Using Web 2.0 technologies for communication, collaboration and community building: a Caribbean perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to demonstrate how Web 2.0 technologies may be used to counter some of the challenges encountered traditionally by the Caribbean library and information science (LIS) field.Design/methodology/approach – This paper explores the key features of each Web 2.0 technology discussed and then shows how these characteristics might be beneficially applied to resolve or alleviate one of the challenges explored.Findings – By providing examples of best practice the paper shows that there are Web 2.0 technologies being used by the LIS community in the Caribbean to encourage wider communication, collaboration and community building. It notes however that there are still more emerging technologies which may be successfully used to overcome other traditional challenges.Originality/value – The paper adds a Caribbean perspective to the Web 2.0 discussions. It also demonstrates how emerging/Web 2.0 technologies might effectively be used as problem solving tools.