Reflection on Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is a huge idea/discussion. In some ways it is best to contrast it to web 1.0, also called the flat web. Essentially sites were visited, explored and unaltered. Today it is hard to think of a site that is static like that, though there are still many out there. The big change to a web 2.0 environment evolved when the code used to generate web sites changed to allow visitors to add content. This changed everything, and continues to do so, rippling through our society bringing down one established industry, medium or institution after another. Education is in the throws of this transformation. It could be thought of as a change from a top down to a bottom up dynamic. Music and the recording industry is an example of an industry that was radically transformed by web 2. News is another. One of the biggest changes is occurring in epistemology, where what is known and what is true is distributed and subject to change. Instead of one correct answer there are many emerging answers. It is a change from a scarcity of knowledge to an abundance of knowledge. Where things are too big to know by any one individual. Meaning making and way finding become more important than the destination, the creation of content more important than trying to know something in a static sense. This shift is exemplified in the shift from the dominance of taxonomies to folksonomies. This is where social bookmarking comes in. Tagging is way of creating meaning within a connectivist environment, allowing synapses and connections to be made.
Social Bookmarking. Tagging is a way of creating a folksonomy, a vocabulary that is specific and generated by the community --which could be just my self-- yet It implies a social environment. I haven't been active following people and their tags in delicious.com, but I have been active posting to it and bookmarking as a way to organize my travels through the web. I found it interesting when people decide to follow me on delicious--and I wonder what tags they click and what they find worth following. I've tried to get my students to visit my tags, and I have failed miserably. Getting to experience how other people use social bookmarking in a learning environment is very exciting. The wealth of sites that have been introduced has provided me with fodder for my Unit Plan.
Social Bookmarking. Tagging is a way of creating a folksonomy, a vocabulary that is specific and generated by the community --which could be just my self-- yet It implies a social environment. I haven't been active following people and their tags in delicious.com, but I have been active posting to it and bookmarking as a way to organize my travels through the web. I found it interesting when people decide to follow me on delicious--and I wonder what tags they click and what they find worth following. I've tried to get my students to visit my tags, and I have failed miserably. Getting to experience how other people use social bookmarking in a learning environment is very exciting. The wealth of sites that have been introduced has provided me with fodder for my Unit Plan.