Web 2.0

Nicole Gadt

 

            Web 1.0 describes the majority of web site prior to the dot com bubble burst of 2004.  The majority of Web 1.0 web sites just contained information; the reader did not interact with the site at all, other than following other links, but just read the information available to them.  DaleDougherty of O'Reilly Media coined the term Web 2.0 to use for a conference and after that the term has been much debated over how exactly to define Web 2.0.  So far the meaning of Web 2.0 is making the internet more interactive with social web sites like MySpace and Facebook, micro-blogging and blogs (i.e. Twitter, Blogspot), sharing photos and video (i.e. Flickr, YouTube), sites you can leave feedback on about products, sellers, or services (i.e. Amazon, eBay), social book marking sites (i.e. Delicious, Digg) and wikis (i.e. Wikipedia, Wikispaces).   Another major difference between Web 1.0 and 2.0 is in Web 1.0 manufactures were encouraged to create software that could not be changed by the end user.  Web 2.0 has Open Source software which anyone can download, use, and change for their own purpose.

            Personally I like the ideas of Web 2.0.  If you are talking to a friend in person and a topic comes up that you have a picture of on Facebook, then they can have easy access to the picture.  As for educators, I like how there is a wide variety of software that is free for anyone to use, a whole class could easily use the same software for uniformity purposes.  An educator can make bookmarks on a social book marking site and then have the students go to sites for readings or as a resource, since you can tag each web site students can find what they are looking for easily.  Wikis are great for working on small group projects, since anyone in the group can make changes to the wiki so that it will tell the others in the group what have found out or what they want to do.  Students can also keep blogs about what they have read or studied in the classroom, peers can then make comments on others’ blogs.

            I recently started a Digg account to find out more about it.  I learned that you can invite your Facebook friends to view the web sites you have gone to and left comments about.  After you digg, or tag, a web site it will offer you the chance to publish it to your wall on Facebook so all your friends can see it or e-mail it to your friends.  Digg will also let you tweet, or make a micro blog, about the site you have found on Twitter.  For an instructor this technology can be used to quickly share information with students about web sites.  I like the idea that you can put notes with the web sites you recommend and even select a picture icon to represent the site you have chosen.  I would use this in the classroom to show students which link to go to since the site links are easily shared and after class students can find their way back to if they needed more information on a topic discussed in class.

            Flickr is a way to share photos and videos with notes and tags that can be added by the user.  You can also create private groups, which I think would be great for an elementary school setting.  You can also search Flickr by using the tags other people have created such as locations, certain time frames, or by events.  You can tag any photo or video and have it displayed to you groups, this can be a great way to guide students to look at pictures from a location they are going to be studying about and since there is a discussion board on Flickr, a conversation can begin right there and get students first reactions to the picture or video.  By using Flickr in the classroom setting, you can make current or past events come alive with pictures that were taken by people who were there.  Students can also take a look at how others cultures do things or dress.

            I also looked into Pageflakes, which is similar to My Yahoo or iGoogle.  Pageflakes allows you to keep up on several different news sites, weather, and other RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds.  Pageflakes is known as a webtop, since it can be accessed from any computer with a web browser and when you log in, you get the information that is important to you.  Pageflakes also allows users to share web pages, which could be really nice to use in a classroom setting so students can be on the same web page at the same time.  You can also add widgets to your Pageflakes, such as word or quote of the day, blog, Twitter, message boards, and even an interactive calendar.  I think this is a great way to get students to seek out needed information on the internet.  An instructor can even set up pages for groups, so that each group member can modify the Pageflakes.  I would use the interactive calendar in my classroom to post when and what homework is due, upcoming test, and class/school events.

            We have seen how Web 2.0 has changed the world around us, such as just after the Iranian elections of 2009 when the Iranian government shut off cell phone and texting services, people found a way to over come these issues by tweeting about what was going on around them with Twitter.  With Web 2.0 anything is possible!  What will Web 3.0 be like?  I think it will involve people making tags on websites to help search engines filter information from the millions of web pages that are out there.  I think Web 3.0 will be even more interactive than it is now, since more and more households will have a computer with fast internet connections.  I think by the time Web 3.0 gets here, which may take a few years yet, every student will have a computer with internet access at home and be able to find the answers to any of their questions within minutes of doing a search, not like now where it may take a few searches to get what you need to know.  What does the future hold?  Only time will tell.