I use three different Basecamp accounts - which don't integrate with each other.) Wikis are another great collective to do list/project management tool, but they don't integrate, either.

Luckily, it seems that most of the project manager type apps in web 2.0 land are either using iCal, or integrating with Google Calendar (my present calendaring software). So that's good. But the integration there even can be clunky. And it's one way. I can't change a basecamp milestone in Google Cal, I have to go back to that particular basecamp account to change it. Sigh.

It's a mess out there. Anyone going to help clean up? I'm getting tired of wasting more time in front of my computer. I'm ready to save time so I can go out in the sun.

Technorati Tags: linuxchix, nosi, nptech, nten, opensource, web2.0