Web 2; Social Networking; Social Bookmarking: These are all names used to describe items within the category of interactive, open source, community web. See also my page on blogs and wikis, which are also forms of web 2 communication.

Web 2 (Social Bookmarking) explained in Plain English: A short, fun video

Sachi & Lee LeFever at Common Craft created this video and, even better (and more social!), they let everyone share it, post it, etc. "This video is for people who wonder why social networking web sites are so popular. We think one reason is because they help solve a real-world problem. We'll let the video explain how it works." 08/16/07

Click on the video image to play.

What is Web 2.0?

"The term Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based social software). " Source: Wikipedia, about Web 2.0. 07/30/06

Web 2.0: An Educator’s Guide: By James McConville. Good, simple explanation with image illustrations. "In the simplest technical terms, Web 2.0 is the read-write web.  Compared to what we now call Web 1.0 of the internet it was solely ‘read-only’.  In other words, if you wanted to look up some information you went to a site and read the information.  There was no place to leave a comment or to personalize the information.  What you saw is what you got." Also has a brief discussion of "social bookmarking". 04/26/06

"Tim O'Reilly's What Is Web 2.0? Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software (September 30, 2005) is a core document in the field, tracking the Web 2.0 concept back to a conference brainstorming session which juxtaposed Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 associations and identifiers to come up with a formulation of Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices, most conveniently visualised and presented here as the now renowned Web 2.0 meme map. Seven principles characterising Web 2.0 practices are explored." 02/13/06

OK, then, what are Web 3.0 and Web 4.0?

See this EduTechie article. If you're just getting what Web 2.0 is all about, maybe these newer terms are a bit much. But check out this article anyway, just so you know what's being referred to. 03/15/08

Web 3.0 has long since passed Web 2.0 in Education for 2020: A peek into the future (2020), written in present tense. Check out the diagrams; they're interesting studies / descriptions about what Web 3.0 is, what other web aspects and trends it encompasses. 03/15/08

Seven Habits of Highly Connected People: By Stephen Downes, posted in Lisa Neal's blog (and soon to appear in eLearn magazine). He makes some excellent observations. If you want to learn how to expand your abilities and presence within online social networking, this is a good place to start. My favorite is "Be yourself:...Learning and communicating are not merely acts of sending content over a wire. They are about engaging in (what Wittgenstein called) a ‘Way of Life’. Having a cat is as important for a physicist as having an advanced research lab..." (So I've been thinking I'm a computer addict, but actually it's just that I'm involved in a Way Of Life.) 04/05/08

Web 2.0 Applications (MyOffice 2.0 Setup): Stephen Downes calls this page "a fantastic collection of web 2.0 applications that effectively replace the standard desktop." A great one-stop resource for applications, organized into sections according to what they're used for, and complete with links to see/get them. Even if you're just learning what a Web 2.0 application is and want to see common examples, you'll recognize a lot of them! 03/28/08

Facebook 2.0: The question isn't IF, but HOW Facebook is going to figure into the field of education via social networking. Our local paper yesterday published a comment along the lines of How dare professionals like teachers belong to such a thing as Facebook, putting themselves out there for students to read about. I was incensed at this attitude because I believe teachers (and the public) still have little idea of the power of reaching out to students where they 'live' as opposed to expecting students to come into our more formal education world to seek or expand upon their knowledge. We have so much to learn from our students, and Facebook is just one place we can begin our education. If you're not in Facebook, get there! Anyway, I digress. This link is to an article by Tracy Mitrano, who discusses the future of Facebook and other social networking locations within education, the pros and cons, various factors and concerns that need to be addressed. How can we address them if we know little about the experience? 03/15/08

Ms. Mitrano says, "...learning more about those spaces—how they operate, who is on them, and most important, how to talk about their social dynamics—is recommended. Parents can do that effectively only if they educate themselves about both the technology and the sociology of the Internet. And demonizing the technology, as is suggested even by such august public organs as Frontline, with its feature “Growing Up Online,” helps no one—not the youth who will undoubtedly use the technology, not their parents who supervise them, and not their teachers who need to understand the role that this technology plays in their development."

See also Ms. Mitrano's article, Thoughts on Facebook, April 2006 -- which is a long time ago in social networking! In that article she discusses Five Things to Think About When Using Facebook.

Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education: Steve Hargadon's blog post is a good read for everyone, but includes a very useful and interesting list of things educators can do if they agree with his premise (the title). Kind of like a 'Start Here' guide for educators who are Web 2 newbies. I like this one: "Digest This Thought: The Answer to Information Overload Is to Produce More Information."

Steve says, "I believe that the read/write Web, or what we are calling Web 2.0, will culturally, socially, intellectually, and politically have a greater impact than the advent of the printing press. I believe that we cannot even begin to imagine the changes that are going to take place as the two-way nature of the Internet begins to flower, and that even those of us who have spent time imagining this future will be astounded by what happens. I'm going to identify ten trends in this regard that I think have particular importance for education and learning, and then discuss seven steps I think educators can take to make a difference during this time." 03/07/08

Social Networking in Education: Another interesting article from Steve Hargadon (same educator as above). Steve includes a long link-list to social networks used in a wide variety of ways, all connected to the world of education. 03/07/08

Classroom20.com: Steve Hargadon is founder. "The social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education." Lots of great stuff here, including news, forums, resources, groups, and the Classroom 2.0 Wiki. 03/04/08

Web 2.0 Videos: "Web 2.0 (Videos/PPoints) This theme blog links to videos to help with the teaching and learning of web 2.0." 03/04/08

