Blog #1- Web 2.0

We're all surrounded by digi-nats. You've seen them. They're the lil' buggers in your class who are buzzing around your desk while trying to hide the latest piece of technology that they've brought to school. They're texting during your lecture and posting on their friend's Facebook wall between classes. They came from the womb already equipped with an understanding of LOL, ROFL, and BRB. They were born in the geography of cyberspace and they're laughing at us as we try to lure them away from their homeland with the wonders of textbooks and hand written essays. So, how do we reach them?

Enter the World Wide Web (WWW). In the beginning, the WWW was a means to communicate static content. A person with an idea created a website, posted their content(text, pictures and maybe a .midi sound file if they were adventurous) and then the world could type in the URL for that site and experience the content that the person wanted to share.

A little more than a decade ago, the face of the WWW began to change. With the appearance of new browser technology such as Mosaic and Netscape the text and graphics began to appear on the pages together instead of in separate windows (Baumbach, 2009).

While this more streamlined interface was an improvement, it was still static content to be consumed by the end user. In the classroom, we used the search engines to find the content that applied to our discipline and, if we had enough technology resources, we shared that content with our students. It was a one-sided show and tell.

Today, we are interacting in a cyberspace that experts refer to as Web 2.0. So, what's the difference? First, the concept of Web 2.0 is anything but static. Users are expected to interact with the content. As T.V. Raman (2009) describes the phenomenon, "Web 2.o is the result of the exponentially growing Web building on itself to move from a Web of content to a Web of applications." It is the Web where everyone can create, share, modify, and collaborate by using web-based applications to get the job done. Instead of using the Web to simply view the content others want us to see, we are using the Web to create content that we wish to share. There are new ways to communicate in real time, through text and voice. We can talk it, type it, share it and change it and then invite others to interact with our ideas as well.

So, how does this shift effect me and my buzzing digi-nats? Consider the fact that the lil buggers already know how to function in the environment. They are comfortable communicating and collaborating in cyberspace. If I introduce them to some basic Web 2.0 applications like ZOHO, Slatebox or Dabbleboard, they could work in teams from anywhere they wanted to create assignments on any topic imaginable. They want to talk, they want to share, they want to work together. Web 2.0 may be the platform for my digi-nats to do just that!