Blogs & Wikis

A range of new tools and resources are becoming freely available on the internet. Coined Web 2.0, these tools facilitate read/write activities for users: content creation, sharing, remixing and repurposing. The best example of this is Wikipedia,an online encyclopedia introduced in the first module where everyone can be an author.

In this topic you will explore a number of these tools thinking about how you can use these in your personal and professional roles.


Develop your skills - Web 2.0 Tools

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Skills
To understand the basics of Web 2.0's free social networking tools, you will explore:

  • What is Web 2.0 and how can it be useful to you
  • Digital image sharing sites
  • Types of social writing platforms and collaborative writing tools

You will continue to practice your internet skills to access a range of web based reference sites and online resources for this topic.


What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 websites enable users to be both producers and consumers of information. Review the two following resources to get an overview:

  • Web 2.0 View a short video clip not only defining what Web 2.0 is, but also an example of Web 2.0 works. This video is being shared on a web 2 media sharing site (for those of you with broadband)
  • Web 2.0 from Wikipedia. Use another web 2.0 tool to read about the phenomenon! (for those of you with dial up!)


TASK: Use Wikipedia to find out the difference between blogs, wikis, and rss.

Flickr
So what do you do with all those digital images you have been taking with you digital cameras? One thing you can do is to share them with your friends photo sharing sites. Flickr is a free site that enables you to “store, search, sort and share your photos”.

The following resources will help you find out about how to use Flickr:

  • About Flickr: Wikipedia provides a short description of this site and what it can be used for
  • How to use Flickr (if you have broadband this site may be helpful)

TASK: Load some of your digital photos in Flickr - let your friends know (by email) that they are there.


Social writing platforms and collaborative writing tools

Social writing platforms include weblogs, wikis, and collarborative writing tools like Writeboard and Writely. These platforms are web spaces that support people creating and editing each other’s content. (Alexander, 2006).


Try a couple out:

  • Writeboard lets users rapidly create a web page focused on an item of writing content, prominently visible in the browser. It is password protected identifying and restricting individual contributors to the creator’s invitees with a simple to use interface.
TASK: Use Writeboard to set up your first assignment.

  • Blogger is a free weblog space provided by Google. In a blog authors construct blogs, readers make comments and then, the comments also become addressable, forming a new layer of content (Alexander, 2006).
TASK: Do you have anything you are passionate about? Create your own blog here - or use it as a personal digital portfolio as part of a digital CV.


Tips & tricks icon Tips & Tricks

Google Earth

A great example of Web 2.0 web developments is Google Earth.

Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Download the software that lets you see where you live online!

Growth and web 2.0 tools

The ‘blogosphere’(weblogs) is doubling in size every five and a half months: it is 60 times larger than it was 3 years ago. In three years, Wikipedia has amassed more than 3 700 000 articles in over 123 ‘active’ languages, including over 1 000 000 in the English-language version alone. (Wikipedia, March 2006) In April 2005, Flickr boasted 270 000 users, four million photos, 30 percent monthly growth in users, and 50 percent monthly growth in photos (Koman, 2005). Earlier this year the number of photos had increased to 100 million images (Kullin, 2006).

Putting it to work: Blogs & Wikis

Learn more about Web 2.0 tools

Social bookmarking tools


Have you ever wished that you had a way to access all your bookmarks no matter what web browsers you are using. Tools now exists that enables you to do this.

The site del.icio.us is an easy to use service for storing, describing, and sharing bookmarks. Users register and then personalize their section of del.icio.us including annotated URLs to web pages. Each URL is accompanied by a line of text describing it, followed by one or more words for tags. Any user can create an in-box to capture the information on sites that someone else is bookmarking, by subscribing to the other person’s del.icio.us pages.

If you need this service, try out del.icio.us.

 


Wikis

Wiki pages are streams of conversation, revision, amendment, and truncation that allow users to quickly edit their content from within a browser window.

Wikipedia is without question the biggest and best-known wiki project on the Web. Wikis have not been as successful as blogs because of its lack of aesthetic appeal and its lack of security and privacy.

You decide - try out a couple:

 



What have I learned?

After completing these activities you should:
  • understand the read/write nature of new tools now available on the web
  • have tried at least one or two of these tools
  • feel confident in having a go at using some of these tools

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