Web 2 in Education: Steve Hargadon's wikispace. "Web 2.0 Is Critical to the Future of Education." "The Internet-based software programs that are generally referred to as "Web 2.0" may have been perceived, as recently as last Spring, as the latest pet technology of the educational uber-geek or the conference presenter. However, Web 2.0 programs are rapidly becoming tools of choice for a growing body of classroom educators, who are discovering that they provide compelling teaching and learning opportunities." 03/04/08

Research and Guidelines on Online Social - and Educational - Networking: An article from the newsletter Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day ("A daily item of e-learning interest selected by Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies"). Has some interesting facts, including a colorful graph of popular social networking activites. She also provides some good links to follow. 08/16/07

Web 2.0 and Education: The newsletter wwwTools for Education devotes their current issue to this question. Several resources & links to help explain Web 2.0. The following commentary (Tim O'Reilly's) is from their newsletter. 02/13/06

Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: "TOOLS" is the topic of this first of a 3-Part series of articles. "The following is a compilation of Web 2.0 products that I’ve personally researched and tested. These services are grouped into two main categories: Tools and Office Applications. Some more specific services include: organizers, gradebooks, research tools, document managers, diagrams, and more." 11/05/06

Best of the Best Web 2.0 Web Sites: "What makes a site a Web 2.0 Site? Web 2.0 is the second coming of World Wide Web. New and improved sites that make the web their platform, provide users a way of interacting with each other, and organize and categorize their content are perfect examples of Web 2.0. Below is a list of web sites that are the best of the best!" 11/05/06

Women of Web 2.0: "...for all who are using the tools of the internet whether it be in a classroom setting, leading seminars, authoring books, maintaining blogs or wikis, or just enjoying the tools of the internet in an educational and exciting way." 10/25/06

Web 2.0 could be used in health e-learning: An article from eHealth Insider. "Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, podcasts and blogs could be quite effective tools in e-learning for health professionals in patients, according to a new paper published by BioMed Central. The very interactivity of the technology could prove a boon for professional and patient education, providing that any changes and collaboration is effectively monitored....If effectively deployed, wikis, blogs and podcasts could offer a way to enhance students', clinicans' and patients' learning experiences, and deepen levels of learners' engagement and collaboration within digital learning environments...". 09/02/06

Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 Start-Up Guides: from eLearning Technology's blog, A list of links for "...a few new start-up guides/introductions to Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0." 09/02/06

E-Learning 2.0 - Why the New Tools? Stephen Downes. Here's the link to his powerpoint presentation. Then link to the comment blog about the presentation and Stephen's ideas. 07/30/06

Web2.0Slides: "...a self-running slide show of over 1,400 of the best Web2.0 sites. It's categorized by tags and sorted alphabetically. What's cool about it? You can click on any site in the left-hand column to pause the slide show and surf around. When you're done, simply click PLAY, and it will begin right where you left off. Perfect for Web 2.0 couch 'taters. But if you're antsy and want to click around on sites, go right ahead—it won't stop the show." 07/30/06

Bravenet's Webmaster Tips n Tricks newsletter's July'06 issue is devoted to Web 2.0 -- ideas, info, applications, etc. (I guess that link won't be permanent -- I looked everywhere on their site for archive links but they seem to only link to the current issue. Sorry. BUT! search their site for lots of resources. Just in case, here are a few of the items mentioned in this July issue: 07/30/06

Scriptaculous: "The Scriptaculous Javascript Library is the most widely used and distributed of the web 2.0 effects libraries. It contains many cool features and effects such as dragging and dropping, grow/shrink, animate position, highlighting and much more."

Rico: "Another very popular web 2.0 effects library. It's an open-source javascript library providing full ajax support, drag and drop management, cinematic effects and more."

Prototype: "The javascript base code that many effects libraries have been written on. The Prototype framework is intended to simplify development for dynamic web applications. Basically, it reduces many of the repetitive javascript code pieces that you would commonly use for creating dynamic effects and other javascript-based applications.

Ajax

This technology seems to be one of the bases of Web 2.0 applications. "Ajax is the term that describes a set of web development techniques for creating interactive web applications." [source: Rico] Here's a detailed definition, from the Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: 07/30/06

(Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) Using the XMLHTTPRequest JavaScript function and XML to allow Web pages to be more interactive and behave like rich client applications. The XMLHTTPRequest function allows the Web page to retrieve data from the server without refreshing the entire page. Prior to this JavaScript enhancement, any retrieval of data required that the entire Web page be refreshed. For example, if a form were filled out and data were validated by the server a field at a time, the page would have to be refreshed for each data item, making it cumbersome. With XMLHTTPRequest, available starting with the JavaScript runtime modules in IE 5, Mozilla 1.0, Safari 1.2 and Opera 8, data can be retrieved from the server behind the scenes. Also known as "remote scripting," the XMLHTTPRequest object returns the data in a DOM document.

AJAX Desktop Tutorial ~ Create your own Interactive Browser Homepage: A tutorial from MuseStorm, "The Web 2.0 Gateway". 07/31/06

MuseStorm, "The Web 2.0 Gateway": They offer lots of information for Ajax Developers, plus a selection of pre-made FREE "web widgets to enhance your blog or website". 07/31/06

Ajax Web-based software: Ajax has an MS-Word-like online word processor -- create a new file or open a .doc file from your drive, save to your hard drive, publish to the web, share & collaborate, all right from a website. They have other applications too, including a Sketch app, spreadsheet (xls) app, Tunes player, video mixing (eyespot), and more. This is from the Ajax blog: "The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Is It Time to Dump Your Desktop?” In it the author reflects on the possibility for businesses to switch to web-based software once it is “good enough” for a big percentage of users. In this article, Ajax 13 was mentioned as one of the companies that is producing online alternatives to Micrsoft's widely used Office software. The appeal that the low cost alternatives have, continues to create a growing threat to the MS Office Suite." 07/30/06