Web 2.0

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What is Web 2.0?

plenty of choice:

There are a number of loose definitions that revolve around the web now being a participatory medium rather than the old Web 1.0 way being primarily passive and consumerist in nature.

The quote below by BECTa sums it up nicely

Web 2.0 is a catch-all term to describe a variety of developments on the web and a perceived shift in the way the web is used. This has been characterised as the evolution of web use from passive consumption of content to more active participation, creation and sharing – to what is sometimes called the read/write web.

The term Web 2.0 covers a range of technologies, services and trends underpinned by the growth of a critical mass of internet users. It is about using the internet as a platform for simple, light-weight services that leverage social interactions for communication, collaboration, and creating, remixing and sharing content. Typically, these services develop rapidly, often relying on a large community of users to create and add value to content or data. The availability and ease of use of Web 2.0 tools and services has lowered the barriers to production and distribution of content. Some examples of Web 2.0 services include: social networking sites, blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, media sharing sites, rich internet applications and web ‘mashups’. Beware tho'... this current explosion of "web 2.0" tools has created revolutionary trends (facebook, youtube, flickr, second life, twitter, etc..), but conversely others have lagged and died. As this chart shows.


That quotation came out as part of a series of studies into how school children are using this new tye of technology. Read more on the BECTa partners website here http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=14543 Resource accessed September 2008

With that in mind, most readers might have already glazed over and fallen asleep, or wonder what on earth wiki, or mash up means. Well don't leave just yet, we hope to educate you further by expanding upon the above simple (but potentially confusing) statement, by breaking it down into more digestable chunks.

Hardware & Software

what to use?:

You require an up-to-date desktop computer or laptop that's attached to the Interent via a broadband connection. Otherwise you can use a TV with web browser capabilities, attaching a XBox 360 or PS3, etc, enable this. A good quality 3G/WAP/net mobile phone will allow you to "surf the web" and access these Web 2.0 tools. Eee pc and CarPhone warehouse are offering cut price "sub notebooks" typically £200.00, that can be used for low cost web surfing.


99% of the time you only need an Web browser installed in to your computer to use Web 2.0 stuff. Firefox or IE are common examples. The actual web based applications (software) you use, is accessed by actually typing a URL (web address) and navigating to a "website". That "website" may be a massive social network like bebo, or a wiki like wikipedia, or a mind map like bubbl.us, or a blog like mine. In the broadest sense they are all types of web applications that can be used individually or mxed and joined up. Some call these a web 2.0 platform, others call it pagecasting.

Accessing these types of web based applications means you are using your web browser to access them, not installing new bits of software every time you find a new web 2.0 application. 99.9% of the time you do not need to download or install specialised software as you would, using Open Office for example. Many of these types of highly personalised web based applications require a Flash plugin as standard., which 99% have got as standard.

Ok, now show me those Web 2.0 applications

The table in JISC primer called Web 2.0 and social software provided me with an easy way to break down this potentially enormous category into a managble size. I have broken down Web 2.0 applications into 5 main categories, each of which contains a characterisitc, a definition, and some examples. I've recenty (2010) created a mindmap showing some of the lastest Web 2.0 tools.

Characteristic 1: The web as a platform

a platform:

Definition: Allowing applications to be delivered and used through a web browser.'''

Online word processing such as Google Docs http://docs.google.com or http://www.Picnik.com, which can edit photos and link to http://www.flickr.com, a huge database of shared images. This is a slideshow I made with flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/27118956@N02/show/. http://www.flickr.com can also be regarded as a kind of social network built round the sharing of images. Others maight also call this a community of practice as these people are all interested in similar topics - i.e. photography. Don't forget the flickrCC website that allows you search for images that can be used under the creative commons agreement copyright free for education, etc. Google's new WAVE application is set to combine elements of existing web communicaion modes (forums, email, instant messaging, etc) into one handy easy to use application.


As an alternative to Picnik you could use the new Adobe Express web application to edit images online. Photoexpress can also link to your Flickr account allowing you to open and edit and re-save back your own Flickr account - which can be shared with the world.

Another excellent educational web application is the online collaborative mind mapping software http://bubbl.us, which you can also embed in a blog. Or the excellent Zoho creator which allows you to build rich web applications online, http://creator.zoho.com/. The adoption of web 2.0 tools as a platform to enable e-portfolio realted activities is beginning ground. Often referred to a the Personal Learning environment (PLE), the collection of "stitched together" Web 2.0 tools is certainly worth considering , as this list of gudies and resources exemplify.

Characteristic 2: An architecture of participation

participation:

Definition: Systems that have been designed to encourage and support users in contributing to them..'''


