Overview of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is essentially an increasing range of software that supports a variety of technologies for open and collaborative communication, learning and creativity.

It consits of

1. A Platform
This is browser based - e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox. (Firefox is preferred because it is free and open software in a constant state of development (Web 2.0), whereas Explorer is owned and comes out in a fixed form and then has updates and upgrades on an irregular basis (Web 1.0))
It operates on open and collaborative principles
Communications are the key applications

I'm not sure if you want the thinking behind our construction fo this wiki in here to. For example, as I read the first part of this wiki "A Platform" I immediately wanted to have an image to click on which would represent this for me. Pictures help me to learn and thus understand a concept. I began searching for diagrams through Goolge, Web 2 platform, and diagram....I knew the image I had in mind but I wasn't able to find it. \

Next step- I had a hard copy of "Knowing Knowledge" by George Siemens and in this text there are useful diagrams which would serve this purpose. The diagram I ended up with below took me to Flickr where Siemens has the posted the diagrams in this book. I signed up to Flickr using my yahoo i.d and then search ed for Siemen's images. I was reminded of the principle of a learning ecology. For me, this is a richer term than platform, this is about networks, connectivism, learning processes and e-learning.


2. Social Networking
Personalised and open collaborative knowledge spaces
Access people as well as knowledge
Copyright issues exist and have to be dealt with and replaced with a Creative Commons culture
This is beyond the normal formalities of the classroom and can take place anywhere at any time

3. Read/Write Web
People are consurmers of content and services
People and publishers of content and services
Such people are called Produsers

4. What makes Web 2.0
Blogs - a social tool and medium for personal expression but it's public. Great for information and knowledge sharing - purpose built
An active blogger to know about is Stephen Downes www.downes.ca
Wikis - a collaborative writing document. A 'knowledge blender'. People are writing books online in wikis.
Social Tagging - bookmarking, Tag Clouds allows you to connect with others based on the resources they use/ categorise. A folksonomy where the end user says what the resource is about (de.lici.ous, flickr)
Sharing sites
Podcasts
Mashups
Aggregators
Ubiquitous connectivity

5. The future of the Web?
An interesting paper presented by Sir Timothy Berners - Lee before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.


What is the functionality and instructional use of Blogs, Wikis, RSS, podcasting?
What are the unique features of current social technologies?
- choose from audio or ppt slides, or be like me and use both : http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/002679.html