Professional Communication Technologies - My thoughts....
Web 2.0???????? I add so many question marks because before enrolling on the course it was a completely alien term to me, and if I'm honest one I think that I may of actually never heard before!!
After studying The Reader for this part of the module and several other related texts I can't believe that I was so blissfully unaware of something that plays a huge part in today's social and economic structure. I mean sure I have a facebook account (who doesn't?) but I never really thought about what it really does and more importantly what it and other web 2.0 platforms enables us to do.
I've realised that web 2.0 is not just a medium but a huge platform. A world where the reader becomes the creator, and as someone with a lot to say I cant believe I've not been making the most of this amazing technology.
Tim O'Reilly the originator of what defines web 2.0 states that 'Web 2.0 is changing the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators' and i couldn't agree more. The whole platform is so changed from the technological world I grew up in and I can now see just what an effect it has had on day to day life without us even realising it.
Web 2.0 for me is a great symbol of democracy, where the users contribution is key 'The Wisdom of the Crowd' where collective intelligence is the key to market domination and rightly so :)
A new world has been created where we the audience can decide what is important, with access to the Internet and these platforms now being so much more accessible it means that traditional barriers have been dropped. We have moved from a world where designated people get to share and dictate there opinions. To one where many people can share, discuss and develop ideas and opinions together on a huge scale that would never before have been possible.
With key features such as perpetual beta we as consumers are never left behind, in fact the Bruns idea of 'Produsage' for me is key, Everyone gets to produce the knowledge and we all get to consume it. This collaboration and continuous building of existing content is a great pursuit for further improvement.
The 'Innovation of Assembly' where information that is already there and available is collated and used in novel and effective ways opens up the accessibility even more and makes for a lot more informative and interesting pursuits.
The whole time is was kicking my self for socially and professionally not embracing this technological revolution already a few alarm bells were starting to signal...is it all the go to be true???
In my capacity as a teacher I can see several drawbacks. 'Contructivism' where the emphasis on learning shifts from the teacher to the student although has many advantages I don't think we are anywhere near ready to give up the roles of teachers, where students are drawing many advantages from the self learning that web 2.0 opens up to them the teachers role as moderator is one that becomes more important than ever.
The drawback for produsage is that it is more that easy to sow the seed of mis and disinformation. One persons or group of peoples thoughts may be misinterpreted or misunderstood by others.
The vast range of literacies used on the web now mean that it is not only a matter of knowing how to read and write but applying the knowledge needed to understand the new literacies for specific purposes in specific contexts of use.
I have read briefly on Grubers theory of 'Collective Knowledge' where the social web meets the semantic web. to me this sounds like a perfect step forward where we all still get the great advantages brought to us from web 2.0 applications but the semantic webs steps into to somewhat structure and organise what we have put there...roll on the production of web 3.0!!!! I'll certainly be reading more into this.
I would like to end with a little bit of thought to Bruns term 'Generation C' I'm not anti web 2.0 by any means but the new relatively found love and use of communication technologies has led to a strong following and a new way in which we live our daily lives and perform our interaction could he be right in saying that 'As Generation C, whose creative engagement in context development will lead to a casual collapse , the on going demise of many beliefs, rituals, formal requirements and laws modern societies have held dear.'
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