j's scratchpad » Introduction to Web 2.0 for Scholarship and Networking

Introduction to Web 2.0 for Scholarship and Networking

I gave this talk to a group of educators from the country Georgia studying in the United States.

Jessica Baumgart
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

What is Web 2.0?

Name derives from software version trends
Web 2.0 is a more participatory Web
Pre-participatory Web is sometimes called Web 1.0

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0

One to one
Information flow: creator –> consumer
Medium: not many other options besides text
One to many, many to many
Information flow: creator <–> consumer
Media: often written text, but now there’s far more audio, video, other formats

Why Web 2.0 Now?

Technological advances
Importance of other people’s voices, thoughts, perspectives, etc.
Value of community

What better way to learn about Web 2.0 than to view a short Web 2.0 video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Let’s Talk about Some Web 2.0 Tools

Weblogs

Specialized Web sites with one or a few authors
Can be about anything
Definitions vary, but features often include short posts, links to other sites, and comments
Can be hosted, run on own server, on intranet

Weblog Examples

EdBlogger Praxis: http://educational.blogs.com/
Write On! Mr. Monson’s Classroom Blog: http://classblogmeister.com/
Global Voices Online: http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/

Wikis

Sites anyone can edit
Excellent for collaboration
Can run on the public Internet, private intranets, etc.
Wikipedia made the software famous

Examples of Wikis

Wikipedia: http://ka.wikipedia.org/
Arbor Heights Elementary School Wiki: http://arborheights.wikispaces.com/

XML Feeds

2 leading formats: RSS and Atom
Way of distributing streamlined content
Enclosures–a way to send files with feeds used in podcasting, video blogging, and more

Podcasts

An XML feed that includes an audio file
Used by podcasters, radio shows, etc., to distribute their content

What are Aggregators?

Software that transforms XML feeds into something readable
Can run on a computer or on the Web

Aggregator Examples

Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/
My Yahoo!: http://my.yahoo.com/

Social Bookmarking Tools

Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/
Furl: http://www.furl.net/

Sharing and Rating Links

More ephemeral than social bookmarks
Dig: http://www.dig.com/
Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/

Sharing Images Online

Photo Sites

Not necessarily new: Yahoo! Photos, etc.
What makes some sites new is the community and participatory nature of the sites
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/

Video Sites

Videos

Popularity of moving pictures
Technological advances across the board make this easier
One-time short films to vlogging to serials

Video Sites

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/–a site with lots of video content
hometown baghdad: http://www.hometownbaghdad.com/–videos from Iraq
Justin.tv: http://www.justin.tv/–Justin wears a video camera

Social Networking

Visually connect your contacts together
View other people’s contacts
Networking

Social Networking Sites

Orkut: http://www.orkut.com/
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/

Sharing Music

Technology makes this easy
Any musician can distribute their work
Cut out the recording studios

Music Sites

Sharing Books

Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/

Other Aspects of Web 2.0

Tagging

People can assign their own keywords to things–not just their content, but other people’s content as well
Assists with finding material and linking material together