Blogs and wikis form the backbone of this group of tools. My blog with embedded media or this school kids bloggives you an idea of just how versatile blogging as a platform can be. Reflection, peer review, collaborate, mash up, comment, link to others, etc. Most eportfolio systems are not far removed from blogs. http://jiscinvolve.org/ blogs are available free for UK academics. Another website that is only as good as it's contributors is slideshare.net. It allows you to share your presentations and download others. It could save you plenty of lesson prep time? But are wikis running out of steam?

A wiki is a website that can be edited by many contributors who have permissions. This video and web site explains it better than me http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/GoogleDocs. While this wiki explians how a wiki can be used. And this other wiki explains how to use it collaboratively. 

     Models of use

Some exemplar wikis:


Some free wiki tools to try out


Photo sharing such as http://www.flickr.com , which can add geotags to images (together with the new [1]. New mapping tools allow active collaboration like the excellent hrrp://frappr.com or newer http://quikmaps.com/new

[delicious http://delicious.com/deliboy/web2.0] also allows you to share your bookmarks and so add to others web surfing experiences.

Characteristic 3: Data consumption and remixing

mashup

Definition: Often these are referred to as mash-ups, where content is often sourced from third parties via an API (Application Programming Interface). Essentially making a new web application from two unrelated web applications.'''

A 2009 BECTa report on web mashups - what they are and could be!

One of the best/useful I've seen is http://a.placebetween.us/, others can be found here http://www.webmashup.com/Mashup_Examples/index.php. A very useful mash up is the joining of Moodle and Second Life = SLOODLE

One of the most popular web 2.0 tools to recently hit the web is http://www.twitter.com. This mirco-blogging tool (send 140 characters) is often mashed with other web applications, one of the best examples is http://twittervision.com, for others see http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Mashups.

Characteristic 4: Elements of social networking

networking

Definition: Whilst not necessarily a requisite, the social elements of these technologies are important in generating the engagement and user data.'''


Social networks, like bebo, myspace and these two free ning sites for educators also fall into this category. Crowdvine is another free favourite of ours. This type of web 2.0 tools (together with second life) gets the most press coverage - not all good. while this useful comparison website helps you choose the most suitable social networking tool based upon a set of criteria.


Google groups http://groups.google.com/ provide a simple solution, that you can add Google docs and Google sites onto to create a modular platform and network. I know some people who have experimented with ecto and Moodle together, which is simple to use : http://www.ectolearning.com/ecto2/Default.aspx


Two slightly more elaborate (Open Source) solutions you might make use of is the http://elgg.org platform, which is a social network of blogs. The popular edublogs community use elgg. Another popular social networking platform which is also being used heavily for electronic portfolio development planning (ePDP) is Mahara http://mahara.org. The University of Glasgow has adopted Mahara and is currently rolling it out institution wide. Significantly, Mahara has been developed to integrate and network with [Moodle].

  • Warwickshire Colleges have been using facebook to; improve responsiveness to learners, improve institutional effectiveness, induction, diagnosing learning styles, buddying, retention, social networking.
  • West Suffolk College have used some of these tools to create a platform :

http://wscelearning.blogspot.com/ & http://newlearning.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/who-wants-web-20/

Characteristic 5: A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface

interface

Definition: Many of the tools, websites and applications are developed with user consultation, leading to developments based on user needs and wants.'''


One of the best ideas I've seen recently that covers this is http://www.netvibes.com/wesch . This concept is explained further here: http://kev-brace.blogspot.com/2008/07/knowledge-able.html


Personalisation is key in the use of online media. The iGoogle homepage allows users to create their own look and feel, and access material from a wide range of sources http://www.google.co.uk/ig . You can do a similar thing with www.bloglines.com/ that aggregates RSS feeds or widgets http://www.pageflakes.com/ .

igoogle home page


These aggregation type of technologies are called pagecasting. I am experimenting with a new netvibes pagecasting/portal service.


RSS feeds can be combined to push the web to you, here's an example I have created from a feed of my blog, my bookmarks and my wiki all together http://tinyurl.com/27t29x. This was done using Yahoo pipes, you may find Xfruits easier to use than pipes to do this aggregation?

Web 2.0 extras

  • The Phoebe pedagogic planner has templates and frameworks that assists you integrate web 2.0 technology into F2F delivery.
  • The Plymouth HeLP CETL has developed USPACE which is a collection of web 2.0 tools to support foundation degrees.
  • I recently attended an online webinar where the SCORE 2 model of applying web 2.0 tools to engaging / active learning was explained. Interesting stuff, and it could work for you.
  • An elearning website that regularly polls its readers for their top 100 tools. More and more are of the Web 2.0 flavour.
  • Kevin Brace's shared links covering everything concerned with Web 2.0

information sheets to download

  • Two free e-books on how Web2.0 technology is used in education

Useful links

RSC contacts

Kevin Brace k.brace@rsc-wm.ac.uk contributed this article. He can be contacted by email and telephone, 01902 518931. For further information about the RSC West Midlands, visit our website at http://www.rsc-wm.ac.uk

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