Thing 2 What is Web 2.0 and (Why) Does it Matter?

Thing 2 (Week 1): What is Web 2.0 and (Why) Does it Matter?

Introduction

The term "Web 2.0" can be applied across broad categories of emerging technology tools and design principles, social and economic shifts, business philosophies, participatory media and culture, etc.... Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking and social bookmarking sites, tagging, photo- and video-sharing, RSS, etc...) are collaborative, browser-based and user-driven. They include platforms and tools for publishing, connecting, sharing, organizing and remixing.

A popular synonym for "Web 2.0" is the "Read/Write" web, which suggests that users are contributing, creating and collaborating rather than just consuming web content. "Web 1.0" or the "Read-Only" web was a place where the average user didn't publish content, because it required technical knowledge (HTML and other programming code) and money (to purchase server space and software). Web 2.0 tools allow users to easily participate and to customize their online experiences.

At its core, Web 2.0 is about powerful Web-based technologies connecting people and ideas.

So, what is Web 2.0?
Here are a few "one-sentence" definitions, and one that is slightly longer:

* "It's not a web of computers, it's a web of people." - Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web
* "Working on the Internet is the same as working on your desktop." - Sarah Bresee, Outcast
* "Web 2.0 is the two-way web where content finds you." - Ron Rasmussen, KnowNow
* "People doing things together on the web." - Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation
* "Web 2.0 is all the Web sites out there that get their value from the actions of users." - George Jones, InformationWeek
* "The new WWW: Whatever. Whenever. Wherever." - Tom March, Educator, Inventor of WebQuests
* "Less than a decade ago, when we were first getting used to the idea of an Internet, people described the act of going online as venturing into some foreign realm called cyberspace. But that metaphor no longer applies. MySpace, Flickr and all the other newcomers aren't places to go, but things to do, ways to express yourself, means to connect with others and extend your own horizons. Cyberspace was somewhere else. The Web is where we live." - Steven Levy and Brad Stone, Newsweek.



Discovery Exercise: (Why) does Web 2.0 matter?
Please watch the following video clips to learn a bit more about some important "21st Century Shifts."

¤ NOTE: If YouTube is blocked at your school, you may need to view these clips from home.

The Web is Changing...
Web 2.0: The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch (4:30)

If you don't see the video, here is a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g


The World is Changing...
Did You Know? 4.0 by Xplane, the Economist, Karl Fisch & Scott McLeod. (4:46)

Inspired by the original Shift Happens / Did You Know? (worth a watch to see the evolution!) by Karl Fisch (8:20)
If you don't see the video, here is a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8


Students are Changing...
A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch and students at Kansas State University (4:45)
If you don't see the video, here is a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o


The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

If you don't see the video, here is a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o


Task
What might Web 2.0 look like in school and why should I care? Read this blog post: "Web 2.0 is the Future of Education" by Steve Hargadon, and the attached article "A Day in the Life of Web 2.0" by David Warlick. (Yes, these total of eight pages of reading, but they are an important stage-setter for the course).

Consider the ways in which Web 2.0 tools might change (or have already changed) your professional practice. How might you be able to use these new tools to to engage today's "digital learners?" Why would you want to? Next week (in Thing 3), you will be asked to complete a blog post reflecting on your initial thoughts about Web 2.0 and its role in 21st Century teaching and learning, so please make a few notes.