"A thorough and thoughtful guide to Web 2.0, providing historical background on user-generated content and a field guide to Web 2.0 applications. Especially valuable for information professionals and all those who work with the web."

—Ron Gilmour, natural sciences librarian, Ithaca College

Have you ever reviewed a book at Amazon.com? Uploaded a photo to Flickr? Commented on a blog posting? Used tags to describe or access information? If you have, you've contributed user-generated content to the web. But while many librarians and information professionals have accepted their roles as creators and managers of user-generated content (UContent), many have not.

This comprehensive text considers the reasons behind UContent's wild popularity and makes strong arguments for cultivating it. While describing his own UContent experiences, the author has prepared a well researched book that serves as an overview, a status report, a primer, and a prognostication. The chapters are full of examples, insights, tips, and illustrations designed to help you process, administer, and enjoy the UContent phenomenon.

"Nicholas Tomaiuolo's very personal journey into user-generated content makes UContent the go-to book in the field. UContent is an amazingly detailed and highly accessible entry into the world of content produced by the general public."

—William Badke, author,
Research Strategies: Finding your Way
through the Information Fog

"While most books tell you what you need to do when you work with web services, Nick actually shares his experience with these services; a much needed perspective that sets his work apart from all the others."

—Michael Sauers,
author, Blogging and RSS:
A Librarian's Guide, Second Edition

"Thorough. Timely. Easy-to-read. Apropos. These are some of the words I use to describe Nick Tomaiuolo's book UContent: The Information Professional's Guide to User-Generated Content. The internet is not just about consuming content but about creating it as well. This book, written in style that is very easy to understand, describes and documents how to do the writing part of the read/write web. Tomaiuolo covers everything from the creation of books for Project Gutenberg to blogging to Yahoo! Pipes to folksonomies. Each chapter provides the what's, how's, and why's for content creation. The examples are plentiful, and the discussions are backed up with interviews from industry pundits. The morphology of many internet-specific words included in the book makes the reading even more interesting. A fun book to read, it is worth the time of any librarian who wants to exploit Web 2.0 technology."

—Eric Lease Morgan, digital projects librarian,
University of Notre Dame

"Tomaiuolo's guide to user-generated content is a must read for library workers looking to engage and collaborate with patrons."

—Nicole C. Engard,
editor, Library Mashups